Stephen Naor, a member of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s Partnership2Gether (P2G) Committee, recently returned from a trip to Israel with Federation President and CEO Adam Silver, Canadian Co-Chair of Ottawa's Partnership2Gether Barbara Crook, and Bram Bregman. In what follows, he shares his thoughts about the endurance of Israel and her people, and his takeaways from interacting with our partners in Etzba HaGalil. 

 

By Stephen Naor

 

At the end of October, I visited the north of Israel for the first time in 35 years. My previous visit to the northern region was when my wife and I spent a year living in Israel, learning Hebrew and deepening our understanding of the country and its history. 

 

This visit was quite different: this time I was part of a Jewish Federation of Ottawa delegation travelling with Partnership2Gether (P2G), a long- standing Federation program created more than two decades ago to build meaningful connections between Canadian Jewish communities and Israel’s northernmost region.

 

P2G is part of a coast-to-coast initiative that brings together the Jewish Federations of Ottawa, Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, Winnipeg and Atlantic Canada. Together with Israeli lay leaders and professionals, the program works to strengthen social, educational, and community development in the Etzba HaGalil (Galilee Panhandle).

 

P2G works on projects to improve education and infrastructure in the North, and to strengthen Gesher Hai, the people-to-people connections – literally, Living Bridge – that include visiting each others’ communities and connecting students through school twinning programs.

 

And thanks to Jewish Federations of Canada’s emergency campaign immediately after the war, Canadian Jewish communities have collectively allocated 20 million dollars to help rebuild the north, stronger than before the war.

 

Two of the major Israeli communities in this partnership, Kiryat Shmona and Metula, sit near or directly on the Lebanese border. These and surrounding communities suffered severe social and economic consequences in the recent war. Visiting them through the lens of P2G, and working alongside local leaders for the first time, was truly eye-opening. 

 

In Metula, we met with the leaders of Krembo Wings, a youth movement that brings together young people with and without disabilities from across Israeli society – Jewish, secular, Arab, Bedouin, Druze, Christian, and others. Krembo Wings, which works with over 8,000 young people nationwide, fosters shared responsibility, mutual respect, and meaningful connections among youth of all backgrounds and abilities. 

 

During our visit, we also learned about the post-October 7 evacuation of Kiryat Shmona and surrounding communities, home to some 25,000 people, and the challenges facing their youth, uprooted from their daily lives and disbursed throughout the country. 

 

We learned about the profound loss of structure and community these young people experienced, and how two years later, they continue to face social and emotional challenges after being uprooted yet again upon returning home. Many endured multiple moves, from city to city, or from hotel to hotel, carrying the heavy weight of constant upheaval. 

 

Amid these difficulties, we also saw how Krembo Wings has become a stabilizing force. They helped youth stay connected to their friends, maintain a sense of belonging, and find moments of stability during deeply uncertain times.

 

We heard about Krembo Wings’ plans to expand its youth programming, including camps, seasonal trips, leadership workshops, and additional support for families with children with disabilities. We also learned about the training they provide to equip their young members with resilience, practical skills, and confidence despite the disruptions of the past two years of war.

At our concluding meeting, the Canadian and Israeli P2G partners discussed the organization’s specific needs and agreed on the first year of a three-year financial support program to help Krembo Wings advance its planned expansion in northern Israel.

 

I could write at length about the other important programs we reviewed, several of which received supplemental P2G funding. These include the continued support of the Regional Knowledge Center of East Galilee, a non-government organization that gathers and analyzes social and economic data to help local governments make informed decisions. Another is the ongoing Canadian involvement in the evolution of Tel-Hai College into Tel-Hai University, with its planned emphasis on agricultural research. In the interest of brevity, I will leave the fuller details for another time.

 

I would like to conclude by saying that this Federation P2G trip reminded me just how breathtakingly beautiful the north of Israel truly is. After so many years away, I had forgotten the exceptional character of this region. Every Israeli leader we met was deeply committed to strengthening the communities of the Etzba HaGalil, and it was humbling to witness the strength and resilience of residents rebuilding their lives after enduring repeated rocket attacks from Hezbollah.

 

Finally, I would be remiss not to acknowledge that since October 7, many in Ottawa’s Jewish community have been searching for meaningful and non-political ways to connect with and support the people of Israel. Canada’s P2G partnership, and Ottawa’s role within it, offers an extraordinary opportunity to make a tangible difference through an experienced and well-structured network of dedicated community members.

 

For more information about Federation P2G program, please contact, Anne Read, VP of Impact, Partnership & Allocations, at [email protected].

 

- Stephen Naor is a member of the Jewish Federation of Ottawa’s Partnership2Gether (P2G) Committee.