On a wintery evening in March 2017, Tehila and Netanel Darmon were sitting in their living room with friends that came for a nice dinner. The guests were some young adults who met the couple during their shlichut of half a year in India in 2013; they established a home for Israeli travelers in Goa.
During this dinner, They talked about their experiences in India and how the sense of connection and focusing on what they have in common created a breeding ground for them to have a good and deep relationship, also years after they met. Their guests explained the power that a place, as they had in India, has in creating such ground, mainly when our society is split all around the world, and usually, people are focusing on the difference between the opinions,
faith, and political points of view each one holds.
This dinner aroused in the Darmons the will to go again for a shlichut in a foreign country to create a space where all the Israelis can meet regardless of their race, religion, gender, political point of view, etc. A place where the local Israeli community can connect and listen to each other, be with other Israelis that are different from them, and find the common things that make them a community.
On a wintery evening in March 2017, Tehila and Netanel Darmon were sitting in their living room with friends that came for a nice dinner. The guests were some young adults who met the couple during their shlichut of half a year in India in 2013; they established a home for Israeli travelers in Goa.
During this dinner, They talked about their experiences in India and how the sense of connection and focusing on what they have in common created a breeding ground for them to have a good and deep relationship, also years after they met. Their guests explained the power that a place, as they had in India, has in creating such ground, mainly when our society is split all around the world, and usually, people are focusing on the difference between the opinions,
faith, and political points of view each one holds.
This dinner aroused in the Darmons the will to go again for a shlichut in a foreign country to create a space where all the Israelis can meet regardless of their race, religion, gender, political point of view, etc. A place where the local Israeli community can connect and listen to each other, be with other Israelis that are different from them, and find the common things that make them a community.
Darmon’s family decided to move to Berlin. In recent years, Berlin is one of the most attractive cities for Israeli immigrants. The Darmon family believed that establishing a space that offers activities, events, and more in Hebrew, and welcoming everyone, will unite the different groups in the community and create a healthy communal life based on the common identity and culture.
In August 2017, after getting support from the Jewish Community “Lauder Yeshurun” Darmon Family arrived in Berlin. The family started to invite members from the Israeli community for Shishi dinners using the brand Zusammen that means ‘together’ in German. Quickly those dinners became a space for meetings and getting to know each other for the community. After only five months, 50 people came each week to our Shishi dinners. As time went by, Zusammen started to offer more events and activities; cultural and music events, lectures, and workshops on various topics, holiday events for all ages, and more.
Darmon’s family decided to move to Berlin. In recent years, Berlin is one of the most attractive cities for Israeli immigrants. The Darmon family believed that establishing a space that offers activities, events, and more in Hebrew, and welcoming everyone, will unite the different groups in the community and create a healthy communal life based on the common identity and culture.
In August 2017, after getting support from the Jewish Community “Lauder Yeshurun” Darmon Family arrived in Berlin. The family started to invite members from the Israeli community for Shishi dinners using the brand Zusammen that means ‘together’ in German. Quickly those dinners became a space for meetings and getting to know each other for the community. After only five months, 50 people came each week to our Shishi dinners. As time went by, Zusammen started to offer more events and activities; cultural and music events, lectures, and workshops on various topics, holiday events for all ages, and more.
After three years of activity, Zusammen’s activity expanded significantly and two more milestones in its development came with the opening of the “Zusammen Center” and the transformation of the organization into a non-profit with the foundation of the ICE – Israeli Community Europe e.V.
During the year 2021, the organization received requests from Israelis in Vienna requesting to establish a Zusammen center for them. Following them, the organization began a research, examination and development process and on Rosh Hashanah 2022 our activity center in Austria, Zusammen Vienna, was inaugurated.
The year 2022 was also a significant year for the organization during which we received a large number of requests from both Jewish and Israeli communities in Europe to come and establish ICE centers in their cities. In light of them, we conducted a comprehensive needs study among the Israelis in Europe and began to build a suitable program for each city and community.
Athens, Greece, was chosen to be the third destination we will reach and in a first of its kind work together with the Athenian Jewish community, which sees Israelis as part of the community, we built a tailored and unique response to the Israeli community. On the eve of Shavuot 2022 we inaugurated our activity center Mazi (together in Greek) Athens.
After three years of activity, Zusammen’s activity expanded significantly and two more milestones in its development came with the opening of the “Zusammen Center” and the transformation of the organization into a non-profit with the foundation of the ICE – Israeli Community Europe e.V.
During the year 2021, the organization received requests from Israelis in Vienna requesting to establish a Zusammen center for them. Following them, the organization began a research, examination and development process and on Rosh Hashanah 2022 our activity center in Austria, Zusammen Vienna, was inaugurated.
The year 2022 was also a significant year for the organization during which we received a large number of requests from both Jewish and Israeli communities in Europe to come and establish ICE centers in their cities. In light of them, we conducted a comprehensive needs study among the Israelis in Europe and began to build a suitable program for each city and community.
Athens, Greece, was chosen to be the third destination we will reach and in a first of its kind work together with the Athenian Jewish community, which sees Israelis as part of the community, we built a tailored and unique response to the Israeli community. On the eve of Shavuot 2022 we inaugurated our activity center Mazi (together in Greek) Athens.
It started with a dinner in a living room, and a question about what a shared space can do.
Tehila and Netanel Darmon spend six months on shlichut running a home for Israeli travellers. The young adults they meet there stay in touch for years afterwards.
Those same friends come for dinner in the Darmons' living room. The conversation turns to India — to how a place built around what people share, rather than what divides them, created friendships that lasted. It raises a question the couple can't put down: could that work somewhere Israelis are scattered and split?
The family moves to the city drawing more Israeli immigrants than any other in Europe. With backing from the Lauder Yeshurun Jewish community, they start inviting people for Shishi dinners under a name that means "together" in German.
Five months after the first dinner. What began as a table in a flat has become the place the Israeli community in Berlin meets — and then asks for more: concerts, lectures, workshops, holidays for every age.
Three years of growth produce two milestones at once: the Zusammen Center opens its doors, and the work is formally founded as ICE — Israeli Community Europe e.V.
Israelis in Vienna ask for a community space of their own; Zusammen Vienna opens at Rosh Hashanah. At Shavuot, Mazi Athens follows — built together with the Athenian Jewish community, who treat Israelis as part of the community from the start.
The organisation expands into Spain and opens Juntos Barcelona. The same year sees the founding of its Holocaust remembrance and combating antisemitism department.
A second German centre opens, extending the work beyond Berlin.
ADD REAL DATES AND ONE LINE FOR EACH CENTRE.
Centres across Europe, and a model built together with local Jewish communities rather than alongside them.
