Connecting across miles, over holidays

In one of the first program of its kind, Jewish young adults with disabilities have been celebrating the holidays together-an ocean apart. Since last fall, members of the Chicago-based Keshet’s GADOL program and the Israel-based SHEKEL program have connected with each other, over Zoom, to make sukkah decorations, exchange chanukiot (menorahs) and mishlo’ach manot (Purim gifts), and celebrate Passover.

GADOL is a Highland Park-based adult day program of Keshet, a partner with JUF. The program serves people with disabilities, including those who live in the Libenu residences. Overseas, SHEKEL is a JUF-supported community inclusion project, with two residences located in Shafir, part of JUF’s Partnership Together region in southern Israel.

“I think it is important to connect with what’s going on in the world and Israel right now with the war and everything,” said GADOL participant Tova Klein. “It helps us understand.”

Since October, a dozen GADOL and SHEKEL participants have engaged Jewishly together over Zoom-including lighting menorahs together. The experience was even more meaningful because the Chanukah candelabras were handmade by each community, then given to the other, hand-delivered by members of JUF’s Partnership Steering Committee. 

During that month’s Zoom, “they showed us that the ones made here got all the way to Israel!” recalled Israeli native Bat-El Lieberman, Keshet’s Jewish Enrichment and Culture Facilitator in Chicago. “Then, we pulled out the chanukiot that they gave us, and we made the blessings and sang songs together. It was a very special moment.”   

During their meetups, participants learn holiday-related texts and sing songs in Hebrew and English. In fact, the coordinators of the two programs, in both countries, are fluent in both languages. The bilingual fluency, said Keshet’s Chief Communications Officer Jamie Lake, is “one of the coolest parts” of their collaboration. “Language is not a ‘barrier.’ It’s just another piece of the puzzle, and it makes it real,” she said.  

“How blessed we are for this program, and the ability to create this connection with this amazing population,” said Naama Maimon Goldberg, the People-to-People Coordinator for JUF’s Partnership program. The groups are thinking about how to forge more personal connections to make it as personal as possible.

“It’s interesting for SHEKEL participants [to learn] that there are people from across the ocean for whom ‘Jewish’ is a part of their identity,” said Partnership Together Director Yael Polunsky.

Later this year, participants from both programs may get to meet in real life if, as planned, the Chicagoans visit their new Israeli friends in person. “This would be the first time that Keshet will bring a group to Israel,” Lake said. “A lot of adults have been waiting a very long time to go.”

Their gatherings have led to other Chicago-Israel connections, including collaborations between the SHEKEL and Keshet choirs, and between mothers of adults with disabilities in both countries.  

“Connecting communities with disabilities didn’t happen in the past,” Lieberman said. “We are basically pioneers. We’re invested in that kesher, that connection.” 

To learn more about Keshet’s GADOL program, visit keshet.org/our-programs/adult-day-program. Find out more about JUF Partnership Together at juf.org/p2g.