By Rona & Yael
Louisville’s newest ShinShinim
Rona & Yael, our 2025-2026 ShinsShinim, often drop into classes at the Early Learning Center.
We can’t believe it has already been five months since we arrived in Louisville. Over this time we have met many wonderful people, who, from our very first week, have made this community feel like home.
Some background: Both of us love theater and chose it as our major in high school. Yael loves to sing and has been singing since third grade. She hopes to bring Israeli music and singing to all the places she visits in the Louisville community. Rona has been riding horses since she was five years old. She also worked as a horseback riding instructor and a horse vet helper. Even here in Louisville, she shares her love for horses with her host family and continues to ride.
We both live in the center of Israel, not far from Tel Aviv. We love Israel so much and are happy we have the opportunity to show Louisville what makes Israel so special.
The ShinShinim program (organized by the Jewish Agency for Israel) takes young high school graduates from Israel, and sends them to Jewish communities all around the world for a year of volunteering.
During our time here so far, we have engaged with people of many different ages. We volunteer in various places, such as the community’s Jewish preschools, where we meet with the kids every week to lead activities that introduce them to Israeli culture, life, and the Hebrew language through games, crafts, and movement.
In the different Hebrew schools, we lead activities that connect the kids to Israel and help them practice their Hebrew skills for their upcoming Bar and Bat Mitzvahs, or just to add to their general knowledge.
We also lead activities in the Trager Family JCC’s after-school program, where we teach about Israeli culture and show them life in Israel in a friendly and joyful way.
In the different teen programs, such as BBYO, Teen Connect, and Kesher Sundays, we join and lead activities, make connections with the teens, and share our point of view on different aspects of Israeli life. We play Israeli games, eat Israeli snacks, and get to know one another. It lets us make strong connections.
In addition to that, we initiate our own events that are all about sharing examples of what it’s like to live in Israel – its foods, culture, language, and everyday living.
We are thrilled to welcome you to join our upcoming events.
For example, we offer our Café Ivrit classes in collaboration with Keneseth Israel synagogue. Café Ivrit is a Hebrew-speaking club where people with a background knowledge in Hebrew come to practice their conversational Hebrew skills with us over a cup of coffee and snacks.
This month, we started our cultural cooking series at the Trager Family JCC, where we cook different Israeli foods and foods from our families’ ethnicities. We get to eat delicious dishes and learn more about different cultures. Upcoming classes are Feb. 5 and March 17 – you can sign up by going online at
tinyurl.com/4h6zvyvs.
We have a lot more events planned for the rest of our time here. You can learn more about our events in the Community newsletter.
You are also welcome to check out our Instagram page (@louisvilleshinshinim), where we share about our lives in Louisville and our experiences here.
We are so thankful to everyone who’ve welcomed us with open arms. This year wouldn’t look the same without the great people in this community.
We can’t wait to meet more people that we haven’t yet had the opportunity to know, and we’re already certain we’re going to make more great connections.