Israel @ 60

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 When we headed down to breakfast this morning, we could never have imagined the many meaningful and memorable experiences ahead of us on our last day of the mission.

To further strengthen Chicago’s connection to Israel, Jeff Kaye from the Jewish Agency, spoke to the participants at my hotel about landmarks in Israeli history that coincide with important dates in the history of Chicago’s Jewish community. Among his many examples was the founding of the Jewish Agency in 1929 and the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago where the Jewish community marked its 100th anniversary with a pageant at Soldier Field attended by 125,000 people. “This was when the Jewish Agency and the Jewish community in Chicago had its first major event,” Kaye said. “We’ve been doing some incredible things since then.”

He continued by connecting other important dates in Israeli history to important dates in the history of Congregation Beth Shalom, whose members formed nearly three of the trip’s buses, and praised Chicago’s strong, vibrant Jewish community of almost 300,000 members.

“But on the other hand,” he said, segueing into the challenges facing both communities like the growing  anti-Semitism and lack of sufficient social services for Jews in Chicago, and the social gap, political corruption and the environment in Israel.

“When we look at the achievements and problems, we can define it in terms of half full glass or a half empty glass,” Kaye said. “I am optimistic. One of the reasons I am optimistic is because we have our destiny in our hands for the first time in many years.”

“I want you to go home and feel very proud of what you’ve seen here,” he said. “Tell the story of what you’ve seen and tell the story of what we have achieved here.”

Following breakfast, I rode with Bus 11 for a site visit to JDC’s It’s a Deal program for at risk youth ages 15 to 18, at a special zoo on Kibbutz Kfar Menachem called Wing of Love.  Five years ago a man named Boaz, decided that the zoo could serve as a place to teach teens, many of whom have had problems with the law, to care for the animals as they undergo therapy and  educational programs. The animals, like the program participants, are also at risk include rare birds, monkeys and kangaroos among others.

“Our mission really is to give the teens a second chance,” Boaz said, “learning through the way you care for your animals, to care for yourself.”

We all watched these rare animals in amazement, particularly an albino peacock who showed off his feathers for the group, and a monkey whose face reflected amusement of our presence, and we were equally as impressed with Avi, a program participant who told us of his love for the zoo, showed us his favorite emu and proudly shared his newfound knowledge of animals.

Our amused monkey friend

We left the zoo in good spirits and headed off to a fantastic lunch. With their appetites satisfied, every participant on Bus 11, many of them first-timers, held a very moving and emotional caucus, as the participants shared with their new friends and family how much this trip had meant to them and how inspired they had been to be a part of Israel  in any way possible.

Finally, to top off an incredible day and an even more incredible trip, we drove south to the Tse'elim IDF Base called MALI (Mercaz L'emun Yabashti), The IDF Ground Forces Traning Center which provides IDF Senior Officer Field Training Courses and integrated ground forces maneuvers for the Tank Artillery, Infantry and Engineering Corps. A soldier joined each bus and took us on a tour of the Urban Training facility, set up like a mock Arab city, where every IDF soldier must come for several weeks of training, and told us about the very advanced weapons and technology used at this facility.

Bus 11's guide, Doron, showing us weapons and vehicles used at the training center

We then sat down to dinner with the soldiers and it was there I met Omri Shifroni, a 23-year-old soldier from Sderot.

Omri, bright-eyed and charming, grew up on a kibbutz in Sderot, where he and his family continue to live today, despite the barrage of Qassam rockets that are fired at the southern border town almost every day. All too often, he has had to run to the safe room of his kibbutz, which has been struck by rockets at least twice in his lifetime. But when I asked him if he or his family would ever consider leaving he simply said, “No. There is nowhere else for us to go.”

Then Omri introduced me to 23-year-old Ivri Elbaz, who had recently been shot in Gaza. He was serving as second commander of his company during Operation Hot Winter where they fought Hamas for 10 hours on a Saturday.  That Sunday at 2 p.m. he was talking into the radio when a bullet brushed past his hand and through the side of his neck. His voice did not even waiver as he showed me his scars and he showed no apprehension about returning to Gaza after his few weeks at the training center were over.

