Our Tikvah/Hope Trip

 Our Tikvah/Hope Trip 

   Overview

On Mar 3-12, 2016, I took part in a trip to Israel organized by the Irving Rabin Foundation and The Jewish Federation, representing Congregation Beth Sholom. We were in Israel to learn and share ways to build community from many organizations from across Israel. This was part of a project we had started in the Bay Area in January of 2016. We had already met as a group two times prior to the trip, and we are going to continue to meet. In these meetings we learned that we would be meeting with the third segment of the Israeli society that is hopeful about the future of Israel.  There is also a third of the society, which has given up on the future, and has opted for personal lives. There is another third, which has opted for living a traditional religious life. 

Theodor Herzl once said: “If you will it, it is no dream; and if you do not will it, a dream it is and a dream it will stay.“ We were able to see directly the realization of this dream of a state in Israel, as well as a continuation of this idealism realized in the work of the many NGO’s we met. We were able to see community building in many different places, in different modalities. What struck me, now that I am back and have had some time to unpack the trip, were several things: people we met were direct in their communications; they favored face-to-face (panim-al-panim) interactions; they seemed open; many of them started by telling us a lot about who they were and what their personal/group identity was.  They induced in us similar behavior. The projects they discussed and worked on were free of ideology or lofty ambitions. They focused on concrete, relatively short-term goals. Many of the groups involved people from disparate backgrounds, people I would have imagined not able to work together. 

It was an emotional trip. I felt I had come home, even though it was my first time in Israel. I felt at ease with all the people I met. I felt I was meeting cousins I did not know I had! Some of them probably were. I enjoyed the directness of communication that I have become hesitant to use in United States. I had a communal feeling – reminiscent of my youth in Romania – but with warmth that was lacking in Romania. It had a mishpochedik/familial feeling, without the suffocation that can sometimes accompany a close knit group. 

I have gathered some photos I took in Israel in this Dropbox folder: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/10z40s61vxw69vo/AABO4uUSWb917QNm9A0A5KQva?dl=0

 Mitzpe Ramon

Mar 3-4 was travel time, leaving from SFO airport early morning Th. Mar 3, arriving in Tel Aviv on Fri. afternoon Mar 4. There we met Yishai, one of our guides for the trip. We also reconnected with Barak, whom we had met in our earlier meetings before the trip, in San Francisco. We took a bus from Tel Aviv to Mitzpe Ramon, south of Tel Aviv, about 2.5 hrs drive. We checked into Beresheet Hotel there and had our first Shabbat in Israel as a group. Our stay at Beresheet Hotel was from Mar 4 - Mar 6.

Saturday, Mat 5, some of us went to the morning Shachrit service in the hotel. Afterwards, we studied with Sarale a new approach to community building. We explored what makes a community and how to foster these qualities: 

1. Meaningfulness

2. Belonging

3. Commitment

4. General Mutual Trust 

I found this new methodology compelling. As a group, we were still figuring out how to relate with each other. We had heard this presentation before at Varda’s house in January, but now it seem to make more sense. 

To facilitate discussion, we broke the rather large group of 40 or so people into 3 roughly equal groups: red, green, blue. I was in the red group, with Barak as our moderator. These sub-groups stayed in this configuration for most of the trip.  

We discussed what constitutes a good personal experience of community and what constitutes a bad experience of community. My bad experience was from my youth in Timisoara, Romania. I was compelled to go to a stadium in Romania with many fellow students from many schools and practice celebrating Ceausescu’s visit, pretending to like his visit and politics . We had to hold up colored sheets, which would spell out phrases of praise for Ceausescu and the Romanian Communist Party. The compulsion came from the fact that failing to go to the stadium and to play along with the charade of enthusiasm had dire consequences for both our families and us. A good community experience was dancing with many people for long hours to electronic music in the Bay Area in the 90’s. I enjoyed the feeling of belonging and acceptance.

After lunch we had a hike near the unusual crater in Mitzpe Ramon -  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Makhtesh_Ramon; it is a crater created by erosion -  and we did a nature Torah study with our guide from Wilderness Torah, Zelig. The desert was beautiful, with its stark colors, bright sun, and long vistas. 

