It has certainly been a whirlwind since I posted!  We have been in Jerusalem exploring the sites and sounds and enjoyed being here for shabbat.  Today our group took off for Massada and the Qumran.  There are lots of photos being posted on the Federation Facebook page!  Feel free to check them out.

While Jerusalem has been cold and rainy, we are warm with joy to be spending time in Israel!

Tuesday, April 16

As our program opened on Monday evening we moved from a somber memorial day to a celebratory Independence Day.  Our opening evening was emotional and overwhelming as 131 of us gathered to celebrate our community's arrival in Israel.  It was an extraordinary site.  Our Rabbis began with a ceremony to honor those who have fallen defending our Jewish homeland.  We moved into a festive dinner.

Our next morning took us to Machon Ayalon on Yom Ha'atzmaut, Independence Day.  The miraculous story of this underground bullet factory http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Machon_Ayalon 

is an amazing story exemplifying the significance of the efforts to create a Jewish state.  Our day took us through Tel Aviv, ending with a lively dinner with Israeli lone soldiers. These soldiers each shared their moving stories explaining why they chose to live in Israel on their own and serve in the military.

Yom Hazikaron

At 11:00 AM Israel time, the second siren rang out so that the entire country could stop to honor those who have fallen while defending Israel, our Jewish homeland.  In an instant, everything stops - cars, buses, people - and stand still while the siren wails.  It is a somber and humbling moment connecting every single person in Israel together. 

Traffic stopped in Tel Aviv when the siren goes off.

Ceremony in honor of Yom Hazikaron in Rabin Square Tel Aviv.

Today We Begin!

Today is the big day!  Everyone finally arrives and we are off and running.  Today is Yom Hazikaron, Memorial Day in Israel.  It is a solemn day as we recognize our fallen Israeli soldiers.  Tonight, Israel Independence Day begins and so do our festivities.  Feel free to follow our group as we journey around Israel for the next 10 days.  We look forward to sharing stories and pictures from our community in Israel to our community in Western Massachusetts.

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.