Israel, South Africa and California – one cannot find people living much further apart than that now can one?

Stories of coincidence are not uncommon when working with large numbers of youth and adults from other countries visiting Israel.  When not recorded then quickly forgotten.

A few months ago we had the pleasure of working with a group of 25 educators from South Africa who were in Israel under the auspices of Yad VaShem in Jerusalem and the Cape Town Holocaust Center in South Africa.

The educators were from cities and townships literally from right across their country.  They were accompanied by Cape Town Holocaust Center director Richard Freedman and during the course of a most interesting seminar and tour of Wadi Ara, Richard mentioned that the Cape Town Holocaust Center was the first and only Holocaust center to be established in the whole of Africa.

Some months later a group of students and academics from Claremont McKenna College in Los Angeles also came for a day seminar.  Chatting to a number of the students over lunch, one young lady mentioned that she had volunteered for 3 months in a Holocaust center in South Africa.

“Ah,” I said, “you must have been working with Richard Freedman at the Cape Town Holocaust Center.”

“How did you know?” asked the rather surprised student who was delighted to hear that he and a group of educators had not only been in Israel but also visited Givat Haviva.  It turned out that the young lady Kevyn Klein also had worked with quite a few of the teachers during her stay in South Africa.

 

South African educators out and about on tour in Wadi Ara

 

Answering an email from Richard Freedman I mentioned the encounter with the young lady from Claremont McKenna College whose name I didn’t know – until Richard immediately replied saying how glad he was to hear that she had been on a seminar with us as well.

What a small world was the expression used by both the Californian student and Richard Freedman – living so far apart but finding more common ground in Givat Haviva in Israel!

The Claremont McKenna College launched its Center for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide and Human Rights in March 2003 although CMC has supported teaching and research about the Holocaust for more than three decades placing the college among the forerunners in the field of Holocaust studies.

Many students like Kevyn Klein are encouraged to spend time as interns with organizations in different countries as the CMC seeks to instill in students the knowledge, skills and moral insight needed to intervene constructively in a world rife with genocidal conflict, terrorism and human rights.

Since his return to Claremont one of the students David Nehmias emailed how important the seminar at Givat Haviva was for him personally - and indeed would say the same for us!

 

DON’T I KNOW YOU FROM SOMEWHERE?

Don’t I know you from somewhere?  Rebecca Kaplan at the MEGA EVENT

 

Seven and a half thousand students from all over the world recently attended the Birthright-Taglit MEGA EVENT held at Latrun near Jerusalem.

Students and Birthright-Taglit staff and tour guides were standing practically shoulder to shoulder as they moved around an exhibition area focusing on study programs on offer for Birthright-Taglit both in Israel and back home in the States, Canada, South America and other countries from where the students hailed.

I spotted a young lady with an Israeli flag transfer prominently showing on her cheek.  I then saw she was wearing a Hunter Hillel T-shirt.  Hunter was one of the campuses I recently visited giving talks to students in North America.

Granted it did take a few minutes to click but we remembered meeting at Hunter, having a quick chat before I moved on to talk with students.  The young lady with the Israeli flag on her cheek was Rebecca Kaplan, director of Hillel at Hunter College in New York.

Staying on in Israel after the Birthright-Taglit group she was accompanying returned home, Rebecca visited Givat Haviva where she met with INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT staff. 

Impressed with the campus and the various departments, projects and educational activities undertaken by Givat Haviva, Rebecca promised to help promote the new MASA TO THE EAST 5-month course in Arabic language and Middle East Studies due to start in January, 2009 under the auspices of the INTERNATIONAL DEPARTMENT, Givat Haviva and the MASA organization.

 

Rebecca Kaplan of Hunter Hillel, New York at the MEGA EVENT Givat Haviva

booth promoting MASA TO THE EAST