In the afternoon, we studied with Rabbi Moti. He is involved with exploring the concept of why be Jewish in Israel. OK, now there is a Jewish state. Why should the Israeli be Jewish? This is a question that we, Jews in the Diaspora/Galut/Golus, also struggle with. [Here I went into a mental detour of what is Diaspora- dispersal (from Greek), vs Galut/Golus - exile (from Hebrew/Yiddish). Spreading might be a different way to think of this exile. Maybe this dispersal/spreading of Jews in the world is needed to reconnect the world, to perform the Tikun/repair of the world. Maybe we are those klipot/shards of what was once a whole vessel.] I found interesting parallels in this question between Israeli and American Jews. 

In the evening of Sat Mar 5 we went to a local farm, the Orlya farm, where the family hosted us and served us a wonderful meal. Such a private family farm is a new phenomenon in Israel. Until recently most farms had been state-owned, or owned in common, like a kibbutz or moshav. We came back to the hotel and had a nice Havdalah there. 

Since in Israel Sunday is the first day of the week, a work day, we started our work in earnest on Sun Mar 6. We created a new custom to start our day with a Shachrit (Dawn) gathering of our subgroups for about 1 hour. At this time we introduced ourselves to the group, 2-3 people per morning (about 15 minutes total), then spent the rest of the time discussing what we experienced the day before. The focus was on personal statements, on our own feelings, not on abstract statements. 

I was one of the people who introduced themselves on this day. I recalled the story of Rabbi Nachman about the treasure under the bridge:http://www.hasidicstories.com/Stories/Nachman_of_Bratslav/yekel.html  I expressed my hope that we would be able to find our treasure back in the San Francisco Bay area as part of our trip to Israel.

We proceeded to Yerucham, a town also in the desert. There we met with the mayor, Micha B. He described the work he had been doing improving the town of Mizrachi, Russian, observant Jews, who had been living in poor conditions.  The opening of a big military base nearby will probably improve the economic situation there. The work he had done, along with that of Ayalim http://ayalim.org,will increase the sense of community there. It was inspiring to hear the story of Micha B, son of Mizrachi immigrants, who is now the mayor of this town, achieving so much more than his parents could. 

We continued to Hura, an Arab Bedouin town - in Israel, most towns are either Arab or Jewish; only a few towns/cities are mixed Arab/Jewish.  There we had a wonderful lunch prepared by the people of Hura for us, and talked with the deputy mayor about integrating the Bedouins in Israeli society: how to mix some of the traditional semi-nomadic life with the modern settled life. We also met with some young people involved with an experimental farm, Wadi Atir: http://www.jns.org/latest-articles/2014/3/16/wadi-atir-a-negev-oasis-of-sustainability-and-jewish-bedouin-collaboration#.Vvlim7QhPfg=  This group is literally making the desert bloom, giving the town of Hura new economic possibilities. 

We concluded our Sunday with a visit to Moshav Netiv Ha’asarah, on the border with Gaza.  There we met with Raz, a member of the community, who described to us what it is like living on a moshav on the border. We went close enough to that border to see the Hamas fighters in the distance, weapons pointing at us. We were far enough to be safe from an actual attack (I think). After that visit to the border, we went to a community center where we did a meditation exercise led by Rabbi Glazer. It felt calming, grounding after a rather intense day. 

 Tel Aviv

In a class I took just before going to Israel I learned from Abraham Silver that about 200 families started Tel Aviv as a modern city just over 100 years ago. Our class saw a picture of this group on a hill. What a difference between that mostly empty tract of land of that group of immigrants from Europe and modern day Tel Aviv! 

