Shinshinim 2024-2025

Omri - 

So this is our moment to say goodbye, as of right now we have been in Toronto for 294 days, which is close to 81 percent of the year, and around 42 Saturdays of being here. 

In the beginning, I remember I was shocked the first time I came here, by how big this Shul is compared to the Shul I used to go to back in Israel, the fact that I had to come every morning when I used to go to Shul every other week on Friday nights.

I was scared to see so many people on the high holidays. I was scared but I did it anyway, I was worried to come every Saturday Morning but it became a nice habit. I was nervous to speak at the Bima but it has taught me that I have something to share, I was scared to see the huge crowd at the high holidays but now I understand it means more people to talk to and engage with. 

But despite all the fears and worries, nothing had prepared me for this kind of a year. 

A year in which a war started in my homeland while I’m 10,000 kilometers away, and frankly I don't think anything could have ever prepared me for that and that is something we can all be glad for. 

But, the things that came after October 7th are the things that I am especially glad for, and I am glad I had the opportunity to experience it as a ShinShin. 

The warm warm hug that I've received from this community, from this Shul can't be compared to anything else, and this reminded me of something i wrote in one of the training sessions we had with JAFI before coming here. They asked us to write why we wanted to come: between a few sentences, I wrote “פן נשכח את קשרי העולם”-  May we not forget the connection of the world. 

We should not forget how everyone and everything in our world is connected, we should not forget we are the same family with the same connection. and I want to see this connection between Israel and the rest of the world, between our people and different nations - and I couldn't ask for another year to see that other than this year. 

There is a saying in Hebrew “שותפות גורל” - shared destiny. And we - Israel and the Jewish communities outside of Israel will always be connected no matter what.

The attack of October 7th was a wake up call for us to see it. We Are connected, the rise of unfortunate Anti-Semites and Jew hatred acts is not happening because of pure Israel-hate as some of them declared but rather its the new face of antisemitism. 

And even in that we are connected, Israel has the obligation to fight for the protection for every Jew all over the world as it is one of the pillar of the reasons why we need a sovereign Jewish state and always to be ready to accept every Jew for Aliyah. 

Just like the amazing community of Toronto has helped Israel in times of need, and donated so much whether it is your time or you came to volunteer in Israel, or donated money, goods, or essential clothing. 

So as this part of my year as a ShinShin comes to an end, I am glad to have no regrets and to have appreciated my time here. 

As I will be drafting to the army soon, I know I can and will look back on this year and be full of strength. Drafting is scary for me but also an obligation and a privilege. And just like I came with worries to this Shul and they all faded away, I know it will happen next time as well (and that's a lesson I've learned here).

And lastly i just wanted to say thank you Beth Emeth for having us. 

"תֶחֱזֶה מִכָּל-הָעָם אַנְשֵׁי-חַיִל יִרְאֵי השם, אַנְשֵׁי אֱמֶת--שֹׂנְאֵי בָצַע;" 

“Moreover thou shalt provide out of all the people able men, such as fear G-d, men of truth, hating unjust gain;” 

שמות י"ח פסוק כ"א

Sharon -

I have no words.

No amount of ‘thank you’s will be enough. No amount of words will explain how weird it is to stand here or the last time.

It is common for Shinshinim to sum up their journey in their last Dvar. A lot of my friends today are standing on the Bima in their synagogues, and explaining all they have learned, and how they have changed. 

I don’t know how to do that.

I have no idea if when coming back home my friends will barely recognize me, or if it will all feel exactly the same. What I do know is how much I learned about myself, my views and the world around me.

We came here almost 10 months ago, in what feels like a completely different world. 

A year ago, in the Jewish agency’s seminar I remember being terrified. In coming here, we were told one of our goals is bringing our Jewish story and our Israeli story to you guys. To me, it seemed like everyone around me understood what they meant by that. I didn’t. That night, I remember crying to my dad on the phone, that I don’t deserve to do this gap year because I have no story. I remember he said this was rubbish. He told me none of my friends have an outstanding story. He said that they didn’t fight in 48, and they didn’t free Jerusalem in 67. He told me that their story is exactly the same is mine. They were born, or they live in Israel - and they are Jews. That is their story. Our story.

Now I understand what he meant by that. My Israeli story is that I am an Israeli, and my Jewish story is that I am a Jew - unapologetically so. But my story is just the person that I am. The good, and the bad. And my story is changing every day.

So when I go back home, please know all of you are writers in my story. My Israeli one, my Jewish one and just - the regular one. Whether it was a footnote, or an entire chapter - you all truly did make an impact on me. And to think I was supposed to make and impact on you.

Thank you for letting me share my story, or just my thoughts, every week. And more than that - thank you for sharing yours with me. At first, and maybe still, it felt a bit arrogant to me that we are expected to assume that everyone is supposed to be interested in what we have to say for five minutes. And if you weren’t, thank you for pretending. We didn’t notice. But now I know to tell you that it is all about listening to what we have to share. We were never preaching, or lecturing. The reason we were here was not only to talk, and share our story, but to weave our stories together. Nothing I shared was original, and that is what I love about it. Every chapter I shared was something you experienced as well. Every thought I’ve had, you had before. My favorite part of every Dvar, was not being up here - but the conversations after over pasta salad and crackers. Thank you.

Please know that we are taking all of you with us back home. We didn’t only come here to share Israel with you. We are going back home and bringing Canada with us. Israel deserves to know what we learned about the incredible Jewish community of Toronto.

I have two last requests of you, if that is okay.

1. We have cards outside with our WhatsApp, instagram and email. Please take them and write to us. We really want to hear from you. Tell us about your day, share thoughts and ideas with us, and of course - tell us when you are in Israel.
2. Don’t forget about us, and don’t like the new Shinshinim more than you like us. Just kidding. Kind of. But we do want to tell you they are amazing, and you are going to love them. Not more than you love us, but that’s okay.

I’ll finish with a quote I love.

”How lucky am I to have something that makes saying goodbye so hard”.

How lucky we are to have experienced this year with you, Beth Emeth.

Thank you.

Shabbat Shalom.