Partnership Youth Task Force Update

Orlando/Kiryat Motzkin Partnership Youth Task Force Update
David Brent, Task Force Chair

The Youth Task Force is currently running four programs:
1) GOSIE Teen Ambassador summer trip to Israel
2) Kova Tembel Israeli teen visit to Orlando
3) HDS/Netanyahu Junior High School partnership
4) Karkal Army Base adoption


The GOSIE program is a three week all inclusive trip to Israel for 10th-12th graders. The trip includes 10 days of traveling with teens from Kiryat Motzkin. The Orlando teens will be hosted for one week in Kiryat Motzkin. The Youth Task force is currently marketing the program to Orlando area teens.

Our goal is to get 25 teens to participate and our minimum number is 15. We have begun developing an itinerary and have been quoted an excellent price from Tourico of $2950 per teen. We plan on conducting interviews of the eligible Orlando teens by the end of February. Michal Osteen and I will be interviewing Kiryat Motzkin teens prior to the partnership steering committee meetings in Motzkin this March. Erica Hruby from Orlando and Shirlee Lampel from Kiryat Motzkin are leading this program.

The Kova Tembel teen visit program is scheduled to take place the end of April. We held the first meeting of the hospitality committee last week. The committee includes Sharon Silver, Patti Albertson, Melanie Dolan, Lisa Maisel, Michal Osteen, Erica Hruby and myself. We are working on the itinerary and home hospitality hosting assignments.

The HDS/Netanyahu program partners HDS middle school students with the same age students at the Yonaton Netanyahu Junior High School in Kiryat Motzkin. The students are sharing pictures and letters via the internet. This program will culminate with the HDS 8th grade trip to Israel in the spring when the 8th graders will get to meet their partners in Kiryat Motzkin face to face. Fanny Sernik and Susan Cohen from HDS are coordinating this program with Ziva Oreny and Louis Malul of Kiryat Motzkin.

The Karkal Army Base adoption program got off to a jump start as the Orlando community sought a path to show their support to Israel during the Gaza conflict. 7th graders at Congregation Ohev Shalom wrote letters to the soldiers that were joined with sweets collected in Kiryat Motzkin. Soldiers from the Karkal base drove a truck to Motzkin to collect the packages of candies. Louise Malul in Kiryat Motzkin and Ava Maxwell in Orlando are heading up this program.

Ava Maxwell has also been receiving donations to support this program. The donations are being made to the Federation and are transferred directly to the UJC and from there to Kiryat Motzkin to help subsidize future gift baskets. This February, the Choices program will also make a donation to this program in honor of the attendees. In the summer, our teens will visit the base during the GOSIE trip.

The best Shana Tova card ever!

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Shana Tova! Happy New Year!

Dear Partnership 2000 Family,

From our family to yours, wishing you a very sweet new year.
A year of dialogue & engagement.
A year of partnership & shared vision.
A year of health, happiness and naches…

Shana tova,
Andrea

Andrea Arbel
Director
Division of Partnerships
Jewish Agency for Israel

Happy New Year: From The Students of Mashal Center

The following New Year's wishes came from the Mashal Center, whose children we support in Kiryat Motzkin:

To all of the Orlando Jewish community and their families:

We send you our best wishes for a Happy New Year and our deepest THANK YOU for your generosity and thoughtfulness. We wish all of you health, happiness, and wonderful things!

From the students of Mashal Center and their families, and staff.

למיכל היקרה, לכל חברי הקהילה היהודית באורלנדו ולכל בני ביתם,

שלוחה ברכה זו, מלב אסיר תודה, לכבוד ראש השנה תשס"ט:



איחולי שנה טובה ומוצלחת.

שנת בריאות, אושר ונחת,

שנה של שגשוג וצמיחה,

שנה של אור ושמחה -

ותודות לרוב על כל התמיכה !



בתודה, בהערכה ובהוקרה,

תלמידי קרית מוצקין המטופלים בזכותכם במ.ש.ל, משפחותיהם,

צוות המרכז לשיפור למידה ותמי כנען-הרפז

Hello Orlando from 8th graders in Kiryat Motzkin

To visit their website, Click Here.

From Lea Ganor about The JCC Seniors Visit

Yesterday we had the honor to host Orlando’s JCC Seniors in the “Mashmaut” Center in Kiryat Motzkin.

The Mashmaut Center stands for our Jewish heritage, the Holocaust, our traditions, values, and rebirth.

In Kiryat Motzkin, it was such an amazing experience to meet the people from Orlando and to tell them about our goals of the Mashmaut Center.

It was wonderful to see that we have so much in common! The group of the JCC Seniors met Holocaust survivors that volunteer in our center. These survivors volunteer in our community by telling their personal stories to the young generations here in Kiryat Motzkin.

The JCC Seniors from Orlando met seniors from our community that volunteer in the center and throughout Kiryat Motzkin. One of the Holocaust survivors from Schindler’s list, Aviva Nisbaum, showed to the group pictures with Oscar Schindler.

The guests from Orlando asked to know more and more about the Mashmaut Center, so in the evening there was a wonderful dinner that we held at the Center. At this dinner, the guests from Orlando were sitting together with people they met only hours before, and yet they were speaking to one another as though they know each other for years. I was deeply touched to see how people spent hours talking in Yiddish sharing an amazing evening together.

I will never forget these moments from watching these two groups interact together. It was very moving to hear from one woman who said to me she visited Israel several times, but she never had such a special experience like she had on this day.

The highlight of the dinner was when the guests danced with Kova-Tembel group, and also with the volunteers and Holocaust survivors. From myself, the staff of the Mashmaut Center, the Holocaust survivors, all from all of our volunteers, we will never forget this wonderful and moving visit from this delegation from Orlando in Kiryat Motzkin.

We wish to have more and more visits like this in the future.

Happy New Year, Shana Tova!

Lea Ganor

Director of the “Mashmaut” Center in Kiryat Motzkin
Youth Task Force Chair
Orlando/Kiryat Motzkin Partnership

A Note From Eyal Oren in Kiryat Motzkin:

The note below is from Eyal Oren, Chair of the Israeli Steering Committee in Kiryat Motzkin for our Partnership 2000 Program:

Today we had the most emotional day when the Orlando JCC's Seniors, also known as "The 39ers," were visiting Kiryat Motzkin. I was so touched that I ended up crying, and it is not easy to make an Israeli man cry!

We started off the day visiting a school here in Kiryat Motzkin. There we were greeted by little children waving Israeli flags and the sound of a blowing Shofar..."Welcome to Kiryat Motzkin! Your family in Israel." After that, we all sang Hatikvah together, Americans and Israelis together. It was so amazing for ALL of us!

One woman from Orlando's 39ers group came up to me. She took my hand and said, "I never thought I would feel this way. Thank you for the feeling you just let me experience,” she said. “I have cancer and who knows how much longer I have to live. I never thought I would experience these feelings that I experienced. Today was one of the best days in my life." The 39ers then went and spent part of their day with the seniors of Kiryat Motzkin, their counterparts in Israel. They all sang together, interacting with one other, and sharing stories.

The 39ers visited important projects and programs funded by the Orlando Jewish Federation. Later that afternoon they visited the Kiryat Motzkin Holocaust Center, where they met with Holocaust survivors, hearing stories from the local citizens and staff. In the evening, everyone gathered together sharing dinner and stories of the day. It was an amazing experience for all of us!

Eyal Oren
Chair of the Israeli Steering Committee
Partnership 2000 Program with Kiryat Motzkin & Orlando