Milwaukee’s observance of Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s Memorial Day, usually includes the lighting of candles to honor fallen soldiers. This year, visitors from Israel lit the candles in memory of their own loved ones whose lives were lost at war.
The visitors are participants in Ya’ad Shay Shoshany, a leadership training program for young adults from Israel’s Sovev Kinneret (“around Lake Kinneret”) area, the Parnership2Gether region for the Milwaukee Jewish Federation and the Jewish Federation of Madison, plus the Jewish communities of Tulsa, Okla., and St. Paul, Minn.
Their visit is part of an exchange with participants in Milwaukee’s George Weinstein Young Leadership program who had already visited their counterparts in Israel.
Of the 67 Israeli soldiers killed in Operation Protective Edge last summer, four came from Sovev Kinneret. The Ya’ad participants made videos about the four solders’ lives in collaboration with students from Kinneret College. They also created notebooks in which Milwaukeeans can write letters to the soldiers’ families.
In addition to making Yom HaZikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel’s Independence Day) more meaningful, the Ya’ad delegates immersed themselves in Milwaukee’s Jewish and secular communities.
Their week-long trip included visits to the Urban Ecology Center’s Menomonee Valley and Riverside locations, participation in the Milwaukee Jewish Day School’s Shabbat Sing and BBYO’s Oneg Shabbat, attending a Brewers game and batting practice at Miller Park, and a run (or two) to Kopp’s for frozen custard.
The idea behind the young Israelis’ trip is that creating bonds with Israel happens through people-to-people connections. This is the mission of Partnership2Gether, a program of the Jewish Federations of North America and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which organizes exchanges and programs that foster these one-on-one connections.
“Before the Partnership, the only Israelis that visitors to Israel met were their guide and their driver who didn’t speak English,” said Jane Gellman, who was the first Milwaukee chair of the program nearly two decades ago. “I think the real connection with Israel is between people, and not between people and the government. It’s beautiful because politics doesn’t matter.”
Nancy Kennedy Barnett, chair of the MJF’s Israel and Overseas Committee, calls the people-to-people connection “the glue that holds us together.”
Some of those connections were made when the Israelis visited Hillel Milwaukee on the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus. Jake Velleman, MJF outreach coordinator, prepared several questions to facilitate a discussion between the Israelis and Jewish students.
Velleman said his preparation was unnecessary because of the natural and immediate connections that occurred.
“The Israelis were genuinely interested in what the students had to say,” said Velleman. “They discussed the students’ experiences with anti-Semitism, the tendency for American Jews to assign labels to their Jewish identity, and how Jewish identity is expressed in Israel.”
Another stop on the itinerary was Chai Point Senior Living. Ya’ad participants Omri and Dikla Lerner made an immediate connection with Chai Point resident Gitel Forman.
“We talked about our families and our homes,” Forman said. “Then I took them to see my apartment. They loved it, and I do too.”
The Lerners live in the Jordan Valley with their daughters, Inbar and Gal. Omri oversees manufacturing operations at a company that produces art glass, and Dikla is an administrator at a law firm.
They wouldn’t leave Chai Point until they had a chance to share hugs with their new friend. As the Lerners finally walked away, Forman said, “Wonderful people. Just wonderful.”
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