article courtesy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles

Israelis and American Jews live in very different realities. Israelis live in dangerous neighborhoods, combat terrorism on a daily basis and, every few years, deal with a major war on their own soil.

The American experience is not the same. While America has not been immune from terrorism, and Americans are not completely isolated from existential threats around the world, on a daily basis, Americans conduct their regular routines without the constant interruption of terrorism.

And it is not just our daily lives that differ. Israelis and American Jews also have very different religious experiences. Eighty percent of Israelis are secular and have little knowledge of ritual Judaism. If a secular Israeli visits a synagogue, it is mostly out of obligation and most certainly through the orthodox stream. The organized American Jewish community, with multiple, widely-accepted streams of Judaism, has more choices. American Jews choose to be religious less out of obligation and more out of interest in their heritage and culture.

So how do these two very different Jewish communities connect, and why is it important that the connection is maintained and fostered?

These were some of the questions and part of the discussion that took place recently in Tel Aviv when a group of 22 senior leaders from Temple Judea in Los Angeles met with 9th and 10th graders from Ironi Yud-Daled High School under the auspices of The Jewish Federation's Tel Aviv/Los Angeles Partnership School Twinning Program.

Temple Judea, located in West Hills, with a congregation of more than 1,200 families, has always enjoyed a strong connection to Israel, said Senior Rabbi Don Goor. When the opportunity arose a few years ago begin a partnership between the Hebrew school students and a high school in Tel Aviv, it was a natural for temple leaders to agree.

"It is very hard to teach Israel," said Rabbi Goor, whose synagogue's afternoon Hebrew school has a unique twinning with the high school students at Eroni Yud-Daled High School in Tel Aviv. "The Partnership program creates an emotional bond with Israel. A big light bulb turns on for the American kids - they realize that the Israelis are a lot like them. Their impressions of Israel before the Partnership are all about war. After being with Israeli teenagers for a couple of weeks, they discover they share a great deal in common."

As part of the annual Temple Judea leadership mission to Israel, The Jewish Federation's Israel office arranged for the group to meet with the Israeli exchange students who had previously spent two weeks with Temple Judea students in Los Angeles last December.

"The students had an incredible experience in Los Angeles," shared Tsippi Levy, who coordinates the School Twinning program for Ironi Yud Daled, as she started off the discussion between Temple members and the students at the high school. "Our students have grown from this experience and we are very thankful to have this wonderful program in our school."

Temple members met with two separate groups of students.  The first group was 10th graders from the high school's English class and the second group was 9th graders who had been to Los Angeles.  The students discussed their experiences in Los Angeles and their views about growing-up in Israeli society.

"Do you ever visit the Kotel?" said Gary Luboff, a former Temple president and a first-time visitor to Israel. "What does it mean to you?"

"I have been there before, but we don't visit there very often," replied 10th grader Tomer Lin, whose German grandparents survived the Holocaust. "I don't really feel connected to that place [the Western Wall or Kotel in Hebrew]. There are so many extreme religious people there and they do not consider us to be Jewish. There is a very big gap here been religious people and secular."

Luboff dialogued with the three 10th graders about their own religious views, the separation in Israeli society between orthodox and secular and their own religious experience in Israel.  Interestingly, all the young men were Bar Mitzvahed and knew a great deal of religious Jewish history.  However, they did not consider themselves observant and really saw religion in a negative light. They did not really understand a pluralistic viewpoint and not one had ever been exposed to Reform or Conservative Judaism.

The second group of students the group met with had been to Los Angeles and had been influenced by the pluralistic nature of the program. The students sat in a large circle with the congregants from Temple Judea and spoke very positively about their experience.

"It was nice to go to the synagogue on Shabbat," said one young woman. "We were able to sing together and enjoy Shabbat in a very different way. It made us look at things differently."

Many of the twinning students commented on how they had been influenced by the families they stayed with and how commendable it was to choose to practice Judaism in a more open way. The students discussed the close bonds they formed with the American students and their deep desire to continue those relationships into the future. The Temple Judea students are scheduled to visit Israel this spring.

"This is a visionary program the Federation runs," said Rabbi Goor. "I think the Federation has given us one of the biggest gifts in terms of our connection to Israel. When the Israeli kids stood up at Shabbat services, every person in the room felt connected to Israel. That is powerful." Goor added that in the future, he would like to work with the Federation on creating an exchange between the parents as well as the kids.