Dear Friends:
Six weeks ago I shared with you that the day our 120
teenagers began their sojourn in Israel was one of the two most exciting days
for me of the entire summer. Today, with G-d’s help, they returned safely,
and the words I wrote to you on June 23, 2000 still hold true:
“The reunification day at DIA – this year August 1st
- the parents will all head home with their exuberant, exhausted teenagers
whose lives have been changed, forever. August first means we’ve completed
the task of introducing Jewish teenagers to their
homeland, to their Judaism and to themselves in a brand new way, that
we’ve equipped them with a very important toolbox that will serve them
throughout their lives as adults and as Jews.”
As we saw each tired face emerge (after a three-hour
United Airline delay) from the runway at Concourse B, Gate 26 this afternoon,
as we witnessed the hugs the teenagers had both for expectant friends and
parents and for each other, as we heard their tales, felt their excitement -
we knew that these were souls who had taken a sacred step. (Their bodies, on
the other hand, were stepping only with the aide of adrenaline – the
teenagers will sleep well tonight, as will Risa and I…)
And so they went their own ways, each with loving friends
and families, each returning to a world they left six weeks ago that will
never look quite the same again. Most
will begin the long reunion schedule of formal and informal post-IST events
culminating in the December reunion that will include the Israeli counselors.
Most will voluntarily return to Hebrew High, despite demanding
senior-year schedules – some will return for the academics, most for the
connections. And we will smile and weep with them at their graduation
ceremony at BMH-BJ next Spring because we will know that thanks in part to the
journey of IST 2000 the Jewish world will be in loving, confident, and capable
hands in the next generation.
CAJE is proud to run the Israel Study Tour, made strong
in part because of the committed partnership with the synagogues and the
Allied Jewish Federation. I’ve
very much enjoyed writing to you these last two months, and I hope I’ve
helped you feel closer to the experiences of our teenagers.
Please call us or e-mail me (dbennett@caje-co.org)
with questions or feedback, join us in honoring Ardie Wandel at our annual
Leaders of Learning Dinner on August 27, 2000, look for ways to access the
teenagers’ passion and newfound knowledge and excitement.
May your weeks leading up to the Holidays be ones filled with blessings
and growth.
B’shalom – with peace and wholeness,
Daniel
Shalom!
The last week of each year’s IST trip filled with
emotional ups and downs. Our
teenagers are counting the days until they return to their “normal” lives,
and at the same time they can’t imagine saying goodbye to their friends or
to the country they have grown to love. And
programmatically, their schedule this week is filled with experiences just as
extreme.
The teenagers visited Har Herzl, Israel’s military
cemetery. Their they eulogized
Israel’s war dead, her founders and leaders, and visited Yitzchak Rabin’s
grave. Cemeteries in Israel are
places of sadness, but also of hope, of strength.
That strange mixture of hope and strength was evident when they stood
in Rabin Square in Tel Aviv.
Was it five years ago already when Rabin was gunned down
following a speech that ended with the popular song whose words tell us to
“sing only a song for peace?” One
of our Israeli counselors, Gili, had been there in 1995, listened to Rabin’s
words, and watched as he was assassinated.
She shared her chilling tale with the ISTers, and helped them feel some
of what she felt.
Another difficult moment for the teenagers was their
visit to Yad V’Shem, Israel’s Holocaust memorial and museum.
The teenagers from the Poland Extension served as trained guides for
their friends, and the visit concluded with a haunting walk through the
Childrens’ Memorial, with all of its thousands of lights and echoes.
Each ISTer’s convictions were challenged by a socio-drama on
Holocaust denial. The teenagers
had to use all of their knowledge and convictions to refute the lecturer’s
assertion that the holocaust never happened.
But the week was full of tourist things, as well.
Several of our teenagers chose to become B’nai Mitzvah at the Kotel
– including many who had done so at in Colorado four years earlier.
There is something especially holy about confirming one’s decision to
become and remain a “Child of our Commandments” in Jerusalem.
