Rabbi Yoshi and Jacqueline are leading a Stephen Wise Temple solidarity mission this week in Israel. Each day Rabbi Yoshi will share reflections on the visit.
Tuesday, Feb 13, 2024 – 4 Adar I, 5784
Resilience is, according to the American Psychological Association, “the process and outcome of successfully adapting to difficult or challenging life experiences, especially through mental, emotional, and behavioral flexibility and adjustment to external and internal demands.”
At the end of our week here, at the conclusion of my third trip to Israel since October 7, I feel like another way to define the word would be to simply tell the stories of almost any of the people we’ve met during our visit: Barak Benjamin, a survivor of Netiv HaAsara whom I’ve written about a few times; Chen Kotler, a member of kibbutz Kfar Aza who helped coordinate communications between her family and friends on October 7 from her vacation in Portugal and has since moved back to the kibbutz, living there practically on her own and telling her story every day to groups of visitors coming to bear witness; and Ike Bodner who’s preserving the memory of his best friend, David Newman, as he works to provide support for soldiers in the IDF who are fighting for the return of the captives and the removal of Hamas from power.
Yesterday we met a few more “resiliency heroes.” The first was Orly Erez-Likhovski, the director of the Israel Religious Action Center which works tirelessly to protect minority rights in Israel including those of Reform and Conservative Jews, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women who, though not a minority in Israel, are frequently discriminated against. Since October 7, Orly and her team have been working to combat racism directed against Israeli Arabs, the vast majority of whom reject the Hamas terrorist regime and identify more and more fully as Israelis.
Orly Erez-Likhovski with Rabbi Yoshi
My friend Saleem Yagmour whom I’ve written about before, an Israeli-Arab-Palestinian-Muslim, continues to work day by day to make Israel the place we dream it might be. He spoke to us about his hope that someday soon there might emerge in Islam globally a “Reform movement” like our own stream of Judaism. It would, in time, enable Islam to become a religion of tolerance and pluralism, accepting of other religious traditions and secularism as well. It would be fully egalitarian like our own movement, a religion where women might become religious leaders and authorities. It would be inclusive of gay, lesbian, and transgender persons, opening the doors of mosques to their full participation.
In the immediate aftermath of October 7, HUC’s program that teaches Hebrew to East Jerusalem Arabs went on hiatus. There were understandable and legitimate security concerns in the confusing, traumatic, and bewildering days immediately following the massacre. Saleem helped to organize conversations about how to enable the program to continue. They started the return on ZOOM, just like during the pandemic. Then they increased the security screening procedures at the entrance to the campus and now all of the East Jerusalem students have returned to in-person classes. In fact, we met one such young student named Mustafa sitting under a tree at the entrance of the campus studying his Hebrew text book for an upcoming exam. Instead of giving up or giving in, Saleem and his team are working harder to find ways to continue to bring people together. “We have no other choice,” Saleem told us. “We want to live our lives in peace and to do this, terrorism must be defeated.”
Saleem Yagmour with Rabbi Yoshi
Our next “resiliency hero” of the day was Jessica Elter. On October 7, her boyfriend, Ben Shimoni, was at the Supernova Music Festival. He managed to save the lives of 9 people that day, returning several times in his car to try to rescue those who were fleeing for their lives. On his last trip, he and his three passengers were killed by Hamas terrorists.
Jessica wasn’t at the festival–at the last minute she decided not to go because she has been experimenting with more traditional Shabbat observance. Throughout the day though, she was in contact with Ben and was on the line with him when terrorists shot at his car. She has dedicated her life to preserving Ben’s memory and to telling his story and hers, painful as it is, to everyone she can. She asked us to do the same.
It isn’t easy. She admitted that there have been days when the pain of the loss has been so great that she has considered taking her own life. But she chooses to persist and she is finding ways to take care of herself so that she can live her life as fully as possible.
SWT members visiting with Jessica Elter
Our final stop of the day was at the Har Herzl military cemetery where we paid our respects to soldiers who were killed since October 7 in the line of duty. Our guide, Geoff Winston, told us some of their stories of heroism, including that of Ariel Eliyahu whom I noticed from the stone on his grave was born on the same day and month of our oldest daughter. He grew up in a religious household, loved music and photography and organized impromptu jam sessions on some of the outdoor pianos that have been placed in public spaces throughout Israel. He fell defending our homeland on October 7.
Har Herzl Military Cemetary
Countless stories of resilience and not just since October 7. We are an extraordinarily resilient people, it’s one of our Jewish “superpowers” and, rather tragically, it has become an existential necessity. In every generation we have faced moments when our ability to adapt to challenging circumstances has been tested. This is one of those and I couldn’t be prouder or more inspired by the stories I heard and witnessed.
And, beautifully, those we spoke to said the same about us. Our visit, our support, the prayers and emails and phone calls from family abroad–all of these things give Israelis strength. They understand, too, that we are experiencing a terrible uptick in antisemitsm and they worry for us. They need us to be resilient, as well.
We shall. What other choice do we have?
Am Yisrael Chai,
Rabbi Yoshi