It is hard to believe that last Shabbat I was singing and dancing in Jerusalem.  There have been many times over the last week that I have reflected back on our visit.  It was a crazy inspiring whirlwind.  Our last day found us visiting the central command of the Israeli military.  We heard a report about the Iron Dome Defense project from an air force Brigadier General.

From the military command we were whisked back to Jerusalem where we had the pleasure of hearing from President Shimon Peres.  He spoke beautifully and poignantly and left us with an important message.   He believes the three things all Jews should be are:

1 - Moral with the understanding that morality is the highest form of wisdom
2-  Dissatisfied with a desire to make things better
3 - Soldiers for peace

A surprise visit from Michael Oren capped off this extraordinary morning. We were not allowed to take pictures of the president, but below is Michael Oren addressing the group.

I always feel like I leave a little part of me every time I go to Israel.  There is now a little bit of me left in Odessa too.

Shabbat

Friday morning was spent discussing serious domestic and foreign issues that concern Israel. While in the USA we may see the threat from Israel's neighbors, within Israel, citizens are just as concerned with social issues like affordable housing, cost of food increases and mandatory conscription of the ultra religious into the military. There is never a shortage of issues to discuss pertaining to Israel. From our morning discussion we drove to visit new Ethiopian immigrants. The largest group of Ethiopians was brought to Israel in the early 90's. But there are still more today that are being brought to safety in Israel. When I was in college, I spent my junior year studying in Israel. The favorite part of that year was the time I spent working with Ethiopian children in an absorption center. It was a very different time and Israel has become so much more sophisticated in the process of integrating Ethiopians into Israeli life. When I was in college, we used to bring our cameras with us to take pictures of the children. They would eagerly wait a whole week for us to bring the pictures back that we had developed. In contrast, what a great time I had taking pictures digitally with the kids! The whole absorption process has been streamlined and the last group of Ethiopian Jews will be in Israel by Ocotber 2014. We interacted with the excited children in the absorption center by playing music, coloring and making ice cream.

Looking back on Operation Moses, which we made possible in the early 90's by generosity of the American Jewish community and other countires around the globe. The children that I met then are now in their 20's. I often wonder about where they are and what they are doing. At lunch, we had the opportunity to find out. We divided into small lunch groups and met with Ethiopians who are leading successful productive lives in Israel. They have all suffered much hardship and overcome challenges. Today many of them work to help new immigrants adjust to life in Israel. The second Ethiopian member of Knesset spoke to us about lunch about the sitution with the current immigration and challanges facing this population as they work to intigrate intonIsraeli society. Sigal, below, was a woman whom we had the pleasure of meeting with over lunch. She was born in 1979 and was just a baby when her father left the family to walk to Sudan to come to Israel. She did not see him again until 1990 when she was 11 years old. She shared her struggles with us, and there were many, but today she helps Ethiopian parents learn how to raise their children in Israeli society. She is married to a French man and has three young children of her own. She is just one of the Ethiopian success stories that brought me to tears. The Ethiopian resuce and absorption is unprecedented. We are the only people to have taken people out of Africa to bring them to freedom and integrate them into society in meaningful, productve and dignified ways. It is miraculous.

We took some time to get ready for Shabbat and then we headed to the southern wall excavations for a lively kabbalat shabbat service with lively music and dancing. A breeze gently blew in the spirit of shabbat as the melodies filled the air with joy. It could not have been a more beautiful setting to feel the spirit and peace that comes with shabbat in Israel. The spirit moved me and I felt so very grateful for all of the wonderful blessings in my life. The sun began to set over the Western Wall and the last minute frenzy of Shabbat preparations became a rush of music and prayer. A palpable Shabbat calm began to spread as we all began to relax from our hectic week and wished each other a Shabbat Shalom.

Our new week has begun as beautifully as the last one ended. We said goodbye to shabbat as we sang shavuah tov from the balcony of the hotel looking over Jerusalem. The smell of fresh rosemary, the beautiful music, and the twisted light of the havdalah candle separted us from Shabbat to begin a new and productive week. The memories we are making on this trip will certainly shape this week and many many more. Shavuah tov from Jerusalem.

