Every community in North America has, if it wants it, a partnership community in Israel. St. Louis’s partnership community is really two separate ones closely connected. The first is Yokne’am and the second is Megiddo (technically, it is a region).
Partnerships are not about location. They are about people and creating people-to-people connections to tie our St. Louis community to one part of Israel.
The region was selected almost 25 years ago because its Mayor, Simon Alfasi, openly embraced newly rescued Jews from Ethiopia. Alfasi, himself an immigrant from Morocco to Israel in its earlier period, committed himself to embracing new immigrants, understanding that historically immigrants and refugees have been critical for economically struggling cities to become economic drivers. We enjoy a relationship with the region because of that early decision and the decision to continue partnering made by some key individuals in our community, including the recently passed Tom Green (Of Blessed Memory) and former Jewish Federation of St. Louis President & CEO, Barry Rosenberg. Tom Green was revered here, and when I met with the Mayor today, he confirmed to me the city’s decision to name a college scholarship program here in memory of Tom.
Israel has been accepting immigrants from all kinds of racial backgrounds from its earliest days, and the streets here are like a vision of global diversity coming from India, North Africa, Iran and Western Europe. But the path to citizenship for the Ethiopians has been more difficult than past waves for reasons that are highly debated. Some of the factors are specific to the culture (very low literacy rates, for example, and high deference to their elders, both of which hinder assimilation). And some are the more familiar themes of class, race and economics that are familiar across the globe.
Whatever the cause, the St. Louis Jewish community has remained a close partner in helping the community’s integrative approach. Alfasi implemented a plan to integrate rather than concentrate the new immigrants, and the community has taken a multi-generational approach to services.
Today, I met with the programmatic team, including directors of youth programs and senior services, tutoring programs for students, and early childhood programs. The morning meeting centered around partners looking for solutions and asking hard questions. The good news is that the impact we are collectively having is producing a population that is doing better than most Ethiopian communities elsewhere in Israel.
Pictured here is the team.