44 | APRIL 8 • 2021
ERETZ
A
n experimental program has made
it possible for Detroit Jewish teens
to personally share experiences
with Ethiopian teens in Israel. The first par-
ticipants in this new BBYO program report
enormous success.
NITZAN’S STORY
I am always amazed by how quickly teens
connect to each other and how they form
these connections in their
own unique ways and develop
friendships that often last a
lifetime. After COVID-19
descended upon us last spring
and forced everyone to shelter
at home, I decided to make
lemonade out of COVID
lemons and create a platform
to enable these beautiful teen connections to
form in a digital world.
BBYO joined together with the Ethiopian
National Project (ENP), an organization in
Israel that works to ensure the successful
integration of Ethiopian Israelis into Israeli
society, to launch a program called Bridges
Buddies. The initiative is a Federation-
supported ENP program that helps ENP
participants improve their spoken English
and allows American Jewish teens to learn
about Ethiopian Jewish culture.
Without knowing how it would turn
out, we arranged virtual meetings every
other Sunday between Ethiopian Israeli
teens and BBYO teens from the U.S.,
and created a partnership based on the
Partnership2Gether twin cities in Israel:
Migdal HaEmek-Detroit and Ashkelon-
Baltimore.
The program enabled teens from differ-
ent backgrounds to meet, laugh, learn and
explore their cultures together in a very
natural way. Each meeting focused on a
different topic and, during our sessions,
we started out as one big group and then
divided into smaller breakout rooms, which
allowed conversations to evolve and become
more personal.
As a leader in the group, I could have
taught BBYO teens about Chanukah cele-
brations in Israel or about the alyiot (Jewish
immigrants) from Ethiopia, but it was so
much more personal for them to learn about
it from an Israeli teen. And the same goes
on the other side; I could have talked about
celebrating Halloween and Thanksgiving
to Israeli teens, but it was better for them to
hear it firsthand from American teens who
grew up with these holidays and traditions.
I chose to work with Ethiopian commu-
nities in Israel because I felt their stories and
traditions needed to be heard, and I wanted
to expose Jewish teens in the U.S. to this
special community. Ethiopian Jews have a
beautiful culture and traditions that show
Israel in a very different way than most
others.
This program truly brought light into
my life and filled my Sundays with joy
and hope. It demonstrated how teens can
become friends and form connections
through virtual spaces (in addition to real-
life spaces), and I’m excited to share that we
are starting three new cohorts of the pro-
gram this spring!
DREW’S STORY
As a teen participant in the ENP program
from BBYO Michigan Region, I am fortu-
nate to have experienced the power of this
incredible program. I had an opportunity to
learn about the culture of other teens, who
are Jewish like me, but live halfway across
the world and have very different traditions
than I do.
Despite a pandemic that has lasted more
than a year, and thanks to the power of tech-
nology, I learned firsthand
there are still opportunities to
connect with others no mat-
ter where they live. The ENP
program brought this to life.
I never could have imagined
meeting Ethiopian teens from
Israel from the comfort of my
own home.
One part of the program I especially
enjoyed was the social interaction. During
the week, it was hard to get out of my house
as the COVID-19 numbers were getting
worse in Michigan. However, on Sunday at
11, I knew I had the chance to be social at
our weekly ENP program meetings.
Another part of the program I liked was
learning about a different culture. I found
it surprising how differently we do similar
things such as celebrating Jewish holidays.
I am so thankful that Michigan Region
was a part of the first test run of the ENP
program. I hope other regions can par-
ticipate in this even after the pandemic is
over because it is not every day one gets
the opportunity to create relationships with
peers across the world in a “face-to-face set-
ting” through a Zoom lens.
I learned a lot from the ENP program,
and I am certain that anyone else who par-
ticipates in future cohorts will, too.
Nitzan Ben-Shaya is the Washington, D.C.-based
Maccabi World Union Shlichah at BBYO. To learn
more about the Bridges Buddies program, contact
her at nbenshaya@bbyo.org
Drew Cohen lives in West Bloomfield and is a senior
at Bloomfield Hills High School. He is a member
of Fisher AZA and currently serves as the regional
shaliach of BBYO Michigan Region.
Nitzan
Ben-Shaya
Drew Cohen
BBYO connects Ethiopian
Israeli and American teens.
Bridge Over
International
Waters
Ethiopian Israeli teens and Michigan teens joined in weekly Zoom calls.