by Alia Ramer
NJJN Staff

March 19, 2009

When the 2009 Seymour Epstein Leadership Mission touched down in Israel on March 1, all eight participants had previously solicited donations on behalf of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey.

We all were already passionate about the cause.

But we were about to go into solicitation training boot camp, although a more pleasant boot camp one would be hard-pressed to find.

For one week we rode and trekked and herded and dug and played in mud. And least twice a day we stopped and stretched our skills, learning how to hone “our story” and share it with donors and potential donors who have not had the honor of seeing these things with their own eyes.

We bonded as a group. We exchanged life stories, teased about Facebook and BlackBerry use, and, being both human and Jewish, we ate.

The most meaningful meal was the one made for us by women from Ofakim, one of UJC MetroWest’s partner communities. The Ofakim Women’s Ethnic Empowerment Group has taught women of many ethnicities that they can make a living with the skills they already have: in this case, catering.

Most importantly, we met people. Talking with the Israelis whose lives we touch was as important, if not more, than seeing the sites we helped to build, decorate, or sustain.

We met Ma’ayan Kaplan in Tel Aviv. Ma’ayan truly is part of MetroWest. She grew up in Ra’anana, where she went to MetroWest High School. She is friends with the Ettinger/Bloom family of Millburn. And she is currently spending a year after high school and before the army in the B’nai Zion Mechina program in Tel Aviv.

The program, now in its second year, takes some 35 teens who defer the army for one year and trains them in Zionist and Israeli history, Jewish philosophy, and community service. The B’nai Zion group — mixed in gender and religious observance — are self-appointed leaders, sharp and directed, whose vision of service is laid out on their wall in large Hebrew bubble letters: “Need a wheel? I am a wheel.”

At the Matnas (community center) Neve Eliahu in Rishon LeTzion, a MetroWest partner for more than 30 years, we met Menachem Sanbato, director of the Atzmaut program. Atzmaut means independence, and the program helps Ethiopian immigrants acclimate in their new home. Menachem came to Israel from Ethiopia as a child, and left a good government job to follow his passion of helping his fellow Ethiopians adjust to a new life. Our continued support is combined with local shekels to allow this program to flourish.

‘Right way of life’

In Jerusalem, we met Roni Zarbiv and several of his friends at the Nativ program, a full-time, seven-week class in Judaic studies for soldiers who are not, according to Halacha, Jewish. Roni is weeks away from finishing his army term, having served in a combat unit. Like all the other participants we met, he came to Israel as a child with his family, a Jewish father and a non-Jewish mother, in his case from Australia. Although he serves the Jewish state as an Israeli, he does not have the same religious rights as a born Jew, although, he said, his family has always practiced Judaism and he considers himself Jewish in his heart.

At the end of the Nativ program — which is sponsored by the Jewish Agency for Israel together with the Israel Defense Forces, the Israeli government, and the MetroWest community — Roni and his fellow soldiers can decide for themselves if they want to stay on for further training to convert via a military beit din, or Jewish court.

Shortly after the soldiers left us, Roni ducked back in the room to pass us a note. He said I could share it with all of MetroWest. “To my friends overseas. I would like to say thank you for your efforts to help,” it read in part. “This program is giving me a true chance to connect back to my roots and learning more about the right way of life. Thank you.”

‘My Israel fix’

I also loved hearing the stories of our patrons. The trip wouldn’t have been possible without the love and dedication that the late Seymour Epstein, a Morristown businessman and philanthropist, inspired in his friends. The idea of educating future leaders in Seymour’s memory evolved several years ago from a seminar series to a mission, the first held two years ago. His widow, Sally Epstein of Morristown, and Roslyn and Sandy Hollander of Newton attended the mission with us.

Sally said that Seymour, who died in 1998, was addicted to visiting the Holy Land. He called it “getting my Israel fix.”

I’m afraid that I too have acquired such an affliction. After my last trip, I began talking about a three- to four-week family trip for the summer of 2010. Despite the grim economy, I’m forgoing presents for a while to make that trip my 15th — and 16th — anniversary present. I’ve got to. I’m going to need my Israel fix.

Our training taught me to end every solicitation or speech with a call to action. Here is mine: Please contribute, or increase your contribution, to UJC MetroWest. At this time, it is imperative. For us, locally, and for Ma’ayan, Menachem, and Roni — our MetroWest neighbors in Israel.

Alia Ramer of Maplewood is a copy editor at NJ Jewish News, a 2009 Epstein fellow, and chair of the UJC MetroWest Young Women’s B’Yachad campaign.

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