By Andrew Adler
Community Editor
L-R: ShinShinim Eden and Kyla (Photo by Mackenzie Lynch)
In just a few weeks, two extraordinary young women named Kyla and Eden will close out their year as Louisville’s first-ever ShinShinim — Israeli teen emissaries with an ongoing imperative to showcase the joyous character of Israel. From preschoolers to older adults, in classrooms, at synagogues or here at the Trager Family JCC, these ambassadors have made themselves indispensable members of Louisville’s Jewish community. It is a huge understatement that we will miss their abiding energy and commitment.
Coming directly from Israel meant there was a lot to get used to.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Eden said (for security reasons, the ShinShinim go by their first names only). “I’d never done this, and the community had never done it. So it was the first time for both of us.”
Initially, at least, there was a bit of anxiousness. “Everyone was expecting me to do great things,” she said. “It became easier as I began going to the preschool (at the Roth Family Education Center) and I got to know the kids.”
The ShinShinim lived with a succession of host families – four in all. There were opportunities to explore Louisville and the region, absorbing the peculiarities that help define America and the American experience.
Compared to Israel, which is roughly the size of New Jersey, “in America everything is bigger,” Kyla acknowledged. “The people are more polite, kind and cordial. In Israel we tend to be louder and blunter. In America, people tend to keep to themselves a little bit more. They stay within their circles.”
She and Eden first met in Israel shortly after being selected for the highly competitive program, intended for teens who’ve finished high school but are yet to begin their mandatory stints in the Israel Defense Forces. Administered by the Jewish Agency for Israel, ShinShin (a Hebrew acronym meaning “Year of Service”), provides several weeks of orientation before its participants board flights bound for cities across the U.S.
“We had a goal to show a different side of Israel,” Eden explained, “to bring Israel to the community and connect Jews to Judaism.” Instead of being caught up in issues of war and politics, our ShinShinim embraced an organic, uncomplicated perspective on Jewishness. Events like “Cooking with Kyla and Eden” or “Our Israeli Story” demonstrate that soft diplomacy can be as potent as hard-edged politicking.
Often it seemed as though the two ShinShinim were doing everything pretty much everywhere. A typical morning might find Eden inside an Early Learning Center classroom, holding a map of Israel and pointing out her hometown of Akko to a gaggle of four-year-olds. Kyla could share facts about Tel Aviv or lead a discussion for older students at an area high school.
“We had weekly activities with all different age groups,” Kyla said. “So we had preschoolers, then after-school like Club J and the Hebrew schools – and that was completely at our discretion. We never got told, ‘No.’ We never got negative energy from any of those places – we were supported by everyone on the team. We’d say, ‘We want to do this,’ and they’d say, ‘Okay, let’s find a time, find a date, and we’ll make it happen.’”
The prevailing dynamic was, “‘I give you (encouragement) to do whatever you want,’” Eden said, “which was amazing, because it gave me the freedom to initiate my own things. Starting the cooking program wasn’t anyone’s idea – we weren’t supposed to do that. But one day I had the idea: Maybe we can bring the community together through cooking and Alison (Roemer, who supervises the ShinShin program) was like, ‘Okay, build the program – run with it – and I did.”
Call it a ShinShinim declaration of independence.
“It built me as a person, making me more mature and responsible,” Eden said. “As an 18-year-old I’d never had that responsibility, because I was in high school. I’d never had the chance to do something around my Ethiopian culture. Here I could talk about my parents and how they came to Israel. So, this freedom was very meaningful to me.”
“Having Kyla and Eden in our community has been a game changer,” said Roemer, Senior Director for Jewish Journeys at the Jewish Federation of Louisville and the Trager Family JCC.
“Together they planned and executed new programming that touched many in the Jewish and broader community,” she said. “They participated in existing programs to engage more families, including our Middle School and Teen programs, where they made a significant impact on the lives of these teens. Kyla and Eden are wise beyond their years, and brought not only great maturity to their programs, but also a youthful spirit. There are so many people in our community who have been touched by their year of service, and they will be sorely missed.”
During their time in Louisville, both ShinShinim soon realized that America was its own peculiar self. “Every time I learned something new it was exciting,” Kyla said, “because it’s a very different culture from what we have in Israel,” for instance, “experiencing the way Jews celebrate holidays in America.”
Like Eden, Kyla took great pleasure in propelling ideas into action.
“We knew we wanted to be at everything,” she said, “to be part of as many things as possible in the community. A lot of that came from a place of, ‘We want to do more – what else can we do?’”
Whatever the activity, there was always a parallel aim of providing a window into authentic Israeli life, a view that – even in a post-October 7 environment – could highlight the exuberance of Israel and its people.
“I definitely think that was one of our big goals,” Kyla said, “to be able to share aspects of Israeli life people here (in the U.S.) probably were not aware of.”
It was very much a double dynamic. The two young women lived together, worked together and in their down time, played together.
“My relationship with Eden has taught me a lot about myself,” Kyla said. “We have a work relationship, and a friendship outside of that, which has been great. We lean on each other.”
Both ShinShinim have had loaner cars, so they were able to explore the city and its various attractions.
“My favorite thing is to go to Waterfront Wednesdays” concerts on the Big Four Lawn, Kyla said. “We have a bunch of friends we do things with like going to restaurants – and we went to the Kentucky Derby. So, we got to experience a lot of what Louisville has to offer.”
Still, it was hard to match the giddy enthusiasm of the ELC and similar settings where youthful energy ruled the day. The ShinShin loved their students, and those students loved them back.
“I had 25 minutes a class per week,” Eden said, “and I was surprised every time I entered a classroom how they reacted to me. They’d be jumping at me – not just preschoolers, but also at camp. It was like that everywhere I’d go. The BBYO kids became my friends, and the adults I met here at the office – these are connections I will never forget.”
“There are so many people who are in our hearts,” Kyla said, “and hopefully we’re in so many people’s hearts as well.”