One Day

Thursday, June 4th, Sederot 

I don't think I just speak for myself when I say that today was emotionally heavy. We started our morning with a session by one of our advisors called "Why the Jews?" We discussed antizionism, antisemitism, and the fine line between the two. Antisemitism has been around forever. It has longevity. It's universal. Jews have always been expelled, inquisitions, pogrommed, holocausted, etc. From 1000-1500 there were so many European expulsions. Antisemitism is a form of hatred that gets really intense especially at different points in history. Our criticisms are also inconsistent and contradictory. Think about it. 

Later during the day I found myself in Sederot. This was my third time getting the same tour of this pitiful city of resistant Israelis that all have PTSD. We went through what seemed like a routine presentation of the fallen rockets and their stories. It was almost like I was desensitized to it. We visited a park that I've been to many times before but this time something felt different. There had been a Tzeva Adom alert the night before I was standing in this very city. 

I thought about what that meant for the people living here. Families with children and he elderly had 15 seconds to get out of bed and run to the bomb shelter that they all have in their homes. Please watch this video before you continue reading. If you don't cry I really don't think you understand the reality that these people are faced with every hour of every day. 

I have a nine year old brother who doesn't even know how to cross the street and I started to picture him having to be responsible for himself to seek shelter and hide. I saw the fear in his eyes and it was something out of this world. It's crazy how these people live. I'm so blessed to have my house in NY with my triple locks and my alarm. At the same time, these people grow up in constant fear and always have to be thinking a step ahead. If there's an alar soon where will I go? Which child do I grab first? Whose bedroom will be the shelter? This is just s glimpse into how the people in Sederot think. 

In the distance was a crane. A crane building more housing in this city of terror. Listen, this is so cliche but my message is not to take your comfortable life for granted because I just saw the lives of people who don't have it. I took a picture and got back on the bus. The saddest part of all is that for me it's a picture,a fragment of time captured on a screen. For others its real life. 

Just a few minutes away is מושב נתיב העשרה. We were greeted by two women go live there and they told us a little bit of their stories. Yifat was stationed in Gaza during her army service and used to go shopping snd eat falafel there. The moshav is comprised of 800 people, most of which are children. As Yifat told us about the horrors of operation proactive edge while having two teenage sons, I saw goosebumps rise on her arms. Yifat told us about a member of her moshav that got hit by a quassam rocket in 2005 and two Thai workers that died in the field. Despite everything the moshav is running at full capacity. They live their lives with indoor pools, tennis courts, and social workers. 

Know Where You Came From

Wednesday, June 3rd

I learned so much this morning. Went to a session at the Aish building called Headline Media where we learned about strategic communication. We watched a bunch of famous interviews and analyzed them in ways I wouldn't be able to on my own. We learned effective ways to send messages across an how to answer nightmare questions. There will be times where we can't control the questions so we have to use it as an opportunity to send the right message. 

I had be chance to be interviewed on camera and then analyzed. It did a decent job and got some constructive criticisms. Great learning experience. 

Our next stop was a quick Mincha at the Kotel followed by a strategic tour of Jerusalem. 

Just want to share some of my thoughts from this day as  as some things that Iearned.

When we got to the Kotel I looked around and got that feeling like oh yeah I'm in Israel! Sometimes these things just creep up on you. Every time I'm at the wall, I try to tellysg what it means to me and to be honest it's different every time. The way I felt today it that the Wall represents the pain that still exists. It's still just a wall, and it's not a  wall surrounding the Beit Hamikdash. I think a common misconception that people hand is that in order to rebuild the temple everyone has to work together and do the same exact thing to become better as a nation. This is not what it's about. It's really a about Unity, not uniformity. Everyone has their own lifestyle and their own way and their own way of practicing Judaism or being spiritually connected.  The beauty in our nation is that there are so many types of Jews but at the end of the day we all want to achieve a common goal and that's what matters most. This is just my opinion. Take it or leave it. 

During our tour of Jeru, we discussed the security issues on הר הבית, or the Temple Mount. It's really hard for Jews to get in. Something we have working against us is that according to Halacha, many hold that a Jew is forbidden to cost the temple mount before the time of the Messiah. Because of this, Israelis don't care much about having control over the security there. The security guards let Muslims In no problem but Jews have a hard time getting in. We can't even take water up because we might come to say a beracha. Just some food for thought. 

Something else I came to appreciate is that Jeru us most conquered and destroyed city in the world but also a peaceful city עיר שלום, עיר שלם כי יש אחדות פה. It's wild. 

