Nancy and Bob Schostak of Bloomfield Hills, upper right, join Mensh and Meshi
Sivanni of Nazareth hllit and their children, Shked, 7, and Notzm, 11.
Shevy and Schmulik Srulevich flank Franklin's Marta Rosenthal, new Michigan co-
chair of the P2Ksteering committee. The Srulevichs work with P2K in Israel.
Nancy Schostak, co-chair of Federations 2004 Teen Mission to Israel, with Israelis
Ehud Almog, Lilah Libster and Neta Erez, all mission participants.
Nora Barron, P2K 10-Year Celebration co-chair (serving with Sharon Lipton), and
Sari Cicurel, P2Ksteering committee co-chair (serving with David Techner).
P2K initiatives have brought to Israel social service
and relief programs, hospice care, resettlement, emer-
gency funding, youth programs and coexistence pro-
grams involving Israeli Arabs and Jews. Also byprod-
ucts are trans-Atlantic Jewish education programs,
Israel-Detroit teen missions, leadership development
programs and social and communal interaction.
The total P2K investment of Michigan dollars over
the past 10 years is $6.5 million; nearly a third has
been ticketed for regional development of the three-
partner Central Galilee areas.
Given that investment, it's not surprising that
Migdal HaEmek Mayor Eytan Broshi described P2K
as "a meaningful and influential factor in our region,"
one that brought the three Central Galilee municipali-
ties together in "a strong, close-knit regional partner-
ship that wouldn't exist if it were not for our common
partnership with Michigan."
Today, hundreds of families are involved in the
regional partnership, which features professional ties in
the fields of education, welfare, health and business.
Broshi laid a P2K blueprint for the next 10 years:
Jewish education, "the foundation of everything else;"
Jewish identity, "the common denominator for our
existence;" and Gesher LeKesher (People-To-People
Connection), "the true human bridge for us all."
The Central Galilee has two special features: aliyah
absorption on a large scale, which strengthens Israel as
the home of every Jew; and Jewish-Arab coexistence,
which is a way of life in this region of Israeli Jews and
Arabs.
"By virtue of your partnership with us," Broshi said
to the Michigan contingent, "you, too, play an impor-
tant role both in aliyah absorption and in fostering
peaceful coexistence in the region. Let us continue
working together to strengthen the State of Israel in
general and the Central Galilee in particular, for the
sake of security and peace everywhere."
Robert Aronson, CEO of the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and Federation's P2K champion,
said the partnership is unshakable. "The love between
us is a sacred one," he said. "May it continue and
deepen for years to come."
Migdal HaRmek resident Danny Bitan has been
active with P2K since the beginning. He echoes
Broshi's validation of P2K as the impetus for the three
partner municipalities joining forces on many benefi-
cial services and projects.
"We've learned to work as one community," Bitan
said, standing by the falafel stand at Kibbutz Mizra
before the anniversary ceremony. "We have learned to
cooperate. Ten years ago, people in one municipality
hardly knew anyone in the other two municipalities —
maybe just here and there. Now we are meeting and
talking in mass numbers. And our three mayors have
learned to sit and to work together." fl
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2004
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