We rode on our bus to Tel Aviv, where we checked in at the Carlton Hotel. Our stay at Carlton Hotel was going to be from Mar 6 - Mar 9. At the end of day we had our new custom of Ma’ariv (Evening) gathering, where we discussed the experiences of the day, in the full variety. I was very impressed by the work in Yerucham, where people of disparate backgrounds were able to work together to improve their own lives. I had a difficult time comprehending what life must be on the moshav. It seemed a bit too intense for me. Danger was staring at us all the time. Yet the moshavim/people living there said that it was their duty to guard the boundary of Israel with their homes.

Monday, Mar 7 started with our morning Shachrit gathering. We introduced ourselves, two of us that morning. Our red group seemed a bit tense after Sunday’s experiences, and some tension flared out. As a way to give identity to our group, I thought it would be good to give us a name. I had thought Devekut Chaverim/Attachment of Fiends would be a good one. I also felt that we could discuss a Brit/agreement for the group. I voiced these ideas later on Tue. 

We met with several people, including Dr. Eilon Schwartz, from Shaharit  - Think & Do Thank: http://zmani.shaharit.org.il/about-shaharit/ a group, which creates communities in many disparate parts of Israel. What struck me in hearing the members of this group talk, and then discussing with them in smaller groups, was the face-to-face interactions approach to building community.  I was also impressed with their ability to bring  together people for such varied backgrounds.

After lunch we met with Collective Impact: http://uktaskforce.org/docs/collective-impact-initiative-for-arab-employment.pdf, a group changing the way Arab professionals and Jewish professionals work together more successfully. It felt right to me that this unfairness towards Arab Israelis was being addressed. 

Later that afternoon we met and worked with Mayumana Dance Troupe: http://www.mayumana.com where we did an interactive rhythm workshop, involving drumming, stick work and dancing in smaller subgroups. We all moved together under the coordination of the members of Mayumana Dance Troupe. In the evening, we walked around Jaffa and then had dinner at Dr. Shakshuka.  Later we learned that a stabbing had taken place very close to where we were walking in old Jaffa! We realized how close danger is. We tried to calm ourselves: we went on the roof our hotel and held a closed circle. It was hard for me to stay present with so much stress all around! 

Tuesday, Mar 8 we started with our Shacharit gathering, continuing individual introductions. Later, we went to Lod, where we met with the leadership team of Israel Association of Community Centers: http://www.iacc-matnasim.org.il like our JCC’s. They had recently gone through a massive reorganization, changing their relationship with the community from a provider - client model to a partner  - partner model. One of the community building activities created there was a pre-Shabbat celebration in a public space, on Friday afternoon. It involved music, group actions, singing, and fun activities for kids. 

Later on Tuesday we rode to Mikve Israel. There, we met with participants of the JCF-G’vanim Program: http://jewishfed.org/how-we-help/federation-initiatives/gvanim, then had a Piyut workshop at Kiach (Alliance Israelite Universelle) and heard Yair Harel Trio lead us into songs. We enjoyed singing many traditional songs, including the more familiar Adon Olam, as well as sing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah”, a song we have sung at Congregation Beth Sholom lately.  

At night, we went to SOSA (South of Salame), a tech start up area in Tel Aviv - http://sosa.co/ We had a light dinner, drinks and worked on some ideas for improving community in the SF Bay Area using a start-up model of small teams, based on common interests. Our group came up with an idea for an app of what is going on in the Jewish community on any particular day. The data would be sent to the user. The content would be crowd-sourced, with the contributors receiving some kind of ‘stars’ for their contributions, which could then be redeemed at the participating events. 

Wednesday, Mar 9, we left early for the North, splitting up in several groups. My group went to Nazareth and Nezeret Ilit (Upper Nazareth). Upper Nazareth is rather poor economically, with about 50,000 people, of which about 80% are Jewish, 20% Arab. 

We visited an urban kibbutz, Kibbutz Mishol: http://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/.premium-1.565060 . There were about 120 or so people, with about 50 children. The focus of this kibbutz is education, with most of the people living on it involved in education. They work in Upper Nazareth in schools or educational institutions. All the monies earned by the members are pooled together and used to run the kibbutz. The living and eating arrangements are flexible. Some people share sub-sections of the building with friends, and also made meals together. Other people have individual living spaces, but share meals with more of the people there. The cars are owned communally, so if someone needs a car, they would sign up for a car to get out of the pool of cars available. The common spaces included a conference room, a library. 

