Great celebration held in P2G region

          It was a great celebration! In honor of Moshe Katz’s completing his five years of service as the Partnership Cluster Chair for our Sovev Kinneret Partnership2Gether region in Israel, more than 200 people gathered in Tiberius on Feb. 3.

          In addition to our cluster partners from Milwaukee and Madison in Wisconsin, St. Paul in Minnesota, Tulsa in Oklahoma and Sovev Kinneret, there were Shin Shinim (young Israel emissaries, participants in the Shnat Sherut Shlishit [Third Year of Service] program) of times gone by, several previous shlichim (Israel emissaries).

          There also were participants in partnership projects and exchanges including the Israeli medical clowns, professional women’s exchange, social workers, Ya’ad Young Leadership and even marathon runners.

          The speeches, skits, dancers and video all represented the level of appreciation that is felt by Sovev Kinneret Cluster Community for Katz’s contributions and leadership.

          During his tenure and with his guidance, P2G in Sovev Kinneret has found its stride. It has reinforced the shutafoot (partnership) vision, developed meaningful programs that touch all levels and age groups of our respective communities and that bring people together in open dialogues.

          Katz has helped the leaders of the Partnership find their common goals, explore the true meaning of klal yisrael and share meaningful experiences that led to enhanced understanding of the essential relationship between our American Jewish communities and Israel.

          Finally, Katz has helped us understand how to actualize “30,000 feet” lofty ideas. Most importantly he has been the conduit and model for building long lasting friendships across our communities.

          Partnership2Gether(P2G) is a program of the Jewish Agency for Israel. It connects some 500 Jewish communities around the world with 46 Israel partnership areas.

          P2G focuses on building “living bridges” among these communities by creating opportunities for personal interactions, thereby strengthening understanding between Israeli and world-wide communities and building people-to-people relationships.

          The Milwaukee Jewish Federation has been involved in P2G for the last 14 years, partnering with the Sovev Kinneret Region in conjunction with cluster city partners St Paul, Tulsa and, as of 2014, the Jewish Federation of Madison.

          Pnina Goldfarb is Milwaukee’s Partnership2Gether chair.