The settlement of Kiryat Malachi is Denver/Boulder’s
Partnership 2000 city, and our visit there included every participant
constructing a giant puzzle. The
theme of the art project was, “What has Israel meant to me?” Some depicted
the vast diversity in Israel – residents, geography, beliefs, cultures; some
portrayed the connections they now feel between their lives as Jews in
Colorado and their time as visitors in Israel; still others illustrated
aspects of their Israel experience.
No end of IST experience is complete without last minute
shopping. So our group headed
back to Ben Yehudah for one last time. Some
had budgeted wisely, and had enough shekels left for gifts.
Others had devoted the past six weeks to making sure that they never
passed a coke or ice cream stand without checking it out. Their gifts to
friends and family in Colorado may be more modest.
Perhaps they all know that the best gift we will all receive will be at
DIA next Tuesday afternoon when they come back to us…
I wish to each and every one of you a wonderful Shabbat
filled with blessings. I’ll
write to you briefly next Tuesday after the trip has returned, simply a
postscript to serve as the second bookend on this journal.
Until then,
Shalom.
Daniel
Dear Friends:
IST 2000 has concluded its final Visitation Shabbat, and
now we head into our final week together.
Many teenagers visited friends or relatives for this second visitation,
renewing old relationships or building new ones. Again, the staff’s logistical abilities were unparalleled,
and ISTers had the opportunity to rest, relax, eat and sleep.
Almost half of the teenagers requested that we place them
instead, and we were thrilled to send them all together.
In the northern Negev, not far from the Egyptian boarder, lies the
region known as Ramat Hanegev. It
consists of numerous settlements, one of which is the Nitzana Youth Alliyah
Village. Denver/Boulder has
established a special relationship with the region, one that we hope will grow
and deepen over the coming years. The teenagers who spent their weekend in
Nitzana enjoyed a tour of the nearby ruins, meetings with Belgian and British
immigrant families and peers, and an orientation to the region.
The highlight was a bicycle ride to the Egyptian boarder led by David
Palmach, the youth village’s director.
As they rode they passed the pillars of the famous Peace Sculpture,
symbolizing the beginnings of peace with Egypt.
IST’s first encounter with Ramat Hanegev was overwhelmingly positive;
we look forward to building it in the future.
Speaking of building for the future, this was
tree-planting week, as well. Remember
bringing in the $2 (or $5, or $10 depending on your age!) to Hebrew School
each Tu B’Shevat to plant a tree in Israel?
Remember joking that your day to water it is Tuesday?
Well, the Jewish National Fund (JNF) continues its mission of making
Israel green, and our teenagers helped out by planting trees in one of
Jerusalem’s forests. Do you know that it costs more to plant one yourself
than it does to send money to have one planted?
Go figure…
As you know, almost half of the ISTers visited Poland on
their way to Israel. Now in its
third year, the IST Poland Extension has enabled over 100 teenagers to connect
with the world of Eastern European Jewry that was all but destroyed by Hitler.
In preparation for the entire group’s trip this week to Yad V’Shem,
the Holocaust Memorial in Jerusalem, those teenagers from the Poland Extension
visited the museum to learn to become guides for their fellow ISTers later in
the week.
I’ll be back with a final Shabbat update this Friday.
Until then, shalom.
Daniel
"Masada shall not fall again" became the informal slogan of the
Jewish State by the 1960's. The barren mesa in the Dead Sea Region had been
fortified by King Herod in the first century to protect him from enemies both
real and imagined. And when Jerusalem fell to the Romans in 70 C.E., a small
band of zealots retreated to the fortress and taunted the Romans from the top.
Josephus tells us that they poured water over the side to taunt the soldiers
who were dehydrated in the sun below. But the Romans used slave labor over the
next three years to build what is called The Ramp, actually another man-made
mountain to bring their war machines to the palace walls. What they found were
corpses, Jews who chose to die by their own hand rather than submit to torture
and slavery.