Omri and Ivri

As we moved into the concert area for an entertaining performance by Ninet, an Israeli pop singer who had won Israel’s version of American Idol, and I stood among the thousands of soldiers in uniform, I couldn’t help but feel moved and incredibly fortunate. These soldiers, most of them not even 20 years old, sang and swayed and danced together like they hadn’t a care in the world, when in reality, their responsibility to their country would likely bring them to a war zone within weeks. I felt honored to spend this night, our final night in Israel, joining in celebration with these brave young Israelis. As we boarded the buses for our final night in Jerusalem, I reflected on all my experiences on this mission—all the wonderful speakers and inspiring sites— and I felt I finally understood what this country is about and just how important it is for us to continue supporting the miracle that is the state of Israel.

Ninet, performing

After a very short night of sleep, we were back at Ben Gurion airport, where I asked other participants to reflect on the highlights of the mission as we waited to board the plane:

“It was great to be here during the holiday where 400 people from Chicago got to do a couple of things that were outstanding. The lecture at Yad Vashem by Rachel Korazim and the visit to the army base was another amazing thing because they are things you wouldn’t normally be able to see,”
~Rik Goldberg, first-timer

“They kept your mind active and it was always very stimulating. From an artistic point of view, Israel is a very pretty country and I enjoyed the arts and culture program on track day.”
~Debby Rheinstorm, first-timer

“I’ve been here before so everything is a highlight, but especially visiting my family here. I enjoyed getting to know a lot of other people. Everything was very well organized and the accommodations were great.”
~Marlene Gurtz

“The trip overall was inspirational, emotional and exhilarating. I’ve been here many times, but this was my first time seeing the new Yad Vashem which was outstanding and very emotional. Being with the soldiers on Yom Hazikaron was so awe-inspiring and they look younger every year. Visiting the site of the Ethiopian National Project, the children were so excited to learn. There’s nowhere else in the world where the entire infrastructure of the country is set up to succeed by lifting up the lowest of society.”
~Sherry Fox

“It was all wonderful. Everything was different from the last time I saw it. A JUF Mission is really a great thing. We see things that nobody else sees and we see where our money goes.”
~Helen Stopek

“For me, the last night at the army base was just super, an A+.”
~Michael Feldman

“In retrospect, I really enjoyed visiting the supporting agencies. Those were some of the most moving moments of the trip.  We met a Muslim soldier at the dinner at the army base which was interesting. He felt that it was his duty as a citizen of Israel. It was nice being here this week.”
~Cantor Larry Goller
 

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 We all went our separate ways on Shabbat—some participants visited friends in Jerusalem or other cities, some took tours of the old city, some went to services and a large group hiked up to the top of Masada early in the morning, and spent the rest of the day relaxing in the dead sea.

And it will forever be a special day in the lives of Justin Goldfarb and Jessica Brodsky, who were among the few younger couples on the trip—on top of the historic Israeli landmark of Masada and amid the beautiful views and scenery, Justin and Jessica got engaged.

Jessica and Justin being serenaded by Israeli pop star Ninet at the army base Sunday night

Justin, 30, and Jessica, 24, both visiting Israel for the first time, were convinced to go on the mission by friends, although Jessica was hesitant since she is still eligible for the birthright israel program. “I was worried if I didn’t go then Justin would meet a nice Jewish girl,” Jessica joked.

Justin, who met his new fiancé on JDate two and a half years ago, had been thinking about proposing and was looking for the right opportunity. Just a week or so prior to the trip, and after consulting with his mother, Justin decided that he could not pass up this once in a lifetime opportunity to propose in Israel, and what better place than on the top of Masada.

“I was so shocked that when he asked me I made him repeat it,” Jessica said. Justin presented Jessica with his grandmother’s simple wedding band, something fitting until the couple would have time to shop for a proper ring, Justin said.

They announced their engagement to the other participants as they joined them on the top of Masada, receiving an overwhelming barrage of mazel tovs and good wishes.
“Everyone has been so nice and so loving and so warm,” Jessica said, to which Justin added, “It’s like having 200 Jewish moms.” 

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 We saw clouds this morning for the first time on the trip—an appropriate setting for our visit to Yad Vashem.

Before entering the museum, all 400 participants sat down for a briefing with Holocaust Educator, Dr. Rachel Korazim called “The New Museum at Yad Vashem-a Window into Beauty Destroyed”, which provided a framework for the new museum, inaugurated in 2005. “If the old museum told the story and the Holocaust did not change, why did we need a new museum?” she asked.

