Tu B'Shvat At Dekel School with the "Moms"

The Ashkelon Baltimore women's forum is matched with a similar group of women in Baltimore. The women from Ashkelon carry out various volunteer projects and this year they decided to "adopt" Dekel school in Shimshon neighborhood.

Vered said: "we wanted to volunteer somewhere where there is a real need and where our help would be appreciated. We don't donate money or raise funds, we donate our time and our skills. We saw the wonderful work being done at Dekel school by the principal Sigal Yashar and her group of highly motivated and dedicated teachers, and we offered our help"

Last week on the Friday morning just before Tu B'shvat, the women took over classes at the school to teach the kids about the role of trees in our lives, and carry out creative activities. The kids enjoyed rolling out clay tiles and decorating them with trees, working to create drawings on aluminium sheets, creating mosaics and flowerpots, and producing animals out of dried fruit.

At the end of the activity Einat said "It was hard to tell who enjoyed the day more. We were amazed at our warm welcome. The kids were very enthusiastic, participated wholeheartedly in all our activities and were so proud of their creations".

At the end of the activity, the headmistress Sigal Yashar thanked the women "Thank you for your help and the wonderful experience enjoyed by the children and the teachers. It is good for the children to be exposed to volunteers who come to help of their own free will. This will help to teach them the value of giving and turn them into people who volunteer and contribute to society."

The Ashkelon women are excited to continue their contact with the kids and teachers at Dekel School.

Big Brother End of Year Ceremony

To mark the end of a productive year of volunteering, the Big Brother Program participants held a ceremony this week, to award certificates of appreciation to all the volunteers. Big Brother is a mentoring project operated by the Social services Dept of Ashkelon with the support of the Ashkelon-Baltimore Partnership.

The Big Brother volunteers each "adopted" a child of 6-12 years old. At weekly meetings, the Big Brother volunteers help their charges with homework, play with them, give them much-needed attention and inspiration, listen to their problems. The children receive personal attention, guidance, empowerment and life-skills.

Liat Levi is the coordinator for the program. The Big Brother volunteers receive professional guidance and support, and take part in group learning sessions with their fellow volunteers.

Shlomo Cohen, Deputy Mayor of Ashkelon and Israeli Chairman of the Ashkelon-Baltimore Partnership, said "I am pleased to see that there are so many dedicated volunteers in Ashkelon. Volunteerism in the city is continually expanding. It is clear that the Big Brother volunteers have made a lasting impression on the children they mentored and given them skills and grounding to help them cope with life's challenges "

Meir Bouhnik - Director of Ashkelon Foundation, Shulamit Maimon - Head of Social Services, and Mazal Levi - Head of Community Services also attended the ceremony together with representatives from this year's Big Brother program and last year's program.

Baltimore Birthright-Taglit in Ashkelon

Birthright (Taglit) Visits Ashkelon: Jan 13th, 2010 Report from Maia Hoffman:

For the first time ever we had two buses full of Birthright students from Baltimore arrive in Ashkelon. Each bus went on a tour of Ashkelon, planned by the eight soldiers from Ashkelon who had accompanied the group from the beginning of their visit to Israel. This was the Ashkelonians opportunity to show their friends from Baltimore “their Ashkelon.”

Ashkelon soldier Dotan Amrani - tour of Ashkelon

After the bus tours everyone met up in the Michael Lapides Baltimore Park and the students were excited to play in the Lyn Stacie Getz Playground.

Taglit visit the Michael Lapides Baltimore Park and Lyn Stacie Getz Playground

After a few words about the Partnership they each got to choose from 5 volunteer activities and they were off….

Some went to the Halperin Senior Home for the Elderly and did one on arts and crafts projects with the seniors. Others went to the Dekel Elementary School, one of the tougher schools in Ashkelon, where they did “outdoor training activities” with the kids, and painted their playground. Others went to the City Farm in the middle of the City, which is used by schools to teach kids about the environment. The students helped get the farm ready for spring by preparing the ground for planting, helping out with the maintenance and joining in some renovation and beautification projects. And finally, some of the students got to help organize and design the Second Hand Store for needy and at risk teens in Ashkelon.

