By Gefen Miller
Ido, the Baltimore Zionist District’s shlicha, or community Israel emissary, says she wears many different hats.
“I have my Maccabi [World Union organization] hat, my Jewish Agency hat, and of course my BZD hat,” she says.
Arriving in Baltimore in the winter of 2024, Ido plays a vital role in directly connecting the Jewish community here to the life and culture of Israel. She guides a new youth program at the BZD, initiates community-wide projects, and provides input and insights to the community about Israel.
Jmore recently caught up with Ido, 26, a native of the northern Israeli city of Hadera.
What compelled you to become a shlicha?
I was raised in a house where Israel was one of the most important things. After Oct. 7th, it became especially clear to me that I have a mission to go and talk about Israel, make people want to come and see with their own eyes how beautiful and special our country is.
My shlichut [emissary service] is through the Maccabi World Union, whose goal is to make a connection between Jews around the world through sports. I’ve been part of the Maccabi youth movement my whole life, so it felt so natural to me to continue and work with Maccabi. They offered me to come here as part of a program they’ve been doing for years, and I said yes.
Your impressions of Baltimore’s Jewish community so far?
It’s very special. I didn’t ever experience living in a place where everyone around me is not Jewish, and I think when I came here, I was surprised to find there is such a large community.
The first month I was in Baltimore, I came to this conference for leaders in the community and this woman I didn’t know came up and asked me if I had somewhere to spend my Passover seder and invited me to her house. This is just one of many stories representing the Baltimore community – super-loving, welcoming and warm. I feel very good here.
What does your job as shlicha entail?
My main job is to work on the B-More Israeli program that we launched last year. It is a youth program for Jewish teens in the Baltimore area, relating them to subjects on Israel and Judaism. We give them projects of leadership and volunteering, making connections with each other and Israeli teens from the Maccabi Youth program
We were supposed to go to Israel this year but unfortunately were unable to because of [the Iran-Israel conflict]. But hopefully next year, we will have a chance to go with our second cohort.
How has the war in Gaza impacted your role?
I came to Baltimore after Oct. 7th, around when the war started.
A lot of my friends are still fighting in Gaza, my whole family is still living there — it is a part of me. Everyone in Israel — and maybe over here — were changed forever by that day.
What are your goals as shlicha?
The B-More Israeli program is kind of like my baby right now, and my biggest goal is to create a strong basis for the program to continue when I am not there.
Next year, I want to do as much of that as I can, bringing more people into the program, to continue doing everything we are doing as an organization.
I am proud to say that I am a part of an organization that does so much for its community, and I would like to continue doing that next year.
The subject’s last name was not published due to security reasons. To contact Ido, email shlichut@bzdisrael.org.
Gefen Miller is a Jmore editorial staff intern.
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