IGF Concluding Speech

Begin Center Staff, MASA representatives, members of the office of Secretary of State Oved Yerehzkel;

Staff of the Israel Government Fellows program: Tamar, Alon and Mor;

Mentors, family members, friends and honored guests;

Thank you all for being here, and for being an integral part of what has been such a great experience for us!

Almost six months ago we arrived in Jerusalem and were immediately welcomed to Israel with our first surprise…

Snow! And in the following six months, Israel has continued to surprise us!

Needless to say, the first few weeks were full of new challenges: wrestling to get into the bus, trying to open a bank account, understanding the post office and dealing with the internet company!

But we were quickly able to adapt with the help of the amazing staff! During that time we also had the opportunity to learn Hebrew in ulpan, and to be introduced to the Israeli society through meetings with politicians, journalists, passionate student activists etc!





This orientation provided us with a strong introduction to what would be our next four months as fellows in government offices. And at the end of those three weeks, our internships began.

Our placements included the Prime Minister’s Office, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Industry Trade and Labor, the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Justice.

In many respects the idea of having interns is relatively new in Israel. So it justly follows that we were asked us why we came to Israel to work, for free.

I think that we came up with a pretty good answer. We first and foremost came to experience and learn about Jewish leadership within the Israeli Government.

Each of us took his or her own path during this experience, whether it was through meaningful projects, coordinating important delegation trips, comparative international research etc. We felt integrated into our offices in the Ministries and through that we began to feel part of the Israeli society.

Despite the fact that we come from different backgrounds, we all came together to be part of this program and that is what has united us from the beginning. We come with different work experience, different Jewish identities and from different countries: some of us came from the US from New Zealand, from Russia and from Canada.

Actually I have to add South Africa and France!

Of course, how silly of me. Despite our many differences we all came here to make a difference and during this time we have learned to stand together whether it was though high points or low!

One of the many high points that we experienced was when we attended and worked as summarizers at the Presidential Conference, and got the chance to meet many of the influential decision makers of our time.








In contrast, only three weeks after the program started, it was while we were having a good time on our first tiyul in the Negev that the news of the Yeshiva Merkaz Harav attack reached us.

The music suddenly stopped playing and we gathered to discuss what had happened. But the strength we came out of that with was that we were all together. There were other similar moments we shared: Yom Hashoa, Yom Hazikaron, learning about the fate of Ehud Goldwasser (Z”L) and Eldad Regev (Z”L)

We went through a journey; traveling together from the North to South, from kayaking in the Jordan to witnessing the fence in the West Bank;



From hearing the stories of those evicted from Gush Katif to walking through the Bahai Gardens,



From eating at a Druze village to touring around Jerusalem and learning about our heritage!

From hiking Nahal David to visiting the students village in Be'er Sheva.





We have listened and sat with many people whose differing visions of Israel span the entire spectrum, from Yossi Beilin to Aryeh Eldad.



We have seen Israel through the eyes of experts.

Though we have traveled around the country, our journey has not only been geographic. We came from different places, ideological backgrounds, and ways of life, and yet we have been able to learn from each other and with each other. Whether it was in a seminar, our internships, a tiyul, or a walk around the city, we have all greatly benefited from each other.

It has been remarkable to witness everyone's growth over these months, transitioning from tourists to quasi-Israelis, from people full of preconceived notions to taking life as it comes. From cautious eaters to those who would throw prudence to the wind for a sumptuous smell; from being taken aback by Israeli forceful attitudes to being forceful right back. We have all changed in certain, distinct ways.

But it wasn’t Israel exactly that changed us or the incredible program that we participated in. Our lives changed because they had to, and what was so special about our time here is that we were all able to bear witness to this change in each other.

We came here to work in Ministries of the government and live in Israel for a substantial amount of time and have come away with much more than we came for. We have learned about ourselves, both as Jews and leaders and what we want to do with that in the future.

To our fellow IGF-ers- no matter how far we travel on our own separate paths, what we have shared here will always connect us. And we look forward to seeing everything we know this group will accomplish in the future.

And on behalf of the second session of the Israel government Fellows, which we have been so fortunate to have participated in, we would like to thank you all for your support through this journey that has been so meaningful!

And especially to Tamar, Alon and Mor- thank you for making all of this possible!