Last Day in Israel

I am sad to say that this is my last day although it will be nice to return home and share with many of you a more in depth commentary on this mission.  So as not to make this day any easier for us we were on the bus by 7:15 in order to pray at a Wednesday morning shacharit service with the recently ordained Rabbi Or Zohar at the Beit Daniel Synagogue in Tel Aviv.

Rabbi Zohar was ordained last month at HUC in Jerusalem.  He comes from a modern Orthodox family but gave up his Orthodoxy and became secular although he earned an MA in Jewish Thought.  He was attracted to spirituality and began writing music of a spiritual nature.  Someone then suggested he become a Reform rabbi which to him was quite strange.  Never the less he went to HUC and served as an intern under the leadership of Rabbi Meir Azari but was given freedom to create new spiritual expressions such as this weekly non-advertised Wednesday minyan.  Now he runs a third Beith Daniel center  program facility in a municipal building in the heart of Tel Aviv called Kehilah Tefilat HaLev (Prayer of the Heart).  They now have about 60 family units who pay dues, plus other attendees and get about 40 people every other Friday.  Starting in January they will meet weekly.  His approach is connecting the spirituality often sought by Israelis who travel to the Far East and India but realize that spirituality can be found through Judaism.  He led the service with tunes I had not heard before some of which he composed.  There were only 5 others in attendance besides our group of rabbis but he says that it doesn’t matter.  The prayer experience is for the souls of those who come.  We then had a discussion where Meir Azari expressed his distress at the lack of support the Reform movement , our rabbis and congregations give to the Israeli Progressive movement and its congregations.

We turned our chairs around for a totally different discussion with General  Bentzi Gruber who gave us some insight into the recent Gaza situation and the ethical decisions made by Israel and the IDF.  His presentation included photos and videos which showed how Hamas had lied continually during the situation presenting false and doctored information such as a picture of a father carrying a deceased or seriously wound young boy.  They claimed that was an image from Gaza but only months before this picture was taken in Syria showing the situation there. 

He showed of a situation where a suicide bomber driving in a stolen jeep tried to low up a bus but because of timing turn towards a moshav.  A guard had to make a judgment within 8 seconds to block his path receiving the premature explosion.  He lost his legs but miraculously survived. We saw another video of a terrorist on a stretcher having his gun taken away so he could be presented as a civilian.  Another showed a terrorist grabbing children as he ran from place to place, dragging them as human shields knowing the Israelis try to avoid shooting wen innocents are present.  Yet he also posed the question of what the IDF should do when a known confirmed terrorist with blood on his hands drives in a vehicle with innocent women or children?.  We also saw cases of terrorists getting into UN ambulences.

Gruber said that of the 1.8 million resident of Gaza only about 40,000 are considered terrorists.  He views the majority of Gazans not as his enemy.  He explained how Israel warns civilians through leaflets, phone calls and text messaging to clear a targeted area.  Instead they gather on the roof of that targeted building.  Israel then shoots at an empty section to scatter them and demonstrate they mean business.  Only after the residents disperse do they destroy  the building.  He explained that during the perion of the situation with Gaza 120 terrorists and 57 non-combatants were killed.  Many pilots and drone shots were diverted when it was unclear if civilians were present.  During that exact time in Syria there were 817 deaths.  He spoke of other ways the IDF acts with a strong sense of ethics.  He taught his soldiers that they need to be able to exhibit Chesed in the field and return with the same sensitivity to a crying baby.  Finally he concluded letting us know he was the child of Holocaust survivors.

Due to a change in plans our next stp was added to our itinerary.  We went to a neighborhood in South Tel Aviv to learn about the foreign workers and illegal informed of their situation by Danny Bibo, ho is a volunteer in helping to make the situation more humane.  In his professional life he is a university professor. We met in a small park  where many of these mostly African congregate.  It was explained that there are two distinct groups.  The first are the invited in foreign workers.  They come legally for up to 63 months.  They often have paid a large fee to get the visa to come and spend a large part of the compensation to repay that fee.  Often different nationalities work in specific areas.  The people from the Philippines work in care giving, those from Thailand work in agriculture and the Chinese are often found in building.  In the other group of asylum seekers or infiltrators, depending on your perspective they mainly come from Eritrea and Sudan.  The Eritreans are mostly Christian and the Sudanese are ether Chrisitian, Nativist or non-Arab Muslims.  When the y enter the country they are detained for months and then given a bus ticket with no legal status of any sort.  They can not work legally and are often exploited.  They are not a fifth column and their crime rate is not the atrocious number some want y  ou to believe.   We met with an Eritrean woman who was a university graduate and spoke excellent English.  She is unable to teach so she works at a small daycare center. She described ow she had to flee Eritrea, made  her way to Sudan and because of someone she knew made her way to Israel.  After her detention she came to Tel Aviv.  Her life is not happy and she wished she could go home and leave Israel which she doesn’t like.  She described the high level of physical abuse directed against women who no longer hve family structures to protect them.  This was a very sad and distressing visit.  We left some tzedakah but a lot more need to be done as well as deeper exploration as to what is the most appropriate way to treat with the situation as well as the people involved.