Israel Day 1, Shabbat Shalom

Shabbat Shalom from Jerusalem. It has been a whirlwind since we arrived yesterday. This week's Torah portion, Pinchas, is so appropriate as I look back at the last 24 hours in Jerusalem. In this parsha, we are reminded of all of the names of the tribes and with whom is associated with each one. I'll get to that, but in the meantime - our first stop Thursday was at the Hadassah Neurim Youth Village. Youth villages were originally establish to support children who came to Palestine right after the Shoah. Today youth villages are home to children who can no longer stay in their homes because of abuse, neglect or other issues. The facility offers a home to children who need help and a safe space. They receive counseling and other services. From the Youth Village we went to see a very different form of counseling. Below are two pictures. Each one is of a Holocaust survivor and a teen who has spent a year, talking, interviewing, and connecting on many levels. This program is called JDC Witness Theater. The culmination of the program ia a live theatrical performance where the teen and the survivor act out the survivors story. This was an incredibly moving program for both the teens and the survivors. For many survivors this was the first time they were able to open up and share their personal story of survival.

Our next stop brought us to a naval base to particpate in a meeting with Taglit-Birthright Israel participants. In our small groups we spoke with both the Israeli soldiers who join the group and the American particpants. Both the Israelis and the Americans discussed why the program was so profoundly impactful on them. This is Birthright's Bar Mitzvah year. It has been going strong for 13 years and has brought over 300,000 young adults to Israel. These young people would not have gone to Israel and connected with our ancestral homeland and Isralis if it were not for this program. We will all benefit from Birthright in the years to come. We attended the Birthright mega event Bar Mitzvah celebration in the Port of Haifa. It was an incredible celebratory production with the 3000 Birthright participants in attendance. They represented countries from around the globe including: Denmark, Sweden, Argentina, Brazil, Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, United States, Canada and I am sure other places I am forgetting. Not only was it so very exciting to see the money that we have raised in support of Birthright connecting our young adults with Israel, but also with Jews from around the world. The event was a spectacle of young adults who love Israel, but also grapple with questions about the country. Birthright allows the participants to explore, ask questions, and develop their own conclusions. Below are pictures from the event. Unfortunately they aren't great as my camera and cell phone batteries died and these were taken on my Ipad. Hopefully you will be able t see the magnitude of the event.

After an extremely long day we headed to Jerusalem looking forward to Friday and Shabbat rest.

Odessa, Ukraine - Day 3

Once again today was a day of contrasts. It is midnight in Odessa after another long day. There were high's and low's and still many more questions. Often people say Federation is an umbrella organization. Personally, I do not like that phrase. I believe that we are an organization of people. Each person that we serve, and each institution that we support, creates a collective. We are individual stories that make up a collective. And, this collective too has a wonderfully rich story. It is a story full of pride, struggles, success, despair, disappointment, enlightenement, perseverance and determination. We arethe gle that holds it all together. Our day began with a visit to a Wolrd ORT school that we support in Odessa. It is an exceptional grade 1-11 school that focuses on math, science and technology; as well as Judaic studies. The school has won many awards, nationally and internationally. We were greeted by students.

From there we heard from the professional staff of World ORT about the mission and accomplishments of ORT. The work is extradorinary in 64 countires in the world. ORT is one of our international agencies working on our behalf. An ORT school principal from Riga, Latvia spoke about her school. She made a comment that hit very close to home. She stated that when Jews in Latvia were once again able to be openly Jewish they came to study in the ORT school because they had Jewish studies. Now, Jewish parents want to make sure their children are receiving the best all around education too. They use the same Hebrew curriculum, Tel-Am, that Heritage Academy and Lander-Grinspoon Academy use. Their Judaic studies combined with their world class science, math and technology program is what keeps people coming to the school. The challenges she spoke of in running a Jewish school were exactly the same as ours in Western Massachusetts. What if we could conquer these challenges together? The students who spoke to us about their experiences in the school were articulate and impressive. One boy, pictured below (Susan and I both thought he looks like my son Matan) spoke of needing to be in school because of anti-semitism that he faced in his public school. This school won the international robotics championship. Pictured below is a robot made by 5th and 6th graders.

