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By Donald H. Harrison
 LA JOLLA, California --The snacks laid out Sunday, August 23, at Congregation Beth El for the farewell party for Israel's community shaliach Eyal Dagan and his wife, Amit, who served as the Conservative congregation's membership director, were laden with symbolism.
Taco chips with guacamole represented the Mexican-flavored cuisine of San Diego County, while, arranged near them, pita bread and hommos invoked the Haifa home of the Dagans, who have been serving as links between Israel and San Diego for four years.
The Dagans will be leaving San Diego with their son Ofek, 4, and their "little American," Yuval, 18 months, born during their tour of duty in San Diego County.
Host Rabbi Philip Graubart and his wife, Rabbi Susan Freeman, sang a duet in Hebrew about how the Dagan family always has a home--whether that home be in San Diego or in Israel.
The rabbi also quipped that the couple indicated that they would be heart-broken not to hear his Yom Kippur sermon. "So I will read it now," he declared to mock groans.
Amit plans to complete a master's program at the University of Haifa, where field interviews she conducted in San Diego about American Jewish life may become part of her thesis.
Eyal says he is weighing some new opportunities, but hasn't yet signed any contracts.
Tammy Moch, a board member of United Jewish Federation and chair of its Israel Center Committee with which Eyal worked--ticked off a number of the shaliach's accomplishments during his service here. These included helping to plan and conduct Jewish community missions to Israel; taking an aggregate of 200 teens all over Israel on several different trips; and encouraging young Americans to sign up for study, work and military programs in Israel.
He helped popularize Israel among San Diegans by staging Yom Ha'Atzma'ut celebrations each year, with the most recent one at San Diego Jewish Academy drawing partipation by 55 communal organizations and attracting 2,000 attendees, Moch said.
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 Dagan also coordinated local memorial services for the slain Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, and Yom HaZikaron services to memorialize Israeli soldiers and civilians who were killed in wars and terrorist incidents.
Moch (pictured at right) said that Dagan gave countless speeches about Israel to community groups, and school children, and created a multitude of opportunities for interactions between Israel and the San Diego area.
Here to fill the position as an Israeli emissary is Shoshi Bogoch, from Jerusalem, who like Dagan came with her family including husband Yoel, and four children: Elad, 12; Uri, 8, Hullel, 6 and Rotem, 3.
Bogoch is a former director of a youth and culture center in Jerusalem akin to the Lawrence Family Jewish Community Center in La Jolla.
In saying their good-byes to approximately 200 people drawn not only from the United Jewish Federation and Congregation Beth El, but from other agencies and synagogues as well, the Dagans emphasized how important a chapter their San Diego experience has been in their lives.
Amit said she had come to San Diego "with a five-week-old baby and a huge suitcase filled with doubts and uncertainties." In friendly surroundings, she soon adapted and gained new perspectives on her Jewish identity. Beth El Rabbis Graubart and Avi Libman taught her much, she said.
She expressed pride that the synagogue's "Project Outreach," which she directed with the help of lay leader Dr. Michael Newman had attracted 100 young families to Congregation Beth El. With her voice breaking, she added: "Next week I am going back home, carrying with me a priceless gift."
Eyal reflected that in the four years he had been in San Diego, Israel had three prime ministers (Ariel Sharon, Ehud Olmert and Binyamin Netanyahu), two Presidents (Moshe Katsav and Shimon Peres), plus a War in Lebanon and the retalliatory action in Gaza. During that time, he said, he was pleased to continue strengthening relations between UJF San Diego and Sha'ar Hanegev, its partnership region in Israel.
He praised Betty Byrnes, a San Diegan who all but adopted his family; Moch; and UJF colleagues Michael Sonduck, Lisa Haney, and Daphne Lavi with whom he worked closely on Israel-related programs. He also paid tribute to "inspirational rabbis" of San Diego, nodding toward Graubart and Freeman.
Eyal concluded by saying that he and Amit feel "truly blessed and ready to move on to the next chapters of our lives."
The good-bye lingered awkwardly in the air for a moment until someone in the back called out, "Okay, let's have some cake!"
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