On  the way back to the bus we stopped at a shwarma place for a quick lunch.  Our next stop was in Ranana to and organization called Leket.  Leket comes from the word in Leviticus when we are taught to leave the corners of our fields (pe’ah) and the fallen sheaves of grain or the untrimmed vines for the needy.  A young woman, Dannelle, originally from Teaneck, New Jersey, explained their operation and then we dug in and sorted tomatoes, eggplants and lettuce to be distributed to different organizations and communities in need, mostly in the Southern area mus affected by the recent troubles.  This was a great project on which to end our program.  Now back to the hotel to pack and get ready for our final dinner.

We were taken to the David Intercontinental Hotel where we were shown arund by Hani Sand who I coincidently found out worked at Federation in NYC and was friends with Noam and Jaime.  Before we sat down for dinner she had already sent a Facebook message to Noam telling him that she was having dinner with is father.  We held our final debriefing discussion and the group felt that the agency Da’at/ARZA World travel and our wonderful tour educator, Uri Feinberg, did a fine job coordinating the combination of adding the solidarity mission on to te original mission of giving younger rabbis the know how to lead their own tours.

At the final dinner at the hotel I sat with Guy Millo the CEO of Da’at/ARZA World Travel and discussed future trips.  

To  end on a lighter note, when the wine was served Hani said she didn’t like the wine.  I had tasted it and realized that it hadn’t gone bad was a very plain house table wine.  Hani kept talking to the manager and they returned with 2 new glasses, only for Hani and me and served a Barkan Altitude series Cabernet Sauvignon, so my final dinner was fully enjoyed.  

Off to the airport where I dropped a bottle of virgin olive oil that was given to each of us as a gift from the hotel.  I did not have to worry if it would break in my suitcase.  My parting gift to Israel before my flight was a puddle of oil.

Tzefat to Tel Aviv             December 4, 2012

          Today’s schedule looked a bit lighter but once again we were starting around 7:30 and were back in the hotel at 10:00 pm. 

It was difficult to leave the Pastoral Hotel up in Kfar Blum.  The rooms were large and comfortable and the setting was so peaceful.  But after breakfast and a shacharit service we were off to Tzfat (Safad) the city of the Jewish mystics.   We arrived there with winter blessing; meaning, it was raining.  After walking a while we entered a gallery of a young couple where the woman was both a painter and a glass blower. They both came from the US and found meaning in an Orthodox life style in Tzfat. 

We sat in their gallery a while and then visited both the Joseph Karo Synagogue  and the synagogue of Isaac Luria (the Ari z”al).  We were then given 15 minutes to walk around on our own.

From there we drove to Tel Aviv – Jaffa.   With the rain and the traffic it took a bit longer than expected.  We grabbed a quick snack at Aboulafia’s (pita with zatar and olive oil and a fresh sufganiya).  We then proceeded to a section of South Tel Aviv where we visited a few different unusual food shops.   The first was and olive and pickled vegetable store run by a family who came from Greece after WW!!.  Then across the street for Bourekas, which are accompanied by a hard-boiled egg, run by Turkish Jews.  Our next stop was a spice and coffee shop that also sold some other unusual concoctions such as a mineral mixture run by a Georgian family that helps with joint and cartilage problems and something called am bur, which is contains an excretion from a male whale mixed with wax.  This am bur is supposedly a natural form of Viagra of sorts.  Our next stop was for a sweet nut and grain mixture next to a store that sold halva.  All of us were totally stuffed.

We then went to Rothschild Boulevard one of the early large avenues of Tel Aviv. We stopped where the recent social protest movement began over the issue of affordable housing.  It  paralleled the “Occupy” movement we experienced in the States.

Our last stop of the day before checking in to our hotel was Independence Hall where the State of Israel was declared on May 14, 1948 by David Ben Gurion.  Even though I have been there multiple times it is a very emotional place especially when you hear the recording of Hatikvah that was played at the end of the ceremony. 

