For the remaining four months of my stay, I'll be interning with WIZO, Women's International Zionist Organization, in the fundraising department. I realize that the name itself carries with it certain connotations....Women's = Feminist & Zionist = Pro-Israel super Jew. I had these same kind of ideas when I was entertaining the idea of working with them, yet despite whatever you may think about the name, the organization does truly wonderful things for the state of Israel. Since was a bit confused over the meaning of Zionism, I did a little research on the subject. There is a plethora of ideologies that encompass a Zionist mindset, but at the very root, Zionists can all agree that they seek the preservation of a homeland for the Jewish people (aka Israel). The Zionist movement was founded in the late 19th century by secular Jews, largely in response to growing antisemitism in Europe. In 1948, Israel declared independence, and thus, a Jewish state was born, sadly not without opposition and struggles that continue to this very day.
WIZO's goal is to provide for the welfare of women, children and the elderly, and to strengthen the bond of Jews all over the world with the State of Israel. They operate a staggering number of facilities, programs and services all across Israel, with the financial assistance from WIZO members from more than 50 foundations all over the world. Just a few numbers to get an idea of how big WIZO is in Israel - 600 day care centers, 6 youth villages, 44 youth clubs, 8 schools, and dozens of women's shelters. I had the opportunity to visit one of the youth villages last week, and it was an amazing experience. As I said before, I will be working in the fundraising department, which as you can imagine, involves a lot of office time and computer work. Not exactly glamorous work, but upon seeing the results in person, it makes it all the more worthwhile! The youth villages are communities for youth that have been removed from their homes by the welfare department for a host of reasons: abuse, neglect, out of control behavior etc. Instead of placing children in foster homes to become lost in "the system" WIZO offers these youth a home, with the education, love, nourishment and enrichment activities they have lacked in the past.
WIZO Hadassim Youth Village- Grounds Map
The fundraising department is fascinating in itself. This small (4 person) department is responsible for coordinating the fundraising efforts of the 50+ WIZO federations around the world. Not a small task! Our Sunday status meeting consisted of running through the list of all the federations to see how things are going. (i.e. what's going on with Austria? How are things in Belgium? Fundraising in Rome going as expected?) Pretty amazing to work in an office that is so international! On the plus side, the majority of work is conducted in English, so I don't have any troubles communicating or participating in meetings. Most people in the office speak 2, 3 or more languages - which I find just amazing. Our department chair, for example, without fault can switch from Hebrew to Italian to English and back again...and perhaps throw in a little French just for variety. And here I am still struggling to come up with creative responses to "manishma" (what's up) other than my standard "kol beseder" (everything's ok) or "sababa" (good).
In the upcoming weeks, we have some exciting things to plan for, including a bar mitzva celebration in Jerusalem, and the office is always buzzing with work to be done, so at the very least, I won't be short on things to do while I am there! And so far no filing paperwork - but I have been on a few coffee runs for the boss. Here I am again, I suppose, starting at the bottom in my long journey to the top!
Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv!
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