By Susie Zimmerman, Chair, Yokneam/Megiddo-St. Louis Partnership 2000 Committee

Shalom Haverim!
 
July and August were great months for we Americans to be in Israel and for St. Louis travelers to visit their sister communities Yokneam/Megiddo. Check out my July jewishinstlouis column: 

And everyone I’ve spoken with has had only enthusiastic and wonderful comments about their time in the region. Just to mention a few:

Myrna Meyer and her grandson Jason Greenberg went on a national U.S. Federation Family Mission and spent a day in Yokneam visiting with Jason’s Noar L’Noar “haver” (i.e., email pen pal) Ofer Izraelov and his family. Myrna is a St. Louis Jewish community leader and past president of the St. Louis Holocaust Museum and Learning Center. With the assistance of Arkady Hasidovich, our P2K Yokneam/Megiddo staff person extraordinaire, she and Jason had a very special day. Among the memorable events of their day in the region, Jason and Ofer spent time at a special ranch for teenagers.

Jason also learned to make paper and pita. Their memorable experience was capped by a beautiful home cooked dinner at Ofer’s home where Myrna and Jason got to meet the whole mishpaha.

Jason tells everyone that the highlight of his trip to Israel was his visit to Yokneam. And for Myrna it was “a magical experience.”

And Myrna and Jason are not alone in benefiting from that personal touch our partnership brings to St. Louis visitors to Israel . Aitan Groener and his parents, Beverly and Russell were able to spend over a day in the. Once again, Arkady was able to plan a series of memorable experiences tailor made just for them. Like Jason, Aitan spent quite a bit of time with his Noar L’Noar “haver” Yarden. While the two boys went horseback riding at one of the kibbutzim, Beverly and Russell took a tour of Tel Megiddo – something everyone who visits Israel should do at least once! And everywhere the Groener’s went in the region, the kesher between St. Louis and Yokneam/Megiddo was evident in an interactive and personal way.

Another private trip to mention: Saar Ravid, a St. Louis YPD member, is not only a sabra but was born and spent the first twelve years of her life in Megiddo at Kibbutz Dalia.

Thanks to her friend and fellow YPDer Jeff Sparks, she learned about the special relationship between St. Louis and Yokneam/Megiddo and our Partnership 2000 kesher commitment. And so she made it a point to “go back home” and see the region with new eyes.

Then there were the group trips. Ellyn Polsky, Educational Director of Temple Emmanuel and Lee Rosenberg, Youth Director of United Hebrew, led a group of 23 teens from St. Louis NFTY through Israel, and of course, enjoyed a great time in our sister city communities. Check out the description of their experiences and see their web photo album.

Finally, St. Louis' Congregation Shaare Emeth’s trip to Israel also included a fantastic day in the Yokneam/Megiddo region. I spoke recently with Sue Matlof, a member of that congregation and also a member of the St. Louis Federation’s Israel and Overseas Allocations Subcommittee. She was overflowing with compliments for everyone in the region who made their visit to Yokneam/Megiddo such a memorable experience. She was particularly blown away by the dance troupe “Tesfa” and their remarkable artistic skills and loved meeting Shoshana, whose Hebrew name they share.

If you haven’t checked it out already, see all of Arkady’s pictures from the recent visits.

And so I’ll end with these smiling faces that come to us by way of our Yokneam/Megiddo – St. Louis Partnership 2000.

L’Hitraot! Susie