Yesterday, after a short evening's sleep at the mountain's base, our teens
climbed the Roman ramp and watched the sun rise over the Dead Sea. I've found
few views in my life more spectacular, peaceful, holy. Then they toured the
massive ruins of Herod's palaces, visited one of the first synagogues in the
world, relaxed in a cistern the size of our Federation building, and processed
the history. The Hebrew date yesterday was the 17th of Tammuz, one of the days
of mourning commemorating the destruction of the First Temple walls in 586
B.C.E. For the two or three dozen teenagers who chose to observe the
traditional Fast of Tammuz, the cable cars provided transportation down so as
to avoid medical emergencies like dehydration. For the rest, another long hike
followed.
"Masada shall not fall again." Ask the teenagers when they return
what that means to them in light of the last three decades of Israeli history
and in light of the peace talks going on at Camp David. Negotiate? Refuse to
give up any land? Learn to live together? Take risks? Remain united and
strong? IST challenges our young people to ask the hard questions, and the
answers are never obvious. All Israelis agree that Masada must not fall again.
They disagree about the best path to assure that result.
But Israel for our teens is also about modern culture: shopping in the new
Eilat mall, going to the movies and more shopping in the Canyon, Jerusalem's
mega-mall, and once again enjoying the night-life on Ben Yehudah Street! And
today our teens leave for their last visitation weekend at homes of relatives
and friends throughout the country. About fifty of our teens will spent the
Visitation Shabbat in Nitzana, a city with which Denver has just established a
very special relationship. I'll fill you in on their visit to Nitzana when I
write next Tuesday.
The next ten days are spent based in Jerusalem, and in many ways are the
most intense of the entire summer for our staff. They must help the teenagers
to pull together all of their summer experiences so they return home with the
tools to process what they've learned. They also must keep the ISTers safe and
help them to continue to make good choices - a task that is much harder now
that the teenagers feel so comfortable with each other and with their
surroundings. And we have a wonderful staff that is up to the challenge.
May your Shabbat be filled with blessings and peace. I wish you shalom.
Daniel
Dear Friends:
Last Friday I shared with you some of my views about
Israel’s diverse climate and topography, and now I can share with you some
of our teenagers’ experiences in Israel’s south.
They woke up at 4 a.m. today to hike to the top of Eilat’s tallest
mountain. Many of you do
understand that sleep is a luxury on IST, but 4 a.m. is earlier than usual and
the teenagers were not thrilled. But
when we talked to them later this morning, (8 a.m. Israel time), they had
watched the sun rise over Saudi Arabia and could see as far as Egypt to the
west and Jordan to the north. The
Gulf of Eilat stretched out to the south, its waters flowing past Sinai’s
shores to the Red Sea. So, for
those of us in Colorado, we may want to ask ourselves, “what did we do
before breakfast today?”
The teenagers work hard, but they play hard, too.
The rest of their Eilat visit consisted of snorkeling, para sailing,
swimming in the Red Sea, and a late night boat cruise in the gulf.
All in all, Eilat earned its reputation as Israel’s favorite
port-of-call.
Later this week, IST leaves the south and heads toward
the Dead Sea, the world’s lowest spot.
They will pass a Jordanian check point as they leave Eilat, finally an
open boarder with easy access. Peace
is still far away, but the dream is finally possible, despite all of the very
real impediments.
No trip to Israel is complete without the Dead Sea,
Masada, and Ein Gedi. For many of
our summer trip’s these next few days are one of the top highlights. After
this week we are in the home stretch with only a week to go. Many of our teens know exactly how many days until we see
them at DIA. And experience tells
us that few will be ready to part from their IST experience on August 1.
Shalom until Friday,
Daniel
Dear Friends:
Much of the Israel Study Tour is devoted to exploring Israel's history,
national identity, antiquity, religion, and people. But just as fascinating is
the land, itself. Israel is a very small country, not much larger in
geographic land area than New Jersey. But the land is one of great natural
diversity. Within miles one can traverse entire eco-systems, and the plant
life and animal life - not to mention the elevation and climate - change
completely. During the winter months one can ski on Mt. Hermon in the morning,
and after a three-hour car ride float in 90-degree heat in the Dead Sea.