So you know that windmill in Jerusalem? I can tell you a bit about it. It's located in Yemin Moshe which was first housing in Jerusalem funded by Moses montefiore who was married to a Rothschild. The town is really gorgeous but in the beginning, Jews were hesitant to move out of the Old City. After some pushing and bribes, people finally moved in and it's still running and well. Really a stunning area. 

Kinda underrated  but Until 67 there was barbed wire marking the green line on King David street. Were recaptured Jerusalem during the Six Day War and erased green line down the middle and made the black line. The rest of the world believes that it belongs to the Palestinians. 

Also something I didn't notice year in seminary is he significance of the light rail since I only took it up until Mamilla. The light rail is only a few years old and it took a lot to build it.. It symbolizes connecting the east and west sides of jerusalem and unfortunately we've paid the price for it. There were a couple of terror attacks this past summer. After the "terrorist" attack (I put that in quotes  because some say we can't definitely prove that the Arab driver purposely drove into Jewish pedestrians) they put the cement blocks for security and went on with life. That's Israel. Just gotta move on. 

Our tour guide stressed that right now is the best time to be in Jerusalem. And if you look back in our history, we have to agree. Not only do we excel in high tech but so in infrastructure. We have built and renovated to better connect israel. So many Hospitals and universities are being built in the north and south. It's really amazing how far this country has come in just 67 years. We don't eat shrimp but we make Intel chip processors and wear sandals.

Israel and The Value of Life

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015 Holon, Jaffa

I feel like we went all over today. We started off the morning with a social media advocacy session. So eye opening. It was given by Itzik Yarkoni the CEO of The Brand of Milk and Honey. 

We went to Holon later to visit Save a Child's Heart. I actually raised money for this organization when I ran the Jerusalem Half Marathon last year. They're a non-profit organization that provides pediatric heart surgery for children from developing countries. They take anyone despite their race, religion, and financial background. This is the epitome of Tikkun Olam, repairing the world.

So while we were watching a presentation about all of the amazing things SACH does, there was a rocket drill complete with a siren. The children calmly went into the nearest bomb shelter and our group went up to the next one. The whole thing was about 2 minutes and then we continued on with our day. That's the Israeli life. You just move on. We went on with our afternoon playing ball with the children who were pre and post surgery. They all seemed pretty chill and I'm sure they're so appreciative of the help they're receiving. 

We drove down to Jaffa for a great Segway tour. We went down the whole port and stopped at strategic spots. One that stood out to me was a night club on the water that was destroyed in a suicide bombing killing the teenagers inside. It also happened to be the week of the anniversary from when it happened. Scary to think that there were times in our country when going out to party was dangerous. We have to be thankful that things are more calm today. During the tour we saw Jews and Muslims walking the streets. Bikinis and hijabs all together and freely enjoying the sun, beach, and Boardwalk. It was gay pride week and we saw the flags waving everywhere. Jaffa has so much diversity! So proud to belong to such a country. 

Moving forward

Monday, June 1st. Tel Aviv

Packed it all in on Monday. After a late night in Tel Aviv we had some great sessions about social media networking. We also had a speaker come in to talk about his Organization ISRAAID. Shachar wants to show a specific side of Israel which is counter to what is primarily portrayed in the media. His organization supports vulnerable populations in crisis around the world. It has operated in 29 countries and has ongoing programs in 14 countries. For example, he sent out a team to teach Haitians how to utilize agriculture and make profit. 

After a lunch on the beach, our next stop was the Peres Center for Peace which was founded by Shimon Peres himself in 1996. The goal of this center is to create peace between Jews and Arabs or Palestinians and Israelis. They save Palestinian children through their medical branch which is really cool. IDF soldiers that were injured in Gaza were treated by Palestinian doctors which is hard to wrap your head around but is also really cool. They have programs where Palestinian and Israeli highschool students  work together and organize soccer leagues. 

Afterward, we went to the Microsoft office and learned about all of the innovation that Israel has put forward. Amazing how such a young country has contributed so much in 67 years. 

Our final stop of the day was to a place called Brothers for Life which is a center for an organization which helps post army soldiers connect In order to deal with post traumatic stress disorder. The soldier who started the organization told us his story about how he got injured and how he lives with the stress every single day. 

Throughout the day the theme that stuck out to me was a theme of progress and moving forward. That's the Israeli way of life. It goes on. 

Some pics

The irony