Last weekend we hosted in Ramat Hanegev Colorado students, participants in various Masa programs in Israel. The students took part in joint activity with young adults from Ramat Hanegev.

The program aims to assist the five community villages in the Pitchat Nitzana region, each village separately, as well as the region as a whole; cultivating substantial community resilience so as to address the needs of the border communities, which are under the present security threat.

Many community resilience efforts and programs have been written (sadly) in the Western Negev region; and we want to apply the lessons learned from the region of Sederot and Otef Aza (surrounding the Gaza Strip) and implement them in Pitchat Nitzana.

Our main goal is to create an atmosphere of resilience and empowerment for the community in the Pitchat Nitzana area, in order to preserve the community villages’ resilience and continue the momentum of absorbing newcomers in the villages.

Temple Sinai delegation at Nitzana

We recently hosted two delegations from Denver congregations – Temple Emmanuel and Temple Sinai. Afterwards they told us that their visit to the Negev was one of the highlights of their entire Israel tour.

The first delegation, from Temple Emmanuel, headed by Rabbi Joe Black of the Denver reform congregation, was the largest delegation from Denver to visit Israel this year.

The group toured the country for a week and dedicated an entire day to Ramat Hanegev. This is their first time that Ramat Hanegev was included in their itinerary. This may be the result of Shmulik Rifman’s visit to the temple last year and a work meeting with Rabbi Black that included several issues for cooperation. Rabbi Black led a delegation of 36 visitors from his reform congregation. The group members visited various tourist attractions, rode on camels, toured the agricultural R&D experimental station and Shanty House, and were hosted for coffee and light refreshments by families at Midreshet Ben-Gurion. For most of the visitors this was their first time in Israel and the desert experience was foreign and new for them. Their enthusiastic reactions were heard throughout the tour, enthusiasm towards the pioneering efforts and creativity of the local people and their work, their spirit and their vision. We hope that this first delegation from the large reform congregation of Temple Emmanuel is a sign of good things to come.

Three days after the Temple Emmanuel visit, we were privileged to host a delegation from Temple Sinai, another reform synagogue from Denver, with a large congregation that visits Israel annually. They, too, had never been to Ramat Hanegev before and this was the first time they agreed to leave Jerusalem behind for one day and come to visit us. This delegation of 22 people was headed by Rabbi Rick Rheins and his wife, Susan. Their visit included the agricultural R&D experimental station, Nitzana and the surrounding area and ended at the Ayalim student village, visiting local families in the community-village of Ashalim. This delegation also left with elation and enthusiasm spurred by the fantastic activities taking place in Ramat Hanegev.

Although we received their reactions “in real time” throughout the tour, many appreciative e-mails arrived later, including this one:

Shalom Raz,

I would like to thank you for organizing and leading our wonderful experience in Ramat Hanegev. Truly, it was a highlight of the trip, and on our return to Yerushalayim the bus was abuzz with everyone sharing their impressions of the day and their experiences in Ashalim. Rick joins me in expressing our deepest appreciation, and we look forward to visiting Ramat Hanegev on future Temple Sinai trips to Israel.

Chag Pesach Sameiach to you and your family, as well as to all our wonderful hosts at Mitzpeh Revivim, Nitzana, Ayalim and Ashalim!

Susan

The Ayalim Association was established to encourage university students to settle in Israel’s “Periphery” — the Galilee in the North, and the Negev in the South. The first Ayalim student village was built in Ramat Negev thanks to $80,000 in seed money provided by the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado’s Venture Israel Philanthropy (VIP) Fund. Since then, the village has been receiving an annual transportation subsidy from Federation’s Partnership2Gether allocation to provide bus service to and from the village and Ben Gurion University in Beersheva. Today, the Ayalim Association includes 500 student participants living in thirteen student villages. Each student resident must perform ten hours of community service in the village each week in order to reside there.

For further information about getting involved with the Partnership please contact
Raz Arbel
08-6564184

The Nitzana Youth Aliyah Village provides a homeaway-from-home for teenage immigrants to Israel from Ethiopia and the Former Soviet Union. Since 1999, the Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado has been providing annual support equal to as much as 25% of the village’s budget. Those dollars have primarily funded two specific programs:

1) Kedma is a program for new immigrants from Ethiopia from 16 to 18 years-of-age. It includes a very high level of study in math, English, and computer technology to prepare them for matriculation to either university or the Army. Through Kedma, we are building the next leadership group for the Ethiopian community in Israel.

2) Selah is a program for selected students between the ages of 17 and 23 from the Former Soviet Union. These students have immigrated to Israel before their parents and spend one year participating in a very high level of study at Nitzana that will prepare them to enter university and build a life in Israel so that they can, in turn, bring their parents and other family members to join them.

The Hebrew Immersion Program (HIP) is a special program that began in 2006 as a collaboration between Herzl/RMHA at the Denver Campus for Jewish Education and Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado’s Partnership2Gether initiative in Ramat Negev. The goal of the program is to improve the Hebrew language skills for the Herzl/RMHA’s 10th grade students. For six weeks each year, during the months of November and December, these students live with high school students in Ramat Negev’s Ben-Gurion Village and study with them at Ramat Negev’s Environmental High School. Their curriculum combines Hebrew lessons in the mornings with social/educational activities in the afternoons. The results have shown that this method of education has been very effective in developing the Hebrew language skills of the Herzl/RMHA students. The program has also succeeded in creating strong bonds between the youth of Ramat Negev and the youth of Colorado. In addition, the program has proven to be an incentive for families to choose Herzl/RMHA and to keep their children in the school.

For more than 35 years, Jewish teens from across Colorado have been traveling to Israel via the Israel Study Tour. For several weeks each summer, this community trip builds the participants’ Jewish identity and connection to Israel. The trip includes a stop in Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado’s Partnership2Gether region of Ramat Negev, where Colorado teens are able to spend time with and forge relationships with their Israeli counterparts. Through our Israel, National, and Overseas Center, Federation has historically provided $2000 subsidies to each teen participating in the program. Past participants have gone on to serve in a variety of leadership roles throughout the Jewish community as adults.