I’ve been working at the Milwaukee Jewish Federation as a graphic designer for almost five years. I’m not Jewish, but because of the nature of my work and my avid interest in Judaism, I’ve gained a good grasp of the culture, its people, religion and rituals.
It’s where I learned about our Partnership 2000 (P2K) region, where Milwaukee, St. Paul and Tulsa share a special relationship with the area around the Sea of Galilee — Sovev Kinneret — which includes Tiberias, the Jordan Valley and the Lower Galilee.
I was working on an informational brochure for P2K this past spring. In fact, one of the pictures I used in the piece became my desktop image on my work computer.
It was of a man standing in front of an array of paintings at the Handicapped Soldier Center in Tiberias. Little did I know then that I would actually volunteer in the region seven months later and meet that very same artist, David.
While designing an ad about the P2K “Face2Face” Program for The Chronicle last summer, I became intrigued and asked for more information. This November, I transformed those two-dimensional views of the program to a real-life personal experience. One of five volunteers, I traveled to Israel Nov. 1-13.
I had been to Jerusalem before, as a tourist, but waking up to hear friendly “boker tov”s on the grounds of Hodayot Youth Village (a religious boarding school for teens in the Tiberias area) and the personal relationships I developed with Israelis of different ages and backgrounds has enriched my life much more than any tourist experience could.
Our very diverse volunteer team was composed of four Milwaukee women and a 23-year-old man from St. Paul. We found ourselves becoming more flexible day-by-day with new experiences and bonded as a team.
Our experiences included: working with soldiers on two army bases and hearing about their roles in the service; crafting hamsas with elderly Ethiopian women at the Restal Absorption Center; individualizing our lessons to teach English with at-risk teens from Ethiopia, Russia and Israel in the Hodayot school; and visiting the Yarden Handicapped Soldier Center, a nurturing environment that utilizes the arts as therapy for soldiers afflicted with physical and/or mental challenges.
I heard many stories of human hardship and saw first-hand the amazing degree to which human stamina is built into us. Our inner strength helps us to withstand our personal difficulties and change our lives for the better.
The person who taught me this invaluable life lesson most powerfully was Moris, a 51-year-old man in the woodworking room at the Handicapped Soldier Center.
He touched my soul the moment I started to engage with him. On one side, his head was distorted and it appeared that he had the use of only one eye. Because of his hearing impairment, he gestured to me to speak into his right ear. He held a slate with the Hebrew alphabet on one side and the English alphabet on the other.
Moris had a gentle and sweet-natured spirit about him as he pointed to the alphabet to construct correctly spelled and coherent sentences. He told me his name and that he was from London. He spelled my name correctly and said he was happy to meet me. He told me that his physical accident happened in 1976 but he didn’t go into details.
Feeling a little teary eyed, I walked into the adjacent room, where other very talented soldiers were painting great works of art. Inspired by them, I felt a need to create something for Moris on paper. I wrote a message, embellished it with a floral design and signed it. I left it with him and his eyes just shined.
Later on, Moris’ caretaker, his sister, came by to greet me, and I heard a little of his story. When Moris was 18 and serving in the IDF, his closest friend had some kind of mental breakdown and shot Moris in the head, leaving him unable to speak or walk. He has since gone through various therapies and comes to the center to create beautifully crafted wood projects.
I will forever treasure this experience. It is a testament to the power of volunteering; by reaching out to others, we cannot only make a difference in their lives but we come out richer and fuller.
Barbara Budish is a graphic designer in the marketing department of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation.
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