When Sapir’s relationship with The Jewish Agency’s Partnership2Gether (P2G) program started over a decade ago, she had no idea her involvement in P2G and The Jewish Agency would only continue to grow year after year. Sapir, who is from Hadera, in the Haifa District of Israel, was in ninth grade when she participated in a P2G youth leadership program through the Hadera-Eiron partnership. The program brought kids from the Southeast Consortium and their Israeli counterparts to Charlotte, North Carolina.
“That youth program, called Be’tzavta, was my initial introduction to P2G and it was an amazing experience,” recalled Sapir, now 25. “Our American friends first came to Israel and we got to see Israel through their eyes, which was incredibly meaningful, and discuss social issues including Jewish identity, diversity and Jewish peoplehood. The whole thing made me fall in love with Israel all over again, and I really loved the idea of having connections with Jews worldwide.”
A Jewish Agency initiative that connects the Jewish people by pairing Israeli communities with Jewish communities abroad, P2G creates and nurtures an enduring global network of mutual support and friendship. And her engagement with The Jewish Agency deepened in 2015, when Sapir was a Jewish Agency ShinShin (service year Israeli emissary) in Boston for a year. That experience really allowed her to understand how Israel is perceived abroad.
“As a ShinShin, I felt like I had value and found my place and purpose. I met American Jews who were so enthusiastic about Israel which was amazing to see,” Sapir remembered. “I’m still in touch with many of the people I got to know there and Boston is another home to me.”
Sapir also continues her connection to P2G in many ways. She is a supportive friend to the P2G Fellows (two Americans serving as emissaries for a year in the Hadera-Eiron region). And over the summer, Sapir traveled with a P2G young adults delegation to communities in the Southeast US as part of the Leadership2Gether program, which is geared toward young professionals and creates a living bridge between 10 Southeastern Jewish communities and the Hadera-Eiron region.
Nowadays, Sapir is a scholarship recipient through “Choosing Tomorrow,” a program in cooperation with The Jewish Agency and the Hadera Municipality, which encourages young Israelis to make a difference in their country’s developing areas; scholarships from the program help support participants while they work for change.
“Fourteen of us were accepted to my cohort and we each learned more about our identities and the city of Hadera and are doing projects locally,” Sapir said. “The program has invested so much in me and it’s been incredible.”
Today, Sapir’s relationships with P2G and The Jewish Agency remain ongoing, something she’s grateful for.
“I’ve experienced the connections The Jewish Agency and P2G helps make personally and learned so much about Jewish communities in the US,” shared Sapir. “And when we work together in partnerships, good things come from it.”