From the proud high of our success in the ORT school, we drove to the Holocaust Memorial in Odessa. Ukranian towns, including Odessa, were decimated during the Holocaust. 2 million Ukranians perished in the Holocaust. We learned of the mass murders in Odessa. We arrived at the site in bleak rainy weather that turned into a torrential storm. The rain felt like the tears of 2 million people pounding down on us. We held a memorial service, recognized the righteous gentiles who bravely helped friends and neighbors, placed stones on the memorial and lit yartzeit candles. Pictures from the memorial are below.

The little boy pictured above, probably about 4 years old is an orphan who lives in a Jewish orphanage called Beit Hatikvah - House of Hope. He and other orphans from the home were at the memorial with us. Today, our Jewish community is able to care for him. Had it been the 1930's or 40's, his stroy could have been very different. From the memorial we drove to meet with families at risk served by the JDC. Each family has its individual story. Together they tell a collective tale about our work. All of these Jewish families are served through the JDC and the local family service agency. If it wasn't for us, they would receive no help whatsoever and they would fall right through the cracks of society. This is what we do. We take care of each other because if we don't, no one else will in Odessa and in countires around the world. We had the pleasure of speaking with Misha and his Mom, Victoria. Her husband died 4 years ago when she was 38, leaving her with 4 children. She works in the Chesed, the Jewish senior program, taking care of the elderly. Our assistance allows her to live in dignity by putting food on her table and sending her children to Jewish school. Her oldest daughter is even traveling to Israel on a MASA (JAFI Israel Experience) program. Below is Misha, Vicotoria and other children helped in this program.

From here we met with another group of youth. These were young people who had just returned from a Ukranian Birthright Israel trip. Most of these young people grew up without any connection to their Jewish roots. Only 1 out of 10 eligible students in Ukraine and Russia are able to go on these trips because of funding limitations. The young man who left the greatest impression on me shared his story with me in eloquent English. He was from a town called Nikoliev, about 2 hours outside of Odessa. He had never left this region before his trip to Israel. His grandfather on his father's side was Jewish and his mother was not Jewish. His parents divorced when he was 6. He is an only child. He did not know that by the standards of the Nuremberg Laws he would even be considered Jewish. These standards were created in Nazi Germany. It simply stated that anyone who had one Jewish grandparent is considered Jewish and could be taken to the concetration camps and exterminated. The Jewish grandparent standard is still sed for immigration to Israel today. If one grandparent was Jewish, one can make alliyah. He learned of his family's background when at age 12 his father came to him and told him he was moving to Israel and leaving him behind with his Mother. He was resentful of his father and resentful of being Jewish. He faced anti-semitism and he hated who he was. And yet, he heard about the Birthright trips and decided at age 23 it was time to explore his heritage. From this trip he has found pride in his Jewish roots and wants to live in Israel. His complicated situation is that he would be leaving his Mom behind. This individual story is part of our collective too. Below are picture of the Birthright students; all with similar stories to share.

Our last stop of the day was at a Jewish Agency for Israel sponsered overnight 10 day summer camp for teens. The spirit there was as great as any Jewish overnight camp in the USA. Teens came from all over Ukraine to attend the camp. Some came from as far away as a 14 hour train ride. For these summer campers, for all of them, this is their first entree into their Jewish identity. They learn about Israel and their Jewish roots. Only 1 out of every 2 eligible teens is able to come because of limited funding. The teens were kind, smart and so very impressive. We are giving them Jewish life, an identity and hope for the future. For some, their future will take them to Israel. Others will choose to stay in Ukraine. Either way, their Jewish roots will open doors for their future. Below are pictures from our camp visit.

Tomorrow we leave early in the morning for Israel. The next blog post will be from there. Goodnight!

Odessa, Ukraine - Day 2

I view the work of Federation as an opportunity to connect our past with the present in order to create a vibrant future. Our busy day in Odessa brought this concept to life. The contrast between the past and the present is quite remarkable in Odessa. The Odessa pre-Soviet era was an enlightened diverse community. The reign of the Soviet Empire had a dramatic impact on the region. An enlightened life and certainly a Jewish enlightened life was squelched under Soviet rule. The Odessa that has emerged in the past 16 years since I was here is remarkable and the Jewish life that continues to blossom is miraculous. It is our spirit, determination and generosity that has facilitated the rebirth of vibrant Jewish life in Ukraine. In order to be able to connect the past present and future we need to be able to think of our Jewish world as a community where we care for each other. Our group was divided into home visits today and here is our story about a Mom and her daughter for whom we are a lifeline. Pictured below are Julia, age 11 and Galina, 51. They are with their American Jewish Joint Distribtution Committee (JDC) caseworker Dianna, pictured on the right. Galina is a single Mom who has been sick with lung cancer. They live in one room that was her grandparent's apartment from the Soviet days of communal living spaces. They share a kitchen and bathroom with other families. Their one room consists of a bed, a couch, a kitchen table and two chairs. The space is a little larger than my office, but not much. Julia and Galina only have each other. But, they have the Jewish world looking out for them through Dianna, yu and me.

