Hand in Hand

The Yad b'Yad School in Jerusalem has the look of most Israeli public schools. A little bit frayed around the edges, overcrowded, and noisy. Looking around at the furniture and the classroom accoutrements, the school, like most, lacks anything that might typically be called state of the art. But Yad B'Yad is not typical Israeli anything. Yad B'Yad brings together thousands of Jewish and Arab kids in six schools and communities throughout Israel, including this one we visited in Jerusalem.

We're at this particular school because I somehow imagine that it's worth our time and attention. Despite a Middle Eastern landscape that gets greyer by the day, I get to show our kids - and to remind myself! - that there's a place that seeks to shed light and banish darkness. That there's a place where Arab and Israeli kids can describe their lives and their differences and their similarities without fear. This truth becomes even more poignant when Noa, our school guide, explains that public schools in Israel are based not on one's zip code but rather religion. That is, if you're Jewish you go to a Jewish school, if you're a Moslem you go to a Moslem school. In other words, the country's educational system minimizes integration. I think in the States it was called separate but equal. 

It is a sobering phenomenon for our kids to realize that the Israeli kids to whom they've become so close over the past 6 years, have no Arab friends, no Arab connections. And we're talking about Haifa, the most successfully "integrated" city in Israel. 

We file to the library to await our high school reps, watching kids at school - running, laughing, screaming. A Moslem teacher who was part of a Yad B'Yad delegation to the States comes in to say hello. She had come to our temple as a part of her tour. She tells us that Shabbat at our temple was her first time ever at a Jewish prayer service. She tells us that she was overwhelmed by the beauty of the music and the particular sensitivity showed to some deaf folks who were in attendance that night. This makes all of us so proud to represent our temple.

When the high schoolers come in, we are struck by their beauty, their depth, and their conviction. We know that this is not an average place. But in the presence of so many "not average" students, it is breathtaking. Looking at these students one realizes that it's essentially impossible to tell the Israeli Jews from the Israeli Arabs.

In the days and months and years after our nine 10th graders reflect on our experiences together in Israel, from the warm welcome in Haifa to the warm weather virtually everywhere, from climbing down a mountain in Arbel to climbing up Masada, from singing Bim Bam in a tight little Shabbat hug circle at Robinson's Arch to laughing - everywhere! - I find myself hoping that it is this library conversation with 6 inspiring students from Yad B'Yad that sticks most closely. Because this is where the hope is. Of course, there's so much good and so much energy in this place, so much promise and guts and genius. This is the priority of peace: without it, nothing else will ever count for much.

It's time to shut down and get the kids out to Tel Aviv and Jaffa for their last day. I want our community to know that our kids were wonderful and fun and cute and hysterical. At every location, they represented TBA as a place of compassion and understanding. It was not just a pleasure for me and Heidi and Francie to lead them through Israel; it was an honor. They remind us all that Jewish life is all about connecting to people and places in time, in history, in the moment.

Shabbat Shalom

rebhayim

A Dark Part of Jewish and World History

After a great night in our first class hotel, we headed outside the old city to get a scenic view of the Temple Mount. Then we headed to Yad B'Yad, a school dedicated to connecting Israeli and Palestinian students by putting ten of each in every class. We toured the school and met the students that go there and in the process, learned a valuable lesson of coexistence. After spending lunch in a Jerusalem market, we went to Yad Vashem. The museum, along with our tour guide Noam, gave a powerful and emotional view into a dark part of Jewish and world history. The day served as a reminder of why the Jewish people need Israel and how far we still have to go to reach peace.

-David P

A Refreshing Swim in the Sea... in February!

This morning we woke up to a nice breakfast outside our tent and took a short drive to Masada. Once we got there we learned about the history and started climbing up the tall mountain. We got to the top and took many pictures of the beautiful view and heard many more facts about the amazing mountain. We also learned about a cave that had a water system. It was one of 6 caves that stored water. In the cave, we saw graffiti that had important significance. Also, we went to the point on the mountain and screamed.  After we screamed we heard our echo. After touring Masada,  we descended by cable car. Then we hopped back into the bus, hiked a little and swam in a spring with a beautiful waterfall in Ein Jedi. We swam and hung out in the sun and then headed over to the Dead Sea. When we arrived, we ate delicious barbecue food and salad for lunch. Once we finished lunch we excitedly went to the sea and put mud all over our bodies. We let the mud sit for a little and once it cracked on our body we went into the sea. We floated in the sea, admiring the sensation of floating and enjoying the pretty views for a while. Then we showered and went back on the bus and drove to Jerusalem to settle into our hotel. We took showers and walked up and down Ben Yehuda Street for dinner and shopping. After an ice cream stop, we walked back to the hotel and relaxed before going to bed for much-needed sleep.

