Sisters from Across the Sea

by Jill Cousins

If you are planning a trip to Israel, the itinerary will likely include treks to trendy Tel Aviv, historic Jerusalem, the massive fortress of Masada, and the glistening beaches of Eilat, among other popular destinations.

One place that might not be on your schedule is the small city of Kiryat Motzkin, just five miles north of the northern port city of Haifa. But here’s why it should be: Since 2006, Kiryat Motzkin has been Orlando’s sister city thanks to a partnership with the Jewish Federation of Greater Orlando (JFGO).

“The goal behind it is to create personal connections with a community in Israel,” says Keith Dvorchik, JFGO’s executive director since 2018 and the CEO of The Roth Family JCC. “So, rather than looking at the entire country, you can focus on one community and build relationships. You get to know the people there, and when you take trips to Israel, you stop and visit the sister city, and when Kiryat Motzkin residents come to the states, they visit us. It’s really about that global Jewish connection.”

The JFGO also funds impactful programs in Kiryat Motzkin. For more than a decade, the Federation supported the MASHAL Center for Learning, a place for people with developmental disorders. Currently, the Federation funds two programs: Before Our Eyes and the Young Leadership Program.

Before Our Eyes is a program for Holocaust survivors, which creates interaction between them and younger generations. The Young Leadership Program works with at-risk youth, with teens who aren’t at-risk serving as mentors, and provides various seminars and opportunities for leadership training.

During the early days of the sister-city partnership, the Jewish Academy of Orlando would take students on field trips to Israel and make a stop at Kiryat Motzkin, where they interacted with Israeli children of the same age. Young mothers who participate in the Federation’s Momentum trips also regularly make stops in Kiryat Motzkin to see the programs that the JFGO subsidizes.

Some future programs the Federation is considering include a Purim exchange, in which lightly used Halloween costumes are donated to the JFGO and sent to Kiryat Motzkin for children to wear for Purim, as well as a book club and a recipe exchange. The Federation is always open to suggestions for new ways to connect with our brothers and sisters in Israel.

“The Federation chose these current programs because we felt they would be the most impactful,” Keith says. “We get a report every year from Kiryat Motzkin, and we continue to fund these programs because the impact is significant.”

Rhonda Forest, past Federation president and current Board of Directors secretary, made a brief stop in Kiryat Motzkin during a trip to Israel with some friends in 2017.

“Unfortunately, we didn’t plan well when I went there,” Rhonda remembers with a grin. “When we were planning the trip, I was like, ‘I have to see Kiryat Motzkin. I’ve been hearing about this place for so many years!’ But we arrived there on a Saturday, and everything was more or less closed for Shabbat. But we did get to see what the town was like, and it is a beautiful little city.”

Kiryat Motzkin was founded in 1934 and is named for Leo Motzkin, one of the organizers of the First Zionist Congress in 1897. Its population is 43,303, and its primary tourist attraction is Chai Park Kiryat Motzkin, considered the most beautiful zoo in Israel, featuring an amusement park, camel rides, an outdoor amphitheater, and playgrounds.

The Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) started the sister-city program in the 1990s as a way to connect Jewish communities in the United States with cities in Israel through personal relationships.

“It’s really important for people to have a personal connection with Israel,” Keith says. “It’s so easy to get stuck in the politics and forget about the people, and this is all about the people. These people are just like us. They are our Israeli brothers and sisters or grandparents or children, and we have opportunities to build those personal connections.”

Keith encourages any Central Florida resident who visits Israel to contact the Federation first and arrange a stop at our sister city. Maybe your next trip will include a stroll through Kiryat Motzkin, a visit to the zoo, and/or a Shabbat dinner at someone’s home.

“That’s typical,” Rhonda says of the Israeli people. “They are extremely welcoming. They want you to see Israel how they see Israel. I think it’s extremely important that we continue supporting this city and promoting our connection to Israel.”