YOUTH CELEBRATE TU B'SHVAT BY VIDEOCONFERENCE

Forty-six white-shirted 6th and 7th grade girls sat around long tables enjoying a Tu Bishvat (New Year of the Trees) seder (meal) this morning. Although the holiday doesn't begin until Friday evening, they enjoyed grape juice and typical fruits of Israel in honor of the land. They took turns singing, playing instruments and giving divrei torah (comments on biblical text).

When the hour-long program ended, the girls, all wearing white shirts, got up and went back to their prospective schools, 21 to their classes at Fuchs Mizrachi School in University Heights, Ohio, and 25 to their classes at the Shaked school on Kibbutz Sdei Eliyahu in the Bet She'an valley, Israel.

The seder, held here in a multimedia room at the Siegal College of Jewish Studies in Beachwood, was led by Tami Goldberg, Chair of the FMS Middle and Upper School Hebrew department, and Rabbi Yehuda Tropper, Head of the Shaked school. The program was made possible by Partnership 2000, a Jewish Community Federation initiative. Maury Greenberg, Director of Professional Development and Educational Technology at the Jewish Education Center of Cleveland, coordinated the event as part of the school twinning project between Cleveland and Bet She'an. Kobi Tav at JCF is another coordinator on this project.

The experience was exciting for all the girls from both schools who are pen pals but have never seen each other. Sarit Toltzis, a 7th grader at FMS, insisted on giving an exuberant hello to her pen pal, Lulu, a 7th grader at Shaked.

The FMS girls are sensitive to the situation in Israel and that of the girls in the Bet She'an Valley. Talia Stark, a FMS 7th grader, wished a speedy recovery to those hurt in the recent terrorist attack in Bet She'an, some of whom are related to the girls at Shaked.

Tammi Senders, a 6th grader at FMS, asked the girls in Israel to think of them when they go to plant trees later today. Tammi pointed out that planting trees in Israel on Tu Bishvat is a biblical commandment that can only be achieved in Israel. "It was really exciting to meet girls that have the same interests as us," said Tammi. "I really want to go there."

Many of the girls from both schools sang, and Rebecca Borison, a 7th grader at FMS, performed a popular Israeli song, "Al Kol Eleh" by Naomi Shemer on the flute. Despite the thousands of miles separating the girls, they bridged the distance with a typical American "wave," beginning in Cleveland and ending in Israel. Rabbi Tropper, who taught at FMS a few years ago as part of the Torah Tzion Kollel, said that although the girls could connect in this way, the only way to really connect would be to come to Israel.

This is something Israeli-born Tami Goldberg wishes for. Given the resources, she would love to take all the girls to Israel for a bat mitzvah trip, including her 6th grade daughter, Yehudit.

Shvat 5763 - January 2003