Afterwards, we went to Nazareth, and visited Fauzi Azar Inn. We heard a story from one of the owners, Odette, on the re-opening of the inn after many years of disuse. The story we heard was very close to what I found here: https://abrahamhostels.com/nazareth/the-fauzi-azar-story/. It was very moving to hear about the unlikely collaboration between Maoz and Odette.  We then had lunch at a nearby shop.  Another group went by cab and met us later at Adi’s ranch, near Alone Abba (thank you geo-locator in iPhoto!), as did the other groups, which had gone to different places during the day.

Then we met with INJAZ: http://injaz.org.il/eng/ a group which helps Arab townships get more transparency in their governments, as well as promote more women and young people to be engaged politically. 

At the end of the day all met at Adi’s ranch. There, we first heard Adi’s riveting story of a very difficult early life, trying and failing repeatedly to please his father. He told us that once he stopped doing that Sisyphean task, he found great strength in asking for what he needed, and helping others get what they need. Many times, that is simply compassion and emotional support.

His direct manner and warmth allowed him to connect panim-al-panim/face-to-face to many people. With this approach, he has built a large network of people all around Israel and the world. He generates business opportunities as well, but did not elaborate on exactly how that worked. 

His presentation generated a strong reaction among our group: some seem to like him but he put others off. I felt it was an interesting person to meet. His mode of community building was more like a wheel, with him in the middle, and the network around him the spokes around that center. The other groups we met had a more egalitarian, hierarchically flat structure. 

Jerusalem

Afterwards, we took our bus to Jerusalem and checked into Inbal Hotel. We stayed there from Mar 9 - Mar 12.

On Th., Mar 10 we started our day meeting Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat. I have to say that I was curious to hear what the mayor would say to us. It was rather disappointing, and somewhat self-serving. He told us about all the improvements he brought to the city of Jerusalem. We asked him several pointed questions, none of which he answered! 

After that we walked to the Musrara neighborhood and met with Ruach Chadasha (New Spirit): http://new-spirit.org.il/background/.  This is a community, which uses art to integrate the old with the new. We saw an intriguing exhibit of photos of the old Israeli Black Panthers from the 70’s: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Panthers_(Israel), and where they are now.

After that, we walked through Mea She’arim to the Machaneh Yehudah, the big open market in Jerusalem, and had lunch on our own. In the afternoon, we met with Col. (Res.) Danny Tirza, one of the seam zone’s https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seam_Zone designers. What struck me seeing this boundary between Israel and the West Bank area was the nearness and density of the various towns near Jerusalem. I felt overwhelmed by the size of the checkpoints. I can only imagine how it feels to have to go through them! 

We then had a Ma’ariv meeting, but did not make time to talk about the events we had experienced the days before. After a light dinner, some of us went back to Mea She’arim with some people from Ruach Chadasha. Women and men split into 2 groups, men led by Rabbi Mordecai, women led by a woman from Ruach Chadasha. We went separate ways, so we had rather different experiences. Rabbi Mordecai is a Charedi working at a yeshiva where Charedi women and men study secular and religious topics. This will allow them to be integrated in Israeli society and have jobs. Most Charedim do not get a secular education, which makes it difficult to get jobs. The trip with Mordecai through Mea She’arim at night was eye opening. There were many posters reminding the residents not to use the Internet, and not to use ‘non-kosher’ smart phones. Apparently, most Charedim have a ‘kosher’ phone, with only the approved apps on it, and a secret ‘non-kosher’ phone, which allows them to read the full Internet and learn what is going on in the world outside. It seemed a forbidding area. Barak, our guide, who has lived in Israel all his life, told us that this was his first time there! Some people in Me’a She’arim are so strongly anti-Zionist that they do not recognize Israel as a Jewish state!

