Hey everyone! It’s Eitan Mizrachi and Tom Ram, the shin shinim of 2023-2024.
Over the past year, we experienced it all – we felt excited, sad, grateful, united, and emotional, but no matter what we were together as one strong community.
So how can we summarize such a crazy year in only one article? We will try our best!
We would like to start with a big “toda raba” (thank you) to all of you – the Jewish community of Milwaukee – for being so supportive and welcoming to us. We appreciate your kindness and love, and already miss each and every one of you.
This year had many highlights and moments. We would love to share some of them with you.
One would be our first Shabbat Sing at Milwaukee Jewish Day School. It was Sept. 1, and we were so excited! When we walked in for the first time we felt so loved, saw the amazing and welcoming community of MJDS, and we felt at home.
Another great experience this year was building our “End of the Year” art project with the kids of Gan Ami at the JCC. Interacting with those wonderful kids and staff throughout the year taught us a lot! We were always so happy to come and see everyone!
Two other amazing places that we visited were BBYO Wisconsin and Hillel Milwaukee.
Thank you for welcoming us and giving us a place where we could meet, hang out and make lifelong friends. Our memories together will be forever in our hearts, and we are so grateful we met each and every one of you.
We loved coming to Chai Point and all the interesting conversations we had with those of the golden age in the Jewish community. Celebrating Tu Bishvat and every Kabbalat Shabbat together will be some of our favorite memories.
One of our favorite times at Nicolet High School was when we had a lesson about the color yellow. We talked about the meaning of the color and why it is the color chosen to represent the fight for bringing back the hostages in the current war. Then we made signs with yellow items that called to bring the hostages back home.
We took those signs with us on our break to Israel and put them in Hostages Square in Tel Aviv. It meant so much to us, and we will remember it forever.
We also felt very fortunate to be the first shin shinim to engage with the students at University School of Milwaukee. We had a wonderful time and wanted to thank you for inviting us.
To Congregations Shalom, Emanu-El B’Ne Jeshurun, Sinai, Emanu-El of Waukesha and Beth Israel Ner, thank you for showing us the amazing and unique culture of your congregations. We loved meeting all of the students, and we were honored to be a part of Sunday school and Hebrew school this year. It was wonderful coming to holidays and b’nei mitzvah, and we always felt so welcomed and appreciated.
One of the most important moments for us this year was on Oct. 9, two days after the Oct. 7 massacre. The community gathered together at Congregation Shalom to support Israel and stand united against the horrific attack. Being surrounded by all of you and seeing your support for our country, families and friends was amazing. When we were asked as part of the program to share our stories, we couldn’t even imagine that we would receive such an outpouring of love from all of you. Thank you for making us feel so comfortable to share with you our experiences through this whole year. Since the community event on Oct. 9, it was so important and amazing for us to see you again at other events for Israel. One of the most amazing ones was our flight together to Washington D.C., to support Israel, stand against antisemitism and call to bring back the hostages. It was a day we will never forget!
And of course, we will never forget our amazing host families. They are a part of us forever – Lina and Adam Wallace, Jory and Seth Broidy, Jess and Heather Henrickson, Mike and Gillian Gosman, and all of their wonderful kids!
Thank you for opening your hearts and homes for us. We are so lucky to have you as such a big part of our year! Thank you for unforgettable moments together and so much love! We can’t wait to see you again.
Camp Interlaken JCC – how do you even explain such an incredible experience?
From the wonderful kids to the amazing staff, it was perfect and really made us feel like we are a part of the Interlaken family forever. We will never forget the special times of Shabbat and Havdalah. These special times at camp are surreal.
And we would like to give a huge thank you to the Partnership2Gether program of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation for making this amazing year possible for us!
We would like to say a special thank you to our amazing supervisors:
Einat Oknin (MJDS), Toni Davison Levenberg (Camp Interlaken JCC), Rachael Pollack (Gan Ami), Sarah Yonas (BBYO-Wisconsin Region), Josh Herman and Heni Bizawi (Hillel Milwaukee), Brian Avner (Congregation Shalom), Natalie Black (Congregation Sinai), Susan Cosden (Congregation Emanu-El B’ne Jeshurun) Carrie Barbakoff (Congregation Emanu-El of Waukesha), Allie Barry (Congregation Beth Israel Ner Tamid), and Yael Gal (Nicolet High School)
And we saved the best for last, our Milwaukee Jewish Federation supervisors Susie Rosengarten, who was just like a second mom for us, Tzipi Altman-Shafer, and the amazing Israeli shlicha, Noa Gerassi.
We want to thank you all again, the Milwaukee Jewish community. You are our second family and home for life. Thank you for giving us the most amazing experience that we could ever dream of. We are so grateful that we were able to meet all of you and can’t wait to come see you again!
Remember, goodbyes are not forever. Goodbyes are not the end. They just mean I’ll miss you until we meet again.
Tom and Eitan, shin shinim of 2023-2024.
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