A few photos of where Galina and Julia live.

We accompanied Galina and Julia to the grocery store. Because of their dire financial circumstances, Galina receives a card that is preloaded with money, $14 per month, to purchase groceries. This is in addition to the $145 that Galina receives from the state. This is all of the money that they live on. Galina's cart of groceries in a US supermarket would only be a few dollars more. Below is what Galina purchased - oil, pasta, grain, and some chicken. Fresh fruits and vegetables are a luxury. Galina wants to give Julia as normal a life as possible and chooses between food and caring for her daughter. Galina's health suffers because of the choices she needs to make. I had so many questions for them. I felt happy to know they were being taken care of by the Jewish community and yet so very sad for their circumstances. How was I so lucky to have family who left Eastern Europe and her family stayed? My boys were certainly on my mind. The contrast - past and present - and what would the future hold for sweet spunky Julia? When I asked her what she wanted to be when she grew up, she said, "I don't know." I just wonder if Julia can dream beyond her difficult day to day circumstances? She attends a Jewish school and participates in JCC programs. I hope that our work with her will give her the ability to dream about her future.

With a heavy heart we left Galina and Julia to visit the largest synagogue in Odessa. This had been a synagogue prior to the Soviet era and then it was turned into a school and the sanctuary was a gym. When I visited in 1996 the building was falling apart. The sanctuary looked like an old tired basketball court. I barely recognized the facility today. The dark, dreary, sad synagogue is bursting with color and beautiful Jewish life. I am holding off on posting a picture of the synagogue until I can scan and upload the old picture for compare and contrast purposes. Stay tuned! The syngagoue was emblematic of a sprit reawakened in Odessa. In 1996 we saw few smiles, little color and only heard of the desire to renew life here. Today, there is light, life, color, and hope. One bright light is Anya who is part of a young leadership program in Odessa learning how to give back and understand that she can now not only be a recipient of services, but also be a volunteer and donor too.

Our next stop was a well known and highly respected music school. We heard two contrasting stories - divergent paths from Odessa both successes of our rescue work. Anastasia is a musician and Misha works on our behalf for the Jewish Agency for Israel. We also met with people who are studying Hebrew. They are learning Hebrew so that they can communicate with their family who now live in Israel. The Jews who resettled in Israel have married and they have children. They are now first generation Israeli. They are Hebrew speaking Israelis and their grandparents and friends want to speak Hebrew in order to be a part of their lives. Just a short time ago many of these people did not know they were Jewish. Today, they learn Hebrew, study text and feel a part of a strong global Jewish people. This is what we have created. What if we had not rescued Russian Jews and brought them to safety in Israel and what if we did not rebuild their Jewish communities? I do not like to imagine what that contrast would have looked like versus what we witnessed today.

After the music school we made our last stop of the day at the community JCC where we met with people of all ages who are being helped through senior programming. The JCC provides a social network for seniors and youth. This is the place where people like Julia can come to be with other children. We heard two survivors share their stories. And, we saw an amazing performance from the youth who participate in the JCC theater program. Past, present, future. We saw and felt it all today. There are still many remnants of the Soviet era. Behind lovely facades there is decay in Odessa. At the same time, from this decay beautiful Jewish life emerges. The future - we are preparing younger generations to sustain themselves, care for their elders and provide for those at risk among the community. It was a tiring yet exihlerating day. I feel proud to be a part of the Federation's transformative work. I hope this snipet of our day helps you feel it too.

Some day 1 photos

It turns out posting photos to the blog works just fine. Facebook is the problem! ugh. Getting ready to board our flight. Here are some more photos from our first day.

A view of the Black Sea and the famous Potemkin Steps

The famous poet, Nachman Bialik's home.