As of three weeks ago, Sigal Ariely’s plans for late October were set: She’d fly from her hometown of Ashkelon, Israel, to Baltimore to help the Jewish service organization she works for celebrate a major milestone. The Baltimore-Ashkelon Partnership — a program that fosters personal, cultural and educational ties between Central Maryland’s Jewish community and the residents of Ashkelon, a city of about 170,000 in Israel — turns 20 this month.
