By Rabbi David Wilfond, Director of Education
On Thursday the teens began exploring Jerusalem. The morning highlight was a visit to the Campus of Hebrew Union College, the Reform Movement’s premier intuition for graduate Jewish Studies. Rabbi Nao Sattath spoke with the group about her work as the Director of the Israel Religious Action Center. Noa inspired the group with her love of Israel and her desire to improve the society to become a better reflection of the best liberal values of the Jewish People. Also at HUC the teens met with Dina a leading activist from Women of the Wall who shared her story about the struggle for an egalitarian prayer space at the Western wall. After Lunch at Machane Yehuda, Jerusalem’s open-air farmer’s market, the group joined with Arab and Jewish teens for an interaction activity with a grass roots program called Kids4Peace which gives hope for the future that youth through friendships and respectful mixed play might be able to find a way to a better tomorrow. The teens were fascinated by the mission and concept of Kids4Peace, later discussing how they can bring such ideas to their own communities. Later in the day the teens visited the Western Wall, Kotel. The Wall is one of the last remainders of the Temple Mount Complex built by King Herod. The Wall has been a site of prayer and pilgrimage for Jews for millennia. Here it is custom to write notes and to put they in the crevices between the ancient stones. It has been asked; what holds together this ancient wall of stones that has no mortar between its rocks? One rabbi taught: It is the prayers of those who come here that holds this wall together. A Student asked about the flowering plants that grow on the wall. How can they grow on a wall with no soil nor rain? Its seems impossible. So too it is with Jewish prayer. Prayer is a hope that what at first seems impossible may become possible. Following individual prayers at the traditional Kotel, the teens gathered together as one community, experiencing the power of praying together at the egalitarian prayer space at Robinson’s Arch.
The teens began Friday morning with an emotional visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s national Holocaust memorial and educational center. The theme “From Tragedy to Hope” led the teens from Yad Vashem to Har Herzl, Israel’s burial place for the Leaders of the Nation and those who lost their lives too young in the IDF. Here the youth heard the life stories of the founding mothers (Golda Meir and Hana Senesh) and fathers (Hertzl and Yitzhak Rabin) who dedicated their lives to help the Jewish People re-establish itself in their ancient Jewish homeland. They also learned about the personal stories of the young people who lost their lives too early fighting to protect their family and their home.
Shabbat Services on Friday night were done in the URJ style of lively music with guitars and spirited singing entirely led by the Sci-Tech and Mitzvah Corps Shabbat committee. Between each prayer, participants share reflection from the week, highlighting what they had learned, connections they had made, and how they will take their experiences home. The Shabbat committee also lead a beautiful Saturday morning service including a reading of the Parsha Pinchas and d’var torah. After a busy week, Saturday provided some much-needed time for rest and relaxation by the kibbutz pool and enjoying free time with the group. To culminate their time in Jerusalem, they heard from a speaker who talked about his career as a journalist, the history of Jerusalem and the diverse population that make it up. Saturday night the group got to enjoy a night out on the town on Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda street, where they shopped, snacked, and saw teens from other NFTY groups.
On Sunday, the group began with a visit by the Nu Campaign, an organization started by two social entrepreneurs who wanted to change the world. David Kramer, the founder of the NU campaign discussed his motivation for starting the campaign after his experience as part of the Israeli delegation to the UN convention against racism. The Nu campaign supports important Israeli and global causes through the sale of fashionable designer t-shirts. Following his discussion of the power of messages on clothing for social change, the teens got to design their own t-shirt. Next the group began their descent to the Negev Desert. The first stop in the desert was at Segev Shalom, a non-profit organization that empowers Bedouin Women to become self-supportive by producing traditional Bedouin Jewelry.
Sunday night was spent sleeping at a Bedouin Tent encampment, where the teens ventured into the desert for the most spectacular star gazing they have ever experienced. Monday the teens rose early to climb to the top of Masada to watch the sunrise over the Dead Sea. Later in the day the group will swim in the Dead Sea, the lowest place on earth. Overnight will be spent at Kibbutz Yahel, the Reform Movement’s first Kibbutz in Israel.
