CBI Blogs

Shalom Chaverim,

This week we read Parashat Lech Lecha – go forth. The opening three verses read:

וַיֹּ֤אמֶר יְהֹוָה֙ אֶל־אַבְרָ֔ם לֶךְ־לְךָ֛ מֵאַרְצְךָ֥ וּמִמּֽוֹלַדְתְּךָ֖ וּמִבֵּ֣ית אָבִ֑יךָ אֶל־הָאָ֖רֶץ אֲשֶׁ֥ר אַרְאֶֽךָּ׃

Adonai said to Abram, “Go forth from your native land and from your father’s house to the land that I will show you.

וְאֶֽעֶשְׂךָ֙ לְג֣וֹי גָּד֔וֹל וַאֲבָ֣רֶכְךָ֔ וַאֲגַדְּלָ֖ה שְׁמֶ֑ךָ וֶהְיֵ֖ה בְּרָכָֽה׃

I will make of you a great nation,
And I will bless you;
I will make your name great,
And you shall be a blessing.

וַאֲבָֽרְכָה֙ מְבָ֣רְכֶ֔יךָ וּמְקַלֶּלְךָ֖ אָאֹ֑ר וְנִבְרְכ֣וּ בְךָ֔ כֹּ֖ל מִשְׁפְּחֹ֥ת הָאֲדָמָֽה׃

I will bless those who bless you
And curse the one who curses you;
And all the families of the earth
Shall bless themselves by you.”

Genesis 12:1-3

Thus begins our people’s journey to the Promised Land. The land of milk and honey: Eretz Yisrael.

As Reform Jews living in North America, we all have different stories in regard to our connections to Israel. Maybe we have only met her through history books, travel websites, and photos shared by our friends on social media as we live vicariously through their experiences. Maybe we know her through deep study of Torah. Maybe we know her too well, have family still living there, and have ourselves immigrated to the United States. Maybe we have been afraid to jump in and make a connection because it seems too fraught and too complicated.

Our own family’s connection began when our children started attending Jewish summer camp. First Jacob, and then Rebekah. While they had fun with friends, they always came home with great stories about the relationships they had made with their Israeli counselors. These 20 something, post-army service, vivacious, young adults had applied for their positions through the Jewish Agency, been carefully interviewed and selected by then CEO Loui Dobin and Camp Director Stefani Rosen.

My first trip to Israel was in April of 2018. I was serving as the summer Education Director for Greene Family Camp and a perk of the job was a trip to Israel to meet the mishlachat (delegation of Israeli counselors) for summer 2018. It was a whirlwind, four-day trip where I also got to be picked up from the airport by Jacob, a now 10^th grader at Mosenson High School in Hod HaSharon (a boarding school through NAALE), and meet for the first time Inbal and Nikki Levy. The remarkable parents in the Levy family who had agreed to be Jacob’s host family.

Fast forward five years: both Jacob and Rebekah have graduated from Mosenson – Jacob in 2020 and Rebekah in May of this year. We consider the Levy family to be our own having now visited them in Israel several times and welcomed Inbal in our home, here in Texas. We have kvelled in joyful lifecycle events with them, eaten at their Shabbat table, and, just in May, sat on Sabba and Savta’s couch where we learned the entire family history. They attended our children’s high school graduations, brought Jacob to his army base on the first day of his service, and we share photos and stories over WhatsApp regularly.

Our children are both Israeli citizens. They each live in different apartments with three roommates. Fortunately, they are a five-minute walk from one another. Jacob served his entire service at the Erez border crossing where Gazans enter Israel. On a trip in 2021 we got to have a tour of his base. We saw where he worked, slept, ate, and found shelter during rocket fire from terrorists. Because the soldiers in Jacob’s unit were not combat soldiers there was always a platoon stationed along with them for protection. On our way to see the sleeping quarters we passed a soldier keeping guard and got to say thank you. His commander at the time was super generous with his time so what was expected to last 30 minutes turned into over two hours. We all left hangry so a delicious meal in Ashkelon was consumed so we could all return to the humans we know we can be when properly fed.

Jacob’s last day of mandatory service was August 20^th. The soldiers in his unit do not turn over very often so, as you can imagine, he still knew most of the people stationed there on October 7^th. Four of his friends have been buried and three of them are hostages. Rebekah works in a café in Hod HaSharon and one of the shift leads is a hostage too. Our beloved Levy family had three members called back as reservists and now, we are continuously praying for the safety of the eldest and Nikki, although he does come home nightly. Fortunately, Yoav was sent home for now.

Of course, there are still hundreds of thousands of Yoav, Boaz and Nikki’s now back in uniform. With families as worried as we are about their safety. One of Jacob’s roommates, Kosta, worked as a helicopter mechanic. He is back on base and works 7 a.m. – midnight every day.

As parents, Jonathan and I are still looking for the chapter on how to get our kids through this. On Thursday, October 5^th Rebekah went clubbing with her friends in Tel Aviv. Her draft date had been updated to December 16^th from October 20^th. Jacob was in a training course for a new job and deep into driving lessons to finally get his license. On Saturday, October 7^th the world as they knew, as all of us knew it, was changed forever.

As the days passed and the bodies were collected Jacob was able to attend three out of the four funerals. The café where Rebekah works was able to reopen, and the customers are slowly coming back in. When there is a siren, everyone goes to the shelter and then returns to pay their bills and go about their days.

Rebekah’s boss has asked that everyone wear a shirt with the missing staff person’s photo on it and she isn’t quite sure how she feels about that. This week she got to go and stay at a friend’s house for a night. Jacob waits for his training course to resume as I painfully advise, “while it has felt like two years, it has only been two weeks, I hope you hear something soon…they just need more time.” In the meantime, he keeps busy volunteering, meeting friends and spending time with his sister. Additionally, we talk and text often.

Thank you so much to everyone for asking how we are doing. It has been a lot and I have taken to asking the kids “how are your feelings today?” because nobody is okay and putting a timeline on recovery for something like this is impossible.

Am Yisrael Chai.

Shabbat Shalom.