Danielle V. Minson — Raising the Bar
First-Ever Cincinnati Congregation & Community Trip to Israel Announced for Summer 2016: Guest Post by Barbara Miller
Update: The deadline to sign up for this trip is April 9, 2016
In what is likely a first of its kind for the entire country, the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati has partnered with The Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and local rabbis to create an innovative, congregation-based mission to Israel for the entire Cincinnati Jewish community.
The 2016 Cincinnati Congregation and Community Israel Mission is scheduled for July 17-28, 2016, and will have generous subsidies provided by The Jewish Foundation. The eleven participating rabbis have begun holding recruitment meetings. Detailed information about each congregation’s unique itinerary will be posted on congregational websites beginning September 1.
“By bringing together our congregations in one high-level trip, we expect the biggest and most exciting Israel experience in decades. People will be talking about it for years,” said Shep Englander, CEO of the Jewish Federation.
The inspiration for the trip came at a brainstorming session of Cincinnati2020, a Federation-convened group of community-wide leaders striving to plan for Jewish Cincinnati’s future.
We knew that Cincinnati became, in the year 2000, the only Jewish community in the country to offer two trips to Israel for teens and young adults, with these trips funded by The Jewish Foundation and administered by the Jewish Federation. (As of this summer 2,023 high school and college travel grants have been given out). We also knew that, according to the 2008 Cincinnati Jewish Community Study, the benefits were clear for those who went: a closer connection to Israel, the Jewish people, and our own Jewish identity. Many grantees have gone on to leadership positions in Cincinnati and elsewhere.
What was new to us was hearing from parents in our community who voiced the desire to go to Israel themselves. Often their children had gone, loved it, and often gone again—and they saw their kids transformed by the experience. They however could not afford to go.
So the Jewish Federation of Cincinnati partnered with the Jewish Foundation of Cincinnati and concluded that a trip for parents and families could be game-changing. Brian Jaffee, Executive Director of The Jewish Foundation, said, “The Foundation is proud to support this innovative mission and its goals: showcasing the value of congregational affiliation, strengthening connections to Israel for the entire community, and promoting a greater sense of community across our congregations.”
This emphasis on congregational life comes from a recognition that Jews in many ways are made in congregations, and a desire to encourage congregational membership and participation. Most would love to go to Israel with their rabbi, and see Israel through their religious movement’s eyes.
Rabbi Lewis Kamrass, the Senior Rabbi at Isaac M. Wise Temple, said, “With gratitude to the Jewish Foundation, this unprecedented opportunity for so many to travel to Israel with their congregations, their rabbis, and with the larger community, is filled with possibility. There is a great sense of excitement in our congregation as so many people have expressed interest.”
While each congregation will have its own itinerary, all congregations will experience four programs together. In addition, each congregation will visit programs that the Federation’s annual campaign supports.
Anyone who is a member of a local Cincinnati congregation and a Cincinnati resident is eligible to travel on the mission and receive a subsidy from The Jewish Foundation. Congregational members who are 45 and under can receive $3000. Those 46 and over can receive $2000 plus an additional $1000 (or a total of $3000) if they have not been to Israel in the last 15 years (see details in fact sheet here).
Truthfully, Cincinnati is lucky. We are an exceptionally collaborative community and this mission is a great opportunity.
Our hope at the Federation and Cincinnati2020 is that hundreds of people from our community go next summer. There’s nothing like a trip to Israel to bond with your kids, to bond with your friends, to bond with your rabbi, and to bond with the entire community. We hope that people not only get inspired about Israel while they are in Israel, but that they feel they want to get more involved in their congregation or their community when they return.
