Rochester’s ShinShinim don’t just join our community, they become part of our family.
Consider enriching your family life by hosting one of our ShinShinim in your home. Hosting has proved to be a wonderful arrangement, benefiting the emissary, the host family, and our local community.
There are two opportunities to host each year: from mid-September to late January and again from early February to mid June.
Interested in becoming a host family?
Find out the criteria here
For more information on becoming a host, read our FAQs
Become a host family
Already a host family?
Have a look through the Host Family Guide.
What's it like to host a ShinShin?
Hosting a ShinShin can be a life-changing experience for the entire family. It means that you’re not just opening your home to an Israeli teenager—you’re bringing a new, vibrant, life-changing experience into your home and enabling the entire Rochester community to benefit from it.
Here are some of the families who have already made the ShinShin experience a part of their lives:
“It will be so enriching for you and your family…They are top notch individuals who have so much to share with you, your children, your extended family.”
~ Pauline Rutberg, Host Parent
“Thanks for the opportunity. We’d do it again in a heartbeat.”
~ Marcy Berger & Martin Presberg, Host Family
“My family was so glad to have the experience of being a host family for the ShinShinim program.
Keren truly became another daughter to us. Hosting a ShinShin allowed our family to feel that much more connected to Israel. It was fun to have someone in the house to make us authentic Israeli food, to speak with us about the history, politics, and culture of Israel, and to teach us new Hebrew words or expressions weekly.
We truly loved having Keren as part of our family.”
~ Sharon Gray, Host Parent
“Hosting (an Israeli emissary) is a once in a lifetime experience. My daughter hosted one of the ShinShinim this past year.
Not only was it a wonderful experience for my two granddaughters, my wife and I enjoyed the numerous times we got to share with the most delightful young woman, who will be returning to Israel this fall to enter the military.
If you have a spare bedroom in your home, I’d think about participating in this incredible program."
~ Norman J. Lederman DDS, Host Grandparent
Contact Us
Michal Spivak
Director of ShinShinim Programming
585.241.8611
