All that frenetic folderol on Shefali's CV was nothing! Nothing, that is, but a prelude to the moment when Shefali met a beautiful woman from AIPAC who popped THE QUESTION of QUESTIONS. That is, the single most important question any political aspirant in the West could ever be asked, and the magic words which signal that the way now lies open to political stardom. (Warning: Shefali's not into paragraphs):
"The trip to Israel was an utter dream come true. It all started when I first was appointed by President Barack Obama to join the board of the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC (sworn in December 2014 in Washington DC). As I attended a few of the board meetings, I realized that I wanted to really understand and become engaged within the Jewish American community, as I thought it was important for me to comprehend as many perspectives within the culture as possible. I had some good friends who were involved with AIPAC (the American Israel Public Affairs Committee - the largest Jewish American organization in the US) and thus I thought that this would be a good organization for me to introduce myself. AIPAC is known to be bipartisan. Whilst I am a democrat, I am also very bipartisan in my thinking, thus, I felt in alignment with how AIPAC did their outreach and operated overall. A few friends did introductions to folks to AIPAC folks in San Francisco, a few others did introductions to AIPAC in Washington DC. I met with the San Francisco folks and knew this was a great organization. I was making a trip to Washington DC for some other meetings, and reached out to see if the Washington DC AIPAC folks would be open to meeting with me. To my surprise... they were! I had a lunch meeting with a wonderful woman named Marilyn, and I was under the impression that it was an introductory meeting between she and I. I have always believed DEEPLY that I should be 100% myself, right from the get go. I am a fairly outgoing, friendly, transparent person and personality... an open book. I don't have separate personal and professional personalities... I am, literally, for better or worse... completely the same person in all situations. I feel that if I need to not be myself at any moment, at any time, that I am not honoring my soul and thus... whatever I am attempting to do, it is then NOT ultimately worth it. Thus, as this beautiful woman from AIPAC sits down to share lunch with me, I was myself right from the moment she walked in the door. After a wonderful 1.5 hour long luncheon, she smiles and asks me what I am doing the first week of June. I, literally, had no idea why she was asking me this question. I said, 'Huh, I really don't know. I don't think anything, although I'd have to look at my calendar on my phone..' She smiled and said, 'Would you like to go to Israel with AIPAC'?' 'WHAT???? WHAT????!!!??? I said (may have yelled) 'YES! YES! YES! This is a dream come true for me! I have always wanted to go to Israel!' I then jumped out of my seat (I really did) and leaped over and gave her a tight hug! I think that she was both pleased at my happiness and a little stunned at my overt expression of joy! I literally was so full of happiness and gratitude from that moment until... frankly, ALWAYS!"
Next post: Shefali Meets the Not-So-Beautiful Women from the PLO
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