The backstage story of the connection of these Hillel Birthright buses from Goucher, Johns Hopkins, Towson and UMBC is as follows….

The Second Hand Store: The Youth Council in Ashkelon, which is the “executive committee” of AMEN (an Associated supported project) currently engages 5000 teen volunteers in Ashkelon. Before Baltimore started this program with the JDC in Ashkelon 5 years ago, there were only 800 teens volunteering and now Ashkelon is the model city for engaging youth in volunteerism. The Youth Council noticed that teens were getting in fights, getting expelled and being absent from school because their families couldn’t afford to buy them acceptable clothes.

The Youth Council began an initiative to open a store where these teens can come and buy brand new cool clothes and shoes for 1 shekel. "Hands on Tzedakah " (Boca Raton, Florida), Sakal and Lev Ohev helped to renovate and stock the store. The store has engaged and inspired top business people and designers to be a part of the project by donating clothes, shoes, toiletries. Everything costs around a shekel or two, and that the environment in the store is trendy so the kids don’t feel like “welfare cases.” How does it work? Simple… Kids who are under the care of Social Services, come to the store armed with special vouchers that have shekel amounts attached to them. That’s how they to do their shopping so it doesn’t actually cost them money.

Time off for fun, at the Second Hand Store

When Rabbi Jason Klein, the lead professional for the Baltimore Hillel Birthright buses heard about this project he immediately asked what they could bring. The students from Baltimore brought $1,000 worth of tennis shoes with them to Israel and spent another $300 on shoes when they got here. One group went to the store to stock the shoes they brought and lots of other stock that had arrived that week from generous donors, corporations, etc., This was an incredible experience to not only bring the merchandise but also have creative input as to how to present it, and lots of other merchandise in the store.

Unpacking and arranging shoes to be sold at the Second Hand Store

Proud of her shoe-stand display!

At the end of the day everyone met at the Youth Center where some of the students, along with Ashkelon volunteers, had been working hard to make lunch for the 100 plus students!

Lunch at the Ashkelon Youth Center

The response from the community has been overwhelming - that many students at one time spread out over the city of Ashkelon made a difference in the lives of children, students, the needy and the seniors.

The other added bonus to the day was that as the group spent the day in Ashkelon, the families of the Ashkelon soldiers could join in here and there during the day – this gave the Baltimoreans an additional opportunity to connect with the families of the soldiers they had been with for over a week! Two moms even showed up at the Park to greet the group with home-made cake! Just goes to show that Jewish moms are the same everywhere…..

Kol Hakavod to the Hillel Birthright students for what they did to enrich the lives of Ashkelonians, Kol Hakavod to the volunteers – kids, teens and parents throughout the Ashkelon who helped make the day happen! Yeshar Koach!

Warm in Winter

Sorry to tell those of you in the US who are suffering from freezing winter conditions that here in Ashkelon we are enjoying especially hot winter weather. With temperatures over 26 degrees centigrade, and a similar weather forecast for next week, everyone is out on "tiyulim" or even sunbathing at the beach. The nights are chilly, and we need our duvets, but during the day we are all out in T-shirts and shorts.

Definitely think of planning your next visit to Israel for winter!

Cordish Family Visit to Ashkelon

On a sunny day in the last week of December, the extended Cordish family visited Ashkelon.

While the adults visited the Municipality to meet Deputy Mayor and Chairman of Ashkelon-Baltimore Partnership, Shlomo Cohen, and receive a briefing on Ashkelon security situation by Alan Marcus, the Cordish kids went to the Ashkelon Teen Center. At the teen center the kids packed gift packages for hospital patients and had fun with Ashkelon teens. The family visited PACT project in Ashkelon and heard about Net@

After lunch at the Marina, the family visited Barzilai Medical Center and handed out the gift packages to the surprised patients.

