Community Mifgash participants prior to boarding their flight at Kansas City International Airport for their 10-day journey to Israel. The trip is sponsored by the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. The group includes (front row, from left) Laura Wasserman, Abby Fromm, Laura Fromm, Liz Bigus, (back row, from left) Samantha Mayse, Isaac Alpert, Avi Sonnenschein, Andrew Siegel, Dana Spector and Israeli Emissary Nissan Gez.

Ten Kansas City Jewish teenagers plus Israeli Emissary Nissan Gez are in Israel July 11 through 22 as part of the first ever community mifgash (encounter) in Israel. The group will be joined by its other chaperone, Alexis Hallman, who has been in Israel for several weeks. Hallman is the youth director at Congregation B'nai Jehudah. The teens, all students entering 10th grade, were selected last fall after being nominated by their congregations for the trip. The teens and chaperones met monthly to prepare for the trip and even designed their own T-shirts to mark the journey.

The mifgash is part of the community's Partnership 2000 program, working to create one-on-one personal relationships with Israelis. The Federation partners with the Jewish Agency for Israel with the program. Stacey Belzer serves as the local chair for the mifgash.

The Kansas City participants are staying with Israeli teens and their families who live in and around our partnership communities of Ramla and the Gezer Region. Participants (and their congregations) include: Dana Spector (Beth Torah); Andrew Siegel (Ohev Sholom); Liz Bigus (Beth Torah); Abby & Laura Fromm (Beth Shalom); Emma Lund (B'nai Jehudah); Samantha Mayse (B'nai Jehudah); Avi Sonnenschein (Beth Shalom); Isaac Alpert (B'nai Jehudah) and Laura Wasserman (B'nai Jehudah). The teens will travel all over Israel with their Israeli counterparts; they will spend time in Jerusalem, Haifa, Tel Aviv and the partner communities. They will visit all kinds of sites including Masada, the Dead Sea, the Kotel and a Bedouin community.

Next summer, the Israeli teens will travel to Kansas City and stay with local mifgash families.