The Jewish Agency for Israel

Through the Charlotte & Hadera-Eiron Partnership 2Gether, we connect Charlotte Jews together with Jews in the Hadera Eiron region in Israel. We create life-changing experiences and build meaningful relationships , providing  a strong sense of Jewish peoplehood and a wonderful opportunity for us to explore our Jewish identity, volunteer and bond together overseas about issues of shared concern.

What is Partnership 2Gether (P2G)?

P2G is a program of the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) partnering with local Federations to directly connect global Jewish communities with a specific geographic area in Israel. Put simply, P2G builds connections between Jewish communities across the world and in Israel, one relationship at a time – it is your “home” away from home.

For the past 20 years, our Partnership has built authentic relationships between Charlotteans and Israelis – whether by our people to people exchanges, or joint programs, where participants from both sides of the ocean get to know each other and even stay in each other’s homes.

Our Federation’s commitment to the Hadera-Eiron region extends beyond our P2G program to support many worthy organizations operating in the region. Our community has indeed embraced the region as our home away from home in Israel.  For a complete list of funded programs, click here (link to Hadera funded programs document).

Where is our “Partnership region?”

Hadera sits on the Israeli Mediterranean Coastal Plain in between Tel Aviv and Haifa. Located along the flourishing coast of Israel, Hadera was founded in 1891, in the early days of modern Zionism by Eastern European immigrants as a farming colony. It was the largest purchase of land in Palestine by a Zionist group, although it was of low quality and mostly swampland. The settlers drained the swamps by building canals and planting large eucalyptus groves.

The city's jurisdiction covers 20.5 sq miles, making it the fourth largest city in the country. The larger Hadera region includes: Hadera, Pardes-Hanna-Karkur, Menashe Regional Council and Alona Local Council, Arab towns and villages of the neighboring “Triangle” whose eastern edge shares a border with areas under the control of the Palestinian Authority.

In the early 1990’s, Hadera’s population was only 42,000, but in 2019 already 97,335.  This massive increase is due primarily to the waves of immigration from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union. The disproportionately large number of new immigrants in Hadera today places a tremendous demand on the resources of the city.