by Jan Goldstein, Executive Director, Jewish Federation of Omaha

I'd like to give you a short update about recent meetings I attended in Toledo along with Julee Katzman, Zoe Riekes, Stacey Rockman and Cindy Goldberg, on behalf of our Partnership with Israel. In preparation for these meetings, our Israeli professionals and Israeli Co-Chair of our 15-city Consortium Rami Raz, all from the Western Galilee, first traveled to Omaha to meet with Consortium American Co-Chair Zoe Riekes.

While in Toledo, representatives from thirteen of our fifteen communities got together to review and approve programs and services, and determine their respective partnership allocations which determines the overall budget for the 2008-2009 program year.

You've head a lot about Partnership... but what you may not realize that Partnership is a program of the Jewish Agency – the same Jewish Agency that has been a recipient of our overseas allocations for decades. For both the Jewish Agency and the communities, Partnership with Israel represents a dynamic way for American and Israeli Jews to connect in a meaningful, two-way relationship.

Beyond the things that we do to help continue to build community in Israel, Partnership brings the Israeli and Omaha Jewish community together in so many ways. Just a few examples of this include the Maccabi Games, the recent Performing Arts Series, school twinning programs and shared projects, the Emergency Response Group and physician exchanges, and the real people to people connections that take place on each of our missions, as we get together with people from our Partnership in the Western Galilee. These examples demonstrate how Partnership puts a face on Israel.

Partnership highlights the relevancy of Israel in our lives today. It's no longer a one-sided relationship about what we can do for Israelis, it's about what we do for each other. And it's about building Jewish identity on both sides of the ocean.