Ten Days in Israel with Family

On the concrete level, Temple Israel’s trip to Israel concluded for each participant with the thwack of the US Customs stamp on our passports at JFK.  But the impact of the trip is hardly over for any of us, certainly not for me.

I’ve been to Israel many times and each trip resonated in its own way, a function of itinerary, company and life circumstance.  But this trip was unique for me in at least one respect.  Never before have I led a group of families – young children, teens and adults – as a rabbi.

For starters, I enjoyed watching people of all ages as they took in the kaleidoscopic reality of Eretz Yisra’el, some for the first time.  What’s it like to watch the mostly Jewish throngs (some in thongs) on the Tel Aviv promenade?  What’s it like to shmooze with Israeli teens (some who idolize America) at a natural watering hole in Beit Shean?  What’s it like on Shabbat to walk to and from shul on the streets of Jerusalem? 

What’s it like to dance with wide-eyed kindergartners in Ashkelon and then see the shelter that they have 20 seconds to run to when rockets strike? What’s it like to celebrate with a Bat Mitzvah a few hundred feet from where the ancient Levites used to ascend the steps to the Holy Temple?

Fortunately, the trip’s participants were not shy about sharing their reactions to Israel’s many faces.  I urge you to check out the blog they created, called “HolyTrekkers.”   Like all Jewish creations, it’s still in progress.

The trip also had a huge impact on me.  During ten days, I learned more than I already knew about what Israel means to me, as well what it means to be a rabbi.  I know that Israel is a real place that defies generalizations, but seeing it along with a perceptive intergenerational group reinforced that. 

As we discovered on the trip, Israelis acknowledge the tension that exists between secular and observant Jews, as well as between Jews and Arab Muslims.   At the same time, in conversation with Israeli family and friends and the members of our sister congregation in Ashkelon, we heard perspectives that challenge stereotypes in a variety of areas.  Throughout our trip, the beauty and diversity of Israel’s land and people were constantly before us. 

On top of all of this, the trip was a chance for me to hang out with Temple Israel families.  I joked with some of the teens on the trip that before I became a rabbi, I used to be a human being. 

We got to know each other in ways that only extended time together makes possible.   While certain things that happened in Jerusalem will (hopefully) stay in Jerusalem, I believe that our shared time together will influence our connections to one another forever. 

There are many ways to see Israel and we each make choices based on what we feel will work best.  However, I believe the participants in Temple Israel’s recent trip will be happy to share the many advantages of traveling with the extended TI family and the TI rabbi, despite his (mostly minor) idiosyncrasies.  As we plan additional Temple Israel trips, I hope you will consider joining the adventure. 

Minutes before we disembarked and went through US customs, the El Al flight attended wished us Shabbat Shalom.   That wish, what it represents, and the trip that preceded it, will long transcend the thwack at the Customs booth.