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Since 2016, the Jewish Federation of Rochester has sponsored the ShinShinim program, bringing young Israeli emissaries into Rochester classrooms. This visit is part of a gap year between high school and mandatory military service in Israel’s IDF.
A cultural exchange program may seem benign until we consider the ongoing mass killing, displacement, and devastation in the Middle East. At that point, it becomes clear that the impact of ShinShinim must be critically examined. This year the program’s multiple visits to classrooms in Pittsford and Brighton have been challenged by parents expressing concern for students of Palestinian, Arab, and Muslim descent, as well as other students who do not subscribe to a Zionist ideology. A 2021 Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) study found that more than half of Muslim students felt unsafe, unwelcome, or uncomfortable at school due to their identity, underscoring the need for schools to actively counter discrimination.
Also in 2021, the New York State Board of Regents issued A Call to Action, warning against presenting students with a “single story” that silences marginalized voices and distorts history. “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete. They make one story become the only story.” The Board emphasized that students must hear from those who were displaced, incarcerated, or excluded. Students cannot fully understand history without hearing from those who were violently displaced, incarcerated, or excluded—consider Native Americans forced along the Trail of Tears or Japanese-Americans interned during World War II. Marginalized voices must be elevated. Offering a one-sided ShinShinim program exemplifies the very deprivation and marginalization the Regents caution against.
For Palestinian families, being visited by ShinShinim representatives during an ongoing humanitarian catastrophe is deeply painful. It signals that one narrative is sanctioned while another is erased, despite grave concerns raised by UN experts and the International Court of Justice regarding Israel’s actions in Gaza. Continuing this partnership sends a message to impacted students that their suffering is invisible.
At a recent Pittsford School Board meeting, a Palestinian parent addressed those present, his voice filled with emotion: “I am a parent of two children. I’m here tonight to speak from a place of deep pain and grief. For us as Palestinians, (the ShinShinim program) promotes one side of the story while erasing the other. Thousands of children and families have been killed and displaced. Entire neighborhoods have been razed. To continue this partnership feels profoundly wrong. It sends a message that our lives do not matter. True bridges are built on justice and shared humanity, not by silencing the other side. This is a plea for compassion and courage.”
Concerns about transparency and oversight further compound the issue. In Pittsford, families report receiving no lesson plans, advance notice of visits, or information about complaint procedures. Students described Israeli visitors discussing military service, including a Zoom call with an IDF soldier, and displaying incorrect maps of “Greater Israel.” Reportedly, any mention of Palestine by students was forbidden.
The organizers of the ShinShinim program have multiple intentions. The most obvious is to present a positive image of Israel and encourage Jews to visit or move there. Less apparent is a the intent to erase criticism of Israel’s genocide, colonialism, and apartheid. Hasbara, a Hebrew term meaning “explanation,” refers to Israel’s organized public relations and propaganda efforts to legitimize state actions and influence global opinion. The ShinShinim program is financed primarily through the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Jewish Federations of North America. The largest donor to the Jewish Agency and its programs is the wealthiest woman in Israel, mega-billionaire Miriam Adelson. She is a major supporter of the Zionist Organization of America and various U.S. groups that fundraise for the Israeli military, and as president of the Maccabee Task Force, she works to suppress pro-Palestinian demonstrations on college campuses. In addition, she was the third-largest donor to Donald Trump’s 2024 election campaign. Her influence over the programs she funds must be questioned.
These parents are particularly alarmed that ShinShinim participants, soon to serve in the Israeli military, are welcomed into schools as cultural ambassadors despite the killing of thousands of Palestinian children and families. Another parent speaking to the Pittsford School Board said, “Our schools should not be used as a platform to legitimize or normalize an active military force. Exposing our impressionable children to speakers from a force credibly linked to this level of violence is unethical, inappropriate, and directly threatens the emotional safety of our student body.”
Monica Gebell, Executive Director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester’s Levine Center to End Hate, characterizes opposition to the ShinShinim program as “a coordinated effort to normalize the exclusion of Israelis, and those associated with Israel, from public and civic spaces.” Perhaps what is framed as “exclusion” is a natural consequence of Israel’s actions. Ms. Gebell should consider the pronouncements of major human rights organizations—including Amnesty International, the UN Commission of Inquiry, and Israel’s B’Tselem—which state that Israel’s actions meet the legal definition of genocide. That public opinion has shifted is an indication that change is necessary. A September Washington Post poll found that 61% of American Jews oppose Israel’s destruction of Palestinian land and lives, and that half of Jewish Americans aged 18–34 believe Israel is committing genocide. As a member of the core leadership committee of Jewish Voice for Peace Rochester, the content of this letter represents hours of discussion by our leadership and much concern for our friends in the Palestinian community.
These concerns are not anti-Jewish; they are pro–human rights. While antisemitism is hatred based on assumptions and lies, anti-zionism is a political belief based on evidence. Brighton and Pittsford need to reevaluate their allegiances to the ShinShinim program.
Julie Gelfand
Leadership team representative, Jewish Voice for Peace Rochester
The Beacon welcomes comments and letters from readers who adhere to our comment policy including use of their full, real name. See “Leave a Reply” below to discuss on this post. Comments of a general nature may be submitted to the Letters page by emailing [email protected].
As a Pittsford parent and a member of the Muslim community, I appreciate Julie Gelfand naming what too many families have been trying to communicate: programs like ShinShinim are not experienced as “apolitical” when they are embedded in an active, painful geopolitical reality and when Palestinian/Muslim/Arab students are left feeling invisible.
This isn’t just a political disagreement — it’s a student wellness and belonging issue. When Muslim holidays like Eid are not recognized and Muslim history is routinely minimized, students learn (quietly, repeatedly) that their identity is not part of the district’s “default” culture. That invisibility impacts confidence and self-esteem, and it also leaves classmates uninformed about Muslim peers — which makes exclusion easier, whether intended or not.
Layer on top of that a district-endorsed program that brings Israeli gap-year emissaries (immediately prior to mandatory IDF service) into classrooms without transparent lesson plans, consistent parent notice, clear opt-out procedures, or balanced educational framing (including Palestinian perspectives where relevant). Families are not asking to “exclude Israelis.” We are asking public schools to uphold neutrality, equity, and basic transparency — especially when children are involved.
For those who want concrete next steps, our community petition calls for pausing the program pending a public review and adoption of standards for balance, safety, and transparency: https://c.org/CYY2hpRknz
Thank you for this piece, Julie.
This article perfectly highlights the hypocrisy of those in so called pro Palestinian organizations. It highlights the double standard held by certain groups in the west concerning Israeli citizens and paints them as less then human. The author would like to convince you that the Shinshinim program represents a targeted campaign in order to manipulate children and that these shinshinim are personally responsible for heinous acts. The author even specifically defends the exclusion of these shinshinim, directly tying them into the actions of the Israeli government. Well, Mr. Gelfand these young people are not their government. By tying them into the actions of their government you yourself are defending collective punishment. By aiming to exclude them from the discourse about a conflict that they also have trauma and experience from you deminish the pain of Israelis. This is a cultural exchange, multiculturalism is a beautiful thing and productive discussion between individuals of different cultures is how society becomes less bigoted and moves forward. Those who really care about this conflict and want to bring about it’s end would welcome discussion and opinions from those with contrary views, Because the way we stop hating one another is through humanization. The author doesn’t promote dialogue or even propose different organizations that could come to speak to students providing them with multiple narratives. Instead the conclusion is that in places of learning discussion with people you disagree with is bad, that Israelis are all evil people and that these teenagers who came to teach about culture, not promote violence should be barred from the discourse simply for where they were born.