Last Lasting Views -- a Celebration in Jerusalem

On the last full day for all the Holy Trekkers, a bat mitzvah celebration filled with joy and pride beyond words for a small family....

 

.....and a big one.

Lasting Views - Panoramic Israel



They say a picture is worth 1000 words - below are some panoramic views from our trip.

(Click on any picture to view it in full-screen mode.)



The ruins at Caesarea



The Baha'i Gardens and Port at Haifa

Jeeping thru the Golan Heights

The fresh water springs at Gan Hashlosha Nature Reserve

 

The old city of Jerusalem (as seen from Mt. Scopus)

 

Walking the Walls of the Old City (with Harold Citron)

The Western Wall Plaza (a.k.a. The Kotel)

 

The mountain-top fortress of Herod's Masada at sunrise

Model of Ancient Jerusalem outside the Israel Museum

A Soldier's Story

With apologies to Harold, who posted a beautiful and thoughtful blog below that he thought would be the last word, I have to add one more that may be the last – until Mark or someone else posts something else.  After all, we are Jews.  Nobody expects us to stop talking….

Today we visited the National Military Cemetery on Mount Herzl for insight into the lives of those who are buried there, including Theodor Herzl, Golda Meir, and Yitzhak Rabin, all of whose graves we visited.  Enlightening as those discussions were, none had as big of an impact as the story of an American buried there, Michael Levin.  His story has been documented in a short film on his life called “A Hero in Heaven” so thankfully you don’t need to rely on me to accurately recount the facts.  Here is some of what I remember, though, from the emotional talk delivered at Michael's grave by our wonderful guide Rachel Smith from Da’at.

Michael grew up in the Philadelphia area in a loving Jewish home, and like many of our kids, was active in a Jewish youth group and camp, in his case USY and Camp Ramah in the Berkshires.  In 2001 he came to Israel for two months as part of a high school program, and after graduating high school attended USY’s year-long program in Israel.  On his first day, Michael announced that he was going to make aliyah and move to Israel as soon as the year would end.  The directors tried to temper his enthusiasm and urged patience, but sure enough when the year was up, Michael kept his word. 

He tried desperately to enlist in the military but as an American citizen, his papers simply wouldn’t arrive.  The equivalent of a bouncer kicked him out of the recruitment building several times when he showed up without papers until finally, he managed to climb in through an open window and get the interview he needed.  The officer, having heard countless excuses from young men and women looking to avoid service, was obviously enamored with Michael and pushed through the paperwork.  Michael became a paratrooper.

Michael was home visiting his family in 2006 when the war broke out with Hezbollah.  Against the strong urging of his friends and family, he immediately rushed back to Israel.  His superior officers had a communications position lined up for him out of harm’s way in Israel, but he pushed hard for them to send him in to Lebanon.  They ultimately agreed.  Seven days later, he was killed in combat.

Michael’s parents flew to Israel for the funeral.  With everything happening, they weren’t sure if they would have a minyan at the grave.  When they arrived at the cemetery, there was a crowd in front of more than a thousand people.  They assumed there was a ceremony for a famous leader or dignitary.  They quickly learned that the crowd was there for Michael, as his story had spread quickly and so many wanted to pay tribute.

One of the great things about the Mount Herzl cemetery is that all the military graves are the same size.  Regardless of rank and stature, anyone who dies in the service of Israel is given the same treatment in death.   We confirmed this when Rachel took us past the same size grave of Yoni Netanyahu, older brother of the current Prime Minister, a national hero who died leading the Israeli forces in the Entebbe hostage crisis.

Every direction in which we turned over the past two weeks, we witnessed incredible pride in this country.  So many have worked so hard and sacrificed so much to bring us where we are today.  Just as we saw physically how the Kotel is, in fact, a small part of the massive walls that surrounded the Holy Temple, we saw firsthand how the struggles of our people in modern times are just a small part of the long history of sacrifice we have endured for centuries.  I think we all are grateful to have had the opportunity to be exposed to these truths firsthand, and see not only how we sacrificed as with the story of Michael Levin, but how we endured.  The fact that we were able to do so among friends, with our Rabbi, a fantastic guide and driver, and the great comforts and graciousness we experienced along the way, is a blessing we’ll be able to draw on forever.

-- Ron Klempner

It's a Small Wall, After All

First, we thought it was unusual to run into our Temple Israel member Marc Seidenberg's brother Keith in Jaffa.  Until we ran into him again a week later at the top of Masada.  And then a third time at the Israel Museum today....

The shabbat before we left, Rabbi Stecker presided over the Auf Ruf for Temple Israel members Karen Lewkowitz and Monte Miller.  They honeymooned in Israel.  What are the chances we would run into them?  Pretty good.... I spotted them at the Kotel. 

Temple Israel trustee Madeline Gould told us she would be arriving in Israel toward the end of our trip, but we didn't expect to find her there.  Somehow she found us amidst the wild Friday afternoon balagan at Machaneh Yehudah market.

Many of us stumbled on connections not only from our Temple Israel family, but from our earlier lives as well.  Rochelle wrote earlier about meeting Marty Davis, one of the leaders of our twin synagogue in Ashkelon, whom she remembered as the Director of her camp Tel Yehuda in the 1970's.  At kiddush following shabbat services at the fabulous Shira Chadasha synagogue in Jerusalem, we found Rabbi Stecker's colleague, Rabbi Perry Rank of the conservative Midway Jewish Center in Syosset. The Citrons got a big hug from old friends in the Kfar Blum dining hall in the Upper Galilee. My favorite may have been the delight on Abe Kanfer's face when he realized that the pleasant young man from New Jersey he was chatting with at the Kotel was the son of one of his best friends at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, Alan Fuchs.

It truly is a small wall, after all.

