By Amichay Findling, Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor
The long-standing partnership between the Jewish community of greater Ann Arbor and Moshav Nahalal in Israel was established more than a decade ago and has enriched both communities. Examples of past collaborations include joint programs for elementary school students at the Hebrew Day School of Ann Arbor and Nahalal Elementary; teen student exchange programs; reciprocal visits; and various online programs to share our cultures with one another and deepen the connection between Israel and the diaspora. This partnership is made possible through a collaboration between the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor and the international Jewish Agency for Israel.
During this long war still raging in Israel, the residents of Nahalal have been fortunate to neither be targeted by missiles from Hezbollah up north nor Hamas down south. However, for the last few months, the alarm sirens have still been sounding their alerting howls in Nahalal, sometimes on a daily basis, with rockets and drones aimed at a nearby military base hitting the Moshav’s surroundings.
In these rough times, some of the collaborative programs usually held with our two communities—such as the Student Exchange program that sends Ann Arbor area high school students to Israel for spring break—are not currently possible. But other activities, especially those that can bring light in these dark times, are still possible, and are more important than ever.
School twinning: Oct. 7 lantern project
To commemorate Oct. 7 at Hebrew Day School (HDS), Ann Arbor’s ShinShinim (Israeli gap year volunteers) created a special activity for students in 3rd-5th grade. This project aimed to send messages of hope and spread light to their friends in Nahalal. The HDS students created paper lanterns and wrote messages to their peers in Hebrew and in English, then mailed them to Nahalal Elementary. Once they received the lanterns, the Nahalal students assembled and hung them in their classrooms, spreading light through partnership.
Coming soon: A family “Box Project”
The Partnership 2gether committee of the Jewish Federation, which leads activities between our two partner communities, is starting a new “Box Project” for families. The project will connect Ann Arbor families with Nahalal families by sending surprise boxes to the Israeli families, giving them some joy and light in those difficult days. This project is specially designed to connect families with children and teenagers in the house with one another. Every participating local family will be connected to an Israeli family, and the box will be their creative way to initiate a relationship.
For further details on the Box Project, or to get involved with future Partnership2gether activities, contact Federation’s Israel and Overseas Program Manager Amichay Findling at amichay@jewishannarbor.org.
More news and projects with our partnership community will be announced later in winter and spring 2025.