Danielle A

Experiencing Many Sides of Israel in One Day

We started the day off with a breakfast at Carmei Ovdat, which contained many new food options. We visited Ben Gurion's grave site overlooking some beautiful views in order to discuss the state of Israel and how Ben Gurion wanted it to be. Next was a bike ride, but in the Negev. This also was not just an ordinary bike ride, we split into teams and were sent on a hunt to look for signs hidden in the vast desert. Both teams finished at around the same time, leading us to a vista with spectacular views. After some photos and a ride back, we hopped into the car for some lunch in Sterot. Luckily we had an hour or so, which allowed to rest and regain our energy. The falafel, pita bread, and hummus was a nice touch to an already great day. Our guide/travel companion took us to see a bunch of missiles that had been collected after being fired from the Gaza Strip by Hamas. We also talked to some local teenage girls about their opinions and experiences with bombings and having to take shelter (which they only have 15 seconds to do). To really understand the Gaza Strip, we ventured to the safest and closest distance from it. Only around a kilometer away, we could see the fences, walls, and defense systems put in place by the Israeli government and Hamas. We could even hear the Call to Prayer from the Mosque as we were leaving. Then we drove to a Bedouin Village to go camel riding and settle in to our tent for the night. After talking to a local Bedouin, we had a traditional dinner of rice, chicken, lamb, hummus, and salad. Later, around a campfire, we were able to eat s'mores and meet two Israeli armed forces soldiers to learn about their life in the infantry and army. Overall, a good day!

-Alex K

The History of Israel

We started off the morning with a lot of hugging and crying, saying farewell to our Haifa friends. Then the Puzzle team picked us up and we headed south to Tel Aviv. We arrived and our tour companion Noam gave us a brief overview of Israel, as we sat and picnicked with some pizza. We then continued into Independence Hall, greeted by a lovely tour guide. She explained the history of how Israel came to be, with many great details keeping us interested. After a coffee stop at one of the first coffee shops in Tel Aviv, we boarded the bus and set off to Phillips Farm. Once there, we saw the cute donkeys and couldn't wait to ride them! After getting to know our donkeys and naming them, we got into the carts and rode the donkeys up to a field, laughing and enjoying the views along the way. We got there and enjoyed some team activities, including archery.  Then we built a fire to make tea. Some of us helped to prepare the pitas for lunch, making the food taste even better and more enjoyable. We sat down for a scrumptious lunch of pita with an assortment of spreads and toppings. After socializing and feeding our donkeys, we got back into the carriages and headed to the bus. We took a ride farther south to our accommodation for the night, a small, family owned hotel. The rooms were like little houses, with a hammock outside and pebble floors inside. We enjoyed a spectacular dinner and dessert with the Puzzle team. At night, we relaxed and took in the amazing views. Our day was full of emotions... laughing, crying, and overall happiness. 

-Alexa W

How to Make a Giving Community

We started the day going to the Alon School that we partner with and meeting the 5th grade students. We did an art project together about how to make a giving community. Their English was amazing and we had so much fun together. We brought them Valentine's candy and they loved it. 

Then we toured the German colony in Haifa. Although the tour guide wasn't very exciting we saw lots of beautiful sights. We went to the Grand Canyon mall together and had a lot of fun seeing the different Israeli stores. Then later we went to dinner at an Israeli restaurant with all the Israelis. Last, we went bowling and enjoyed our last full day with the Alliance students.

-Lindsay C

Understanding Israel's Rich and Diverse History

Today, we had free time with our host families for most of the day. We all did different things for the day, but I visited the ancient City of Acre (or Akko). With the Enbal's, we arrived in the mid-morning and wandered throughout the streets and local market, with a combination of Arab and Jewish merchants. The waterfront gave us an amazing view of the Bay of Haifa, allowing us to see Haifa from afar. We then took a tour of the buried city founded by crusaders hundreds of years ago. It is still being excavated but much of it can be seen today. It gave me a great understanding of Israel's rich and diverse history. We returned to the Enbal's home for dinner and rest, and left for Romi's house for a party later in the evening. After a few hours of chatting, eating, dancing, and singing, we were all exhausted and returned home to await tomorrow. 

