candace

This morning we started at The National Institutions (home of the Jewish Agency for Israel [which brings us our beloved Shinshinim], Keren Kayemet and Keren Hayesod).

We met again with Rabbi Balter and Yitzhar Hess, who wanted to share reflections now that we are at the end of our trip. 

They also "pitched" the importance of Conservative congregations in the diaspora mobilizing to ensure their voices (and votes!) are heard in Israel.

You will definitely be hearing more about this in the future. 

A trio of volunteers with Mercaz Olami spoke about their respective roles in the organization. Gadi, a lawyer and PhD, who investigates war crimes spoke about his shifting perspectives - as a civilian, a lawyer and a reservist- since October 7. He echoed the sense of loneliness expressed by others, as well as his profound gratitude for our visit. 

He shared that one of his roles when called up was to identify belongings of soldiers (mostly Tazpitaniyot- the women who were watching the security cameras. As you are likely aware, their unit was overtaken and all the soldiers killed). 

Among other things, Gadi made clear  his sense that Jews in Israel and the Diaspora need each other now more than ever. 

Our final stop was the National Library - a breathtaking, state-of-the art, environmentally friendly facility. Built, naturally, of Jerusalem stone in a design evoking the Western Wall it was truly magnificent. 

Housing over 4 million books, newspapers and an extensive collection of rare artifacts, an hour wasn't nearly enough time to explore.

It is a must-see for your future trips.

We packed up and checked out of the hotel, heading out for our final dinner  as a group. Last stop...the airport. 

In closing- for now- I can only paraphrase what I said from the bimah on Kol Nidrei: my home may be in the west, but my heart is in Israel.

P.S. I will follow up with some additional photos and reflections soon.

After a classic (sumptuous) Israeli hotel breakfast, we headed to the Old City on foot. Shacharit services were held at the Egalitarian section of the Kotel. 

I had never been to this section before. Conceptually, I'm glad it's there and available but have to admit that it didn't feel like an authentic Kotel experience for me.

I was saddened to see how few people were at the Kotel plaza. In the past, you had to jostle to get close. Heavy sigh...

Our amazing guide, Kayla, gave us an in-depth history of the temples and explained about ongoing excavations around the southern wall. The breadth of her knowledge is truly impressive. 

We then headed to the Cardo where the shopping bug hit several of our group members. After that, we broke into smaller groups to explore. We walked and walked and walked. 

The Machane Yehuda market was as dynamic as I remember and best of all, the first place this trip where it wasn't obvious there was a war going on. It was full of people, food and a most welcome pre-Shabbat energy. 

15,000 + steps later, it's back to the hotel to prepare for Shabbat. 

We will be having Kabbalat Shabbat and dinner together as a group and then tomorrow a couple of walking tours and lectures. I will update late Saturday or Sunday.

Shabbat shalom...from Jerusalem.

We started our day with a presentation at our hotel by Barak, a long-time resident of Netiv Ha'asara. Barak, his wife Aya and 4 sons have been evacuated from their home and living in 2 hotel rooms in Tel Aviv since shortly after the attacks.

Barak gave us a history of life in the region, the various conflicts and the measures (complex, expensive and seemingly never-ending) taken over the years to secure Netiv Ha'asara. 

In his words: " I was naive enough to believe in peace".

He made very clear that he and the other residents did everything in their power to ensure the safety of everyone in the moshav. While they would like to return to their home, they are waiting on the government : the outcome of the war and , of course, plans for the future of Gaza. 

He shared, in explicit detail, what happened in his community - to his friends, family and neighbours - on October 7. 

Acknowledging that many couldn't understand why they would choose to live there, he explained that life on the moshav was 95% heaven and 5% hell.

A masterful speaker, Barak's warmth, humour and deep pain left me shaken and wondering if I would be willing to live with those numbers.

Our first stop of the day was Moshav Shokeda, a religious moshav in the "Gaza envelope". Today's task was harvesting beetroot leaves. I wondered whether or not it was a make-work project until one of the leaders of the moshav spoke and thanked us for helping them. They used to have 80 labourers and now have 8 and cannot keep up with all the work that needs to be done. 

Rockets (from our side) were being fired the entire time we were working.

I couldn't help but wonder: how do people live like this? 

I understood why- just as Barak said earlier: it's their home. 

After our adventure in agriculture we visited Kibbutz Be'eri, site of the music festival where part of the massacre took place on October 7.  We held a mincha service and said kaddish. 

Similar to 'hostages square', there were many groups visiting, singing, praying and simply trying to process the savagery that took place on that now-hallowed ground. Makeshift memorials for those murdered there were all over. Trees have now been planted in a grove near the edge of the property in their memory. 

And, of course, there were photos, posters and messages about the 134  hostages still in captivity. 

Nearby Kfar Aza was our next stop. We were greeted by "daughter of the kibbutz", Chen. She spoke of the close-knit community, where most of her family and many friends who are like family lived together for years, less than a kilometer from the Gaza border. 

Despite having laryngitis, she chose to meet with us and share her story. 63 members of her community were killed, 19 were taken hostage, 5 still remain in captivity. 

Chen led us through the kibbutz, explaining the horrific events of October 7, as pieced together from first-hand accounts and text messages. 

Like Barak this morning Chen was articulate, passionate and heartbroken about the trauma shared by her community. She quietly pleaded with us to share what we'd heard with our own communities and to fight, with whatever resources we could muster to ensure the remaining hostages were released.

Her last word to us was simple, powerful and laden with meaning: shalom.

I was pretty much emotionally wrung out after that and would have gladly called it a day. Alas, there were, as the saying goes, miles to go before I could sleep.

Through our guide for the trip, we arranged for a food truck to visit a reservists' base and we joined the soldiers for a barbecue dinner. 

There were many rousing rounds of "Am Yisrael Chai" along with lots of getting-to-know-you chatter and laughs despite the broken Hebrew and broken English.

The soldiers were grateful to us for the dinner and for our support. I was able to deliver the hats our Chesed Knitters made and the letters our Hebrew School students wrote to them. 

One quiet soldier, Eitan, had a question for us: "why doesn't the world believe us when we tell them what we've seen"?

Arrived at Ben Gurion Airport and connected with some of the group. Everyone was elated to learn that two hostages had been rescued overnight.  I texted my husband and kids to say I'd arrived safely. My youngest wrote back: "oh good...you're home".
The airport was uncharacteristically quiet- tourism is way down- but traffic on the way to the hotel was heavy...some things haven't changed.

After a short rest, we met in the hotel for a wonderful dinner. After that, we had a brief session led by Rabbi Mauricio Balto (Executive Director of Mercaz Olami and Masorti Olami) and Dr  Yitzar Hess (Vice Chairman of WZO).

In their remarks, both made clear that the Israel we were visiting now was far different than the one we'd seen before. They talked about the new threat of anti-Semitism from within Israel and referred to life in Israel now as a long shiva.

The light mood we'd been enjoying became heavy and dark. While we'd all heard and read much about the existential crisis Israel finds itself in post 10/7, hearing it from those who experienced it, in Israel, packed an emotional wallop. 

More to come tomorrow.