The Cordish boys pack gift bags for hospital patients, together with Ashkelon teens, at the Teen Center

My BBC Radio Interview

Yesterday was a year since the Cast Lead operation . I got a call from BBC London radio a few days ago asking me since they have interviewed me a few times during the war , if I agree to be interviewed in a special program on the 27th Dec . I agreed.

It was me in Ashkelon and a Palestinian woman from Gaza. Both of us were interviewed a year ago during the war. They started by broadcasting a short clip from each of us from last year .She talked about the situation now , and I talked about how we in Ashkelon after the war focused on renovations and programs for the kids enabling them and us to go back to normal life.

I did mention though that over 240 missiles and mortar have fallen since the war ended and last Wednesday 2 kassams fell outside Sderot. She then said Israel blockade causes lack of medications in Gaza . I did my homework ,The Israel project had a good summary of last year with numbers of humanitarian aid to Gaza. I said that we allow medications and equipment to go through, but not things that will be used against us. Knowing they bring into Gaza weapons though the tunnels all the time .

When the reporter asked me what I suggest in order to improve the situation , I said , that I think that the Palestinians , like us , should focus on renovating the social structures and facilities and helping the citizens go back to normal , quiet lives.

When they started the interview saying: “ we have Sigal Ariely from Ashkelon and , (I can’t remember her name) from Gaza “ I suddenly realized how important it was …It was a good feeling, I hope I did well…

Are you an arty student, aged 20-30, from Ashkelon?

The Ashkelon Baltimore Partnership is looking for 5 art (or artistically talented) students interested in taking part in a 3-way art project with Jewish students from Odessa and Baltimore, run in collaboration with the JDC (Joint).

The project is due to start in january 2010 and end in Sept 2010.

The participants (5 from odessa, 5 from Ashkelon) will travel to Baltimore in June/July 2010 to join the 5 Baltimore participants, and be hosted by the Jewish community. In Baltimore, all the participants will take part in art workshops and fun activities, and on their return to Ashkelon will carry out an art project of their own choosing and conception and create a public piece of art as a gift to the city (a wall mosaic, a mural or some kind of sculpture etc).

We are looking for students aged 20-30, they need to be: residents of Ashkelon with a background in plastic arts (experience/talent/studies), able to hold a reasonable conversation in English.

The group will meet once a month in Ashkelon until their their trip to Baltimore, and then will meet as needed to create their art project.

The project is subsidized and will cost only $500 per person including the trip to Baltimore, the meetings and the project.

This is a wonderful opportunity for artistically talented students to get involved, to get to know our sister community in Baltimore and to contribute to their city of Ashkelon.

For more information please contact Sigal Ariely, Director of the Ashkelon-Baltimore Partnership:sigalariely@gmail.com 052-6130704

14 Baltimore dati girls visit Ashkelon for Hanukah

Hanuka vacation and 14 Baltimore girls, from Midrashot in Jerusalem, came to Ashkelon to spend the daywith HaGarin HaTorani Orot , accompanied by Terri Cherbite from JAFI and Leah from Masa.

In the evening, they lit Hanukah candles at a traffic circle in the center of one of the neighborhoods. It was a sandstorm and difficult toget the candles lit but no-one really noticed because everyone was out and about and having such a fun time! There was dancing by the Garin HaTorani boys, high spirits, and lots of "soofganiyot " handed out to passers-by.

The Baltimore girls spent the day at Barzilai Medical Center doing their "chessed mitzvah", handing out"soofganiyot" and visiting with patients. They then did something very Israeli with their Ashkelon hostesses (girls their own age and younger, from Garin HaTorani, from their Shnat Sherut group and from Bnei Akiva). They went door-to door in small groups in one of the apartment buildings, knocking on doors, and handing out "soofganiyot". They lit candles on a hannukiya they brought with them and sangHanuka songs with Israeli families. This "chutzpadick" informal direct contact with Ashkelon families made a lasting impression on them and was one of the highlights of their busy day in Ashkelon.

