In response to this week's talks of boycotting Israel: For the first time in Judea and Samaria, a partnership was formed with the Jewish community of Palm Beach, Florida.
Ben and Jerry's ice cream was not served at the event.
On the evening of Tu B'Av, the "Jewish Valentine's Day," at the site of ancient Shiloh, a pomegranate tree was planted to symbolize the partnership forged between a Synagogue in Palm Beach, Florida and Shiloh.
The tree was planted by Rabbi Moshe Scheiner of Palm Beach and Yisrael Gantz, governor of the Binyamin Region.
The partnership between the communities began with a meeting held by Rabbi Scheiner and Gantz in Florida two months ago, and will include a variety of joint activities and projects between teens and adults from the two communities.
Dozens of members from the Palm Beach community as well as from Shiloh attended the tree-planting ceremony.
Gantz thanked Rabbi Scheiner and the members of his congregation, noting the symbolism of the place where, on Tu B'Av three thousand years earlier, the tribe of Benjamin, who had been excommunicated, rejoined the people of Israel. Building, on this, Gantz called for a deepening of the love and unity in Israel and the Diaspora.
Rabbi Scheiner called on other Jewish communities in the Diaspora to join the Palm Beach Synagogue and form partnerships with Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria, the birthplace of the people of Israel.