“I like to say that I am not a teacher,” says 24-year old Diklah Cohen, the Madison Jewish Community Council’s new shlichah, or Israeli emissary.
Cohen prefers to see herself as “more of a guide.” She will be in Madison for the next year, or potentially two, to teach and organize programs for children of all age groups and college students.
“I don’t like to stand in front of a class and lecture,” she said. Instead, she likes to present material in other “interesting ways.”
For example, when she was told she would be teaching Israeli history to students in an after school program, she developed a lesson she calls “Real people, real music,” because she thinks “the best way to learn about Israel and its society is through modern songs.”
A Jerusalem native, Cohen arrived in Madison on Aug. 11 and is “still trying to adjust in a new environment,” she said.
“I started working right away,” on projects for the University of Wisconsin-Hillel. Cohen will be sharing her time between Hillel and the MJCC, where she has already scheduled meetings with all of the Madison synagogues to learn how she can best work with them.
“I can’t wait to see what other things I can bring to the community from my world,” she said.
Cohen completed her last final exam at Hebrew University just two weeks before traveling to Madison. She earned a bachelor’s degree in Islam, Arabic language and literature and Middle Eastern studies.
Cohen is fluent in both reading and speaking Arabic, and according to Steven Morrison, executive director of the MJCC, “we’ve not had that kind of resource on our staff ever.” He hopes that “at a minimum [it will] help us learn more.”
In addition, Morrison said that Cohen will be continuing “the extraordinary work of our first shlichah,” Shirin Ezekiel, Madison’s first ever shlichah, who recently completed a two-year term.
But, Morrison added, Cohen will bring her unique set of skills and interests. She has, he noted, a “keen interest” in pre-school and elementary school age children, and a “wonderful background in Jewish studies and Jewish education.”
Cohen already has experience with the American Jewish community, having spent three summers working at the summer camp of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Washington.
She also worked in the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Summer Shlichim program, where she helped screen and train shlichim.
All that left Cohen feeling like she needed to “do something more” and to “get involved even more in the Jewish community.” Joining the program as a volunteer, therefore, was a “natural step.”
When she first learned of the Madison opportunity, she said she asked, “Where is Madison? Where is Wisconsin?”
But after learning about the community, Cohen felt it was right for her.
In addition, she discovered that her former boss in JAFI’s summer program grew up in Madison, which she considered “another sign I came to the right place.”
Cohen acknowledges there are challenges ahead. “This is a very political campus,” she said. “All of the different groups are very active.” Yet, “there is so much that can be done.”
“I think it’s one of the first times in my life that I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Cohen admits.
But “I am not here to change anything,” she said. “I just want to see where I can step in and bring my thing.”
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