Write On For Israel – Cleveland

“Hello, my name is Adam Rosenberg, and I am a senior at Hudson High School. First I would like to thank your office for co sponsoring HR 1905, it is crucial for congresswomen like Marcia Fudge to support sanctions on Iran and recognizing the importance of a strong Israel-US relationship.”
These words looped through my head as I stood in front of the Longworth Office Building across the street from the Capitol. Honestly, I was surprised and nervous to have the opportunity to talk to Maheen Siddiqui, Legislative Council (on foreign affairs!) for congresswoman Marcia Fudge (D-11). However, I was excited to make a difference, excited to implement my research on Israel, and most of all – excited to advocate. There are few possible paths that lead to joining forces with AIPAC and lobbying, mine was relatively straightforward. I joined Write On For Israel (WOFI), which is a two-year Israeli advocacy program that monumentally changed my life for the better.
The first year was rough, lectures, notes, presentations, seminars, films, and a never ending number of PowerPoint slideshows. Next, we travelled to Israel on a political advocacy trip. We spent nights on the Mediterranean beach with Arabs, met the Shalit family in Jerusalem, and interviewed countless Israelis and politicians. I loved every moment of it. From there, WOFI lead me on a journey of Israeli advocacy that placed me at the Hill and with AIPAC.
Attending the AIPAC Schusterman Advocacy Institute High School Summit in Washington, D.C., Nov. 6-8, was extremely informative, especially when it came to lobbying techniques. Learning how to speak with a member of congress was a topic I knew nothing about. I attended an Advanced Public Speaking class at the convention (I was very glad I had when I was in the office of Marcia Fudge). I also learned about speaking, congress, lobbying, fundraising, petitions and much, much, much more.
This convention has been a phenomenal experience and I would invite CJN readers to attend the upcoming Policy Conference or any AIPAC event. Remember, the US-Israel relationship is not self-sustaining. We, as pro-Israelis, must continue to submit positive energy towards this relationship to keep it going for the safety of Israel and America.

In addition to WOFI, the Northeast Ohio delegation also included Alyssa Schor, Sydney Ungar, Jacob Popper Nate Shiffman and Noah Ickowitz representing BBYO and Hallie Israel and Matt Fisher from The Temple Tifereth Israel. Leora Hoenig of Cleveland BBYO and Ari Milgrom of The Temple-Tifereth Israel attended the trip as advisors. Noa Rabinowitz, AIPAC staffer from Beachwood, helped ensure the delegates had a good experience.

For another WOFI Fellow, Alana Friedman, the most memorable event was lobbying for Israel at the Capital. The ten teens from Northeast Ohio traveled together to Capitol Hill preparing short speeches on different topics the congresswoman needs to know about Israel- Iran, the peace process and the need for foreign aid. “It was an amazing opportunity to be able to talk to someone directly involved in congress,” said Alana.

Esther Bergson, another WOFI Fellow, was initially unenthusiastic about attending the AIPAC conference. Slowly, she became more excited and anxious, unaware of the incredible experience she was about to encounter.
“The setup of the seminars was impeccable, creating an interactive environment that encouraged every student to make a contribution to the discussion. Everybody had similar views and came together to create such a strong and reassuring environment that anybody-whether educated about the conflict in the Middle East or not- would feel completely comfortable with,” she reported.

The sixth annual conference brought 407 high school students from 28 states representing 130 different schools.
“Meeting the hundreds of other students was an interesting experience for me, said Bergson. I was shocked to find so many young adults that I could relate with and have a good time with. The AIPAC High School Summit was a life-changing experience for me that provided me with a great deal of knowledge and insight into the world of politics involving Israel and the United States,” said Bergson.

Esther Bergson attends Cleveland Heights High School, Alana Friedman attends Montessori High School at University Circle and Adam Rosenberg attends Hudson High School.

