This week when there is so much going on in the world, the Ledger has also written about the Young Emissary program, a program of the Southern New England Consortium of Partnership 2000. We are fortunate that this program is in our state and is thriving.
Every year its impact on the community grows as it affects more and more families in a way that shapes them and all of us forever. The Young Emissaries themselves and this program personifies the vital and vibrant relationship between the people of Israel and the Jewish communities of Southern New England. Because this program does so many good things, we wonder why the whole country isn’t involved.
Mention the Young Emissary program outside of the Southern New England Consortium (SNEC) communities and it is virtually unknown. Boston and New York don’t have a program like this nor do most of the cities and Jewish federations around the country. This program and what it does for everyone who participates in it is so much a part of our area that we tend to forget that we are only one of 14 communities in the U.S. that hosts Israeli kids with this kind of program every year. As in any successful program, it’s the quality of the people involved that makes it happen. The professionals both here and Israel, the volunteers who coordinate the activities in each community, the wonderful host families who open their homes and the emissaries themselves all come together to make this one of Southern New England’s brightest stars. The Ledger will write more about it going forward and will introduce our readers to this year’s participants from Israel after they arrive in August.
In our article on page 24, we have included the email addresses of those emissaries who were here most recently. Many of them are already back in Israel and are either going into the IDF or waiting for their training to begin. Now would be a good time to write to them and let them know that they have the prayers and support of the people they came to know so well while they were here. Soon, the Ledger will publish the email addresses of the other 45 graduates of this program, so they too may know that they are foremost in our minds at this difficult time.

–nrg

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