The recent Business and Professional Mission, sponsored by United Jewish Communities (UJC) of MetroWest NJ, has just returned from a very busy and highly successful trip to Israel.

Sixteen leading businessmen in the MetroWest Jewish community traveled throughout the Jewish homeland from March 10 to 17, meeting with counterparts in Israel’s business world, visiting UJC partner communities, and taking in the richness and beauty of the land and history of Israel. The participants were: Fred Aueron, Jeffrey Cohen, Peter Feinberg, Robert Frischman, UJC President Kenneth R. Heyman, Steve Kany, Kenneth Mandelbaum, Steven Roth, and Saul Simon, all of Short Hills; Mark Bernstein of Boonton; Howard Rabner of Caldwell; Bruce Cohen of Glen Head; Howard Guttman of Ledgewood; BJ Reisberg of Roseland; Leonard Solondz of Livingston; and Robert Wolfson of Mountain Lakes

As a result of their participation on the mission, many of the leading movers and shakers in the MetroWest business world have begun to build relationships with their Israeli professional peers, and have learned first-hand where UJC contributors give their support and how those resources are employed.

Key among the many events during the mission was a roundtable discussion with leading Israeli businesspersons and government officials on the current state of the Israeli economy and the distinctive challenges facing Israeli businesses. The meeting included such prominent Israelis as Ambassador Zalman Shoval (Israel’s ambassador to U.S. from 1990-1993 and 1998-2000), Dr. Mina Tzemach, director of Dachaf Public Opinion Research Institute and world-renowned pollster, and Joseph Ciechanover, president of the Challenge Funds, who has extensive experience managing companies in Israel.

The participants found many of the more cultural events on the mission very moving. In particular, several of the participants spoke about the lunch they shared with soldiers from the Lone Soldiers Program, supported by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, a partner agency of UJC MetroWest.

Lone soldiers are young Jewish men and women from around the world who, out of love for the Jewish homeland, have left their families for a time to come to Israel and serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. Some have made aliyah and intend to remain as Israeli citizens; others will return to their families following their tours of duty.

According to Ken Mandelbaum, one of the chairs of the mission, “You think of these kids in relation to your own, and you realize what it means. These kids see combat. They serve in some of the most elite units of the army. They’ve come because they had a calling, because they understand the importance of the Jewish state, and they came to defend it.”

Among the other events on the mission itinerary:

• a helicopter ride to view Israel’s border area along the West Bank
• lunch with Captain Lior Tamir commander of Havat HaShomer, an army base that rehabilitates troubled teens and provides them with educational and military career opportunities
• lunch with Knesset Minister Avigdor Lieberman; a visit to the Golani Brigade Museum and Memorial, which honors fallen soldiers from the 1948 War of Independence
• a visit to Kibbutz Erez, which overlooks the Gaza border
• a visit to see the Atzmaut project, an innovative model initiated by UJC MetroWest in Rishon LeZion, a partner community of UJC, to integrate Ethiopian immigrants into Israeli society
• a meeting with Etgarim, a nonprofit organization that provides the disabled with outdoor sports and recreational activities. The mission participants were so moved by the work done by Etgarim that they pooled their immediate resources and donated $750 to the organization on the spot.