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KI VA MOED: WHAT IS IT ALL ABOUT?

"Ki Va Moed - The Time is Now" is a new two year initiative to transform Israel engagement in our congregations, schools, and in the Suffolk Jewish community. The vision for this project relies on building a strong partnership and sense of shared purpose between congregations and schools in Suffolk County and congregations and schools in Jerusalem, our "Partnership 2000" community.

The initiative is sponsored by SAJES (the Suffolk Association for Jewish Educational Services), with generous support from the Israel Experience Center, CoJIR Commission of UJA-Federation of New York and Partnership 2000. Entitled "Ki Va Moed - The Time is Now", it is about transforming Israel engagement in our congregations and schools. It is about developing a cadre of educators, clergy, and lay leaders from the U.S. and Israel who share a common desire to explore the Israel-Diaspora relationship and a conviction that knowledge about "the other" will lead to increased self-knowledge and a heightened sense of common belonging to the Jewish people.

Together as a model project, we are beginning to build ongoing person to person connections across the ocean, open new communications between the participating congregations and schools, and explore exciting projects and methodologies for strengthening Jewish identity, connecting Eretz Yisrael and the Diaspora.

The specific program goals are:-

  1. To create a cadre of lead Israel educators in Suffolk County who are well-informed and passionate about Israel, who will prioritize Israel in their congregations and schools, will take a leadership role in working toward broad community support and programming for Israel.
  2. To provide an opportunity for the congregational and school teams to deepen their knowledge and understanding about Israel and their own personal connections to the land and the people.
  3. To forge a dynamic collaboration between the Suffolk County teams in order to ensure a more holistic plan for community-wide Israel education and programming.
  4. To forge a dynamic collaboration between the Israeli teams in order to foster mutual endeavors for strengthening Jewish identity and Israel-Diaspora relations.
  5. To develop an ongoing and meaningful partnership between like institutions in Israel and the U.S. in order to explore and develop projects on mutual issues of Israel-Diaspora relationships, Jewish identity, and belonging to K'lal Yisrael.

In this first year of the initiative, each Suffolk County team is participating in an intensive course focusing on increasing participants' knowledge of the land, history, politics and people of Israel. The course takes place each month on Thursday evenings at SAJES in East Northport, Long Island, New York. The course is being facilitated in consultation with educational partners at Oren in Israel.

At this same time, the Israeli teams are participating in several seminars to discuss mutual issues and concerns and learn more about American Jewry. They are participating in a collaborative archaeology project in preparation for meetings with American teams. The Israel teams and seminar is being coordinated by educator Adah Brodsky of the Bayit V'gan Tali School, and Oren staff member Shari Robbins.

On July 6th, Suffolk County and Israeli teams will meet together for a joint learning, hands-on, ten day seminar in Israel. While sponsors have committed significant funding for the initiative, individual participants have also been required to pay a significant amount to evidence their commitment to the program. This is not a tourist trip. There will be very little time for sightseeing. (If team participants want to extend their time in Israel on their own, they need to make their own arrangements.)

Five pillars for Israel-Diaspora engagement will be explored during the seminar: archaeology, spirituality, cultural arts, social justice and nature and the environment. The challenge of strengthening Jewish identity for Israeli and American students and their families will also be addressed. Israel and American teams will choose a pillar of focus and begin planning a mutual project.

After returning from the trip, continued monthly seminars for Suffolk County teams and ongoing meetings for Israeli teams will enable continued development. Two video conferences will take place, with one in the fall and the other in the spring, 2006.

In December 2005, our Israeli partners will visit Suffolk County for a ten day seminar, visiting sites to continue exploration of the pillars to continue working on project implementation and assessment. In April 2006, a Suffolk County Israel celebration will continue the experience.

Each participating American and Israeli institution has enlisted a team of four to six people with the attempt to represent a blend of the professional and lay leadership of the congregation or school. The teams generally consist of two to three professionals (one of whom must be the rabbi, lead educator or cantor) and two to three lay leaders, including at least one board member. It is this team who is responsible for coordinating with their institutions as they develop a set of goals and objectives and an action plan for achieving them.

By participating in Ki Va Moed, each congregation is receiving:

  • An intensive Israel education course
  • A seminar for participating Jerusalem institutions.
  • Exposure to resources, curriculum and talented professionals, both American and Israeli.
  • The opportunity to be a part of a ground-breaking American-Israeli think tank.
  • The ability to build connections with like-institutions in Israel and the U.S.


Ki Va Moed. . .

The Time Has Come.


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Rabbi Ian J. Silverman, D.J.S.                                                Chazzan Ralph P. Nussbaum

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