By Jennie Hazen

So, the day has finally come. The trip’s over. We’ve packed everything up, said goodbye, and left Israel. I figure that now’s as good of a time as any to write this blog; it may or may not be in a desperate attempt to ignore the Miami heat fans sitting in front of me, as well as to forget about the fact that I’m currently traveling at an altitude of ten thousand feet in a hunk of metal that weighs thousands of pounds and really has no business in the air.

This trip has been an amazing and eye-opening experience. I’ve been told that the places and people we’ve visited are not the usual stops that one makes on a tour of Israel. However, visiting places such as the qassam-terrorized town of S’derot (spelled ‘Sederot’ on the road signs, which I’ve been told by residents of the town is wrong) and the Arab village of Jassar Az-Zarka has been informative and extremely fun [respectively]; I wouldn’t have planned the trip any other way.

WOFI has gone above and beyond in training us to become good advocates for Israel. What I have learned on this trip is only a culmination for what we have learned in the sessions before, and what I assume we will learn in year two. That is, I’ve learned that there are two sides to every story, and the situation is much more complicated than it seems. It’s also really been driven home that Israel is not doing so well on the world stage in terms of public relations, and that it needs as many people fighting for it abroad as it can get. Most of all, however, I’ve learned just how little I know.

WOFI is a unique program, in that it helps us develop the skills that we need to become good advocates for any cause, not just for Israel. It also helps us to hone our writing skills, and encourages us to become critical thinkers when it comes to the news and debating. Thanks to the help of Amnon, Tina, Cindy, Ellen, and Rabbi Unterberg, we have developed as advocates, journalists, and people.

More than that, however, is that WOFI has provided me a chance to get to know people my own age, all along the religious spectrum. I can say with absolute certainty that I would not have ever interacted with, or even met, many of the people who I now consider to be close friends without this program. Seriously, though, clichés aside, this is honestly the nicest group of kids that I have ever been a part of. Instead of being a cliquey group where everyone only stuck to the people they already knew, we became a WOFI family. We ate together, played frisbee together, survived Moshe’s driving together, laughed about our sketchy hotel in Jerusalem together, and (most importantly and frequently) went to the bathroom together. I honestly can’t wait until sessions start again next year, because I want to learn more about advocating for Israel and I’m also honestly going to miss everybody on this trip.

Thank you to everybody who has made this trip possible, including (but not limited to): Amnon, Tina, Ellen, Cindy, Rabbi Unterberg, Oren(!!), Moshe, and all of the various presenters and speakers who have talked to us over the year and over the trip. Also, thank you to you, our parents. Some of you may have forced us into the program, while others might have been skeptical about letting their kids go to a foreign country on their own; however, without your support, guidance, and money, none of us would have ever found our ways to this trip.

See you all in the States!

By Max Zimon

“STAND UP!” The portly British man shouts. And so I do, hands shaking. “How dare you assert that Israelis are in the right when they constantly oppress Palestinians?!” He demands.
I start into a reply, but before I can get too far, he’s pretending to snore – then he’s back to ridicule. “Sit down! Damn gingies. Next person, you!” And now it’s someone else’s turn to run the gauntlet.
Meet Neil Lazarus, founder of Awesome Seminars and “… expert in the field of Middle East, Israel advocacy and effective communication training.” His boisterous, excitable, but highly educated and self-aware personage was the focus of our final seminar in the land of Israel. Mr. Lazarus started off with the diatribe above – a demonstration of the concept that debate with a “real” activist is often one-sided, even humiliating, and proceeded to highlight the way in which he believed we should advocate: With emotion, conviction, and a good-sized helping of ego.
“Don’t address the person you’re debating,” he suggests. “Address your audience.” By this, he means that when one wishes to argue a point, one’s goal should be to sway the maximum number of people – and that telling emotional stories, stretching the truth, and putting tears in peoples’ eyes is more important than focusing on the reality.
As one of only a few seminars on our trip dedicated to specific “hows” of advocacy, it was a refreshing presentation, peppered with humor and useful facts. Mr. Lazarus was clearly intelligent and well-spoken, not to mention entertaining, but in my opinion there is a clear problem with his message: When attempts were made to address issues, not emotions, he was very dismissive: The facts are “putting [him] to sleep,” “completely without emotion,” or otherwise unimportant.
As an advocate, I am not interested in making people cry. I am interested in fixing problems and making the situation better. According to Mr. Lazarus, the practical approach is the wrong approach – too much substance makes people disengage. Perhaps this is true, but I say that if our audience is looking for sadness and not substance, they may wish to search for a less complex issue to rally around than the Israeli-Palestine conflict.
After the trip concludes, Max will be writing a Field Guide to Write-on for Israel, containing his reflections and experiences from the trip. Visit it online at http://wofi.bwmtech.com!

