May 2008

Dear Friends,

Of the many blessings that we have enjoyed this year as a community, some are more immediately realized and of the moment while others have a more enduring quality. One of our blessings that promises to bear fruit for many years to come is a project that we undertook as a synagogue-community this past November. You may recall that, in my column for November’s bulletin, I shared news of our congregation’s extraordinary opportunity to participate in the Los Angeles Jewish Federation’s Tel Aviv - Los Angeles Partnership. Indeed, this project is one of those blessings whose benefits will be revealed to us for many years to come.

As I mentioned in November, one of the benefits of our participation in this project is that the Partnership will create opportunities for members of all ages and interests, as it unfolds. I also mentioned that the initial portion of the project will center around our 9th and 10th graders in USY High and their families. In the course of their visit in January to Los Angeles, together with a larger delegation from Tel Aviv, Miriam Gol and Atara Bashan, the principal and vice-principal respectively of Ironi Hey public school in Tel Aviv, spent the better part of one day visiting with me, Ami Berlin, Cantor Radwine, and the rest of our staff. In the course of our meetings, we developed shared aspirations and goals for the initial phase of our involvement in the Partnership, the student exchange program for 9th and 10th graders!

Then, just several weeks ago, Ami Berlin led a three-member team of our faculty, including Ely Silverstein and Elise Diamond, on a brief but very active trip to Israel so that they could learn first-hand about the Ironi Hey school in Tel Aviv, its students, and the larger community that it serves. Ami and her team spent time throughout Tel Aviv and Jerusalem with Atara, Miriam, and a group of gracious and welcoming hosts.

Please read more about Ami’s trip in her article in this month’s Bulletin (on page 8). I’m sure that you will find, as I did, that the beginning of our participation in the Jewish Federation’s Los Angeles - Tel Aviv Partnership is every bit as exciting as we would have hoped that it would be and that we are off to a wonderful start!

B’Shalom – With Blessings of Peace and Wholeness,

Rabbi Isaac Jeret

Spiritual Leader