Partnering with purpose

A GROUP of 16 Israeli students from Israel’s Central Arava region touched down in Australia this week as part of the Partnership 2000 project.

An initiative of the United Israel Appeal and the Jewish National Fund to help develop mutual relationships between Diaspora and Israeli communities, it is the 12th time students from the Shittim School have visited Australia.

Marking the culmination of their Diaspora studies, the students gain first-hand knowledge of how the community expresses its Jewish identity.

“It is important for the connection between Jewish people who are in the Diaspora. Most people want to have a connection with Israel and this allows for something more personal. It’s all about the people,” accompanying teacher Denise Teva told The AJN while touring Melbourne’s Jewish Holocaust Centre with her group.

The 16-year-olds, in their summer holiday between year 10 and year 11, were billeted to families from Bialik College in Melbourne and Emmanuel School in Sydney. They also spent time with students from other Jewish schools and discovered many of the Jewish sites in the two cities during their two-and-a-half week visit.

For Yarden Abecassis, taking part in the trip was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
“It’s important to be connected with people in Australia and to stay in touch because we are all Jews,” she said.

Her classmate Niv Raz agreed, adding that while he expected Australia to be good, it had far exceeded his expectations. “It’s a really cool experience.”

Both Bialik and Emmanuel send groups to the Arava during the year 10 school trip to Israel. The exchange has formed part of the curriculum at each of the schools as an element of Israel-Diaspora studies.

To continue the exchange, two teachers from the Arava will remain in Melbourne and Sydney to spend additional weeks teaching at Bialik and Masada College respectively. It is the second time the Israeli school has sent teachers as part of the reciprocal teacher exchange that began in 2006.

DALIA SABLE