GIV’AT AVNI, ISRAEL — Lidor Bokish, 15, has assumed the standard teenage position, curled up in the corner of a couch in the family room. On the flat-screen TV in front of her, she’s got the Disney Channel on “Girl Meets World” — with Hebrew subtitles.
Over in the kitchen, parents and friends talk about adult stuff as they put the final touches on a pre-Shabbat lunch.
Meanwhile, Lidor is, of course, not looking much at the TV. Her eyes are drilling into the rectangular screen of her cell phone. We can guess who she may be corresponding with — Milwaukee again.
Lidor is one of thousands of Israelis living near the Sea of Galilee who have been connected to Milwaukee, Madison, and two other Midwestern cities through the partnership program of the Jewish Agency for Israel. About 200 people from the four American partnership cities visit what’s called the “Sovev Kinneret” partnership region annually, staying with families and getting to know the people.
Operated in Milwaukee by the Partnership2Gether program of Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Israel Center, the effort seeks to create human connection between over there and over here.
Much can be said of the power of the Wisconsin side of the equation, but from the Israeli side, too, the results can be remarkable. Lidor made close girlfriends from the Milwaukee area when her parents volunteered to host youths from Milwaukee Jewish Day School. That was a couple years ago. She’s been kibitzing with them on a WhatsApp group chat ever since.
Lidor uses WhatsApp, an Internet application popular among Israelis, to discuss “school, private life, birthdays, lots of gossip,” she says with a smile. Now, Lidor dreams of visiting Milwaukee.
An intentionality
By most accounts, Israelis as a whole are not strongly focused on the needs of American Jews. But Lidor’s connections are no coincidence. There’s an intentionality among the Israelis who choose to involve themselves in the partnership program. Israelis who choose to engage with the partnership say they want to connect to the world, to be a part of a larger community.
The shin shin program has been “very, very good for him,” said Gur Shahar, of his son Itamar, who served as a shin shin (young emissary) in Milwaukee from 2014 to 2015. Itamar is now back in Israel, serving in intelligence in the Israel Defense Forces. “He was like an ambassador for the State of Israel,” the father noted proudly.
“I believe that it is very, very important to volunteer,” Gur Shahar said, noting that when American partnership travelers have visited, his children have had to learn to share their home with guests.
Also, Gur Shahar, a CFO who has worked in Israeli start-ups, said he’s always told his three sons how important it is to learn English. “Hebrew, it’s not enough,” he said.
What better teacher than a year in America and a blooming of personal American connections?
In a separate interview, Ella Barhon, an experienced human resources manager who lives in the region, explained that English is often the internal written language for the high-tech sector.
“First of all I believe that we gained friends,” said chocolatier Gyora Chepelinski, 52, co-owner De Karina Chocolate with his wife, Karina. They run their business in the Golan Heights, just beyond the borders of the partnership region, but they traveled to Milwaukee in 2015 with a “Taste of Israel” delegation, sponsored by Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Partnership2Gether program.
“You have friends abroad, you feel you are belonging to somebody,” Gyora Chepelinski said.
Chocolatier Gyora Chepelinski handles the business side of De Karina Chocolate while his wife, Karina, handles the chocolate. They operate their business out of the Golan Heights. Here, they’re at a rare American-style shopping center in the countryside of the Sovev Kinneret partnership region.
He feels he sharpened his commitment to high-quality local products, thanks to his Milwaukee visit, and he’s started buying beef from a local Israeli farmer. De Karina Chocolate produces high-end chocolates, each one named for a mountain in the Golan Heights.
“I wanted to see what is going on, on the other side in a big country. We found a very interesting community with a lot of activity,” he said.
Lidor and Milwaukee
Back in Giv’at Avni, Lidor’s father, Dan Bokish, said he also likes that the partnership has opened the world to his family.
His daughter Lidor made her two close Milwaukee friends — Meagan and Nesya – when the Milwaukee Jewish Day School visited the partnership region during their eighth-grade trip to Israel. This past summer, one of Lidor’s Milwaukee friends and a brother came to her home in Israel for a day, as part of a larger trip to the Jewish state. Lidor cried when they left.
“The most amazing thing is that you really get connection in one day,” she said. “I think we’re really similar.”
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