On Aug. 25, the Milwaukee community welcomed another group of four young Israeli emissaries to its schools and synagogues.
These emissaries come from two different programs. Einav Gafni and Adva Peretz are serving as “shin shiniot,” through the Shnat Sherut Shlishit (third year of service), a volunteer program for Israeli youth before or after their mandatory military service.
Both residents of the Sovev Kinneret, Milwaukee’s Partnership 2000 region in Israel, they will serve as cultural ambassadors through the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Young Emissary program and the combined efforts of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Israel Center, the Milwaukee Jewish Day School and the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
Gitit Ables and Noga Hirsch are in their second year as National Service volunteers, which fulfills their required military service.
Read on to find out more about each of these young Israelis and what they hope to accomplish in the year ahead.
Einav Gafni
Age: 18
Hometown: Moshav Kfar Hittim
Where you can see her: Working with students of all ages at Milwaukee Jewish Day School, organizing activities at the Hillel Foundation, and working with students after school at the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
Her goals for the next year: To bring Israel closer to people in Milwaukee, and help them “understand the difference between being Jewish in Israel and here. I want people to know that Israel is always open for them and is a home for them.”
What she is most excited about: “Rosh HaShanah.” Her kindergarten students will be exchanging holiday greeting cards with kindergarten students in Israel through Partnership 2000.
Hobbies: Ballet dancing.
What she wants the community to know about her: “I am always open to suggestions” and hopes she can offer her “opinions and experience of life” to the students.
Adva Peretz
Age: 18
Hometown: Tiberias
Where you can see her: Teaching three, four, and five-year olds at the JCC, working with students at the JCC’s after-school program, and at Congregation Sinai, where she teaches Hebrew and Judaica.
Her goals for the next year: To establish “connections between Israelis and Americans,” as well as to “create a bond” between them and make them realize their relationships are “very important for both of us, because we enrich each other.”
What she is most excited about: “Just being here — every moment! Even a conversation with someone I just meet is very important” as well as “any conversation about Israel.”
Hobbies: “I like to perform,” Peretz said. “When I see the stage, there is a connection between us.” She will be incorporating her skills by teaching folk dancing and directing plays.
Gitit Ables
Age: 19
Hometown: Jerusalem
Where you can see her: Hillel Academy, Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah, and working with the B’nai Akiva youth program.
Her goals for the next year: “To teach Hebrew and enforce the connection to Israel,” as well as to “run and grow” the B’nai Akiva youth group.
What she is most excited about: “The end of the year,” but not because she wants it to be over. “I can’t wait to see what we have accomplished.”
What she wants the community to know about her: “I have really wanted to [be a National Service volunteer] since I can remember.”
Noga Hirsch
Age: 18
Hometown: Beit El, a
settlement right outside of Jerusalem
Where you can see her: Hillel Academy, Anshe Sfard Kehillat Torah, and working with the B’nai Akiva youth program.
Her goals for next year: To “give people here the feeling of Israel” and teach them “why it’s important to be in Israel and to speak Hebrew” as well as to “help B’nai Akiva grow.”
What she is most excited about: Organizing “activities about Israel,” as well as teaching Hebrew and about Jewish holidays.
What she wants the community to know about her: Hirsch was born in Chicago, but her family made aliyah when she was two. The day she arrived in Milwaukee was the 16th anniversary to the day that her family left, and it is the first time she has been back. But she feels at home.
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