For our teenagers that contrast is no less remarkable. This week they bid
farewell to Israel's north - the Galilee and the Golan, an area of the country
where they hiked in lush river canyons, kayaked on Israel's main tributary,
and swam in an inland fresh-water sea. This coming week both groups head south
to the Negev where they will hike a true desert, snorkel tropical reefs, and
descend into the Machtesh, a large crater of unknown origin filled with
diverse and unique flora and fauna.
The southernmost region of the Negev is only a five-hour car ride from
Jerusalem, but it is easy to forget you are in the same country. The locals
refer to the population centers in the north the way inhabitants of distant
islands refer to the mainland. And Eilat, Israel's port to the Red Sea, is a
vacation land for tourists from all over Israel, the Mediterranean, and even
central and northern Europe. This will be an exciting week for our teenagers,
and it will culminate next Thursday when the groups climb Masada!
Another note of interest" CAJE and ISI work hard each summer to give
our teenagers chances to interact with Israeli teens. But we find it to be
very difficult to do: most Israeli teens are on summer break, and it is hard
to find groups to interact with us; many of the situations we do set up end up
feeling a little bit artificial; often language is a barrier that is
impossible to transcend with any spontaneity.
So with excitement I report to you that on one of our IST options week
electives - the Sea to Sea Hike - Ethiopian teenagers representing the Society
for Preservation of Nature in Israel hiked with our group. Two of our IST
participants made close friends with one of the Ethiopian teens, and have
chosen to spend their next visitation Shabbat weekend with that teen's family.
Nice cross cultural exchange.
So, again, I wish to each of you a Shabbat Shalom, a Sabbath of peace and
wholeness!
Daniel
Dear Friends:
So, here's how it works for CAJE and ISI to orchestrate a visitation
weekend for 122 teenagers:
- every teen selects a host family (friend or relative) or is assigned one
- each teenager who selected a host must make personal contact with that
host
- the staff in Israel calls each family to confirm the arrival of 122
teenagers
- ISTers pack two separate bags, one for the weekend and one for
"options," the activity they have chosen for the following week
(see below for summaries)
- four busses set out from the home base to diverse locations in proximity
to host homes
- hosts meet their teen Shabbat guests Friday afternoon at one of ten
separate prearranged locations along the way, and deliver the teenagers
back to the same location Sunday morning
We're very proud to offer this unique opportunity to our teenagers twice
each summer. We're even more proud to report that not one teen got lost or was
left without adult supervision. Kudos to the Israeli staff!!
IST is a group experience, and one of its strengths is teaching Jewish
teenagers to work together toward common goals. And, we are gratified that we
are able to offer an "options week" in the middle of the trip where
teenagers select their activity. This year the chose between:
Israel is a land of antiquity, and also a very contemporary Mediterranean
country. After their options, all of the teenagers met at a wonderful beach
south of Tel Aviv to share their adventures and share stories. Swimming,
sunbathing, barbecue and music….
Shalom until Friday -
Daniel
Dear Friends:
As I write these words in Denver, Shabbat has already begun in Israel.
Tonight marks IST's third Shabbat in Israel and our first of two
"visitation" weekends. (A weekend in Israel begins Friday afternoon
and ends Sunday morning.) Our teenagers' time is highly structured during
their six-week tour, so there is little time to see friends and relatives. We
have also learned over the years that giving our teenagers individual
experiences in Israeli homes for Shabbat adds to their Israel experience. The
teenagers return to the group on Sunday morning with questions like: What was
it like? Were they very religious? Did they take you anywhere on Saturday
evening? And mixed into this wonderful religious and cultural visitation
experience they sleep. And sleep. And eat. And sleep. And do their laundry.
And sleep. And eat. And sleep…
Many thanks again to CAJE's Israeli partner, Steve Zerobnick, founder and
director of Israel Studies Institute (ISI) in Jerusalem. Steve is truly our
partner, worrying about sick teens as much as Risa does, and finding willing
and loving homes in which to place all of our teenagers who do not have
friends or relatives to visit. We believe that Steve has found all the
expatriated Coloradoans living in Israel and convinced them that it is their
civic duty to host our teenagers twice each summer and expose them to home
hospitality Shabbat and a taste of Israeli culture!
