08/01/2023
Finding Second Family...in Israel
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Elad Tehori and Jane Edelstein are seen in his village of Tel Te’oMim, overlooking the Jordan Valley.
JANE EDELSTEIN | SPECIAL TO THE CJN
Article reprinted with permission from Cleveland Jewish News
Volunteer for a Jewish Federation of Cleveland program and you never know what you’re going to get. Three years ago, I signed up for the Federation’s “Conversation Partners” program, or Medabrim in Hebrew. Developed by Mark Holz, volunteer chair of the Beit Shean subcommittee, the program aimed to support select Beit Shean residents in improving their English by practicing speaking the language.
Clevelanders were “matched’ by Federation director of international programs Tal Rothstein with individuals who had signed up in Beit Shean. Each participant completed a questionnaire on partner preferences: gender, educational level, time available and long-term expectations of the program. The goal was not only to help Israelis practice English, but also to establish “long-term, valuable, relationships,” according to the Federation’s early description of the program. “Yeah. Good luck with that,” I remember thinking to myself.
March 21, 2023. Three years later.
I have been talking to Elad Tehori, an officer in the Israel Defense Forces, just about weekly for three years. “That’s a long-term male relationship for me,” I jokingly tell Elad. He and his delightful wife, Chen, both laugh heartily.
Sivan Steinberg, People2People coordinator, Jane Edelstein and Moriya Greenhut, operations and logistic coordinator
Elad and I had finally met a few weeks ago. I had planned a trip to Israel with a different Jewish organization, but I knew I’d travel up to Beit Shean at the end of it. I have to admit that meeting Elad and his family was about an equal draw with my first visit to the Cave of Machpelah, where Abraham and Sarah are buried. Both heady goals.
So, here are Elad and me in his village of Tel Te’oMim, overlooking the Jordan Valley. Here we are smiling at the camera, but most of the time, we just talked. Frankly, his English was darn good … and I felt a bit like a proud Jewish mother.
I could tell more of my tale, but instead, I’ll share a couple important concepts that I learned about Jewish Federation of Cleveland programs:
- Communicating, especially via WhatsApp or Zoom – can be hard. But it also can be easy. If you make it fun, it is fun.
- Small programs can create big rewards. I consider Elad a close friend. Indeed, I consider his family a second family. That includes five wonderful children: Shemer, Beeri, Carmel, Aniam and Noga. It doesn’t get any better than that.
The Federation has launched its sixth cohort of the Conversation Partners program and is looking for volunteers for a next group. For further information, or to volunteer, contact Jaclyn Szaruga at jszaruga@jewishcleveland.org or 216-593-2900 x218.
The Beit Shean partnership rolled out the welcome mat for me and we talked through future possibilities and enhancements for the Conversation Partners program – just recently having enrolled its sixth class of participants, bringing the total number of matched pairs to over 125.
