ERETZ
FROM OUR PARTNERSHIP REGION IN ISRAEL
PHOTOS COURTESY OF FEDERATION
This year, Israeli campers are returning to Camp Tamarack after a two-year hiatus.
An Enduring Partnership The P2G program smoothly pivoted to virtual during the pandemic, continuing its success. DANNY SCHWARTZ STAFF WRITER
Editor’s Note: The JN will begin a regular series of stories from Detroit’s Partnership2Gether region. Here is an overview of the program to get it started.
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ince 1994, three Michigan communities: Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor and Grand Rapids, have partnered with three municipalities in Israel: Migdal HaEmek, Nof Hagalil (formerly Nazareth Illit) and the Jezreel Valley — a region referred to as the “Central Galilee.” This partnership, backed
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by the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit, is the Partnership2Gether (P2G) program. A program of the Jewish Agency for Israel, with 46 partnerships connecting 400 Jewish communities around the world, the program was originally designed to address needs in Israel. Today, the Partnership strives to build significant opportunities and sustain long-lasting relationships through a variety of collaborative programs and shared resources, strengthening both communities. As an
example, the partnership has continued moving forward during the pandemic when travel was massively limited. THE PARTNERSHIP IN THE BEGINNING P2G had simple intentions in the beginning — with Federation taking care of the Israeli region, usually sending money there, but nothing like the two-way interaction the program sees today. “Initially, it was a pipeline of funding resources for these communities that had certain needs,” said Dona Stillman, director of the P2G
program. “And over time, a lot of very strong relationships started to form between the folks Dona over there and Stillman people here in our community. “It’s sort of been a progression over time of strengthening and focusing in on those relationships rather than just the projects we do, which, of course, are important, but I think today most people would say the projects are just a means to connection and relationships between people.” Stillman has been in her current role for more than three years but began her relationship with P2G around 2005. In that time, she has seen the partnership evolve in a major way, starting with the creation of the Israeli camper program about 20 years ago. The program sees kids from the partnership region attending Tamarack Camps in Ortonville during the summer. “I think that was the first big shift. It was a real sea change in the partnership because it was created from something that was strictly happening over there. If you knew about it, you knew about it, but if you didn’t know, you had no way of knowing. It was insidersonly in terms of the Detroit Jewish community,” Stillman said. “When the Israeli Camper Program started, that really brought this partnership to our community, started making it more available
