| For Immediate Release | For more information contact: |
| March 24, 1999 | Eric Lochen (651-296-9895) |
ST. PAUL State Representative Jim Rhodes (St. Louis Park) met March 11 with two Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) Youth Delegates, Ron Jacob and Shira Shacham, and Vice-Consul for Academic and Minority Affairs for the Consulate General of Israel in Chicago Belaynesh Zevadia to have lunch with them, introduce them to Gov. Ventura and present them to the Minnesota House of Representatives.
Zevadia was born and raised in the province of Gondar, Ethiopia, and moved to Israel in 1984. Upon completing her two-year cadet course for the Israeli Foreign Ministry in 1993, she became the first Ethiopian-born Israeli diplomat at the Foreign Ministry in New York. In 1996, she was appointed to the Consulate General of Israel in Chicago.
Jacob, 16, was born in Romania and emigrated to Israel in 1985. Jacob is in the eleventh grade in the "Reali" school in Haifa and is focusing his studies on physics and computers, with a secondary focus on Arabic. He is a member of Haifa's folkloric dance group and has performed at festivals throughout Israel.
Shacham, 16, was born and raised in Tel Aviv, and attends school at the "Hertzlia Gymnasium." Founded in 1905, it was the first school to teach in Hebrew. While focusing her studies in chemistry and history, Shacham is also studying dance, an art that has also allowed her to perform quite extensively in Israel.
The Jewish Community Relations Council for Minnesota and the Dakotas is a beneficiary agency of the Duluth, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sioux Falls Jewish federations, and the Fargo, Rochester and St. Cloud Jewish communities.
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Pictured, left to right: Rhodes, Barbara Friedman (host mother), JCRC Director of Community Programming Nancy Brown, Jacob, Zevadia, Shacham, Gov. Ventura and State Representative Ron Abrams (Minnetonka). Picture has been mailed and should arrive tomorrow.