My two weeks in Israel stretched into what felt like months of experiences. I am heading home but I have yet to tell you about so many encounters and discoveries.
Yesterday I visited ANU, The Museum of The Jewish People on the Tel Aviv University campus. There are exhibits from before Oct 7th that consider Jewish humor, art, architecture, migrations, and food. It is a celebration of typical museum themes but I was most impressed by an exhibit of photos and interviews exploring who are contemporary Israelis, what does it mean to be Jewish. A rainbow of diversity, some secular others, religious, each expressing their sense of belonging to families, communities and how these connections is the fabric that is stronger than any solitary thread.
I will share more about their other exhibits including a future post about their Oct 7th installation which shows how art uniquely can express the feelings of this war.
Then, I actually met new family. Incredible to discover people who are connected to my most precious people: my husband Sam, our children and their children! I met my husband’s cousins from the Syracuse, New York Hammer clan. It turns out that Sam’s cousin Aliza is a close friend of Batya who in turn is a close friend of Dina’s and so the geography game began.
Sam has five second-cousins who have lived in israel since 1974 when he first met them. Thank you Dina for this unexpected delight!
We met for dinner at Aliza’s home. All her siblings who live in Israel, the three sisters and one of two brothers ( their other brother is in N.Y. ) gather for a family dinner once every couple of weeks. To start the evening as total strangers and end it with laughter and hugs, and plans to see one another soon felt incredible . I saw their family tree and it includes my nuclear family. It was a metaphor for how I along with my family am part of the fabric of Israel. An unexpected and welcome discovery
The Hammer Clan like most Israelis have reservists in their families who were deployed, have returned home, and who expect to be deployed again. Their kids are grown with families of their own, and with have jobs that have been impacted by the war. All of the family have been doing agricultural volunteering, weeding fields of spring crops or strawberry picking. Many of their adult children have been displaced from the northern border or Otef ‘Aza, the region that was devastated by Hamas on October 7. For my old-new relatives and their families there is only one degree of separation from the heartbreak and loss of friends and family.
As we visited I heard how they remain thankful that the genre of music at the Nova Festival was not their children’s “thing”. They have children they wish to protect but know even young children know the “matzav,” the situation.
Family members live on both sides of the “greenline.” They know the creation of a lasting peace requires safe borders. That peace requires a cessation of missile attacks.
This is just one family from thousands and all over the world who came to Israel to create and sustain a Jewish nation. Not “settlers,” not “colonizers,” not “oppressors.”
World. Wake up!
Now I am back at Ben Gurion Airport ( Tel Aviv). There are less flights and less people than I’ve seen on other visits to Israel. The multiple stages of check-in and security are methodical and comforting. It feels like everyone has taken a “chill pill.” No yelling, no pushing. This has been the calmest airport experience ever. Is this israel ?
Most of my fellow travelers are not returning from vacations. One seatmate is going to NYC to finish up in details to finalize her intergenerational family’s move back to Israel after 18 years in NY. The war has not changed their plan. Israel is their home. In the next row is a cattle rustler from Montana. He is one of the cowboys from the American West who came to volunteer.
The nearby Israelis were excited to meet someone they know of from the news. “Wow” is pronounced kind of like “ooo-ahhh-ow,” signifiying admiration + appreciation. My fellow passengers respond when he explains he “came to help good people in a hard time.” And people all around thanked him for his generosity.
What does this cowboy understand that Harvard students can’t grasp? WORLD WAKE UP!
A pilot from Hod HaSharon, a community close to Dina’s house in Kfar Saba is across the aisle. He works two weeks on, two weeks off as a commercial pilot. He shows me this screen saver portrait of his 3 and 6 year olds. Sweet smiles wearing the princess costumes. I asked how much do his children know about the war. He sees that they are aware because there have been sirens and time spent in safe rooms . He believes it is important that they know at their level this is not a regular time, to give this time a name, war. It is a reality of life.
Similarly my new cousin Aliza, the grandmother of 7 year old Tao, requested I avoid graphic images when recounting my visits with those who survived the terror of Oct 7th. But she acknowledges “Tao knows everything on many levels”
And Shani, with three young daughters acknowledges, the girls feel the tension and the sadness and the disruption of normal life. That is how it has to be.
Every parent and grandparent trying to keep our children safe and secure. I have tears in my eyes as I write this.
Sam is connecting with two different families in Hadera every Sunday morning through the partnership that Shimrit oversees. He hasn’t broached the topic with his 12- and 13-year old of their families but understands his role is just to “be there” and be aware.
This day for me has been a truly amazing capstone to the past two weeks. After all, I traveled to offer hugs and encouragement to Israelis. I have been told it means the world to feel that support. But I am the one who feels enriched. Now as one of my new cousins pointed out, I have had a transformative experience. I grasp that Israel is no longer just “over there.” I must accurately communicate who we are as Jews, why being Jewish is important and to proudly share that knowledge. It is essential for the welfare of Israel, America and actually the world.
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