Speaking of culture, the summer is not without its humorous moments. Even
though Israel is definitely very western in its culture (cell phones,
Hollywood, McDonalds…), there are some things that just don't translate.
Like last Sunday when the Israeli group leaders informed IST's simcha
committee that two of the teenagers had birthdays on July 2. They decorated
cakes and the whole group serenaded the two surprised teens with "happy
birthday" in Hebrew and English. The two teens blew out the candles and
shared the cake, but their birthdays, they corrected their friends, were
February 7. That's what 7-2 means except for Americans…
Another cultural adjustment: cell phones are huge in Israel, even more so
than in the States. And of course, for safety reasons, each group leader and
bus captain on IST carries one. Except for one. Seems that one of our American
leaders didn't get the drift when his Israeli counterpart told him "the
stream isn't very deep." He was thinking two inches, not two feet - and
cell phones are not waterproof. And so, we learn…
Thursday night the groups came together for a visit in Tiberias. One of
Israel's ancient cities, it sits on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, also
called the Kinnert.. Tiberias has become a city of immigrants over the last
five decades. As the teenagers enjoyed a night out, the learned about the
various cultures that make up the Israeli mosaic. On the other hand, it was
also a chance to "finally get a real steak."
Shabbat Shalom - may it be filled with rest and blessings for those we love
on both sides of the ocean.
Daniel
Dear Parents:
Over the years the significance of July 4 for most Americans has
diminished. In its early years - when our country was young, when memories of
the War for Independence was still fresh, when wars were still being fought on
American soil - July 4 meant more than a summer day off the watch fireworks
and relax with friends and family.
Independence Day still means a great deal in Israel. For Israelis it is
celebrated on the 5th day of the month of Iyar - this year that fell on May
10th. Later on in the summer our ISTers will visit Tel Aviv, site of
Independence Hall where only fifty-two years ago David Ben Gurion pronounced
the creation of the sovereign county of Israel. Over the past six decades
Israel has been involved in no less than six wars, and on a regular basis she
withstands challenges to her existence and sovereignty. So each years Israelis
pause on their Independence Day to give thanks, to acknowledge the price of
freedom, to recommit to keeping it alive until the next year's celebration.
People bring their culture with them, and our teenagers did celebrate our
July 4! One unit had a bonfire complete with singing, s'mores and celebration,
all planned by the IST simcha committee. The group is staying at Keshet, the
north-central Israeli field school where both units are based this entire
week. The units' itineraries mirror each other until all of our teenagers
depart Friday for the first of their two visitation weekends of the summer.
Over the last two days the group has completed a water hike through the lush
canyon of a Jordan River tributary, kayaked on the Jordan, and spent time
visiting an Arab village and interacting in several meaningful ways with its
residents. The groups also took time to process what they have learned and to
challenge themselves with a peace-simulation game. The rights and the wrongs
get blurred very quickly as our teenagers try to solve the intricate problems
of the Middle East.
On both sides of the ocean we hear this question frequently: has it only
been a week? You mean the teenagers have only been gone for ten days? Still
four weeks left? It's all a clear sign that for the teenagers the days are
full and the experiences intense. And for us - we miss our loved ones…
The illnesses are beginning to subside as bodies adjust to challenging
schedules and foreign germs. We were humored to read an Israeli newspaper
account of the "rescue" of one of our teenagers in the Judean
Wilderness (reference my communiqué of June 27th). According to the Israel
press eight brave soldiers carried an American teenager to safety. So much for
the integrity of the press! In actuality our teenager walked out himself and
was fully recovered by the next day.
Keep checking in on our web site - we are expecting some new entries by the
teenagers and new digital pictures from Israel shortly. I'll be back in touch
this coming Friday, and Risa and I welcome your feedback,
Happy Independence Day!
Daniel
Dear Friends:
I know I told you that there is nothing like being in
Jerusalem as Shabbat descends. But
perhaps being in the northern city of Tzefat and watching the sun set over the
ancient hills is even holier. Centuries
ago those hills were filled with the spirit that brought Judaism Kabbalah,
our mystical tradition. And as the sun set on our IST teenagers this Friday
night, they were all a part of that tradition, together singing L’cha
Dodi as they looked out over the ancient stone city.
