The Riverway Project:
Fostering our Relationship with the State of Israel
Israel
By Andrew Oberstein, Coordinator for Social Justice and Young Adult Engagement
On the second Friday of each month, the Riverway Project gathers together for Soul Food Friday, a Shabbat experience specifically targeted to young adults. Each gathering brings over 200 people in their 20s and 30s together at Temple Israel to welcome Shabbat with live music, food, and wine.
worship experience. The trip leader later expressed that “the group had such a moving experience during Qabbalat Shabbat. Each of them shared with me that they never experienced something so beautiful and moving.” That evening, the Riverway Project was also fortunate enough to welcome Consul General of Israel to New England, Yehuda Yaakov. Consul The group had such a moving On November 13, 2015 we had General Yaakov addressed the the wonderful opportunity to experience during Qabbalat crowd, speaking on the importance include some very special guests of fostering and maintaining a Shabbat. Each of them shared in the celebration. Seven young relationship between American with me that they never adults from Israel joined the young adults and the state of Riverway community as part of experienced something so Israel. Hosting Consul General a delegation through Combined Yaakov was an opportunity to beautiful and moving. Jewish Philanthropies’ Bostonfurther engage our community Haifa Connection. The group traveled to Boston on a in the issue of US-Israel relations, an important value mission to explore the many complex aspects of Jewish of the Riverway Project. His thought-provoking words identity. Through meetings and visits with various schools, sparked lively discussion and planted the seeds for even synagogues, and other organizations, the Haifaim caught a deeper connections to be made. To top it off, the evening glimpse of the vibrant, thriving Jewish community we are concluded with a feast of traditional Israeli food. Between fortunate to experience in Boston. For most of the visitors bites of hummus, falafel, and Israeli salad, American from Haifa, the visit to Temple Israel was the first time and Israeli young adults had the opportunity to mix they had stepped foot into a Reform Jewish community. and mingle, learning more about each other’s culture, There was a deep sense of excitement and enthusiasm experiences, and Jewish identities. among the group as they experienced a brand new type of This exciting event was not the first time Riverway has opened the door to engagement with Israel. In the past few years alone, we have been visited by other Israeli groups including a delegation from the IDF, hosted speakers from a broad spectrum of Israeli organizations, and even led our own Riverway Project Birthright trip to Israel. In 2016 and beyond, we look forward to even more opportunities to connect Riverway participants to Temple Israel’s core value of being “Ohavei Yisrael, lovers of Israel, committed to the vitality, peace, and well-being of the Jewish people in Israel and throughout the world.”
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www.tisrael.org/insight | 617-566-3960
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