By Joel Magalnick, Editor, JTNews
Israelis today live in straw huts and travel from city to city by camel. At least that’s the picture that some children have of the Jewish State from the other side of the world.
Day campers at the Stroum Jewish Community Center this summer have learned how people really live, courtesy of three counselors that have been brought in from Israel. The teens, Mor Bar Sheshet, 18, Netanella Weiss, 18, and Hava Tizazu, 19, all of whom hail from the Kiryat Malachi/Hof Ashkelon region of Southern Israel, are teaching children about their homeland and what it means to live in the Jewish State.
The three are part of a group of 20 counselors that are working at camps along the West Coast, as a part of the Federation system’s Partnership 2000 initiative. The process to be selected for these jobs was difficult, and there was a lot of competition, but ultimately they say the process was worth it.
“We had an interview, then if you passed the interview, you had workshops where they tested your leadership, how you connect with a group, and then your English skills,” said Hava. For more than a month, they spent four hours a day, once a week, training for their positions.
All three have been enjoying their first visit to the Pacific Northwest thus far. They are staying with families on Mercer Island, so they can easily get to work in the morning, but they have managed to find some time to travel to downtown Seattle and Bellevue Square, meet people their age at the synagogues on Mercer Island. They have used their free time to see the differences between where they live and homes away from home. Mor even got to climb Mt. Rainier.
Netanella has been staying with Moti Krauthammer, one of the hosts of “Shmooze Radio,” so she explained how she got to go onto the show and talk about the experience of living in her homeland.
Working with kids at the JCC has been an enjoyable experience for the three. The ages of the children they work with are 5-8, so while much of what they teach is not too in-depth, they are able to dispel certain notions, like modes of transportation, for instance.
“It’s important, because they learn about Israel in a different way, because when they think about Israel they think about the old days of Israel,” she said.
“Like in the Bible,” chimed in Mor.
“Our job is to let the Jewish people here hear about Israel and about its problems and about everything in Israel,” he added.
“I think that we have succeeded with all the things we wanted to show the kids about Israel,” said Netanella, though she said their accents sometimes made it difficult to connect with the children.
The counselors actually got a taste of their summer jobs before leaving home.
“We met some people from Seattle before we came here,” said Netanella, “and now we see a lot of them walking around, or they also work here.”
The region in Israel where the teens live is economically depressed, and it has one of the highest rates of unemployment in the country. Jewish federations along the West Coast, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle, have sent emergency funds, volunteers, and even books to help in the schools and social work centers.
“There’s not many jobs for people,” said Netanella.
When they return to Israel in late August, Netanella and Hava will have communal service programs waiting for them while Mor will enter the army. So for now, they are content to enjoy a worry-free summer with the kids on Mercer Island.