I’ve been part of that experience with previous IST tours; I wish
I’d been there tonight with our teenagers.
Winding north from the Sea of Galilee toward Tsfat (also
called Zefat or Safed), driving through groves of mountain pines, feeling the
crisp mountain air, one can almost taste Colorado.
But there the similarities end. Our
teenagers toured ancient synagogues, visited modern art galleries and a candle
factory, and came together as one group to enjoy a pre-Shabbat swim in a
nearby pool. But it’s hard to
visit any site in Israel without feeling like you are part of our people’s
history. In our country, a two
hundred year-old building is preserved as historic.
Many of the six hundred year-old buildings in Tsfat are still in use.
Water is a constant theme in Israel: there is so little,
and with the building boom and population increase its importance is
magnified. Sound familiar?
But the days are hot and the tour days are long, so we get the teens to
water as often as possible. When
they emerged from the desert last Wednesday evening they showered in Arad to
remove the blessed dirt of three days in the Judean wilderness, then swam to
remove some more. These teenagers
are a great group: inquisitive, respectful, cooperative, and hungry to learn.
And to a person the wilderness experience will represent a tremendous
personal and group accomplishment. But they were sure glad to be clean, again!
What’s next? - Worshiping in one of a variety of unique
Tzefat synagogues Saturday morning, a nice lunch, and rest.
Then more rest. The IST tour has a breakneck pace: we want our teens to drink
every drop of Israel they can. And it’s hard to convince teenagers to take
advantage of the precious few sleeping hours they do have. Mix in shared water bottles, new germs, close quarters…
Illness is a fact of life on all of our ISTtours, especially in the
beginning. Our ill teens this
year seem to have illnesses that are taking three or four days to dissipate
rather than a day or two. Our staff includes two army-trained medics and two
on-call doctors; they are busy, working hard, and everybody is on the mend.
Teenagers are resilient, and once they recover they step right back
into the swing of things. But it
is hard to be sick far from home! In
Israel CAJE gives them lots of TLC and from Denver we send them love and
kisses.
Shabbat Shalom,
Daniel
Dear Friends:
For those of you who were lucky enough in your youth to attend summer camp or
go on a teen tour, you know that time seems to stand still. The days are so
packed and intense that each one seems like a week, each week a month.
Friendships are created quickly, and deep bonds with physical places are made
quickly and usually sustained. Such is the magic of IST. Only four full days
into the trip the flavor of this particular group is already forming, and our
group leaders already like very much what they see.
After spending Shabbat in Jerusalem the entire group headed out into the
Wilderness of Judea. IST always begins with a desert experience; we've found
that it is the best medium for group building and personal accomplishment. We've
finished the most demanding part of the experience, including a fourteen hour
hike in the heat of the day through terrain that included dry river beds (wadis)
and barren hills. Israelis call them mountains, but that's because they've never
seen Pike's Peak... But the challenge for our teenagers was formidable, and they
did very well: they helped each other, shared water (even when we told them that
wasn't the healthiest practice), cheered each other on when the road seemed too
long, doctored each other's scrapes and bruises.
The benefit for each individual is that each knows now that they are capable
of much more than they thought. They also learned that there will be many other
teens and adults they can trust as they settle in to a six week journey that is
only four days old. And, now, they are truly a group, not just a random bunch of
122 Colorado teenagers.
This is a wonderful wilderness, seemingly barren but filled with plant and
animal life. It is dry, but look out for flash floods during the winter months.
And all signs of civilization disappear five minutes from the road. What better
place to explore one's spirituality than the Judaean Wilderness? What better
place to do some serious group building than the very place where 3200 years ago
Joshua and Caleb told Moses and the community that with G-d's help we can do
anything? In this week's Torah portion Moses sends the twelve scouts to do a
reconnaissance of the land. They were sent out to report back, to answer some of
the same questions our teenagers asked themselves last week: is the journey
going to be safe? what are the people who live there really like? is this place
really the land for me, will I really be able to call it "home?"