- Jeremy F

The Old New Land and the Birds

Theodor Herzl, one of the most surprisingly prescient men who ever lived, called the land of Israel the Altneuland: the Old New Land. What a perfect name for this amazing, beautiful nation! Look on the right. There's a start up incubator with 15 offices producing radical ideas that will change the world. Look on the left and across the street: an 11th century Crusader castle. Everywhere one looks there are signs of this curious co-existence between the past vs the future.

This fundamental struggle seems to find its way into every conceivable conversation about politics or cultural shifts or power or religion, and so forth. I suppose most international conflicts these days have something to do with the values of the past colliding with the forces that seek to limit, change, or utterly extirpate them. It's just that in Israel the dialectic sometimes seem so big.

Today our Israel group set out for the Hula Valley. This is the remarkable area that was once swampy land filled with malarial mosquitoes. In a huge reclamation effort in the '30s, the swamp was drained, thus opening the Hula Valley to more agriculture. unfortunately, messing with the water level caused some very negative effects on the ecology years later. Chemicals were running off Hula Valley fields into the Sea of Galilee. Peat bogs were catching on fire underground. 

So what did they do about it? The JNF took advantage of some heavy flooding in the Hula Valley in the' 90s and kept flooding the land, a sort of "forward into the past" motif. 

The result, sans mosquitoes, created an old new land, something the same but different. One unintended consequence was that migrating birds on their way from Europe and Asia to Africa began stopping for a rest in this new, shallow clean water - and stopping to snack on local farmers' produce. So now a spectacle appears every winter in the Hula Valley. About 100,000 cranes arrive between December and February and are fed about 2 tons of corn a day to keep them happily fed. And today, we saw them.

I'm not sure the kids were all that captivated by the scene. Most people don't care about the scenery or the view or the spectacles of nature until they're pretty far into adulthood. But it sure captured my attention... This endless scene of majestic birds resting here, changing their centuries old migration patterns. Old new things. New old things. Happening every day.

I feel drawn to Israel, like a bird making the rounds. Again. There's something about taking the pulse of the nation, about getting a sense of how people are feeling. It's landing at Ben Gurion Airport and looking at the building expansion out the window which appears to be double the current structure. It's the lush green fields indicating good rains this winter. It's the prosperity. It's the anxiety. It's watching our children begin to appreciate that this place belongs to them in a complicated symbolic sense. Israel is for the birds that keep coming back.

Shabbat Shalom,

rebhayim

My Psh Moment!

Dear families,

Everyone had an amazing first full day full of beautiful views, long hikes and lots of fun. Our morning started when we all woke up to breakfast at our host family's houses. From there we met again at the Alliance school for a tour and team building activities. After, a bus picked us up and brought us to Tzipori  where a guide taught us about how the ancient city had been occupied by all kinds of different people who contributed to the architecture and art of the ruins we saw. We got back on the bus and ventured to Mount Arbel. The bus ride was filled with laughing, chatting, and singing, along with our tour guide pointing out significant and historical sites along the way. We arrived to a beautiful view and got ready for our "easy hike" (we basically climbed down the side of a mountain). We stopped for a picnic with a beautiful view over looking smaller hills and mountains in the distance. Our journey continued with a tiring climb up and down many stairs until we arrived to caves with an interesting history. Our tour guide told us stories about the caves, and then we descended all the down the mountain to the psh ceremony (Israelis say psh instead of wow) going around and saying our favorite moments from the trip so far. My psh moment was see the beautiful view with great friends. We then got onto the bus once again and took a short ride to The boardwalk of Tiberias, having some free time for shopping. Then we got on the bus for the final time of the night to drive to our accommodations at the hostel tonight. After a night of socializing, playing soccer and other fun games, we are all very tired and ready for a good night of sleep before another busy, fun day tomorrow! 

  לילה טוב

-Isabel

Reunited!

As the bus pulled in at Terminal E of Logan Airport, most had not yet settled on the fact that they were on their way to the Holy Land. We stood in line to be interrogated and get bags checked, and then passed through security and sat down at the Vineyard Grille for dinner. Afterwards, we boarded our flight, and after rearranging out seats, we prepared for the ten hour flight. As the plane accelerated down the runway, we all looked at each other with excitement and felt the swooping sensation as the plane lifted into the air. On the flight, some dozed off, while some watched movies, and others conversed with their friends. Even as the plane touched down in Tel Aviv many hours later, most still could not fathom that they were in Israel. We then proceeded to exchange money and board the Puzzle Israel bus that would transport us through a traffic jam stretching from Tel Aviv to Haifa. As the bus pulled up to the curb, our Israeli friends crowded the door and we were reunited after a long five month wait. After some opening ceremonies, we were picked up by our host families and taken home for some rest and preparation for the next day.

