7/2 – Ben Gurion Airport – Entering the Country

In the long corridor just before going through Immigration, I ride along the moving sidewalk. I am jet-lagged and tired from the all-night flight. In international airports the walk between the plane and the official entry point to the country is a passage through liminal space. Usually there are numerous pictures and signs of welcome touting the country’s special places and picturing the numerous reasons why a traveler should be excited to arrive there. 

In this corridor, pictures of the hostages kidnapped by Hamas on October 7th are lined up right next to the moving sidewalk. The hostages were taken almost nine months ago. Some have been released, approximately 120 are still held in Gaza—some of them most likely dead. As I glide past the pictures, I notice that many have notes written on them. My Hebrew is far from adequate enough to read the messages, but I see many hearts and flowers drawn among the words.

I am reminded of the many roadside memorials I have seen back in the States. I also sense a difference. This is not just a personal memorial. I am entering an entire country still deep in mourning.

7/5 – Kabbalat Shabbat at Sulam Ya’akov Synagogue – Torah Portion, Korach 

The rabbi of this Reform synagogue is a woman who has been a consistent and highly visible participant in weekly protests taking place in Zikhron Ya’akov, where I’m staying, and all over Israel during the past several years. These protests challenged the current Israeli government’s attempt to subvert the democratic process and seize unlimited power for themselves. When I was in Israel in 2023, I had the honor of joining her and many members of the synagogue at one of the protests. 

After October 7th, the regular demonstrations ceased for a period of time, but they are being revived. There are numerous signs all around Zikhron Ya’akov demanding immediate elections, reflecting a deep dissatisfaction with the current government.

Because it was delivered in Hebrew, I did not understand most of the rabbi’s d’var on Korach, but from her tone of voice I heard frustration and deep sorrow. During a later conversation about the current Israeli government, she said, “Our leaders have failed us.”

The Swimming Pool

From the balcony of our apartment, I can see the swimming pool at the hotel next door. Because it is summertime and beastly hot, the pool is in frequent use. I enjoy the happy laughter of children, the voices of their swimming instructors, and the lively conversations of adults lounging around the pool. I have observed a veritable rainbow of people of different types using this pool. 

• Jews with light and dark brown skin, black skin, white skin and sunburned skin
• Fashionable modern bathing suits, frumpy old trunks, old fashioned, modest suits, women dressed in long skirts and wigs watching the children swim
• A group of Arab women in the pool dressed in black, long skirts, long sleeves, high necklines, and head scarves with only their very dark brown faces showing.

7/7 – Zoom Meeting with Rabbis Osnat Eldar & Myra Hovav in Israel & Members of Congregation Beth El in Bennington, Vermont

Nine months to the day after October 7th, the two rabbis epitomize the agonizing position that most Israelis are in. These rabbis are both mothers, loving and decent human beings, who care deeply about the rights of all citizens and residents in Israel and Palestine, including Gaza, but who are caught in this horrible situation. 

One of the rabbis said: “My heart breaks every time I hear the reports from Gaza. But If I am forced to choose between the children in Gaza and my own children, and I know you probably don’t want to hear this, but I will choose my own children.”  I ask myself, what choice would I make?

I wrote the following prayer after listening to these two rabbis share their sorrow over the war.

To Endure

Our ancestors say that God hardened Pharoah's heart because a choice between the children of Egypt and our own children was a necessary part of the story.

Is this to be our lot, simply to endure, in every generation to fight the same enemy with a different name? In every generation to sacrifice children upon the altar of war?

We do not want to choose whose child will live and whose will die.

Please, God, do not require us to harden our own hearts any more.

©marthahurwitz2024