Feeling the Pull Back to Israel
Israel is calling. Let’s go! We’ll enjoy this unique itinerary and connect with the land and people of Israel during this season of meaningful commemoration and joyful celebration.
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When times are good in Israel, we celebrate with her. When times are hard in Israel, we worry with her. An invisible gravitational pull from here to there.
Among our congregation are many great Zionists. Our people create impressive ways to connect through joint academic research and business ventures, through the arts and meaningful leadership. Today, for example, Holy Blossom Temple is well represented at the 37th meeting of the World Zionist Congress in Jerusalem. Many of us, however, are still looking for ways to connect. If you have already seen the famous sites of Israel and now want to get under the surface of things, please join Temple President Joan Garson and me on Tuesday, October 27th to learn about a unique congregational trip to Israel.
Every trip to Israel both clarifies and complicates. Matters of the heart are clarified; we leave with a better sense of who we are, where we come from, and to whom we belong. Matters of intellect are further complicated; we leave with only more questions about this holy land and its place in the world.
Our upcoming congregational trip is designed to clarify and complicate by how we will mark Jewish time. We will celebrate two Shabbatot with home hospitality and one Rosh Chodesh with Women of the Wall. We will observe Yom HaShoah, Yom HaZikaron, and Yom HaAtzmaut with the intensity of modern Jewish history unfolding right before our eyes. We will share in moments of silence throughout the land. We will share in dancing in the streets of Tel Aviv.
Our upcoming congregational trip will clarify and complicate by the remarkable people we will meet along the way. Archeologists who are activists. Cardiac surgeons who break down borders. Talmudic scholars who are IDF ethicists. Tour guides who use poetry and graffiti to illuminate Israel’s story. Orthodox feminists. Bedouin innovators. Asylum seekers who are Zionists. Environmentalists who are social workers. Scientists who are peacekeepers. Street kids who are restaurateurs. Jewish and Arab children who are friends.
This trip will leave you with more questions than answers. This trip will be fun and delicious. This trip will be challenging and uplifting. This trip will make you proud.
When someone in your family is suffering or celebrating, “being there” is the most important thing. Now is the perfect time to plan your next trip to Israel. [clear]
[yellow_message] To see the complete itinerary click here. [/yellow_message]
I can’t wait for this trip that promises to be exciting, interesting, informative, challenging, heartwarming, and so much more. There is no place like Israel and all of her people.