But the trips also ventured off the beaten path, to places like Rishon Letzion, Ofakim/Merchavim, Gush Etzion, and Ra’anana. In those communities, they visited the institutions and programs where money raised by United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ is helping fund immigrant absorption, pluralistic education, and enrichment activities for underprivileged Israelis.

The visits represent not only a chance for American Jews to see how their philanthropic dollars are spent but the strengthening of the relationship between the federation and area synagogues.

“We provide them with a MetroWest Day, where they have an opportunity to visit our projects and see what MetroWest is doing” in Israel, said Neimah Tractenberg, director of missions for UJC MetroWest.

Tractenberg works with UJC’s Israel-based staffers to arrange custom-tailored visits to its partnership communities throughout the country.

The synagogues would have gone to Israel anyway, Tractenberg said. “Our partnership is an enhancement of their [regular] itinerary,” one that offers a “bigger picture of Israel and the social challenges some of the population faces.”

In the three separate trips, more than 150 participants from Temple Beth Shalom and Temple B’nai Abraham in Livingston and Temple Sharey Tefilo-Israel in South Orange had a chance to see several projects in action.

Travelers from B’nai Abraham visited Kibbutz Erez — adjacent to Ofakim-Merchavim, MetroWest’s Jewish Agency Partnership 2000 region — which faces the Gaza Strip border. At a nearby military installation they watched as Israeli soldiers monitored the nearby border of Israel and the Gaza Strip.

“All of that made very real to us what they live with on a daily basis,” said Rabbi Clifford Kulwin, B'nai Abraham’s religious leader. “It was exceptionally eye-opening and quite moving.”

Such an experience would not have been available on a “standard” tour, Kulwin said.

“Clearly this is something that, because we worked with the federation, we were able to do. It gave people in the group a sense of appreciation for the work that federation does by seeing some of the concrete ways in which we help with certain facilities on the military installation, as well as to see some of the things that federation has done at Kibbutz Erez.”

Martin Barber of Temple Beth Shalom went on his synagogue’s December trip with his wife and his daughter’s family; one of his granddaughters became a bat mitzva during the visit.

Their mission visited Rishon Letzion, the Tel Aviv suburb where UJC MetroWest funds absorption programs for Ethiopian immigrants.

During the visit, said Barber, who is a past president of his synagogue, “the Ethiopian elders made an interesting presentation. They explained to us what cultural issues they face” in becoming acclimated to their new life in Israel.

Although Barber’s group’s experience was brief, he said, it was nevertheless important. “It was a way of introducing the specific work that MetroWest has been doing through the years,” he said.

In 2005-06, UJC MetroWest allocated over $7.25 million to Israel-based projects. Its affiliated Jewish Community Foundation contributed an additional $1.8 million.

UJC MetroWest president Kenneth Heyman said the mission support was a way to show synagogue members with little or no formal association with UJC — even if they make financial contributions — what the federation is doing in Israel and other Jewish communities overseas.

“Missions give participants an opportunity to connect, people-to-people, that in many cases the other travel experiences don’t allow them to do,” Heyman said. “But a more important reason: We really try, as United Jewish Communities, to connect with the 50 to 60 MetroWest synagogues to have them understand that we are trying to create a strong, vibrant Jewish community, and we have to work together to do that.”

For information on UJC MetroWest missions to Israel and other countries, contact or 973-929-3042.