Fri., Mar 11 we started our day with a visit to Shalom Hartman Institute: http://hartman.org.il to hear Dr. Micah Goodman. He had some interesting things to say. His first point was that there are 2 main topics, which get in the way of the American-Israeli Jewish discussion: 

1. The Occupation

2. The effect of the ultra Orthodox in Jewish life. 

He dismissed the second point rather quickly, in my opinion. He dwelt on the first one for the rest of the time. Maybe he wanted to dwell on that first point more, and there was no time to do justice to both points.

So… Here are some of my notes. (The quotes and Dr. Goodman’s presentation of his views are all my [mis]understanding of his positions!)  

What to do after the 6-day war? ‘Right wing’: Rav Kook says that Zionism is a Messianic movement, which fuels the settlement movement. ‘Left wing’: let’s use land to make ‘peace’ with Israel’s neighbors. We can ‘normalize’ Judaism.  

Intifada 1, 2 (Intifada means ‘to shake off’). 

After the 1st Intifada, about 70% of Israelis were in favor of a Palestinian state. It was a blow to Israeli left.

After the 2nd Intifada, and its many suicide bombings, there was a large blow to Israel’s right. Was it fatal?

Israel is caught in a Catch-67 quandary: it must leave the disputed territories, yet it cannot leave these territories! Can’t trust either God or the goyim. 

What about the disputed settlements? West Bank: Land for the Palestinians taken by the Jordanians, then by Israel, offered to the Palestinians. They said NO. This became Intifada 2. The land might not be occupied but it is disputed territory. The land is disputed, but the people on it ARE occupied.  

We should focus on values and motivations, not on results. The Israeli-Palestinian dialogue seems to be governed by fear on the Israeli side, humiliation on the Palestinian side. Dr. Goodman is proposing to have a 40-year Houdna, a kind of cease-fire: no more settlements by Jews, no more attacks by the Palestinians. This will give time for a new generation to maybe then talk with each other and perhaps work towards some kind of ‘peace’. This is Dor haMidbar/the Desert generation, in transition. Here’s a talk by Dr. Goodman which discusses these points: https://youtu.be/R2m2c4S08yA

Afterwards we went back to the hotel and talked about what we will take away with us. We talked about Shabbat, as about being together, not about achieving something. Maybe it is a day of no hierarchy. We should reach out to communities, which were not on this trip. I thought of Chabad and R. Potash, who I know well. I think he might be interested in participating in this group. Another idea was to contact Congregation Magen David and see if they would be interested in doing a Maimouna celebration together with Congregation Beth Sholom - probably for 2017, it is probably too late to coordinate this for this year. Then, we started to go to the Kotel before Shabbat started. We had lunch in Old Jerusalem, but then we had to turn back after we hear that there was stabbing attack not far from us. Security suggested that we head back, which was what we did. During our stay in Jerusalem we always had two security guards with us while we were walking about. I was a bit concerned, although the presence of the security guards was reassuring. 

In the evening, I went to a Conservative/Masorti Kabbalat Shabbat service at Moreshet Yisrael: http://www.moreshetyisrael.com   The service was similar to the one at Beth Sholom, even using the same siddur, Sim Shalom, and the same Chumash, Etz Hayim. I enjoyed talking afterwards with Rabbi Adam Frank, who was familiar with Congregation Beth Sholom in San Francisco and with Rabbi Glazer. 

Afterwards, we had a nice, long dinner at the hotel. 

Sat., Mar 12, we had breakfast at the hotel, followed by hike back to the Kotel. This time we made it OK, and were able to get really close to the wall, as well as see King David’s tomb. Some of us put messages in the wall. I was struck by how close the Dome of the Rock was to the Kotel and to the Aksa Mosque. The Wall itself seemed a lot smaller that I had imagined. I felt odd, separated from the women’s section. It was separate and NOT equal! After we came back, we had a hike near the hotel, using the writings of Yehudi Amichai, S Y Agnon as pointers.  We concluded our Shabbat with a Havdalah, and then I checked out and took the bus with several other people to Ben Gurion Airport for a flight Saturday night to San Francisco. I had some time left over, so was able to buy some music in the airport.