“We have greatly depended the meaning of our lives,” was the homecoming sentiment expressed by 23 family units participating in the second annual UJA Young Leadership Cabinet Family Mission upon their arrival at JFK Airport this week. The group spent two weeks in Israel exploring the meaning of the land and its people and surveying the work of the Jewish Agency in the areas of absorption, education and social welfare.
The highlight of the Mission was a special three-day Retreat outside of Tel Aviv, where the American families met with members of Dor Hemshech, their counterpart Israeli Young Leadership group. The Retreat dialogue probed the relationship between world Jewry and the people of Israel in terms of the Judaic heritage and Jewish identity. “This intensive dialogue,” Donald H. Gould, Young Leadership Cabinet chairman, explained, “was designed to give each of the participating families a meaningful Jewish experience through direct interaction with the people of Israel.”
The strong feelings of unity and commitment fostered during the Family Mission were most dramatically evident following the group’s visit to Yad Vashem, the memorial to the Six Million, Deeply moved, the 70 American Jewish children in the group–aged five to seventeen–pledged $1800 on behalf of the people of Israel for the current United Jewish Appeal campaign.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