Before dinner we heard a fascinating talk by Gershon Baskin, a man who was instrumental in the negotiations that freed Gilad Shalit.  He also was in contact with members of Hamas before the recent violence.  He claims that before he was killed Ahmed Jabari was involved in negotiations that were heading toward a longer cease fire between Israel and Hamas.  He in no way felt Jabari was not a person who had done terrible things against Israel and may have been worthy of execution, but at the same time Baskin believes Israel might have had a stronger and longer cease fire agreement without the war.  He has been working in dialogues with Palestinians and Israeli Arabs and has advised many top level governmental leaders.

Our evening ended with dinner at Maganda Restaurant, a place where a number of you have eaten on other trips. 

Anat Hoffman, HUC and the Golan     December 3, 2012

        I am still reflecting on our encounters yesterday near Gaza at Moshav Netiv HaAsar, Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the town of Sderot.  From the comfort of an American perspective these people have been living in extreme conditions not just during the past week but for more than a dozen years.  While thousands of rockets and mortars have been shot at them they are working and raising families with the uncertainty of when the next alert will be sounded or when the next rocket will land.  In this area you do not see normal bus stops because alongside of each one is a fortified bomb shelter.   The nursery schools are not only being reinforced to withstand bombs but often have very little windows.  There are days on end when the kids can’t go outside to play in the playground because it is too dangerous.  Parents who try to teach their children not to hate the Palestinians are finding fewer other families willing to repeat that message.  Political positions are forced to extremes and entire communities are being treated for trauma and extreme anxiety.  Children are afraid to sleep alone and are expressing multiple fears.  There are strains on normal family life and yet when you talk to them all they want is to live in peace and let others do the same.  But they want to be safe in their homes.

          In my previous blogI mentioned Chen Avraham.  Yesterday when the final question was asked of her as to why she and others continue to live in such conditions her answer was Hope for a better future.”  Raz Shmilovitz’s response was that this is undisputed land that is his home and he wants to grow his tomatoes as he watches his two little boys grow up.

          The reality of their existence is not considered by so many around the world even among Jews.  Too many in the rest of the world don’t see the picture of Israelis who are not militants only wanting to live in peace.  They want the same for their neighbors.

          I imagine some will wonder if I was safe on this visit.  Since there was no shooting while I was there I did not fear being there.  I am as safe as they were for the moment, but I’ll be returning to Rochester.

          Today’s itinerary was of a different nature.  Our first stop this morning was an 8:00 meeting with Anat Hoffman of IRAC (Israel Religious Action Center) at Beit Shimshon on the HUC campus.  In her usual powerful manner she spoke of the five areas of concern that IRAC is working on at present.  The first is equality for Reform and Conservative rabbis in Israel.  Having already won the Miri Gold case, although she still has not received her first paycheck, they are now petitioning for neighborhood rabbis in cities to be recognized and receive pay like their Orthodox counterparts.

          The second area has to do with freedom of marriage and divorce.  IRAC has brought this issue to the Knesset 16 times already.  Political parties include it on their platforms but as soon as they feel the need to make a coalition with ultra-Orthodox parties (which is always the case) they drop it like a hot potato.  Last year 20% of Israeli marriages took place outside of the country because the couple either was denied the right to a wedding or wanted a non-Orthodox rabbi to perform the ceremony.

          The third area is the struggle to prevent the segregation of women in the public sphere.  IRAC organizes freedom bus rides to allow women to sit anywhere in the bus they choose.  It is an activity that tour groups can participate in when they are here. Often the people seeking help from IRAC in this arena are Orthodox women. Item 4 is the fight against racism.  There are rabbis who are inciting their followers against Arabs in Israel.  This is at odds with the founding principles of the country found in Israel’s Declaration of Independence.  It is an embarrassment that these rabbis are being paid by the state.      

          Finally IRAC is attempting to change the status of the Western Wall from being only an Orthodox synagogue.  They will petition the Supreme Court to disband the Western Wall Heritage Society which is the way the Orthodox control the area.  A proposal of shared time, meaning that different groups have access at different times would allow all religious streams to have full rights at this national historical site.  Anat also explained that her leadership of Women of the Wall is separate from her position at IRAC although there is some overlap.

          From there we hurried over to the HUC sanctuary where both the American and Israeli students were worshipping together.  I find it amazing to see some of the changes in worship that now occur.  Many participants wear tefilin.  None did so in my day.  I sat next to Jason Fenster and was very proud as he chanted the second aliyah and the second section of the Torah.  Kudos to Mrs. Rosenberg.

