Visit to Afula Part 1

Whenever I travel to Israel and Israelis ask me where in the country I will be spending most of my time and I respond: "Afula", they look at me quizically and ask "why".

I suppose that I could answer that in a national poll asking the question where can you eat the best falafel, Afula's Melech Falafel was named the number 1 falafel stand in the country.

I suppose I could also answer that the best garinim, or sunflower seeds are grown in the Afula/Gilboa area and that the freshest and best tasting cashews, almonds and pumpkin seeds can be purchased at the nut stand next to Melech Falafel.

Or I could repond that the Gilboa region in which Afula is situated is one of the most picturesque areas of the country which boasts many tourist attractions, including the very recently opened ski slopes.

But the real reason why 11 participants from our Southern New England Consortium (SNEC) were in Afula was for an historic meeting between members of our American steering committee and our Israeli counterparts. We were there for a planning retreat to discuss, deliberate and come to terms on what we needed to do to make our partnership more meaningful and stronger.

Gone are the days when we in America were looked upon as the rich uncle who doled out financial favors to its poor cousins. Yes, it is true that the gap between the haves and the have nots in Israel is growing wider, and that we will most certainly continue to fund certain program and projects that help to narrow that gap, but a true partnership is not based on one side giving while the other takes. And our Israeli friends stated over and over again that we need to develop more people to people exchanges so that we Jews here can better understand Israeli Jews and vice versa. One of the most successful programs to accomplish this is our young emissary program, and although it is the biggest and well known program that is offered here, it is not and cannot be the only one.

Over the next few weeks I will fill you in what we did, what we hope to accomplish and how all of us can help strengthen the connections between our 2 regions.