R.I.’s new shaliach arrives in Sept.

Since he had already met teenagers from Rhode Island, the new shaliach (Israeli emissary) for Rhode Island was delighted to be considered for the position here.

As a member of an Israeli chapter of HaZamir, an international Jewish choral program, Elihay Skital, 22, remembered performing with some of the Rhode Island teens and their leader, Cantor Brian Mayer. He said that meeting hundreds of American teens through HaZamir helped him decide to become a shaliach, first in camp settings and now in Rhode Island.

Skital will began his term as our community’s shaliach starting in September. He is currently finishing his second summer at Camp Havaya, in the Poconos, where he is a unit head.

Between the summers, he spent half a year traveling in South America, and he returned to Israel to teach English in an elementary school and to be a trainer for Israelis who work in Jewish summer camps in the U.S.

Skital comes from Ashkelon, along the southern Mediterranean coast of Israel. In the Israeli army, he was a psychotechnic interviewer, helping to decide if army candidates should become combat soldiers or serve in other areas.

As a shaliach in Rhode Island, Skital will work for the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island, serving synagogues and day schools, meeting with college students (particularly at the University of Rhode Island Hillel), and presenting programs at the Alliance’s Dwares Jewish Community Center, in Providence. He also will be available for institutions and groups that are interested in learning about Israel, such as schools, colleges and Jewish organizations.

After spending the summer working at Camp JORI, in Wakefield, current shaliach Amit Moshe Oren is returning to Israel, where he will continue to pursue his career as a graphic novelist.

For more information about the shlichut/emissary program, contact Larry Katz at lkatz@jewishallianceri.org or 401-421-4111.

LARRY KATZ (lkatz@jewishallianceri.org) is the director of Jewish life and learning at the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.