No biblical adventure is complete without a civilian medical helicopter
rescue. Our teenager is fine, as is the medic who was slightly injured coming to
his assistance. With all the majesty of the wildreness why am I convinced that
the sight of an Israeli helicopter touching down miles from anywhere will be
what our teens remember the most? I can promise you it won't be the last
non-planned adventure our teens will relate, but it is the first of the 2000
summer.
Off to Arad, a comfortable hostel with a swimming pool, and preparations for
Shabbat in the north. But I'm getting ahead of myself...
Shalom for now!
Daniel
Dear Friends:
Two days thrill me above all others during CAJE’s annual
IST trip; they are:
·
The Friday when I can report that the entire group – this year
122 teenagers and twenty leaders – are all safe in Israel spending Shabbat
together.
·
The reunification day at DIA – this year August 1st -
when the parents all head home with their exuberant, exhausted teenagers whose
lives have been changed, forever.
August first will mean we’ve completed the task of
introducing Jewish teenagers to their homeland, to their Judaism and to
themselves in a brand new way, that we’ve equipped them with a very important
toolbox that will serve them throughout their lives as adults and as Jews.
But today, this Friday, this is really special – because
our group is together, in Israel, beginning a journey as Abraham and Sarah did
almost four thousand years ago. Chelli
Friedman, one of our talented and seasoned bus leaders addressed the group
Thursday as they stood on the panoramic overlook on Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem.
As they looked into the valleys surrounded by the Judean hills, upon the
sacred stones where for four millennia the history of our people has been
forged, she told them that like Abraham and Sarah’s journey, their impact
would be a result of their own personal choice.
She challenged the teenagers to be present, ask questions, to taste and
smell the land and its culture, to make it their own.
Chelli is one of twenty talented, trained staff with the
IST trip this summer: ten are Coloradoans we’ve sent with the tour, and ten
are Israelis provided by ISI, our partner in Israel. Steve Zerobnick, an ex-Denverite runs ISI, and for as many
summers as we can remember has been our tour provider and partner in Israel.
Steve and Risa Buckstein, CAJE’s Associate Director form the best
one-two brain trust of any Israel teen tour in the country.
But the soul and heart of IST is the staff, many of whom insist on
returning summer after summer to be with our teenagers and to guide them.
The forty-seven ISTers who comprised our Poland extension
had a deeply emotional trip marked by sadness, anger, and finally resolve.
How can one tour the remains of what sixty years ago was the world’s
greatest Jewish community, visit its camps of destruction and chronicle its
virtual disappearance without being unchanged?
But like the resilient teenagers they are, as soon as they got back on
the bus after each tour site they became, well, the resilient teenagers they
are. Some wrote in journals, others processed with their peers,
our counselors, and with the fine educator David Bernstein provided by Heritage
Tours, some slept to recharge.
This year’s Poland tour, quite coincidentally, paralleled
that of a group of Israel army officers in training. Our teens were moved to tears to look out the stone windows
of Majdanek’s gas chamber to see an Israeli flag.
And when the flight to Israel was delayed in Warsaw, they sat in the
airport in an Israel-style kumsitz and
sang English and Hebrew songs with their new friends.
When the Poland contingent arrived at 5:00 this morning, they went
straight to the Wall in Jerusalem. Two-thousand
year old stones in the Wall and sixty year old stone walls in the Auchwitz
crematoria provided a stark contrast between hope and despair.
And now, as Colorado prepares for Shabbat our teens are
together praying, singing, visiting, breathing the cool, calming air of Shabbat
in Jerusalem. I can tell you that
there is nothing like it! They will
sleep (some more than others…) and awaken to breakfast and attendance at a
choice of Jerusalem synagogues, followed by group-building activities.
I’ll write updates each Friday and Tuesday, but feel free
to call us in-between. Also, check
out our voice updates at 303-321-3191 x32.
CAJE feels so honored to provide this life-changing Jewish experience for
our community’s teenagers. This
week’s parasha speaks of the
lighting of the menorah. This
summer our children are our lights. They
are safe, happy, and together. And
in Colorado we’ll kvell and worry together until August 1 – when we’ll
sleep better, too…
Shabbat Shalom,
Daniel