The Garin HaTorani staff in charge of the dinner at 'Beit HaMidrash Imry Tal' are all young, enthusiastic and motivated, and warm. (Manager Eliyahu Reuven is part of the partnership strategic planning process.) Their Rabbi Reisman is an ex-American who spent many years studying in Baltimore. After dinner he delivered a short (and interesting) Dvar Torah in English and Hebrew, and then went over to chat with the girls and ask "who knows who" . That was a nice personal contact for them with an impressive personality.

After hearing about Ashkelon, the Partnership, and how Park Baltimore was built, many of the girls wanted to know about coming ro Ashkelon for a Shabbat. HaGarin HaTorani is already following that up to make it happen.

The last surprise was when Eliyahu handed each of the girls a memento of their visit to Ashkelon - a personal photo on a magnet (see attached photos). That must have been quite a logistical challenge for Eliyahu but it was a huge hit!

Thank you to everyone for a great day!

SEE MORE PHOTOS HERE

Happy Chanukah!

Wishing all our friends in Baltimore and everywhere

a very Happy Chanukah!

We have been having a heated debate as to the correct way to spell Chanukka in English. Anyone have an opinion? And the answer is: Hanukkah is a transliteration of a Hebrew word so you can spell it any way you wish.

During Chanukah, Chabad light candles every night at locations all over Ashkelon and hand out 'soofganiyot'. See the video HERE with a blessing from Rabbi Lieberman.

Our recipe for delicious Hanuka latkes !

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Finely grate a few unpeeled potatoes, a peeled sweet potato (yam), and a small onion (gourmet upgrade option : add 2 peeled grated 'Jerusalem artichokes'). Squeeze out most/all of the liquid. Add salt and pepper, 3 well beaten eggs, 1 tsp baking powder and 2-3 tablespoons of flour. Gently form into uneven flat patties and fry both sides in oil until golden brown.

Drain on paper and serve hot, sprinkled with a mix of sugar and cinnamon.

For those who prefer less oily food: Grease a pyrex dish with olive oil, put the mixture in, paint the top with olive oil and bake in a hot oven for an hour or more until golden and crispy. Serve hot: sprinkle each slice with sugar and cinnamon.

Ashkelon went dark for one hour on Sunday night

Sunday night 6 Dec 2009:before 8 pm and after 8 pm

Residents of Ashkelon and the surrounding areas turned their lights off on Sunday night at 8 PM for one hour, in protest over the proposed construction of a coal-powered electricity plant in the area.

Ashkelon is leading the fight against the 3rd coal powerplant . Gily , my 8 year old daughter came back from school and reminded me we should turn off the lights from 8 pm till 9 pm. We finished all the preparations that needed lights- homework, dinner , preparing the school bag and at 8pm , we turned off all the lights, lit candles and she took a bath by candle light ....

We looked out our windows and saw that many houses took part in this protest .Not sure how this will affect the governement decision , but who knows?

Photos by Edi Israel

Liron is a soldier!

Our own Liron Menashe is now an IDF soldier and has just completed her basic training. We wish her all the luck in the world. Waiting for more photos!

Just before Liron was drafted, she and Tal Bouhnik gave a presentation at the Teen Center, about their year in Baltimore as shinshinim, and as a result we have many interested matric students applying to become shinshinim in 2010 when Natan Mish and Hadar Madnick finish their year in Baltimore.

The candidates who passed the initial interview with Sigal, Itai (the JAFI representative) and Avner Maimon (Youth and Education dept, Ashkelon municipality) will participate in the second stage of the selection process: a full day workshop run by the Jewish Agency in Kiryat Moriah. It's a long process and we have many hopeful, highly motivated candidates to fill the two available positions.

