Bringing It Home: Introducing Young Israeli Emissaries to American Jewish Life

160 young Jewish Agency shlichim will participate in a New York seminar aimed at introducing them to American Jewish life and inspiring them to remain engaged and serve as a link to world Jewry upon their return to Israel. The “Bringing It Home” 3 day seminar is being organized by The Jewish Agency for Israel with significant support from UJA-Federation of New York. The seminar curriculum is being provided by The Jewish Agency’s Makom unit.

Every year, The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Summer Shlichim Program sends more than 1,100 young Israelis to more than 200 Jewish summer camps across North America, where they engage in a vast range of educational activities and provide campers and staff with a personal connection to Israel. This year, as shlichim return from summer camps throughout the greater New York area, they will participate in an intensive leadership seminar aimed at presenting the powerful, multi-dimensional experience of thriving American Jewish life, inspiring the young Israelis to remain active and engaged upon their return home to Israel. In the wake of the recent conflict in Israel, this program aims to strengthen the relationship between world Jewry and Israel and serve as an inspiration for unity for Jews worldwide.

The “Bringing it Home” seminar is part of a continuum of seminars aimed at enabling summer camp shlichim to make the most of their experiences abroad and integrate those experiences in their lives back home. With training beginning in Kibbutz Shefayim in March, their education will continue after the August seminar with a follow-up seminar in Israel in November focusing on translating their summer experiences into social activism in Israeli society and greater engagement in global Jewish life.

“The goal of the Bringing It Home seminar is threefold,” says Eran Berkovich, Director of Short Term Shlichut at The Jewish Agency for Israel. “We aim to enable shlichim to reflect upon their experiences at camp as Israelis in the diaspora, to expose them to the rich diversity of Jewish communities in New York, and to empower them with the knowledge that The Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish community of New York, via the UJA Federation of New York, have invested in them and continue to be invested in their future.”