By the time this group boarded a plane to Israel, they’d already spent almost two years learning together.
That may be what makes the Minneapolis Mifgash different from almost any other Israel experience.
The Hebrew word “mifgash” means “encounter,” and that idea shaped the experience from the very beginning. Rather than organizing a traditional educational trip, Minneapolis Jewish Federation set out to create something more lasting: a cohort of Jewish communal professionals who would learn alongside one another before traveling, experience Israel together, and then return home with a shared responsibility to bring those experiences back into the communities they serve.
The idea grew directly out of Federation’s 2024 strategic planning process, which identified professional development and the creation of a Community Israel Engagement Strategist position as a community priority. After stepping into the new role, Kara Rosenwald partnered with the iCenter to make Minneapolis the first North American community to create a Mifgash specifically for professionals across its local Jewish organizations. Together, they secured funding and developed an Israel experience centered on building relationships among local professionals and their Israeli counterparts.
Instead of sending individuals to join a national cohort, Minneapolis proposed something different.
Could an entire community participate together?
The answer was yes.
The inaugural cohort included professionals representing 11 Jewish organizations* across the Twin Cities. The trip was originally scheduled for the summer of 2025 but was postponed because of the Israel-Iran conflict. A year later, the group was finally able to make the journey.
But the trip itself was never the whole point.
Throughout the months leading up to the departure, participants met regularly to study, build relationships, and wrestle with questions about Israel, Jewish peoplehood, and the role Israel plays in the work they each do every day. Those conversations created a foundation that allowed the experience in Israel to begin at a much deeper level.
Just as importantly, the cohort wasn’t made up only of Minnesotans.
Three Israeli communal professionals from Rehovot joined the journey: outgoing Partnership Chair Sharon Yaron, Director of the Holocaust Center, incoming Chair Dudi Alon, high school teacher and art therapist, and Katzir Middle School Principal Marcelle Shmueli. Their participation reflected the longstanding Partnership2Gether relationship between Minneapolis and Rehovot and reminded participants that this was never intended to be a one-way learning experience.
That spirit of partnership appeared throughout the week.
The opening day took place at Katzir Middle School, the Rehovot school partnered with Smith Jewish Academy, where educators shared how they continue to nurture students while navigating the realities of life after October 7. Later, at the Weizmann Institute, the group was guided by a scientist who is herself connected to Minneapolis through the synagogue partnership between Berman Shul in Rehovot and Darchei Noam in St. Louis Park.
Throughout the week, participants encountered many different sides of Israeli society. They visited organizations in Haifa bringing together Jewish, Arab, and Druze communities through arts and education. They listened to the CEO of Kibbutz Re’im describe both the trauma of October 7 and the painstaking work of rebuilding their community. They toured Jerusalem, explored questions of history and identity, and ended the journey with a storytelling workshop that challenged them to reflect on their own experiences after spending days listening to the stories of others.
What emerged wasn’t a single narrative about Israel. It was a collection of conversations, relationships, questions, and perspectives that will continue long after the trip itself.
In many ways, that is where the real work begins.
The Mifgash was intentionally designed as a three-part experience: learning before the trip, learning during the trip, and applying those lessons after returning home. Each participant committed to finding ways to bring Israel back into their own organization and community space, whether through educational programming, cultural experiences, visual storytelling, or entirely new approaches to Israel engagement. Kara Rosenwald will continue working with participants over the coming months as those individual projects take shape and the cohort continues learning together.
That ongoing commitment may be the Mifgash’s most distinctive feature.
Instead of measuring success by what happened over a week in Israel, it will be measured by what happens over the months and years that follow: the conversations that continue, the partnerships that deepen, and the new opportunities for Twin Cities Jews to engage with Israel in thoughtful, personal, and meaningful ways.
The trip may have ended at the airport, but the Mifgash was always meant to be the beginning. When asked ‘Now that the group has returned to Minneapolis, what comes next?”