-Josh K

And They're Off!

Today we sent our Israel travelers on their way!  Our late session of grades 3-5 heard about the trip from them, found out what year they would be going in 10^th grade, and blessed them before they got on the bus to go to the airport. Here are some thoughts from our 5^th graders…

Are you excited to go on this trip when you are in 10^th grade?

Of course I am excited to go to Israel, why would I not be?

What are you most looking forward to when you go on the trip?

I really want to see the Western Wall in person and not just in pictures like Rabbi Stern said.

I want to float on the Dead Sea.

I so want to do a donkey ride!

I’m excited about the adventure and new surroundings and seeing the sites.

I want to see how Israeli people live their everyday lives.

What do you want to ask the 10^th graders when they get back?

Did you get used to the time difference? Were you tired?

Did you like the food? What kind of food did you eat?

Did you visit any good tourist sites?

What were you most excited to see before the trip? What was the best part?

Was there anything that concerned you?

Was it a lot different than the U.S.?

Do you think you will go back?

We wish our group a nesiya tova – a safe, exciting, and meaningful journey and can’t wait to hear all about it in their blog posts and when they return.

Becky Oliver & Grade 5 late session students

Leaving tomorrow!

Need we say more? For our Grade 10 teens tomorrow can't come fast enough!  The group will be heading to the airport late in the afternoon.  We will update the blog at that time with a photo and new post.

Leaving on a Jet plane

I hate packing, especially for a long time away. All of those stupid little decisions: how much stuff should I bring? What if it gets cold? Do I pack flat or roll everything? Will they be tough at the counter and weigh my bag? What if my bag is too heavy? I'll need to do laundry at some point; but where? Laundromat or bundle service? And then all the electronics and the chargers... it's insane!

But as much as I detest packing, there's something special about packing for Israel. I love returning to Israel, a place that feels more like a second home than it does an overseas destination. This must be my 12th trip! But I am so excited to be bringing 9 of our 10th graders for their first time.

I look at Israel through their eyes. There's that first "Really? Everybody's Jewish?" moment, when the enormity of being in a Jewish state first sets in. Then there's the "Look at all of those cute Israeli soldiers" moment, which needs no clarification, other than "Be careful ladies!" (The boys tend not to be ready to flirt with the Israeli girls in their fatigues...).

There's more. There's the look in their eyes after exiting the Yad VaShem Children's Memorial, a look the defies any easy verbal description. It's a look that catches my breath because no matter if they've been to the Memorial in Washington - and many have - the experience is overwhelming. It is, in a sense, the beginning of the end of innocence for these 15-16-year-old children who have been so lovingly cushioned from the crushing pain of the world. I've been with many of these children from the beginning: held them at their baby namings and brises. I am proud to be their rabbi and at such moments feel the existential weight of responsibility that comes with helping them transition towards adulthood as Jews.

There's the look when they see the Western Wall for the first time. We've seen a thousand pictures, built it out of sugar cubes and cardboard boxes, written notes to put between the simulated stones. But when it's right there, well, it makes an impression. "So this is the Wall?" Yes, this is it. And yes, despite the hype, it is a special place to just stand and feel the stones and listen to the prayers.

It's vitally important to me that our kids see Israel through my eyes, too. I want them to see the miraculous nature of a nation established in 1948, as poor as many other post-WWII Third World nations, that is now a tremendous international presence.

I want them to see that the original Israeli Declaration of Independence speaks of the earnest desire to create and nurture a democratic Jewish State. As it says, in part:

THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish immigration and for the Ingathering of the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.

I also want them to see the part of Israel that is striving to fulfill these ideals, just as Americans struggle to enable all American citizens to obtain the freedom that is theirs by law but not always in practice. It does our kids no good to get a sanitized Israel, devoid of internal conflict or challenges. Israel is real, they say. Our kids need to see that.

In addition to looking at Israel through the eyes of my students and hoping they will see Israel through mine, I'll be doing my own looking around, for you and for me. I'll be looking for hopeful signs of creative Israeli-Palestinian connections. I'll be hoping to see a greater openness to Reform Judaism and Reform institutions. I'll be looking for the possibility of thoughtful engagement between Jews of different opinions but who are all believers in this crazy place called Israel.

Ok. I gotta go pack. Ugh. Roll or pack flat?

Shabbat Shalom

rebhayim