Rabbi Weinberg's Reflections from Israel
Rabbi Weinberg, our Rabbi Emeritus, landed in Israel on an ARZA Mission Trip. Here are his reflections:
Day 2
We began our day with breakfast in the hotel dining room. There we saw many displaced people from Sederot who were having the same breakfast while parents were making lunches for their children and getting them ready for school. It seemed a small bit of normalcy in a situation that is far from normal. These people are grateful to have somewhere to stay but they would much rather be able to be in their own homes.
We traveled south from Jerusalem to the Bedouin village of Hura (near Be’er Sheva). Before we even arrived at our destination, the Deputy Mayor of the village came onto our bus to welcome us. He told us that his nephew had been serving in the Israeli army and was killed in battle. He also said that another young man from their community is one of the hostages still in captivity. His message to us was short and simple. He said: “We are all one people and Hamas is the enemy of humanity.”
Our destination in Hura was a Social service facility that hosts an organization called AJEEC-NISPED (Arab-Jewish Center for Empowerment, Equality, and Cooperation – Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Economic Development https://ajeec-nisped.org.il/?page_id=17021&lang=en). It is an Arab-Jewish organization for social change that was established in the Negev in 2000. We met with Kher Albaz, Chair of AJEEC and Ilan Amit, co-CEO. The two of them exemplify an inspiring amount of persistence and perseverance as they work toward a shared society of Arabs and Jews.
We learned that there are about 300,000 Bedouin in Israel and they are full Israeli citizens, including serving in the military. Roughly 50% of the Bedouin population lives below the poverty level. There is about 30-40% unemployment in the Bedouin community and only about 10% of eligible aged youth enter higher education. Bedouin villages have been hit by rocket fire from Gaza and many of them do not have proper bomb shelters.
Since the war started, AJEEC has pivoted their activities to provide food, shelter, medical care, and mental health services to those in need - even while continuing their regular work. About 40,000 Bedouin children receive one hot meal per day from schools (often their only meal of the day) - but since the war started, all of the schools are closed so AJEEC is feeding those children with help from private businesses.
Ilan spoke of two additional challenges they are currently facing:
- Fake news: apparently those who oppose any semblance of Arab-Jewish shared society post false reports online of Bedouin vandalism or post old pictures from Bedouin weddings claiming that they are rejoicing at Hamas’ successes. Kher and Ilan work with local government to counter these fake posts.
- Proliferation of weapons in Jewish and Arab society - there is increased concern that it has become much easier for people to acquire guns and they are afraid of possible escalation of violence among local Jews and Bedouin.
While we were there, Bedouin Member of Knesset Waleed Alhwashla stopped by to welcome us to Hura. Like all the Israelis whom we have visited, he wanted to tell us how much he appreciated our coming to Israel at this time and coming to visit Hura.
After a stop for lunch at a shopping mall in Be’er Sheva (which was virtually empty) we traveled to Kibbutz Dorot - which is on the northeast tip of the western Negev region (about 10 minutes from Sederot). There we met first with Rabbi Yael Vurgan who is the Reform Rabbi serving the entire Sha’ar HaNegev Region. We will spend more time with Rabbi Yurgan tomorrow when we visit the evacuated members of Kibbutz Nahal Oz, who are staying at a kibbutz in the middle of the country. Most of the 800 members of Kibbutz Dorot have also been relocated to a hotel near Jerusalem but we met with two women in their 70’s who are among the 100 or so adults who have stayed on the Kibbutz.
Their names are Sharon and Yael and they spoke candidly about their raw feelings of fear, abandonment, loneliness, and betrayal. They realize how close they live to the horrific violence perpetrated on October 7th and feel underserved and under-protected by the government and the military. They are grateful for the helpful response of ordinary citizens who have come to their aid and they were very grateful for our visit. They are keenly aware of the anti-semitism on college campuses in the US and within the so-called progressive left in the US and Europe.
Both women had been activists for peaceful relations with their Gazan neighbors. Sharon said that she used to be a volunteer for an organization that drove Gazan children to medical appointments in Israel and then brought them back to the border crossing. They spoke about the dreams of Ofir Lipstein - head of the Regional Council - who had plans for an industrial development project to be built near the border that would have included a medical facility and also would have provided thousands of jobs for Palestinians. Ofir was killed by Hamas on October 7th.
They said: “It feels like everything has fallen on our heads.” and “This broke everybody.”
In both our visits, in Hura and on Kibbutz Dorot, we met people who needed to tell their story and we were there to listen with warmth and patience, compassion and understanding. It will be a long time before they find real healing but perhaps we made a little crack that can let them see some light of hope.
Shalom from Jerusalem and may we hear b’sorot tovot.
Day 1
I arrived in Ben Gurion airport at around 5:30pm and immediately noticed that things are different than all the many other times I have arrived at Ben Gurion airport. Even before we got off the El Al plane I notice that the flight attendant’s Hebrew vocabulary was different than my previous visits. Instead of concluding his welcoming remarks by saying something like “have a wonderful visit,” he concluded by saying “may we hear b’sorot tovot good news” which has become the standard way in which Israelis have been greeting each other sine Oct. 7th.
Then I entered the long concourse leading to passport control. On both sides of the concourse are places posters with pictures of the hostages every 4 or 5 feet, with the tag line “Bring him home” or “Bring her home.” These posters are punctuated every 25 feet or so with signs giving directions to a bomb shelter, should there be a need. So, before I even officially entered the country, I was made aware of the depth of the effect of Oct. 7th on the national psyche.
At Passport control, there was no line in the foreign passport aisle and the agent didn’t even ask me any questions. If you are an American coming to Israel now, everyone knows that you are coming to bring comfort, strength and solidarity.
I am traveling with a Reform movement leadership group (about 25 people) including a handful of rabbis and members of the North American Board of the URJ and other Reform lay leaders. The organizers of our mission made a point of our staying at the Dan Panorama Hotel in Jerusalem because right now 80% of the hotel’s rooms are being occupied by residents of the southern border town of Sederot - who were forced to leave their homes.
At our opening dinner we were joined by leaders of the Israeli Reform movement who welcomed us with open arms. they told us how much it means to them that Jews from America came to be with them. And they told us about the work they have been doing since Oct. 7th (in addition to mourning fallen soldiers, murdered victims, and trying to cope with national trauma). The Reform Movement’s social action arm “Keren B’kavod” has been organizing food drives and clothing drives and many other activities to help soldiers and to help displaced citizens who have had to evacuate the from the south and from the north. One congregation makes 200 sandwiches for soldiers every morning. Another congregation collected 60 boxes of coats and clothing for displaced citizens.
Orly Erez Likhovski, the head of the Israel Religious Action Center, told us how, ironically, the war has led to some progress on other issues. For example, since the beginning of the war, public transportation had been running on Shabbat so that soldiers can get to where they need to be and displaced citizens who have lost their homes and their cars can get from one place to another. It looks like there is a good possibility that this change will remain in place indefinitely. Another development is that LBGTQ partners have been granted survivorship rights in a new bill that was endorsed even by the ultra orthodox. It is clear that there is a broad social consensus developing - even though it does not include the entire country.
Our dinner concluded with one of the Jerusalem rabbis sharing with us a famous poem by Yehuda Amichai: The Diameter of the bomb ( https://getlitanthology.org/poemdetail/642/ ) and a prayer for the safe return of the rest of the hostages.
Shalom from Jerusalem and may we hear b’sorot tovot