By Jessica Goldfarb
This year, Israel is coming to Jewish Charlotte in a new way. Not through a speaker, a program, or a single event, but through two young Israelis who will spend the year becoming part of the community.
Ori and Keren have arrived in Charlotte as the community’ s first ShinShinim, part of a new initiative brought to Jewish Charlotte by Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte( JFGC) to create meaningful, personal connections between the community and Israel.
Service Year Israeli emissaries, better known as ShinShinim, are Israeli high school graduates who defer their required military service for one year to serve Jewish communities around the world. Throughout the coming year, Keren and Ori will visit schools, synagogues, and organizations across Jewish Charlotte, sharing their experiences, perspectives, culture, and everyday life in Israel.
But the ShinShinim program is about much more than teaching people about Israel. At its heart, it is about relationships.
“ The ShinShinim will bring Israel to our community in fun and engaging ways,” said Noah Goldman, Israel and Global Jewry Associate at JFGC.“ A connection with Israel should be tied to peoplehood, culture, and the land. Strengthening that
The Charlotte Jewish News- September 2026- Page 5
Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte
Jewish Charlotte Welcomes Its First ShinShinim
Ori and Keren connection is the mission of the ShinShinim. This is a new program for our community, and I am really excited to see the creativity and ingenuity that Keren and Ori will bring with them.”
Over the next year, Keren and Ori will not simply be visiting Jewish Charlotte; they will become part of it. They will celebrate holidays with the community, volunteer, spend time with children and teens, and build friendships with people of all ages.
Those everyday interactions are what make the ShinShinim model so powerful. Israel can sometimes feel thousands of miles away, understood through headlines, history, or occasional visits. A personal relationship changes that. Through Keren and Ori, members of the community will have the opportunity to encounter Israel through the stories, traditions, humor, music, food, experiences, and perspectives of two young people who call it home.
The exchange works in both directions. While Keren and Ori will share their Israel with Charlotte, Jewish Charlotte will share itself with them. They will learn what Jewish life looks like in the American South, experience the strength and diversity of the local Jewish community, and form relationships they will carry back to Israel when their year of service ends. For JFGC, bringing the Shin- Shinim program to the community is an investment in a relationship with Israel built not only around moments of crisis or celebration, but through the connections that grow when people have the chance to know one another.
Keren and Ori’ s year in Charlotte is just beginning. In the months ahead, they will become familiar faces throughout the community, bringing a little of Israel with them wherever they go and taking a little of Jewish Charlotte with them when they eventually return home.
L’ SHANA TOVA FROM THE YUDELL FAMILY shana
TOVA wishing you a sweet new year
From all of us at Jewish Federation of Greater Charlotte