My name is Lilach Nissim, and I’m Kansas City’s new Israeli emissary (shlichah). I arrived in Kansas this November to work on staff at the Jewish Federation of Greater Kansas City. My main job here is to educate Kansas Citians about Israel — wherever there is a need.
As you can imagine, I’m very excited to be here. And after two months in Kansas City, I understand how right it was for me to become an emissary in Kansas City. You have a warm and welcoming community, and I want to thank everyone for your hospitality and kindness.
For me, becoming an emissary is fulfilling a dream of mine. I feel that at this point in my life, I have the skills and the experience to make a contribution to your community. During the last nine years I have worked in the informal education field; from educating special needs students, to running projects that provided opportunities for students to help within their community, to ensuring adults had the proper assistance they needed to study in college. As I worked in each of these positions I learned a great deal about myself, about the importance of helping the community and about Zionism.
But where I really learned the most was from my most recent job in Sderot. During this time, I had the great opportunity to re-examine everything I had known up until that point.
Until this past summer, I worked for three years in Sderot. If you don’t know Sderot, it is a city in the south of Israel that has suffered from constant rocket attacks from Gaza. During my time in this devastated city, I coordinated a program for at-risk children, ran a club for at-risk teenagers, and coordinated a teenage volunteer corps in the city.
My first day in Sderot — to sign my work contract — was the first day of the biggest and most aggressive rocket attack that was yet to happen there. Back then, I understood nothing about life under attack. Although I served in the army, I never experienced a situation like that. And because I was the only one who worked in that program who lived outside of Sderot, everybody thought I was crazy to stay.
But remain in Sderot I did. And I learned many things there. I learned the meaning of the word “courage.” I learned the unity of faith. I learned that nothing is what it seems.
I saw good people opening their homes to provide shelter to those who were caught in the street during an attack. I saw strangers have a heart to heart conversation about the situation. I saw children who were braver than adults. I learned not to judge from the teens I worked with, and how love is an important component in education. Mostly I learned how we all need to take action and responsibility for the lives around us.
I learned the true value of Zionism, just like they taught us at school, when it was a distant word out of history books. I learned how an entire nation, in the Diaspora and in Israel, are joining and working together for one important cause. I learned about the strength of that nation: not just how it survived through history, but its determination and the faith of the people. In other words, our collective Jewish values.
For me, Israel is much more than fights and terror attacks. For me, Israel is not a history of death. It is a history of life. It is the burning bush. And through the burning, it will never stop prospering.
Israel’s achievements in technology, science, agriculture, and economics are great. At the same time, Israel is not a perfect country. How can we expect a state that is only 63 years old, that accepts immigration in large scales, that deals with a very difficult security situation, that has few natural resources, to be perfect? To expect Israel to be perfect is unnatural. Most countries existing under these kinds of conditions are third-world countries.
But with Israel, that is the miracle. This is how the burning bush continues, against all odds. The state of Israel leads a modern and democratic life, with successes in many areas. It even consults with other countries in economics, technology, agriculture and security. Indeed, we have a lot of work to do, but it’s possible for Israel to succeed against all odds.
As an Israeli, it is very frustrating to watch helplessly as the news reports around the world discuss what is going on in Israel. More than once, I’ve thought of the Jews around the world: What do they feel when they watch the news? Are they ashamed of the Jewish state? In spite of these thoughts, I believe that the Jews in the Diaspora truly understand that the state of Israel is a source of pride for them and how — together — we can help improve the things that need to be improved in Israel.
So I hope to see you all experiencing a little bit of Israel in Kansas City. We have many upcoming community events, including Israeli movie nights, various workshops and other Israeli activities. Please feel free to contact me with any ideas you have about sharing Israel and Israeli life in Kansas City. You can reach me at (913) 327-8124, , or on find me on Facebook, search for Lilach Nissim Shlichah.
(Editor’s note: Lilach Nissim plans to write a regular monthly column about her experiences as Kansas City’s Israeli emissary.)
