Israel Mission Trip, March 2018: A Travelogue


When we began our Israel journey together in Tel Aviv on March 7th, we were 25 people representing 11 Reconstructionist communities who travelled there on the promise to go places and meet people that even veteran Israel travelers hadn’t visited or met. And on that promise, the Reconstructing Judaism Israel Mission Trip delivered.
We started in nearby Yafo, at the home of Ihad and Ora Balha, an intermarried Jewish – Muslim couple who founded the Bustan Yafa Kindergarten, where kids learn Hebrew, Arabic, and non-violent problem solving skills. On International Women’s Day, March 8, we visited the homes of two women who engaged us in lively discussion in their different spheres of expertise: an Israeli green-tech inventor and environmental journalist, Karin Kloosterman, and an expert on education and Hebrew literature, Dr. Rachel Korazim. Dr. Korazim teaches at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and at BINA – The Jewish Movement for Social Change in Tel Aviv, two institutions with strong ties to our movement.
From Tel Aviv we ventured to Lod, a city where Jewish, Palestinian, and Bedouin Israeli citizens live together but where relations between the groups are often strained. Dror Rubin and Sama Salaime spoke to us at a local Jewish-Arab center called Mosaic, describing their efforts at the center to break through deeply embedded patterns of segregation and mutual distrust. Lod was sobering for many of us. It was the site of a forced march of Palestinian Arabs out of the city in 1948, many of whom perished in the summer heat. Today it remains a place of tension and high poverty. Dror and Sama’s determination was moving to witness. We also met a young Bedouin-Israeli woman, Dooa Zabarqua, who is active in peacebuilding and women’s empowerment.


Next, we trekked from Israel’s central coast to its most vulnerable borders – Sderot, alongside the Gazan border, and Metula, at the Lebanese border. In Sderot, we were hosted by members of the Dror Israel movement, an association of 1,500 young educators who live in “urban kibbutzim” and work in underserved communities. In Metula, Maj. (Res.) Stéphane Cohen, a Syria/Lebanon expert, described the difficult judgment calls Israel’s leaders face regarding Hezbollah’s stockpile of 100,000+ rockets and the ongoing nightmare in Syria.

Midway through the trip we visited Givat Haviva: The Center for a Shared Society, where the remarkable Mohammad Darawshe spoke to us about Givat Haviva’s efforts to strengthen the State of Israel’s democratic foundations in a time when they are being eroded by the current government. Darawshe described working with Jewish- and Palestinian-Israelis, using social science research to persuade people that the success of Israel’s Arab population is one of the keys to Israel’s long-term viability. We also bussed to the coastal city of Hadera for a tour of the world’s second largest reverse osmosis desalination plant.

In the Old City, our adventures included a visit to the small egalitarian prayer space at the Kotel, known as Ezrat Yisrael. There, Rabbi Rosalind Glazer (RRC ’03) spoke about her experiences as a Reconstructionist rabbi working with b’nai mitzvah families who hold their simchas at Ezrat Yisrael. She and our brilliant tour guide, Shari Robins, spoke about the current state of Jewish religious pluralism in Israel. We met with two Israeli journalists, Matti Friedman and Khaled Abu Toameh, who each gave us their takes on current events. And we capped off our time in Jerusalem with some extraordinary Israeli activists. Rabbi Susan Silverman spoke to us about her work trying to prevent the forced deportation of African asylum seekers in Israel. Rabbi Donna Kirshbaum (RRC ’08) and several other members of Women Wage Peace met with us and shared their approach to inclusive and grassroots organizing, centered in feminist principles, for a permanent and enduring peace agreement.
The trip gave all of us many complex, layered, and intense experiences that will stay with us. It also embodied Reconstructionism’s passion for depth, complexity, education, and humanity in exploring Jewish life. Organizationally, we hope to build on what we’ve learned from this trip and others in planning future adventures for people throughout the movement
