The People Shine
I first met Yuvi Tashomi when she came to the U.S. to speak at Wise. Her organization, Friends by Nature, seeks to celebrate Ethiopian Jewish culture and introduce it to the broader Israeli community. I took the train from Tel Aviv to visit her center and its community gardens where first generation immigrants cultivate traditional Ethiopian crops and young children attend nature clubs and hear stories from Ethiopian elders. I sat with a group of young adults pursuing college and post-graduate degrees. A few were in their soldier’s uniforms; all expressed a vision of hopefulness for their own futures. They were eager to hear about American Jewish life as well. The conversation was lively and filled with laughter. I left feeling optimistic about their community and its future in Israel.
My next train took me north to visit with my friend, Liron. She worked at Wise for one year twenty years ago and we’ve been in touch ever since then. I’ve watched her marry, build a business, and raise her children over my many visits to Israel. She was eager to share the daily life of her children. Her son is a star fencer and has traveled many times to compete in Europe. He proudly wears Israel’s fencing uniform with a blue star emblazoned down his leg. “Life is pretty much normal,” she shared. Like all parents, she and her husband are focused on the daily aggravations and joys: arranging rides, children forgetting their homework, juggling a career, their childrens’ accomplishments, planning family vacations. Liron’s sense of normalcy characterizes that side of Israel which defiantly refuses to give a victory to those enemies who would disrupt daily life.
My last visit was more complicated. My nephew is an activist with the Jewish Center for Nonviolence. A citizen and sabra, a speaker of Hebrew, and passable Arabic, he spends his days recording the experiences of Palestinians living in small villages in the West Bank (also known as Judea and Samaria) and documenting the – sometimes violent – interactions between Jews and Arabs there. Seeking to understand what he does and how he experiences Israel, I spent the day with him. I met his partners, Israelis, Americans, and Palestinians, and listened to their stories. At various times I found myself empathizing, and at others uncomfortable with their narrative. It was a difficult trip but revealed a side of Israel that I wanted to understand better.
Israel is a democracy and voices of dissent can be heard loudly. I am proud of the noisiness of our Jewish state – it has captured the robust debate that has always been a part of Jewish discourse. Even and especially when I encounter ideas that run contrary to my own, the exercise of refining my opinions and even marshaling contrary arguments sharpens my knowledge and deepens my connection to the land and people of Israel.
I spent eight days on the ground in Israel this time. It was an important visit. Each time I go, my love of the nation and its people gets a boost. With Israel, absence doesn’t make the heart grow fonder – spending time in the land with its people strengthens the connection. This trip was wonderful and terrible, joyful and upsetting – but even after returning to the comfort of my home in LA, my heart still yearns for Zion.
— Rabbi Ron Stern