Ashkelon makes "Dry Bones"!

Ashkelon's desalination plant features in today's Dry Bones Cartoon !!

The Jerusalem Post has been running Yaakov Kirschen's Dry Bones political cartoons for 30 years.

Yaakov Kirschen:

"The world's largest reverse osmosis desalination plant (and a target of Gazan missiles) is in the Ashkelon area. The desalination plant provides fresh water to Israel and supplies Gaza with its drinking water. The Israeli government plans to build four more plants which will make the country water independent.

The Ashkelon plant has been targeted by Gazan missiles. A Gazan missile hit would hurt Israel but would also stop all the fresh water flow to Gaza. Which, of course, gave me the idea for today's cartoon"

Link to Yaakov Kirschen's blog

The Ashkelon Desalination Plant, which opened in 2005, converts more than 26 billion gallons of Mediterranean Sea water into fresh water for the State of Israel each year—5 to 6 percent of total demand. Ashkelon is not only the largest reverse-osmosis desalination plant in the world, it's also one of the few public plants to recover waste heat to improve efficiency and reduce costs. The process does require heat, though not as much as distillation. Reverse osmosis works best when the water is around 95 to 100 F. And while the Ashkelon plant operates at the low end of the desalination cost spectrum (52 cents per cubic meter of water) it's still not cheap, at more than $51 million a year.

From Popular Mechanics

nicole

A new vision for the partnership

Friendship to Family: The Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership October 30, 2009 Ashkelon, Israel
by Saralyn Elkin and Dr. Jeffrey C. Miller

reprinted here From the Baltimore Jewish Times

More than five years ago, the Associated: Jewish Community Federation of Baltimore and the Baltimore Jewish Community launched the Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership.

We wanted to build a bridge between our community and the community in Ashkelon, but since its inception our partnership has become so much more.

For the past week, a delegation of community leaders from Baltimore was in Israel meeting with our Ashkelonian partners and planning the future of our relationship and work together.
The world has changed since our Partnership started and we wanted to take the opportunity to plan our future from a place of strength.

There is so much from our Partnership that we can be proud of:

* More than 3,000 people have traveled between our communities, building relationships, friendships, and strengthening our global Jewish community.

* Volunteerism has catapulted among teens in Ashkelon from 900 only a few years ago to more than 5,000 today thanks to the launching of AMEN.

* Together we built the Lyn Stacie Getz Playground, which is a monument to the vitality of our Partnership.

* In its first year, the Shinshinim program brought faces of Ashkelon to thousands of Baltimoreans, and the reach of the program is continuing to grow.

It is not enough simply to rest on these and other accomplishment. Our Partnership has so many more opportunities to reach out and touch the lives of the people in both of our communities.

As we sat together with our Ashkelonian partners, we discussed how our communities will work together to make each other stronger. Whether it is strengthening Jewish identity, promote living by Jewish values, or helping each other in times of need, we are working together towards an even brighter future.

One of the most empowering outcomes of our mission and the strategic planning process that we are in is the fact that in Baltimore and Ashkelon new voices are being heard and new ideas are being shared.

Our partnership has never been stronger, and we are even now serving as a resource to other communities as they seek to strengthen their connection with Israel.

In our closing session, one of our Ashkelonian partners said, “In the five years of our partnership, we have grown from being a “new friendship” to being a family.”

There is little more that can be said. If you want to read about the entirety of our mission, you can visit http://baltimoreisraeloverseas.blogspot.com/

Saralyn Elkin and Dr. Jeffrey Miller are chairs of the Associated’s Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership.

More information on the Associated is at http://www.associated.org/. Friends from Baltimore and Ashkelon, together in the Lyn Stacie Getz Park in Ashkelon

Marc Terrill presents Mayor Benny Vaknin with a check to fund an Ashkelon kindergarten, to be specially fortified against kassam rocket and other threats.