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January 9, 2009
Twinning has many benefits
Har El helps Sderot children attend day camp – and to keep safe.
CYNTHIA RAMSAY
Our Israeli counterparts can be comforted to know that across the globe, we are thinking of them and concerned for them, because, after all, we are still one large Jewish family," said Abraham Katz. "While we live in relative peace and security over here, we should never forget that our brethren in Israel do not have it so good."
Katz is chair of Congregation Har El's Israel committee. In November 2007, his synagogue became twinned with Netzach Israel Ashkelon.
"We were the second Masorti (Conservative) synagogue to begin in Israel; Haifa was the first," said Terri Davis, overseas co-ordinator of the 41-year-old Netzach Israel. "We have 300 family members. We are egalitarian. We have services on Friday evenings and Saturday mornings. We have services in people's home when someone is sitting shivah, as per request of the family."
Netzach Israel has a preschool, an afternoon day-care centre, educational programs, lectures, study groups, a bar/bat mitzvah program, including a special trip to Jerusalem, concerts, special events, events around all the Jewish holidays, as well as Shabbat dinners. They also run a branch of the Noam youth movement, which is for children in the third grade until the army.
"We have over 100 students involved," said Davis. "There are organized programs for the children who are 12 and under. The older children go through a leadership course for a year to become a leader and then the teenagers are leaders for the younger children, until they go into the army. We also have a special group of just teenagers to socialize and do informal educational programs. There are national weekends away and trips during the year. The national Noam office runs a two-week sleep-away camp in Israel that many children attend. We have a scholarship fund for children who can't afford the sleep-away camp and our day camp, as well."
Davis said the synagogue's camp has been running for well over a quarter of a century.
"Up to now, it has been a three-week day camp, from eight to four every day, including breakfast, a hot lunch and a snack in the afternoon," she said. "The children received three trips out of town this year [2008]: they went to the Children's Museum in Holon, the Tnuvah Factory, where they learned how milk and other dairy products are produced, and an orange grove. Last year, they went to the Science Museum in Jerusalem.... The camp runs from ages five to 12 years old," she continued. "It is run by trained staff and leaders of the youth movement. The children go to the pool twice a week. There are all different activities, including music, arts and crafts, nature, origami and special activities. The children have morning services every day.
"We had 135 children attend our camp this past summer; 41 children were from Sderot. All the children from Sderot received a full scholarship to attend the camp and the money had to be raised abroad. An adult had to accompany the children on the bus back and forth every day from Sderot to Ashkelon."
All sponsorships are raised by Conservative synagogues abroad and individual donations, said Davis, who stressed that Conservative and Reform synagogues in Israel do not get any government funding. Har El was one such sponsor.
In explaining why the North Shore synagogue wanted to twin with a congregation in Israel, Katz said, "The motivation was prompted by our desire to have a close link with a congregation in Israel and to hear firsthand from them regarding issues that affect them. In so doing, we could give them a moral boost and they could learn something about us."
The Netzach Israel Ashkelon partnership took place "following a suggestion from Rabbi [Shmuel] Birnham that we create a partnership with an Israeli congregation similar in size to ours. This we did, and Terri Davis and I have been communicating with one another ever since," explained Katz.
"It is part of the Conservative movement's agenda to have North American Conservative congregations become linked with Masorti congregations," explained Birnham, and "Har El, being a Conservative shul, wants to support the Masorti movement in Israel." He said, "the Israelis need to have more models of Judaism that are not Orthodox."
In addition to the programs listed above, Netzach Israel Ashkelon has a tikkun olam program for the approximately 60 soldiers now serving in the army who are connected to the congregation, said Davis. There is a special kiddush in the summer for them and a special prayer for their safety is said every week, she explained. "We run a Shabbat dinner once or twice a year for all the soldiers. We give them three or four goody packages a year.... We try to raise a donation of $100 per soldier."
Davis also spoke of Children's Megillah, a three-way project with a religious school or synagogue program, a school in Ashkelon and her congregation. "There is a study period on Purim ... and drawings for the Megillah are divided in half for Israel and abroad," she said. "There is a big competition on both sides of which drawings are picked and then put in the Megillah.... Our rabbi writes the Megillah and then it is presented to our partner abroad to keep.... We are looking for partners for 2010. We ask for a donation of $7,000 for this project."
The biggest undertaking for which Netzach Israel has been raising money is for specialized windows that don't shatter if a rocket hits them, said Davis. The synagogue has raised money for two new bomb shelters, one of which is already in place. "We are still looking for more funds for two more rooms that need to be done in our building," she said.
It is with this safety concern that Har El first helped Netzach Israel – and which is even more urgent now. Har El responded to the Israeli congregation's "call for help when the shelling from Gaza was at its height earlier this year," said Katz. "Our congregation responded with pledges of close to $2,000, which is quite good, coming from a relatively small congregation as ours. The money was transferred to them via the Jewish Federation [of Greater Vancouver]."
The synagogues do not have any firm future plans for co-operative ventures, said Katz. "However," he added, "we do continue to exchange photographs from our respective schools and many of theirs have been published in our monthly news bulletin, the Har El Star."
"We don't have new projects yet planned with Har El," said Davis. "We would like any of their members to come to Israel to visit us. We would like to keep an ongoing connection and just build up awareness among their members that we exist." She added that donations are appreciated for any project and that, "We've also had bar/bat mitzvah of children from abroad in our synagogue, with families that come to Israel for this special occasion."
While there are no definite plans for future collaboration, Birnham noted that there several ideas under consideration: "We plan to have a sharing of the rabbis' teachings to each other's congregations. We plan to get our youth involved in a pen pal project, from the young kids through the teen years – there is much that they can learn from each other. We plan to have our October-November congregational trip to Israel visit our sister shul, [as] making personal connection will only nurture and deepen the new relationship. We plan to do some fundraising for some of their specific needs."
To support Netzach Israel Ashkelon, donations can be made to the Canadian Foundation for Masorti Judaism, #508-1000 Finch Ave. West, Toronto, ON, M3J 2V5. All donations need to be designated to Kehillat Netzach Israel Ashkelon.
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