Alumni Reconnect for a Meaningful Cause
In the photo from left to right: Mirele Goldsmith, Betsy Diamant-Cohen, Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger, and Sharon Green.
Young Judaea connections continue to span generations and geography. Recently, alum Sharon Green hosted an event for the Israeli-Palestinian peace organization Roots, bringing together a group of fellow Young Judaea alumni through a remarkable web of shared history and connections.
Sharon, a longtime Judaean who attended Young Judaea programs from Sprout Lake through Year Course 1997–1998, was connected to fellow alum Mirele Goldsmith through a mutual YJ friend. Mirele was helping organize a Baltimore gathering featuring Rabbi Hanan Schlesinger, also a Young Judaea alum, who was visiting from Israel to expand support for Roots which he helped to found in 2014. Together, Sharon and Mirele co-hosted the evening and invited Betsy Diamant-Cohen, yet another local YJ alum, who had been Mirele’s high school madricha in Brookline, MA. — only to discover that Betsy and Hanan had been on Year Course together years earlier!
The gathering brought more than 40 people into Sharon’s living room and became more than just an informational event; it was a meaningful Young Judaea reunion spanning decades of shared experiences and connections.
Hanan will be back in the USA October 25 to November 15 2026 and would love to have other YJ alumni host similar events wherever they may live in the USA. He can be contacted at: ravhanan@gmail.com
Q&A with some of the Alumni
What is your Young Judaea background?
Betsy: YJ Tsofim Club in Stamford, CT 7th – 8th grade. Bogrim Club 9-12 grade. TY 1971-1974. One of the first two kitchen girls at TY, summer of 1974 (dishwasher!), National Mazkira 1974-1975, Year Course Section 3 1976-1977, Editor of the Hamagshimim Journal 1977-78. Madricha of YJ clubs in Massachusetts 1977-1979. Made aliyah 1986 and lived in Jerusalem until moving to Baltimore in1998.
My husband was in British Habonim on Machon, and used Kibbutz Keturah as his home base when he was a lone soldier. One of our three children went to Sprout Lake; all three went to TY.
Sharon: Sprout Lake 1988–1992, TY 1993–1996, Year Course 1997–1998, Staff at Sprout 1997, Staff at TY 1998–1999, and year-round programming with NJ/Ganei Yehudah.
How did it feel to collaborate with fellow YJ alumni you hadn’t met before?
Betsy: I loved it! Even though Sharon and I had never met before, there was an immediate sense of kinship.
Sharon: It was incredibly rewarding to collaborate with fellow YJ alumni. Knowing we were all Judaeans established a baseline of trust and shared history from the first emails. Young Judaea is a non-partisan, pluralist Zionist movement and I was proud that this event was a true representation of what that means to me.
Tell us a bit about Roots and why you are involved.
Betsy: Roots is an organization that brings together Jews and Muslims living in Israel and helps build and sustain a multicultural community. I didn’t know about Roots before Hanan’s presentation, but now that I do, I’m happy to spread the word.
Sharon: Roots is unique among peace organizations in Israel because it is based in the West Bank and works to bring together settlers and their Palestinian neighbors through dialogue and relationship-building. I’m involved because any path toward peaceful coexistence starts with dialogue and dignity, and I’m grateful to support those leading the way.
