Thank you to Stacey Spector for sharing this descriptive piece about her current stay in Israel.  

Shalom from Tel Aviv:  It is Saturday morning, and our fifth day in Israel.  What is clearly different this morning from any other day of the week is the absolute stillness of the streets and the lack of jack hammering on the endless construction projects in Tel Aviv (“TA”).  Apparently, there is a running joke among Israelis that the national bird is now the “crane” (as opposed to the bird).  Israelis’ weekend consists of Friday and Saturday so everything is closed today, and we are about to embark on a walking tour of Bauhaus buildings, of which there are many (at least 4000 built in the 30’s and 40’s by German architects who emigrated to what was then Palestine).   Continue reading

To learn more about the complex issues involved in Israel and in global Anti-Semitism, explore these resources recommended at our Yom Kippur afternoon discussion, led by Rick Berkman, National Chair of the American Jewish Committee and past president of RS:

An Insider’s Guide to the Most Important Story on Earth: A former AP correspondent explains how and why reporters get Israel so wrong, and why it matters:   http://tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/183033/israel-insider-guide

Yair Lapid’s speech in memory of the Holocaust:   http://www.algemeiner.com/2014/08/22/full-transcript-israels-finance-minister-yair-lapid-speech-at-platform-17-in-berlin-in-memory-of-holocaust-victims/

Rabbi Adam Zeff’s Rosh Hashanah sermon, Israel: Moving Beyond Myths:   https://app.box.com/s/veyu2s3oste0wjshpdcv

A History of Israel, Howard Sachar

My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel, Ari Shavit

We look forward to a thoughtful and thought-provoking conversation:

Israel: It’s Time for a Conversation

We move into Tisha B’Av, our tradition’s day of mourning for the destruction of the Temple and for violence Jews have faced since then.  Our hearts are in the East as we stand with Israel ever supporting her right to defend herself, as we mourn for the loss of life among Israelis and Palestinians, and as we seek a path to an enduring and secure peace.  May we heed the words of URJ president Rabbi Rick Jacobs’ in his column in Haaretz: as Hamas wages war on Israel’s very right to exist, we do not answer hatred with hatred. From the words of the Lamentations text we read for Tisha B’Av: Comfort, Oh comfort My people, says God.  You can support our community’s Stop the Sirens campaign here.

As you may know, Noah is the grandson of Bettyruth Walter and Donald J. Goldberg, who were married here at Rodeph Shalom in 1957.  He is the son of Caroline Goldberg Igra, who was a Bat Mitzvah and confirmand here at RS,  and her husband Rami.  Noah was a Bar Mitzvah here at Rodeph Shalom in 2008.

There were kind contributions made in the name of Noah Igra to the IDF, and that money was used towards buying new and wonderful boots for his entire unit of 29 young Israeli men.

Well, you can be quite certain that those same boots are very important to these young soldiers fighting for the survival of Israel right now.

Since he is quite busy at the moment, I am writing this thank you note for him – and his entire unit – to tell you how appreciative these young men were to receive this gift from Rodeph Shalom in Philadelphia.  We all pray for a rapid cease to this madness in the Middle East, and peace for all.

– Bettyruth Walter

Operation Protective Edge and the decades of conflict that led to it is hard for even the experts to understand.  RS will offer a course this fall, designed for all of us who feel a thirst for background of Israel’s history and a thirst for understanding of the people and culture of Israel today.  Learn about our approach in this Bulletin article by RS Past President, Fred Strober.Continue reading

A poem by my friend and colleague, Rabbi Michael Latz:

Tonight,
on the way to visit a friend for dinner on Emek Refaim,
we stopped to do a holy Jewish act:
Buy a book.
As we perused the selection
in Hebrew
and English
at Steimatzky’s,
and explored titles
of trashy novels
and deep philosophy
and Jewish life
and the potential
for Middle East Peace
and how to make
a perfect Shakshouka,
the Air Raid Siren went off.
Quietly,
we went to the miklat–
the safe room/bomb shelter.
We crowded in with
other shoppers:
A mother soothing an anxious toddler
with Hebrew lullabyes,
An older woman reading her I-Phone
for news on the Red Alert app,
Two young college students,
handing out stickers that read, “Discount”
in Hebrew to the children
in the Bomb Shelter
as the Iron Dome intercepted
two of the four rockets launched at Jerusalem,
once considered
off-limits,
now a target.
We
and our daughters
in the Miklat on Emek Refaim
wondering in our hearts
a volley of unspoken questions:
Is this
our new normal?
Do you ever get used to this?
Where do you put the fear?
How are our daughters–
raised in the safety of the United States–
acting so calmly,
so courageously?
And then, it was over.
We handed over the 100 Sheckel note
and bought a book for me–John Grisham’s latest court room thriller–and a book for Noa:
a young adult novel of fantasy and princesses and dangerous alliances brewing in a mysterious world.
The shop keeper smiled,
handed us our change,
and we said simultaneously,
Todah Rabbah: Thank you.
And walked to dinner.
Because in Jerusalem
what else do you do?
Continue reading