We quickly headed to the bus and headed down towards Jericho and up the Jordan valley until we arrived at the Kineret (Sea of Galilee).     We visited the Kineret cemetery where some of the early chalutzim (pioneers) from the first kibbutzim are buried.  We read poetry at the grave of the wonderful poet Rachel and saw the grave of Naomi Shemer who wrote Yerushalayim Shel Zahav.

After a quick lunch of shwarma in Tiberius we drove towards the Golan Heights to get on jeeps.  We bounced around as our driver Ilan showed us different places including a fast flowing Jordan River.  

The highlight was watching two foxes fighting.  We also passed some reserve soldiers who were on the dirt road having a vehicle repaired.  One of them jokingly asked if he could hitch ride with us.  As the day was waning we made two stops on the Golan.  The first was at the Gadot overlook where one stands by a Syrian bunker looking down into the valley where they shot thousands of rounds at the Israeli settlements before 1967.  Then it was off to the other side where in the dark, cold and wind we looked out towards Syria.  We reflected how in the few months when over 40,000 Syrians have been killed in the violence, we don’t hear of worldwide protests like the ones that are too often leveled against Israel.

Our hotel for the night was at Kibbutz Kfar Blum (The Pastoral Hotel).  This is a place I have taken numerous groups.  They have upgraded the facilities and we are staying in the newest buildings where the rooms could compete with many a fine hotel.  After dinner, where our group of 14 was joined by over 100 pensioners I was finally not the oldest in the room.  The evening concluded with the hotel manager telling us of the transformation of the entire kibbutz movement. 

Tomorrow we are off to Tzefat and then Tel Aviv.

December 2, 2012             A Visit Near Gaza

Unfortunately it is very late and I am exhausted.  Not only were we on the bus by 7:30 am, returning to the hotel at 9:30 pm, then a short visit with Lisa Mendler and her husband Zach, but I got almost no sleep last night.  My message will be short and I hope I’ll be able to fill in some gaps tomorrow with more detail.

          The morning started with a visit to the City of David which is a an archaeological site outside the walls of the Old City and was probably the oldest part of biblical Jerusalem.  We were guided through an old drainage tunnel that removed water from the city and brought it down to a storage area for later use.  We also spoke about the historical implications as well as some of the political issues that have arisen with this excavation.  We started our walk outside of the Old City and emerged from the tunnel near the corner of the Temple Mount by Robinson’s Arch where the western wall meets the southern wall.

          We then drove to the northern Negev to the area most affected by the latest rockets from Gaza.  After lunch near Yad Mordecai we went to Moshav Netiv HaAsar and met with a resident Raz Shmilovitz  who is both a farmer (mostly cherry tomatoes) and a tour educator for Da’at (ARZATravel).  He spoke of the difficulty of the situation for the past 12 years living on the border of Gaza and having no warning time when rockets and mortars are shot.  Sometimes the Red Alerts are heard after the rockets explode.  He spoke of the psychological effect this has had on the all the residents and yet most have stayed on the moshav, only moving out during the latest incident.  We saw the different shelters and reinforced buildings and rooms all over the moshav.  We went near the fence overlooking Gaza and even saw Palestinians on the other side in an area where previously they were kept away.  Raz spoke of the number of  times the cease fire has actually been broken last week.  Although it is fairly calm now we were given instructions of what to do if we heard the alarm.

          During that period he was unable to tend to his crops so we spent time helping to weed around his tomato plants in the green house.  All 12 of us were on the ground, pulling weeds, something I don’t even do at home.  He thanked us saying that even the short time we worked saved him or added a day of labor of a full time worker. We also sampled some delicious cucumber and tomatoes.

          From there we went to Kibbutz Kfar Aza and met with Chen Avraham.  Although she lives on this kibbutz where she grew up, she works a few days a week in Jerusalem for the Israel Movement of Progressive Judaism (Reform).  Not only did she add to the difficult psychological situation but she described how this once moderate left wing political leaning at this kibbutz had mostly swung to the right even causing hard feelings among members of the same family.  She told how her own sister has been traumatized and is not what she once was.

          During the recent “war” she described how the majority of the kibbutz evacuated to other locales except for a small number of people who managed the kibbutz and a few who refused to move.  She described how a rocket landed right outside of her grandmother’s window and had she been in the room might have been killed.  We also went to an area that looked out into Gaza. These two communities are only a couple of the many that surround Gaza and have been under intermittent attack for many years.

