P2G Yoav - Lehigh Valley | The Jewish Agency - U.S.P2G Yoav – Lehigh Valley

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Yoav - Lehigh Valley Partnership

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Partnership2Gether Yoav - Lehigh Valley

The Yoav-Lehigh Valley Partnership was established in 2002 as part of the Jewish Agency's Partnership Together (formerly Partnership 2000) program. Partnership Together is a global network of 45 partnerships, designed to be the leading infrastructure for the development of cohesion between communities in the Jewish people.

The Yoav–Lehigh Valley Partnership connects the Jewish community in Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania with the residents of the Yoav Region. We view these ties as an essential component in strengthening our communities, both in Israel and in the Diaspora, and making them flourish. We are members of a worldwide network of 45 partnerships, whose goal is to serve as a major infrastructure for bringing together the communities of the Jewish people.

The Partnership arranges face-to-face encounters with members of the Jewish community in Lehigh Valley and with their way of life. It encourages members of our communities to investigate their ties to the Jewish People and to Israel and to deepen them. And it serves as a laboratory for the development of ideas and initiatives in education, Jewish identity and community.

Lehigh Valley is located in the southeast part of Pennsylvania, about one hour’s drive from Philadelphia and 90 minutes from New York. The Jewish population of Lehigh Valley is about 8000, out of a total population of 500,000. The main cities in Lehigh Value are Allentown, Bethlehem and Easton. The community has eight synagogues, which represent all the denominations – Orthodox, Conservative and Reform, a JCC, three Hillel Houses on the college campuses and a Jewish Federation that serves as the umbrella organization of the community.

The Yoav region was founded in 1952. It has 14 settlements – primarily kibbutzim and moshavs – with a population of about 7000. Its boundaries are the Reim Junction in the North, Kiryat Gat in the South, Beit Gubrin in the East and the Givati Junction in the west.

The Partnership sends a youth delegation each year to participate in Lehigh Valley’s summer camp. It hosts delegations and visitors from the Lehigh Valley community and supports a number of projects in the Yoav settlements. The projects are to do with Jewish renewal, leadership development and empowerment of the community. The Partnership is led by a Steering Committee of volunteers from the settlements in Yoav and volunteers from Lehigh Valley.

P2G Yoav - Lehigh Valley

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  • Hanna Bachar

    Hanna was born in Tel Aviv and grew up in Ramat Gan. In 2004, she moved with her husband and their three daughters to live on Kibbutz Beit Guvrin. In 2013 Shai participated in a teen mission to Lehigh Valley. Hanna was a guide at the HaNoar HaOved VeHalomed youth movement. Then she spent part of the army duty with her peers in a “Gar’in Nahal” in Kibbutz Shizafon in the Negev. During the rest of her military service, Hanna was trained and eventually became a squad commander at the Women’s Nahal basic training. She holds a Masters’ degree in Law and a BA degree in Geography and Communications. Hanna worked in KKL-JNF for 30 years. Hanna has been a member of the steering committee as a volunteer since August 2013 and was appointed co-chair in August 2018.

  • Noam Carim

    Born and raised in Kibbutz Gal-On. 22 years old. Grandson of a Holocaust survivor grandfather and a Zionist New Yorker grandmother who made “Aliyah” together from the United States as part of "Zion" group to establish the State of Israel and settled in Kibbutz Gal-On. About a year ago, I finished my military service as a combat medic and flew to travel the world. I was doing so until COVID-19 started and made it clear to me that the only place I can go now is back home.

  • Lior Levey

    Born in 1967 in Ra'anana. A decade ago he moved to Kibbutz Kfar Menachem with his wife Mirit and his two children. During his youth, he was a member of the Mahanot Ha'olim youth movement. He served in the IDF Air Force including reserve duty. He study his BA and MA in Israel studies, Geography, Archeology and Teaching. In the past 20 years, he has been teaching various groups and educating to love the country of Israel in the junior high school. Volunteering and involvement are important values for him and for most of his life he has been active in various frameworks as well as the steering committee with which he has been a member since 2012.

  • Alon Inbar

    Alon was born in Israel in1957. He is a member of Kibbutz Revadim, Married+ 5. He is a Member of the Partnership Steering Committee, Yoav regional council and was deputy to the head of the council, chairman of the Security committee, member of the payroll committee, member of the board, member of the board of directors of the Yoav council’s economic corporation and director of the managing company Y.S. Gat Ltd.