-- Ron Klempner

A Win With Our Twin



Coming on the heels of our visits the days before to Masada, the Dead Sea and Yad Vashem, our visit on Wednesday to visit Kehillat Netzach, our sister congregation in Ashkelon, was expected to be light and low key.  We had no idea what a warm and meaningful experience we were about to have. 

We were greeted by several of their Temple leaders, along with their Argentinian born Rabbi Gustavo Suraski.  I thought we would be meeting many Israeli born congregants, but it turns out that Kehillat Netzach is largely composed of North and South Americans; including Marty Davis, who was the Camp Director at Young Judaea’s Tel Yehudah sleepaway camp when I was a camper! 

Rabbi Suraski called up my daughter Leah for a sweet ceremony in honor of her bat mitzvah and presented her with a lovely framed certificate from our “twinned” synagogue in Israel, as well as a limited edition set of commemorative stamps issued in 2010 to mark the 150^th year since the birth of Theodore Herzl (we later visited his grave on Friday).  Our whole congregation was moved by the presentation (especially me, it was mamash sababa -- though there was no siddur from the Men's Club....). 

They then brought us to visit one of their five kindergarten classes made up of 35 children.  They must have known that, for some of us, this was the extent of our Hebrew communication skills.  We had a blast singing and dancing with the adorable, well-behaved four and five-year olds whom we partnered with.  The teacher was amazing, and had all the children and adults quickly learning the hand movements that went with the music.  This could just as easily have been our own Beth HaGan....

Or so we thought until we left the kindergarten class to tour the bomb shelter that the children run to in case of a terrorist attack.  Ashkelon is not far from the Gaza Strip.  Kehillat Netzach has five bomb shelters and, as a result, it was the only shul in Ashkelon to stay open during the last war.  This despite the fact that of the 200 synagogues in Asheklon, the conservative Kehillat Netzach is the only one that is not orthodox.  

We delivered the 50 sets of toothbrushes and toothpastes for the Israeli soldiers in the Ashkelon community, which were generously donated by our vice president Rob Panzer.  (Thanks Rob, they were very much appreciated.)  In turn, they presented each family with a book of art work from the children and some Ashkelon souvenirs.  We all agreed that this was time well spent and we look forward to visits from our sister congregation to Great Neck.

--Rochelle Klempner





Some Final Thoughts from Israel

On the last full night of our trip to Israel I'm hoping to get the last word in. Kind of a bookend to my first entry back at the beginning of the trip.

The travel organization Da'at bills itself as an educational one. To that end I think that all of us 'Holy Trekkers' have added to our base of knowledge; whether it was history, religion, geography, politics, language, or food.

For myself, it was the realization that what makes Israel so special to Jews is the people. Whether it was meeting a group of fellow Jewish travelers from Finland (again and again and again) to the many Israelis living out their lives - from kindergarteners in Ashkalon to Tzi-Hal soldiers on tour, to the many friends and neighbors who continued to pop up seemingly out of nowhere for another round of Jewish geography, it was the daily, even mundane encounters that made this journey so special.

Second realization: while our own trek is coming to an end, even that idea falls short. As my family prepares to return to the states, a few cousins will be landing for a trip to study and travel through Israel. Their time will overlap with the Klempner family for a few days at least and even then, our story is not finished. One of the longer discussions held amongst the grown ups was how we could help prepare the groundwork for future trips of travelers from Temple Israel to the land of Israel.

Those Trekkers will add their stories to the ones that have come before. One thing you do realize after spending time here is just how large and grand the tapestry of stories of our people are woven here. While it is unlikely that lines of 'Jonah and the forgotten backpack' will be added to the story of the prophet in the Tanach, or that the arguing between various siblings on the tour (to remain nameless) will rise to the level of strife seen between some of our Biblical patriarchs and matriarchs, these stories are important nonetheless.

My final thought is one of anatomy. During our tour we were privileged to have Amanda Putter as a living map of Israel. Our highly knowledgeable tour guide Rachel made one small error. When marking Jerusalem, she pointed to Amanda's 'pupik' (navel). The truth is, Jerusalem is closer to the heart, pumping Jews throughout Israel and even to the extremities in far away lands.

My rabbi from the shul where I grew up used to end some of his speeches with a blessing. While I do not remember it fully it went something like this: "May you experience peace and joy in your life, and may we meet once again on the streets of Jerusalem."

Shalom

-- Harold Citron

I'll Have a Falafel with a Side of Attitude, Be'vakasha

After visiting our sister shul in Ashkelon (a mere 20 miles north of the Gaza strip), we stopped for lunch in the suburban town of Modi'in, halfway between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem.  Looking for an authentic spot to dine, the majority of our group headed toward the nearest Falafel/Schwarma restaurant.

There, we were greeted with some very authentic Israeli food, and some very stereotypical local hospitality.  Ordering the schnitzel platter in a "yeladim" size for my 7 year old daughter, and 2 schnitzel plates for my older sons, the Rabbi assisted with our ordering to ensure it was conveyed correctly.  But when I paid, all 3 schnitzels were the same cost - apparently there was no such thing as "kid size", even though it was pictured prominently above the grill.  I think that's known as the "Alef-Bet-and-Switch"!

Meanwhile, in the immortal words of Abe, every local "Tom, Dick, and Chaim" pushed right past our group, ordered their lunches, and were given their food immediately.

27 minutes after placing my initial order (and 10 local lunchers later), I reminded the man behind the counter that I was still waiting for our lunch.  Reluctantly, he began his preparations, and minutes later my falafel balls and the kids schnitzel were being prepared.

Truly a "taste of the local culture", far from the tourist traps of the bigger cities.

P.S.  It was the best falafel I had in Israel!!

-- Mark Putter