By Rachel Shaw and Joseph Zummo
We began our second to last day on Write on for Israel by going to the fascinating Israel Museum, where we explored the wonders of Israeli art and culture. Although our tour guide wasn’t great, she helped us to answer Amnon’s favorite question: how can we take this back to Cleveland and use it to advocate for Israel? The museum provided a useful soft advocacy tool as it told the story of the development of Israeli culture and politics through art. We also saw the Dead Sea Scrolls and discussed their significance. We then discussed the ideology behind Religious Zionism.

To take a break from falafel and shawarma, we all enjoyed Pasta Basta for lunch, a not-so-elegant shop in Machane Yehuda, a shuk in Jerusalem.

We met up with our best friend Becca Levinsky, who we hadn’t seen since Shabbos, so that she could show us the wonders of the urban kibbutz where she is spending her gap year. A few of the students there explained the dynamics of the pluralistic kibbutz and told us why they had chosen to spend a year there, either as a pre-college or pre-army program. Instead of having an agricultural focus the urban kibbutz focuses on the Jewish value of fixing the world through acts of kindness in the community, specifically through volunteering at the Jerusalem equivalent of an inner-city school. A very animated Amnon tried to explain to the group that we would benefit from spending our gap years on that kibbutz.

We enjoyed a few hours of free time at Malcha Mall seeing the stunning fashion and the outspoken personalities of Israelis.

On the bus ride back to the hotel, we all (especially Tina) enjoyed a retelling of our favorite quotes from the trip, some of the craziest things some of us have ever said.

We would like to dedicate this blog to two very special women, Sandra Melody Shmuckler Hershkowitz (the most beautiful woman in the whole entire world) and to Debra Marla Schatten Shaw (the best Jewish mother in the whole entire world), whom Amnon declared the best WOFI parents in the whole entire world.

By Diana Ponitz and Alex Rosenberg

If you think Cleveland is bad, then you obviously haven’t been to Beer Sheva. Jokes! It really wasn’t so bad. We spent the majority of our day at the Mandel Institute (Mandel Center for Leadership) where we discussed the various challenges that Southern Israel faces. The Ethiopian community deals with the challenge of adapting to a modern Israeli society. One of the other focuses of our day was the Bedouin population and the struggle between their traditional practices and the modern world. We met a hippie who worked on a communist garden. She was dressed for winter in Cleveland but we were in the Negev… We were all very confused.
You’re standing on a hill overlooking the Gaza Strip. You hear gunshots from an Israeli military base in the distance. Suddenly, a military jeep slows down as it drives by your group, and your tour guide says, “Uh oh.” Dead Silence. As if nothing happened, your tour guide continues. Welcome to our afternoon in Sderot, a small neglected city just one mile away from Israel’s border with Gaza. Since 2001, organizations in the Gaza Strip have been firing Qassam Rockets relentlessly into the cities closely surrounding and including Sderot. Despite the fact that we’ve heard so much about the issue, being there gave us a totally different perspective and we are now closer to the heart of the problem. It was a powerful experience and a very solemn end to the day.