Reflections for Israel's 60th Birthday

It is with great joy and appreciation that I wish all of us a Yom Ha-Atzma’ut Sameyach – a happy Israeli Independence Day as the State of Israel turns sixty today. Last Sunday a group of congregants gathered in my office to discuss what it means to us living outside of Philadelphia that Israel exists as a free and independent country. We reflected that many of us in this congregation have no consciousness of a time in our own lives when a State of Israel did not exist. We also reflected that we live in privileged and rarefied circumstances – in a country where Jews live free and prosperous and in a part of the country where Jewish identity and culture are widespread and celebrated.

Taken together, these two unprecedented facts lead to an unprecedented conclusion: we live in a community and circumstances where it is possible for us to take Israel for granted. Since Israel has been with us for as long as many of us remember and we are comfortable and privileged where we are, we could come to forget just how profoundly fortunate we are for Israel’s existence, and also how a measure of the freedom and security we enjoy is owed to that fact. We must never lose sight of the privileged place we hold in Jewish history and also of the blessings of the State of Israel: a country where we can fully live out Jewish civilization, where we can be one with our history and our people, a place that is dedicated to Jewish survival and freedom. While some of us may disagree with specific policies or positions that the government has taken, we must also take the opportunity on this Yom ha-Atzma’ut to voice our profound gratitude for Israel’s existence and strength and dedicate ourselves to working to promote its welfare and the ideals on which it was founded.

Baruch Atah Adonai Eloheinu Melech ha-olam she-hechiyanu, vekimanu, vehigiyanu laz’man ha-zeh: Blessed are you, Eternal One our God, the Sovereign of all the worlds, who has given our people life, sustained us and kept us strong, and enabled to reach this joyous anniversary.

Back Home

After a long wait to get through security at Ben Gurion we finally got on the plane and settled in for the long flight home. We were met at Newark by the bus bringing us back to Or Hadash, tired but overflowing with the experiences and emotions we were carrying back with us.

When we first prepared to go to Israel, we had gathered to imagine our goals, expectations, and hopes for the trip. In the airport before we boarded the plane for Newark I shared once more the prayer for the journey I had crafted from our shared sentiments.

It was incredible how fully we had realized these hopes: to connect with the Land of Israel and with each other; to have genuine and heartfelt encounters with Israelis; to deepen our understanding of Israel past and present; and to emerge with renewed hope for peace. As I recited each line of the prayer made of our hopes for our first congregational trip (God willing, of many!) to Israel, it was clear that each wish had been accomplished, and more.

That is, except for the very last section, which spoke of hopes and dreams yet to come: "And may we return in peace to our homes and to Or Hadash to share these experiences and insights and help people connect through us, and bring Israel to a more central place within the life of our congregation." This part of our prayer, of course, is yet to be fulfilled and it requires all of us in the community to help bring it to fruition - which I have no doubt we will do just as surely as we accomplished all our other hopes for this incredible trip.

I hope you have enjoyed reading the blog and being a part of our congregational trip as well. Please stay tuned to this site for information coming soon on how you can view photos from our trip, and also don't forget to join us this Friday night, February 22 to hear my own reflections on our trip, and then on March 14 to hear from those congregants who were with us on the trip. May this be the first of many congregational trips and the beginning of a deepening of our connections with Israel as individuals and as a community. May we grow in our appreciation and love of Israel and all it can be - for us, for the Jewish people, and for all the world.

Amen.

Shabbat in Tel Aviv

Shabbat in Tel Aviv... what to say? The service at Beit Tefillah Yisraeli was fabulous, with enormous joy and spirit. Shabbat dinner back at the hotel was filled with laughter and singing. Torah study this morning was a meaningful reflection on sacred space and how to carry the experience of Israel with us as we prepare to return to Philadelphia.

Then it was free time as we split up to enjoy some of the many pleasures Tel Aviv has to offer. I led a group on a walk down the beach to the city of Old Yaffo, the picturesque settlement dating back to Biblical times. Later I took advantage of the hotel's pool and hot tub which overlooked the Mediterranean, a religious experience of its own.

Now we're sitting at Maganda, a Yemeni restaurant for our farewell dinner before heading to Ben Gurion airport and our flight back to Newark. It's hard to believe how quickly these ten days have flown by and how much we've packed in, as well as how much we have all grown from the experience. It's hard to believe we'll be on an airplane soon, so full of the sights, sounds, and feeling of Israel and its people. As we piled back on to the bus we were already talking about planning our next trip, and the next and the next...

The last update will be posted from America.

