Shonim b’Yachad (Different Together)
The “Shonim b’Yachad” (Different Together) art contest is an initiative organized by the Daniel Centers for Progressive Judaism in Tel Aviv (led by Rabbi Meir Azari). The goal is to depict, through art, the values of tolerance, equality, and accepting the other. In 2023 30 elementary and secondary schools from Tel Aviv and its environs participated in the contest, which has been held yearly since 2016. The artworks are judged by a professional committee, with the winning 25 ones blown up to poster size and displayed for months in the Jaffa Port, where Israelis and tourists gather for meals and to experience the Mediterranean shoreline. Students, parents, artists, and leading public figures participate in the opening of the exhibit.
The opening event in 2016 was attended by the wife of the President of Israel, Nachama Rivlin (z”l). Her words at that time were as follows:
“Yesterday, I was at the opening event of Shonim b’Yachad, which displays artwork done by youth of many faiths, ethnicities and social sectors, Jews, Arabs and Christians, Israelis and children of foreign workers, pictures that advance values of tolerance, equality, recognition of the other and a shared existence. This exhibition can teach us all a lesson about humanity, tolerance, inclusion, patience, and the love of humankind. We must have this hope, the ability of the youth to feel, even beyond what you see. To look forward, I am hopeful that this wonderful project will continue to succeed and will be a center for encounters between youths of different religions, ethnicities, and social sectors.”
The exhibit will be opened at Temple Hirsch Sinai at the evening Shabbat service to be held on Friday, January 5, 2024, at 6:00 pm. During the service, Miriam Daniel will describe the program, including the types of schools participating and the values underlying the posters. Her parents built Beit Daniel synagogue in Tel Aviv in 1990, followed by MIshkenot Ruth Daniel, a hostel and Community Center in Jaffa. She and her husband, Laurence Wolff, help the Daniel Centers to meet its goals of building Reform and progressive values in Israel. They recently became members of Temple De Hirsch Sinai.