by the two wonderful Young shlichim Shay and Einat Kozer-Niego, now ending their two years of Shlichut in Youngstown, Ohio

Our Shlichut in Youngstown

At the middle of the year 2007, we suddenly realized that this is it. Life has started. University - done, carrier - at the beginning and the lifelong race of getting around the world is here. We wanted some time, we weren't ready for it, not yet, and we looked at options. We came across the Young Shlichut Program and thought it might be it: the Jewish Agency sends young couples or single Israelis, in the ages 23 - 30, to small Jewish communities around the world. The purpose of this program is to strengthen to bond between Jewish communities all over the world, by sending young, "real" Israelis who will use their inter-personal , educational, communal and Hasbara skills to engage with  other members of the Jewish people, and by creating personal relationship, help maintain  the eternal connection of this people hood.

After about half a year of varied tests, we were accepted to the program, and assigned to serve as Shlichim at the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation in Ohio. Naturally we've never heard of this place before, but people from Akko and the Matte Asher regional council have.

We met with people from Youngstown's twin region in Israel: Akko and  Matte Asher, who are connected, threw Partnership 2000 Project. We learned about the various joined projects that the communities are involve with, and started to develop the understanding that our role as community Shlichim is part of an ongoing effort that many are involved in.

On August 2008 we landed in the USA and arrived at Youngtown. The welcome was unbelievable. Generosity that was beyond our exceptions and warm nice people who immediately embraced us into the community.

When we first came, as the Youngstown Area Jewish Federation community Shlichim that supposed to work at Akiva Academy Jewish day school, the JCC and other federation organizations, we did not know what to expect and certainly couldn't guess how significant and meaningful those two years will be for us.

Together with our supervisors, we started to think of how to shape this role in order to use our skills and our Israeli point of views (and character…) in the best way. It wasn't always easy, and for sure different people had different opinions on that matter (after all, 100 Jews - 100 opinions…), but looking back we think it was an important thinking process for all.

During our time here, we worked daily at Akiva Academy in the mornings - teaching Hebrew and Israeli culture to the students. Later on in the day, we worked at the JCC and federation's building on varied projects in the community. some of the projects we were involved with are: Judaism around the world concept night at the JCC (Ethiopian and India nights); community Jewish holidays celebrations at the JCC such as communal Tu B'shvat Seder or Purim Carnivals; different lectures about Israel to different organization within the Jewish and non-Jewish community like synagogues, assistant living homes, public schools ext.; meeting with Jewish teens about Israel culture and maintaining the connection with Israelis via teens delegations from Partnership 2000 project. All of the above are only a few examples to give an idea of what is a shlichim work in this community. Of course we could not have done this without our colleagues - the volunteers from the community and the professional workers of the Federation and the JCC. Many families from Youngstown's Jewish community opened their homes to us, invited us to different events and became our friends and family at the past two years.

At the end of this adventure of Shlichut we feel that we made the right choice and we think that the experience of getting to really know our own people is priceless and that we truly earned a lot from it, especially in understanding of our place in the world.

Shay and Einat Kozer-Niego
Community Shlichim
Youngstown Area Jewish Federation