Kara Rosenwald replied, “Now that we’re back in Minneapolis, the real work begins. The question becomes: How will the learning from Israel and the relationships built during our time together translate into bringing Israel home to our organizations? I’m excited to see what comes next. Our cohort will be meeting very soon to officially begin that work, and I can’t wait to see the ideas and collaborations that emerge.”
Participants return home carrying stories they couldn’t have heard any other way. Those stories will soon make their way into synagogue conversations, classrooms, coffee shops, family dinners, and community organizations. They become part of how our community understands Israel – not as an abstraction or a headline, but as a place filled with real people whose lives are now connected to ours.
In Jewish tradition, we’re often reminded that we inherit our stories from those who came before us. The Mifgash offers something else, too: the chance to become part of one another’s stories while they’re still being written.
*Participating organizations included Adath Jeshurun Synagogue, Gan Shelanu Preschool, Bet Shalom Congregation, Beth El Synagogue, Beth El Aleph Preschool, Jewfolk, Inc., Minneapolis Jewish Federation, Minnesota Hillel, Minnesota JCC, Smith Jewish Academy, Talmud Torah of Minneapolis, and the Harry Kay Center for Leadership Excellence.
What was a moment I will remember from this experience?
KR:As the Director of Global Experiences, I am usually working on a couple of trips, when we arrived at ANU, the museum of the Jewish People on the Tel Aviv University campus, I saw there was a special exhibit about the Bnai Menashe – they are the children of Menashe, Jews from India. We had a few minutes before our tour was to start so I gathered the group together and invited them to come see the exhibit with me. I shared that MJF works with the Jewish Agency as our partner in Israel, and that we were going two days later to their office in Jerusalem. I shared that there is a community Global Experience to India in January of 2027. It was exciting for me to connect the dots, MJF = partners with the Jewish Agency = Jewish Agency helps in the Aliyah process = India Jews are B’nai Menashe and this exhibit was telling their story. That is what I think a lot of my job is, connecting the dots for the Minneapolis Jewish Community to Federation and how this larger system of good works.
Q: What has been the most meaningful outcome of the Mifgash experience so far?
KR: “What started as an idea quickly grew into something much more meaningful. We watched relationships begin to form among professionals representing Jewish organizations across our community, and then, while we were together in Israel, those relationships deepened in ways I couldn’t have imagined. Colleagues had the opportunity to learn from and support one another, creating connections that will continue long after the trip.”
Q: Now that the group has returned to Minneapolis, what comes next?
KR: “Now that we’re back in Minneapolis, the real work begins. The question becomes: How will the learning from Israel and the relationships built during our time together translate into bringing Israel home to our organizations? I’m excited to see what comes next. Our cohort will be meeting very soon to officially begin that work, and I can’t wait to see the ideas and collaborations that emerge.”
Q: How did Minneapolis Jewish Federation and the Partnership2Gether relationship enhance the Mifgash experience?
KR:“Minneapolis Jewish Federation was able to have two staff members support this Mifgash. Working alongside Israel Center Manager Noa Rosenzweig gave participants a deeper understanding of how Federation strengthens connections between our communities in Minneapolis and Israel. The Partnership2Gether program is the conduit for so many meaningful opportunities, and this experience really brought that to life.”
Q: What role did the connections with professionals in Rehovot play during the program?
KR: “Throughout the first half of Mifgash we were based in Rehovot, our participants spent time with community professionals from Rehovot who hold many of the same roles they do in Minneapolis. Sitting around tables together, sharing ideas, and exploring both the similarities and differences in our work created incredibly valuable conversations. One of the highlights was Shabbat dinner, when each participant was welcomed into the home of a community professional in Rehovot. Those personal conversations helped transform professional relationships into genuine partnerships. Then during the second half 3 community professionals from Rehovot joined the cohort for the entire second half. This allowed for many more meaningful moments and conversations.”
Q: How do you hope these new relationships will continue after the Mifgash?
KR: “Many of our participants are already planning ways to partner with colleagues and organizations in Rehovot as they develop new programs and initiatives back home. That’s exactly what we hoped this experience would inspire—not just a memorable visit to Israel, but lasting relationships that will strengthen Israel education and engagement throughout our Minneapolis community.”
