Children:
Reishit Geula – 10
Raya – 8
Malachi – 6
Tuvia – 3 months
Tell us about the community you’re in:
A very small Jewish community, both in number and resources. We feel that we are engaged in significant activity and in being here as part of the community – especially in education, with our small elementary school (60 students in grades 1-6) is really the only formal Judaism on the resume of these children.
What did you receive from the Beren-Amiel Educational Emissary Training Progam and the Claudia Cohen Women Educator Institute?
From Beren-Amiel and Claudia Cohen we received our first exposure and taste of a world which is so different from the world in which we grew up and raised our children. The programs also acquainted us with the struggles and challenges of Diaspora Jewry, and of course support and tools for how to best serve the community.
What message would you like to impart regarding shlichut?
First of all, the new experiences and exciting new things to encounter never end! In addition to the fact that we are always amazed, we’re continually reminded not to relate to external things; sometimes the people who outwardly appear to be far away from Torah and mitzvot are actually the ones who are the closest, and how each person has an entire life story behind them. It turns out that being a “simply Jew” is not at all a given.