The day after Federation's Annual meeting, full of excitement and enthusiasm for the future of our community, my wife Ana and I took my ten-year-old daughter Sasha on her first trip to Israel. We explored Masada, the old city of Jerusalem, and even celebrated the pilgrimage festival of Shavuot in Jerusalem – incredible! Our travels took us north and south and east and west, covering the entire country. As Sasha said, “We swam in the Dead, the Red and the Med.” We stayed on a Kibbutz, an Alpaca farm, hiked and even tubed down the Jordan River, and did an archeological dig at Beit Guvrin where we found a handle from a 3,000-year-old pot.

We were excited and proud to see some of Federation’s projects and partnerships in Israel. We spent time in our Partner Communities of Yokneam and Megiddo, meeting their Mayors and many of the people who direct the programs we support there. At the Daliot School in Yokneam-Megiddo, Sasha even got to meet the pen pal she writes to through Jewish Kids Groups. It felt like going home to family.

Our Atlanta-Israel connections continued when we visited Yemin Orde Youth Village. We were deeply impressed by the impact so many in our community have helped make there. We also had the honor of spending time with a delegation from the Georgia International Law Enforcement Exchange which brings local law enforcement officers to Israel to share and learn best practices. This project is partly funded by Federation. At Beit Hatfutsot, The Museum of the Jewish People, we were blown away by their new family exhibit featuring the winner of the “My Family Project” - one of our own Atlanta teens, Noa Rudisch.

We also scouted some potential new partnerships including the Jordan River Village, the Camp Twin Lakes of Israel, and learned about programs like Olam and The Heschel Sustainability Center. Israel is all about innovation and I believe that all of us in the Atlanta Jewish Community can learn so much from Israel as we reinvent Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta together.