Page 16 - HaMizrachi Rosh HaShana - Yom Kippur 5783 USA

A Shlichut Roundtable

Last month, Rabbi Aron White sat down with two pairs of shlichim who served overseas
in recent years to reflect on their experiences. Etan and Nili Zivan served as Bnei Akiva
shlichim to Toronto, Canada from 2017–2019, while Avichai and Tiferet Berkowitz served
as the Roshei Kollel of the Torah MiTzion Kollel in Sydney, Australia from 2018–2020.

What motivated you to go on shlichut?
Nili: My parents made Aliyah from Los Angeles, and had been greatly
influenced by the Bnei Akiva shlichim there, so we were inspired by the
idea of going abroad to spread the good word of Eretz Yisrael. Etan
and I both served in the IDF, and I think that in many ways we saw
our shlichut as a continuation of that service, only with a more fun
and creative spirit. Though we had meaningful opportunities
to use our creativity and ideas here in Israel, we both felt that
shlichut was an opportunity to strengthen the people and Land
of Israel in a different way.
Avichai: I had been a shaliach to Sydney when I was single,
but all the pieces came together for us to go back as a young
married couple. We had just finished our degrees and did not
have any kids yet, and the community impressed upon us how
much of an impact the kollel has on the community. We felt needed
and that we could make a difference, so were excited to take up
Etan and Nili Zivan
the position!

Share with us some of your most powerful experiences.
What was a moment that made it all worthwhile?
Tiferet: We had a big role in helping certain people from the
community in their process of making Aliyah; by simply sitting
and talking with them about it, we really helped them along the
way! I was also excited to run a midrasha learning program for
women, and a shiur that we ran for university students ended up
becoming a parent-child learning program when the students
began bringing their parents along as well!
Etan: After the terrible shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue
in Pittsburgh in October 2018, Nili and I thought about how
we should respond. There were talks about taking pictures
with signs, or starting a hashtag on social media, but in the
end we decided the most meaningful response would be to get
people out of their houses to actively show their support for the
Jewish community. We organized a gathering at one of Toronto’s main
intersections, and before we knew it, over 200 people had joined and
other locations were set up around the city. We felt honored to give our
students and the community members an opportunity to be active with their
Avichai and Tiferet Berkowitz
feelings towards the terrible acts of antisemitism of that time.
On a much happier note, our son Rotem was born in Toronto during our shlichut. He was born during the summer, when Nili and I
were working at Moshava Ba’Ir. While we were still in the hospital, I received a phone call from Karen Meir, our supervisor, saying that
they would be more than happy to have the brit at camp so that all the campers could share in the simchah. It was such an amazing
way to include the campers in the celebration and another way of showing the community’s incredible care for us.

16 |