Tel Aviv

If we are moving forward in history as we travel around the country, there is no better place to finish our visit than Tel Aviv. It is the cultural capital of Israel, a bustling, cosmopolitan city on the Mediterranean, relentlessly forward looking and a formidable counterpart to the rich historical legacy of Jerusalem. Founded from nothing in 1909 by olim from Russia, Poland, and Germany it has grown in less than 100 years into a world-class city with a metropolitan area of more than 1.2 million, a center of the arts, technology, and finance.

First we went to visit the site where Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin was assassinated in 1995 by yeshivah student Yigal Amir. It was a shattering moment for Israel and the country is stilll living very much in its wake - a loss of innocence for a country that was supposed to be different from any other country before it, a loss of a hero who had guided the young State through its most difficult battles and challenges, a loss of hope after this soldier of Israel had become a warrior for peace. We paid our respects at the memorial and recited Kaddish for Rabin and for all that might have been.

From Kikar Rabin (Rabin Square) we went to the Palmach Museum, the museum dedicated to the Jewish strike force that was initially created with British support to defend the yishuv (pre-State settlement) against the Nazis in North Africa, and then was subsequently driven underground as a resistance movement against the British. This was the force that helped the movement toward independence between 1945 and 1948 and then, as part of the Israeli Defense Forces, helped defend the brand new state at great cost against the Arabs who had rejected the 1947 U.N. partition plan and attacked. The museum was a moving tribute to all those whose sacrifices served as the 'silver platter' on which the Jewish State was given.

In the afternoon we headed to Nachalat Binyamin, a fabulous open-air crafts and spice market. Tonight we head to Beit Tefillah Yisraeli, one of the progressive synagogues of the type Rabbi Amy Klein spoke about with us last week, where young Israelis are trying to create an alternative for themselves other than secularism or orthodoxy. As I headed back to the hotel to get ready for Shabbat, I detoured to trail my fingertips in the Mediterranean. As I edged closer to the water, a giant wave suddenly washed up and soaked me nearly to my knees. I guess the moral is that you can't just sample Israel a little: it will find a way to grab hold of you and immerse you whether you intend it to or not.

Shabbat Shalom from Tel Aviv.

Yom Ahavah Same'ach

Just a few years ago Valentine's Day basically didn't exist in Israel. Now it's everywhere: pink hearts, balloons, flowers - even a sign from the municipality of Tel Aviv urging people to celebrate. Truly a brave new world. And so to all, wishing you a Yom Ahavah Same'ach.

Clocks

We just checked into the third and final hotel of our stay - the Renaissance in Tel Aviv, a beautiful hotel right on the beach. And like both of the other hotels we've stayed in there are no clocks in the room. Can somebody tell me why the hotels in Israel don't have clocks in the room???

Down the Coast to Tel Aviv

Continuing our trip through Jewish history, we headed west toward the Mediterranean coast to learn about the experiences of Jews who came to Palestine from the late-19th to mid-20th century to escape persecution and help build up the Land of Israel.

First we went to the city of Haifa, a model of co-existence where Jews, Muslims, Christians, and Baha'i live side by side in peace. As we looked over the beautiful Baha'i temple and grounds above the Port of Haifa it couldn't escape our notice that although the past couple of days have been rainy, every time we've gotten off the bus the rain has stopped and the sun come out!

From there we headed to Atlit, the infamous detention camp where the British put Jews who tried to come to Palestine illegally (under the British Mandate, only 5000 Jews were allowed into Palestine each year, despite the Holocaust taking place at the very moment in Europe). We walked through the barracks surrounded by barbed wire where the British placed Jewish refugees, so similar in appearance to the camps that many had just escaped from in Europe. In 1945, the Palmach (the pre-State Jewish defense organization) staged a daring midnight raid under the leadership of Yitzchak Rabin to liberate 208 inmates who were about to be deported to their countries of origin - a certain death sentence. The operation was a stunning success and all the refugees were saved.

From Atlit we traveled to Zichron Ya'akov, one of the first two settlements of Jews coming from Europe in the late 19th century with the aspiration of working the land and laying the foundations for a Jewish state. The famous Rothschild family helped fund the enterprise and set up vineyards for the new immigrants to cultivate; today it is the home of the Carmel wineries. Zichron is also a quaint town, a favorite site for Israeli tourists and we enjoyed wandering among the historical streets and stores filled with crafts (think New Hope in the Galil!). As we headed down toward Tel Aviv we pulled over to look out over the Mediterranean and recite the blessing the rabbis prescribed for the occasion: "Blessed is the One who creates the Great Sea."

And as we pulled into the city we were greeted by yet another rainbow - surely as sign?