To show us the answer, Korazim explained the changing thoughts and opinions of rabbis and scholars throughout the decades following the Holocaust. At first, she said, the Jews blamed themselves.  In the 1940s, a Hasidic rabbi from Brooklyn said ‘the Holocaust was a punishment for our sins’—and that sin, Korazim said, was Zionism. At the same time in Palestine, Zionist leaders like Ben Gurion and Golda Meir said ‘we weren’t Zionist enough.’ Going back 2,000 years after the destruction of the temple when the Jews moved their spiritual center from Jerusalem to Babylon and first realized that they would need to learn to live peacefully among non-Jews, they created the three oaths: Do not rebel against the kingdoms, do not climb the walls (or don’t force your entry into places Jews are not allowed) and wait for the Messiah. The Zionists broke all three.

“The common denominator here is who’s responsible—we are,” she said. “This is classical victim behavior.”

But this attitude of guilt began to change in 1959 when David Ben Gurion and the Israeli Knesset determined that, after 11 years, it was time to designate one day to remember the Holocaust—Yom Hashoah. And in 1961, during the trial of Adolph Eichmann, the prosecution spoke for the 6 million victims, showing that it was the Nazis, not the Jews, that were at fault for the Holocaust. “The Eichmann trial created a space for the stories of survivors,” Korazim said. “Why? Because they are not stories, they are testimonies.” In the 1980s, the educational agreement between North America and Israel created the March of the Living, and so by the mid 90s when the committee for the new museum was first formed, there was enough energy and enough information to fuel a new museum to reflect this new understanding.

Instead of touring through the main museum, which I had visited just two years ago, I went with a group of other repeaters to see some of the new exhibits. Our guide, Dinah, took us through the exhibit displaying life after the Holocaust by sharing stories of victims, artists and some survivors she had spent time with—really personalizing events that are sometimes difficult to imagine as reality—and showed us new synagogue and art exhibits as well.

Bus 5 participants with their guide outside of Yad Vashem

As the first-timers came out of the museum, I asked them for their initial thoughts and reactions: “It’s overwhelming, It’s inspirational,” said Hal Tattleman of his first visit to Yad Vashem. “It makes you really feel that you have to be even more committed to not forgetting and to passing the information on to future generations of Jewish people.”

“We’ve been to Holocaust museums in other cities, but this is obviously the most unreal,” added his wife, Ila Tattleman.

“It was intense, but I still felt like I was seeing it through the eyes of someone else,” said Laura Shulman, another first-timer. “I was glad to have such a fantastic guide because there is so much there that you can only take in a small part of something of this magnitude.”

After our various tours, we moved into the Hall of Remembrance of Yad Vashem, which remained unchanged from the old museum, for a moving Yizkor service in honor of the Six Million and then visited the beautifully heartbreaking Children’s Memorial.

Mark and Debbie Geller laying a wreath for the Six Million during the Yizkor ceremony

After a long, emotional morning, it was only as we left the museum to go shop on Ben Yehuda street and watch people prepare for Shabbat at the Machane Yehuda outdoor market, that the sun finally broke through the clouds.

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The air in Jerusalem today is full of celebration and joy as people everywhere are marking Israel’s 60th anniversary.

The mission participants at my hotel began their day with a talk titled “The Establishment of the State of Israel” delivered by Hirsh Goodman, author and director of the Andrea and Charles Bronfman Program on Information Strategy at the Jaffee Center For Strategic Studies at Tel Aviv University, former vice president of the Jerusalem Post and founding editor of the Jerusalem Report.

“I think that all of you and all of those in the Diaspora are as much a part of what Israel is today as we are,” he said.

Sixty years ago, in 1948, only 30 percent of Israeli residents were born in Israel, compared to today, where 70 percent of Israelis are sabras. “This is a significant figure because it says something about the homogeneous nature of the country,” he said.

“But do we have a future?” he asked. Ahmadinejad in Iran, the Israeli educational system, the ultra orthodox population—those issues often brought up as threats to Israeli society—do not worry Goodman too much. Iran, he said, is a threat, but it is a threat that Israel can handle. As far as achieving peace with the Palestinians, Goodman feels that until they can keep peace among themselves, the best Israel can do, is damage control. What he does see as a threat to Israeli society is the corruption level: the justice minister, foreign minister, prime minister and president are all under investigations for corruption. But, he said, this older generation of leaders is on its way out, and a new generation will soon step up to the plate—a generation that cares about their country.

