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Israel’s potential leaders spend month in Cleveland
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Douglas J. Guth
Senior Staff Reporter
In Hebrew, the word atid means “future.” The Atidim project is all about the future, say its supporters.
The ambitious Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) program was created to provide opportunities for talented and motivated young people from Israel’s vulnerable periphery – the Galilee in the north and the Negev in the south – to change the face of Israeli society by serving in the public sector.
As part of their Atidim training, a group of 20 potential Israeli leaders spent a month-long “mini-semester” in Cleveland to learn alternative forms of government while understanding how the U.S. nonprofit sector functions. Participants also made connections with Northeast Ohio’s Jewish community.
The three Atidim participants this reporter met are “go-getters”: Ella Eyal studies law and interns at the prime minister’s office; Tamim Saad, a member of Israel’s Druze community, works in the budget office of the ministry of finance; and Elad Kimelman, a public policy major who is “very engaged” in politics, interns in Israel’s civil service sector.
On a smaller scale, Israel’s periphery is experiencing the same socioeconomic challenges as Northeast Ohio, say the Israelis. As young Clevelanders leave home for the bustling excitement of New York and Chicago, Israelis are depopulating the country’s outskirts for the jobs and vibrancy of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.
The visiting Jews’ first glimpse of Cleveland left them with mixed feelings. While they were impressed by pockets of development (particularly the newly revamped E. 4th St.), they felt a disconnect between these pockets of prosperity and the central city.
Some areas of downtown reminded Kimelman of “The Truman Show,” about a man who discovers that his life is a TV show, and the city he lives is in fact an enormous empty studio.
“Something is missing,” Kimelman believes.
Eyal, the burgeoning attorney, praised the Euclid Corridor project and other construction taking place throughout the region. But she thinks Cleveland needs to take advantage of other assets, such as the lakefront, to help keep the population intact.
All in their late 20s (program participants range in age from 23-30), the three Atidim students shadowed local government officials and civil servants, including Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland (Kimelman) and U.S. District Judge Dan Polster (Eyal).
Participants also learned about America’s federalist system of government, the electoral system, and the impacts of regionalism. The Atidim mission was coordinated locally by the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland’s Overseas Connections Committee and chaired by Dr. Mark Rosentraub, a professor at Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs.
The impact of the program on Northeast Ohio is long-term, explains Rosentraub. Introducing Israel’s next generation of leaders to Cleveland could create a pipeline for future economic development partnerships with the Jewish state.
The more immediate goal is the chance for young Israelis to glean what Federation director of international operations Oren Baratz calls the “power of process.”
Witnessing firsthand how a large governmental system operates, Baratz maintains, will give Israel’s hopeful torchbearers an enhanced perspective on how to work with their own government once they return home.
The authority wielded by each Northeast Ohio community intrigued the Israelis. Israel’s centralized structure, they note, doesn’t give local municipalities much sway.
A visit to Cleveland City Hall showed the Israelis that ordinary citizens have a voice in how their leaders conduct business. It is difficult for some of Israel’s far-flung groups, both in terms of ethnicity and geography, to capture their government’s attention, asserts Saad, the Israeli Druze.
The Druze community, whose culture is Arab, has some standing among the country’s minority groups, with members of the community attaining high-level positions in the political, public and military spheres.
If there’s one thing Saad learned during his month here, it’s the need for each community to fend for itself. With the help of healthy injections of education and infrastructure, this will create a stronger connection to Israel’s central government and benefit all of the country’s disadvantaged citizens, he believes.
“Everyone should have a chance to gather around something strong,” Saad concludes.
dguth@cjn.org
Senior Staff Reporter
In Hebrew, the word atid means “future.” The Atidim project is all about the future, say its supporters.
The ambitious Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) program was created to provide opportunities for talented and motivated young people from Israel’s vulnerable periphery – the Galilee in the north and the Negev in the south – to change the face of Israeli society by serving in the public sector.
As part of their Atidim training, a group of 20 potential Israeli leaders spent a month-long “mini-semester” in Cleveland to learn alternative forms of government while understanding how the U.S. nonprofit sector functions. Participants also made connections with Northeast Ohio’s Jewish community.
The three Atidim participants this reporter met are “go-getters”: Ella Eyal studies law and interns at the prime minister’s office; Tamim Saad, a member of Israel’s Druze community, works in the budget office of the ministry of finance; and Elad Kimelman, a public policy major who is “very engaged” in politics, interns in Israel’s civil service sector.
On a smaller scale, Israel’s periphery is experiencing the same socioeconomic challenges as Northeast Ohio, say the Israelis. As young Clevelanders leave home for the bustling excitement of New York and Chicago, Israelis are depopulating the country’s outskirts for the jobs and vibrancy of Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and Haifa.
The visiting Jews’ first glimpse of Cleveland left them with mixed feelings. While they were impressed by pockets of development (particularly the newly revamped E. 4th St.), they felt a disconnect between these pockets of prosperity and the central city.
Some areas of downtown reminded Kimelman of “The Truman Show,” about a man who discovers that his life is a TV show, and the city he lives is in fact an enormous empty studio.
“Something is missing,” Kimelman believes.
Eyal, the burgeoning attorney, praised the Euclid Corridor project and other construction taking place throughout the region. But she thinks Cleveland needs to take advantage of other assets, such as the lakefront, to help keep the population intact.
All in their late 20s (program participants range in age from 23-30), the three Atidim students shadowed local government officials and civil servants, including Bay Village Mayor Debbie Sutherland (Kimelman) and U.S. District Judge Dan Polster (Eyal).
Participants also learned about America’s federalist system of government, the electoral system, and the impacts of regionalism. The Atidim mission was coordinated locally by the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland’s Overseas Connections Committee and chaired by Dr. Mark Rosentraub, a professor at Cleveland State University’s Levin College of Urban Affairs.
The impact of the program on Northeast Ohio is long-term, explains Rosentraub. Introducing Israel’s next generation of leaders to Cleveland could create a pipeline for future economic development partnerships with the Jewish state.
The more immediate goal is the chance for young Israelis to glean what Federation director of international operations Oren Baratz calls the “power of process.”
Witnessing firsthand how a large governmental system operates, Baratz maintains, will give Israel’s hopeful torchbearers an enhanced perspective on how to work with their own government once they return home.
The authority wielded by each Northeast Ohio community intrigued the Israelis. Israel’s centralized structure, they note, doesn’t give local municipalities much sway.
A visit to Cleveland City Hall showed the Israelis that ordinary citizens have a voice in how their leaders conduct business. It is difficult for some of Israel’s far-flung groups, both in terms of ethnicity and geography, to capture their government’s attention, asserts Saad, the Israeli Druze.
The Druze community, whose culture is Arab, has some standing among the country’s minority groups, with members of the community attaining high-level positions in the political, public and military spheres.
If there’s one thing Saad learned during his month here, it’s the need for each community to fend for itself. With the help of healthy injections of education and infrastructure, this will create a stronger connection to Israel’s central government and benefit all of the country’s disadvantaged citizens, he believes.
“Everyone should have a chance to gather around something strong,” Saad concludes.
dguth@cjn.org
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