          Our next stop was near Sderot, one of the hardest hit communities over the years.  We went to the Sapir College –Sha’ar HaNegev campus which not only the locale for this college but a senior center, a community center, an elementary school and a fairly new high school..  Our hosts were Shem and Nati.  Shem spoke with pride of this new high school that was created as a safe place and a center for students to connect with their Jewish heritage.  The buildings themselves serve as shelters with signs that say when you hear Red Alert stay in the building, rather tan go to a shelter or secure room.

Both of them spoke of the local Reform congregation that has been created.  Nati told us how they need a rabbi to attract others but they do get up to 50 people from the surrounding kibbutzim and other communities for Kabbalat Shabbat.  They now occasionally us the auditorium that looks like a synagogue at the high school but is not called a synagogue.

From there we drove into Sderot proper to have dinner.  We found a small typical Israeli grill restaurant not because of the food quality but so that we could help their business which as suffered not just recently but over the years.

At all of these visits we were thanked simply for being there.  We were invited to come back whenever we are in Israel.  On our return to Jerusalem I contacted Lisa and Zach and they came by for a visit.

Tomorrow a meeting with Anat Hoffman, services with the HUC students and then up to the Golan and the Syrian border.

Shabbat in Jerusalem:  December 1, 2012

          Shabbat is supposed to be a day of rest but when one only has one full day in Jerusalem rest has to be put aside.  I will start with a powerful visit that actually took place right after Havdalah.  Talia Levanon a social worker came to talk to the group.  Her specialty is treating people and communities in regards to trauma.  Not only has she worked in Israel but recently has been in Toulouse, France and NYC after Super Storm Sandy.  Unfortunately Israelis have become experts in this field and have offered their help all over the world.

          Talia explained that with the Gulf War in 1991 no longer was the issue of battlefield trauma only in regards to the front line troops.  Since then the general population has also been deeply affected by violence, terrorism, bombings and various attacks.  In the South of Israel alone over 13,000 rockets have been fired against them in the past 12 years.  There are children who have never known anything outside of the threats of such attacks.  In some border communities there is no lead time when a rocket or mortar is fired, in Sdereot one has 15 seconds to find appropriate shelter and now in Tel Aviv with the latest events one has only a minute to find cover.  People in places like Tel Aviv, Rishon Letziyon and Modi’in must now prepare themselves and their children what to do when they hear the “red alert” (tzeva adom) alarm.  People now have anxiety attacks for many reasons in the areas surrounding Gaza caused by loud noises or even the color red.

          One of our group even asked what type of trauma support they have in Gaza.  Talia said that since Operation Cast Lead a few years ago it has become almost impossible to make contact in this area in regards to support for trauma victims. She also explained some of the systemic work in this area before, during and after attacks.  This talk helped us set the scene for tomorrow’s visit to the southern area surrounding Gaza.

          Earlier in the day I had time to visit my good friend George who has a photo shop in the Old City.  His son Eli was at the American consulate setting up an exhibition of their historic photographs from George’s father.

          The group activity started with a guided tour of the fairly recently renovated Israel Museum.  Our tour educator demonstrated how to use the museum as a trigger for many discussions in regards to Israel and Judaism.  I was also able to view the wonderful exhibit on Hasidic Jews which will now be closing.  Someone commented how their approach to life and Judaism may have similar roots to ours but in so many ways the gap makes it look like we come from two different worlds. 

          Our next stop was to a section at the end of the Haas Promenade overlooking Jerusalem with views of surrounding Palestinian villages  and the Judean Desert.  We discussed some of the political situation and keyed in on the separation fence/wall.

We returned to the hotel for a meeting with my dear friend David Leichman who spoke of ARZA’s  Mifgash (meeting or encounter) program when American groups come to Israel.  He was accompanied by his wife Rabbi Miri Gold, who represented the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism in the long case to get some non-Orthodox rabbis recognition to be paid by the government as do the Orthodox.  It is always wonderful to connect with friends.  I was given a gift of a baseball cap from team Israel from the recent World Baseball Tournament.  David and Miri’s son played on the Israeli team.  This meeting concluded with Havdalah.

My final activity for the evening was to take Jason and Gavi Fenster to dinner.  They are both doing well while Jason is in his first years at HUC and Gavi is studying at the Conservative Yeshiva.  Unfortunately Lisa Mendler and Zack were returning from Tzefat and were unable to join us. 

Tomorrow is going to be a long day; on the bus at 7:30 am.