One of my colleagues was cleaning her office last week and asked me to go over some Israel-related items that were buried there. I found treasury items that illustrate our GMW story: thank-you letters from recipients of many programs that we have supported over the years, gifts from our overseas partners, beautiful Ethiopian artwork that is now decorating our department. Only one piece, however, made it all the way to the "hall of fame" at my office mini museum.

Other than the fact that it has historic, community value, it is also very symbolic that this piece was discovered only days after the horrible, and what I call strategic, terror attacks in Paris. I hung it on my wall at the same time that Prime Minister Netanyahu was marching for solidarity with world leaders, speaking at the central synagogue in Paris with the French-Jewish community, and creating a debate when he called for all European Jews to consider Aliyah.

So what exactly did I find? It is a framed letter from June 1989, printed by an old typing machine and signed by then-Prime Minister of the State of Israel Yitzchak Shamir, z"l. Shamir was writing to the newly elected mayor of Ra'anana, Ze'ev Bielsky, commending him for his innovative approach, together with the Jewish community of MetroWest NJ, to create the first ever "direct absorption" project. "I have learnt with much interest," writes Shamir, "about your initiative in finding a new approach for the attraction of Soviet Jews to Israel instead of them going to other places... There is also much merit in the direct participation of Jewish communities in the Diaspora. I am glad that your partner in this project will be MetroWest of New Jersey, where I appeared at a great community rally during my most recent visit to the United States."

This letter tells the story of our GMW Federation in a nutshell. Our DNA if you will: We have global perspective. We identify the Jewish needs wherever they are. We rally our community. We relate to the challenges in innovative, cutting-edge ways. We create smart partnerships with other communities in Israel and around the world. We leverage our resources and our abilities. The "direct absorption" project helped thousands of olim, became a model to be duplicated for other communities, and started our long-lasting partnership with the city of Ra’anana. We should all take much pride for it. 

But Shamir in his letter also touches on another pillar of our community's identity, something we now call "Jewish peoplehood." In 1989 this buzzword term was not yet invented but the concept goes back in time to our Jewish heritage. The solidarity between Jewish communities, the vibrant partnership connections, and the mutual responsibility (Arvut Hadadit) for one another is rooted in our community, something we shouldn't lose sight of. Shamir closed his letter by saying exactly that, in his own archaic but prophetic way: "The active cooperation between a town in Israel and a community in the United States..... Is a practical manifestation of Jewish unity and solidarity."

The developing situation of European Jewry 25 years later brings with it the same insights about the meaning of our Israel-Diaspora relationships, the uniqueness of our GMW community, and the power of Klal Yisrael. This is why I hung this letter on my office wall.

Drishat Shalom,





Amir