“What I see here is a transitional period,” he said. “At the 40-year-old level, if we look around the Knesset today…you’ve got sabras and their doctors, lawyers and educated and they like espresso and believe me, they know what a good state tastes like.”

He concluded by addressing the significance of Israel’s 60th: "From the ashes of the Holocaust this country has been created,” he said. “It is a miracle and to that you should say l’chaim and thank God.”

Following Goodman’s speech, the participants had their choice of different tracks for the day including: Israeli Art and Culture, Politics and the Military, tours of the Old City and exploring ancient Jerusalem in an Indiana Jones 4X4 safari truck. I opted for the Active Outdoors track, which took me to the Judean Hills located near Beit Shemesh, to ride in ATV off-road “ranger” vehicles, and hike and explore the surrounding forest paths.

Mission participants riding ATV's in the Judean Hills

The ATV’s provided a bumpy ride, thrills and beautiful scenery. Along the way, we got a little dusty and saw the spot where David battled Goliath.

Hiking through the forest paths and caves

In the evening, we continued our celebration with a cocktail reception and Independence Day dinner at the new Sequoia Hall at Kibbutz Ma’ale HaHamisha guest house with a beautiful view overlooking the Jerusalem Corridor and a keynote address by Brigadier General Shuki Shichrur, former deputy commander of the IDF northern command.  It was a wonderful way to end our Yom Ha’atzmaut celebration.

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Today, like yesterday, was another whirlwind of emotions, beginning with the commemoration of Yom Hazikaron and ending with a wonderful celebration of Yom Ha’atzmaut with our friends in Kiryat Gat.

This morning, I rode with the participants on Bus 3, most of whom have been to Israel many times, to Kibbutz Kinneret Cemetary to hear Morton Grove-born Joel Goldman, a passionate scholar researching the writers and poets of the Second Aliya.  Goldman, who made Aliya with his family at the age of 14, credits his interest in early Zionism to a chance encounter with David Ben Gurion during a school field trip just weeks after moving to Israel. “I’ll never forget it,” he said. “Living in Israel for three weeks and I’m meeting Ben Gurion. It’s a Zionist dream come true.”

Joel Goldman

Goldman studies the diaries of the people he calls the “founding fathers and mothers of the Jewish state,” who lived near and are buried in the Kinneret Cemetary—people who he said, lived by a quote by Ben Gurion: “I’ve come to this country to transform the landscape and by doing so I will transform my soul.”

Through his captivating speaking style, Goldman introduced us to three characters in the cemetery:  Berl Katznelson, a colleague and friend to Ben Gurion and part of a love triangle with his wife and her best friend; Nathan the farmer, whose inscriptions on his grave, which was only recently uncovered, lead to suspicions that he may have been slaughtered by his devil-worshiping friends; and Rachel, the poet known for her beautiful love poems to the land of Israel, including Jerusalem of Gold. Goldman taught us that these young Zionists did not come to the land with realistic expectations, and because of this, they were able to reshape reality and, as the quote reads, transform both the landscape and their souls.

We remained in the cemetery at 11 a.m. when the siren sounded marking Yom Hazikaron. We watched in silence as families gathered around the graves of their loved ones. Outside the cemetery, life stood still for a moment as people stopped what they were doing, got out of their cars, bowed their heads and remembered.

Families gathering around the graves of their loved ones as the siren sounded

After a visit to the Roman ruins at Beit She’an National Park and a delicious lunch, we drove up to Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem and recited the Shehecheyanu.

Throughout the day, several teenagers from Kiryat Gat, JUF’s Partnership 2000 region, joined us on the buses and told us about their experiences during visits to Chicago, and tonight, we got to learn more about where they come from. All 400 mission participants, along with nearly 200 residents of Kiryat Gat and the surrounding regions, joined together in a beautiful dinner at the Kiryat Gat community center. Following dinner, the mission participants joined hundreds more local residents for a performance by Maya Buskila, a well-known Israeli pop singer, dance performances by local artists and a huge fireworks display.

600 mission participants and residents of Kiryat Gat enjoying their dinner together

Dan Harkabi, the new co-chair of Partnership 2000, thanked the Chicagoans for being with the residents of Kiryat Gat during times of grief and the happy moments of independence. “This looks and feels like a big family reunion after 2,000 years,” he said. His goal is to create 2,000 individual partnerships between residents of Kiryat Gat and Chicago, and he asked everyone present to exchange emails with someone they had met. He said: “I believe only by ongoing conversations with the Jewish Diaspora, with you, will we be able to maintain our Jewish identity.”

