AMBASSADORS FOR UNITY: FEELING NEW KINSHIP WITH AMERICANS
by Maya Shemesh, Published in Cleveland Jewish News

As Jews, we have been haunted throughout history, and many of us have returned to our homeland, to the land of Israel. However, there are also many Jews living overseas in communities around the world.

As teenagers in Beit She'an, some of us decided that if we want to meet you and to know you (Diaspora Jews), we must speak to you. We must understand how you live as Jews in a foreign country. And that is exactly what we did in our mission as Ambassadors for Unity to Cleveland.

Our journey was fascinating. I learned that it's not easy to be a Jew in the United States. We met Jewish teenagers who go to public schools, private schools and Jewish schools. These teens tried to show us, from their own perspectives, their daily lives - how they cope and live in a society where the majority is not Jewish. We also met with older and younger members of Cleveland's Jewish community.

We learned about the Jewish Community Center; we met our peers at Akiva High School; and we had an interesting meeting at Hillel. My friends and I were very impressed by the warmth and love that we felt in Cleveland toward us, and for the Jews in Israel.

We learned that there isn't only one way in Judaism. We all share basic core values, but we all connect to our Jewish identity in different ways. We learned these lessons while meeting Orthodox, Conservative and Reform Jews.

We gained tremendously from the Ambassadors for Unity program, sponsored by the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland and Jewish Agency for Israel. I'd go so far as to say that our perspective on Israel has changed. We learned to value our life here in the Jewish state in a different and more meaningful way than we had before we came to Cleveland.

Nor can we forget the fun and shared experiences we had with our new friends in Cleveland, the American Ambassadors for Unity. They have been a wonderful family to us, and this is, in essence, what we are, as Jews of the world: one big family.

Maya Shemesh, 16, was one of 16 Israeli teens who visited Cleveland on the Ambassador for Unity program March 26-April 3. Eight Clevelanders returned with them to Israel for a week. Ambassadors for Unity is part of the Partnership 2000 program of the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland and the Jewish Agency for Israel, which is establishing close links between Cleveland and the Beit She'an Region. Its activities are funded by the Jewish Welfare fund Appeal: The Campaign for Jewish Needs.

Iyar 5761 - April 2001