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Day One

As it nears 11 p.m. in Israel, I’m certain that the nearly 400 participants in JUF’s Israel @ 60 mission are drifting off to sleep feeling a mixture of emotions after one very long day--A day that began Monday morning with chaos at O’Hare’s international terminal and ended Tuesday evening in the solemnity of the Erev Yom Hazikaron ceremony at the Golani Junction.

We have experienced so much in just one day in Israel that it is hard to believe it was only this morning that the mission participants, stepping off the El Al plane on to a special tarmac at Ben Gurion Airport reserved only for private jets, were greeted warmly by the International Media Advisor to Israel’s prime minister, Mark Regev, and Israel @ 60 mission chair, Karen Rosenthal, who proudly said, “I’ve been waiting so long to say this: Welcome home everybody!” 

Mission participants stepping off the plane at Ben Gurion Airport

Our excitement won the battle over our exhaustion as we boarded the 11 buses. I rode with Bus 10, a group of participants visiting Israel for the first time. We first took in the magnificent Roman ruins and refreshing, clear blue waters of Caesarea and then spent some time at the Merhavia Absorption Center, which helps new immigrants from Ethiopia prepare for challenges they will face as they start their new lives in Israel.

Supported by the Jewish Agency, 32 absorption centers including Merhavia have served three million immigrants from nine different countries in the past 60 years. Currently home to about 200 residents, mostly large families, the Merhavia center provides everything from basic education, to basic appliances and home maintenance and introduces the new immigrants to the very concepts of health care and employment in Israel.

Some Bus 10 participants with soccer players at the absorption center

After sampling some traditional Ethiopian coffee and bread and touring the recently dedicated new Ethiopian cultural heritage center, we spent some time watching the children play soccer and prepare ready for the Independence Day festivities.

Merchavia Absorption Center residents preparing for Independence Day

As we drove away, the participants of Bus 10 had many questions for our guide, Avi, and were curious to learn more about a program that one participant called “a gift to the world.” Bus 10 captain Lee Lazar spoke to the bus about the Jewish Agency for Israel:  “This organization is on a history making course,” he said.

But just as the participants were realizing how far Israel has come in its 60 years, due in great part to their efforts as a community, they were soon reminded that  Israel does not celebrate its accomplishments without first  commemorating those who gave their lives so that their country could live on. 

We were gathered at the Golani Junction as the siren marking the beginning of Erev Yom Hazikaron was sounded. What followed was a moving ceremony which included beautiful speeches, songs and prayers led by Chicago’s own Rabbi Carl Wolkin, Rabbi Vernon Kurtz and Cantor Larry Goller. We heard from Natan Golan, the former executive director of UJIA Israel, who said it is Yizkor, remembrance, that makes it possible for Israel to continue to thrive despite all the challenges it faces. 

Rabbi Carl Wolkin leads Tehilim, a prayer

“We the Jewish people are divinely commanded to remember,” he said. “As a nation, we must move forward…We will shout out loud that we are here to stay and we will always be here at the heart of our homeland. This is our legacy. This is the ultimate expression of our very own Yizkor.”

Representatives from the Chicago mission then read 12 different biographies of deceased Golani soldiers, personalizing the number, 1,390 Golani soldiers, who have died defending the state of Israel.

JUF's wreath

I rode back to the hotel with Bus 5, and will leave you with some of their thoughts on the evening:

“I’m a sabra, so it was very moving to me. I lost two dear friends in the 1973 War and moved the U.S. just after the war. It was done so beautifully.”
~Matty Schechtman

“I am American, but was married in Israel. It got me thinking to be back here, that we don’t treat Memorial Day the way that we should in the U.S. It should be a national day of prayer. Putting the faces with the numbers makes it much more moving.”
~Steven Schectman

“I think it was a most humble experience to be together with Jewish people from the states and Israel to share the memorial service and I’m thrilled to be in Israel to experience this most important memorial.”
~Elaine Zeidman

“Things are so different here from the U.S. Everybody here is in the army and has had a close friend or relative that they’ve lost. In  my generation, we don’t always have somebody like that. The personal stories really bring it close to home. In their bios, they seemed so selfless.”
~Jan Friedlander

“The whole country here is in mourning tonight and on May 30 we barbeque. It’s so sad that nobody seems to care in the same way. You have to have stake in your country.”
~Bonnie Malmed