Catch ’67 – A Shabbat Reflection

Friday, March 11

Written by Rabbi Joel Nickerson

There’s a story from the Talmud which speaks to the core of our recent Israel trip, during which 15 of us from the synagogue travelled through Israel for a week and a half.

For three years, there was a disagreement between the followers of Shammai and the followers of Hillel, with Shammai claiming that the law was in accordance with their view while the House of Hillel contended that the law/halacha was in line with their view. One day, a bat kol, the voice of God, called out and announced “both arguments are the words of the living God but the halacha, the law, is in agreement with the House of Hillel.” The rabbis ask – what was it about Hillel’s argument that warranted it to be the correct view? They answer their own question by stating that it was because the house of Hillel was kind and modest, taught their own rulings as well as the rulings of Shammai, and always mentioned the rulings of Shammai before their own.   (interpretation of Babylonian Talmud, Eruvin 13b)

This is one of the texts we studied at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and it sums up two of the most important teachings from the trip. First, there can be two positions presented which are both equally valid AND considered ‘words of the living God’. The voices and positions we were exposed to during our trip prove this to be true. The second important teaching from the Talmudic tale is that disagreement is inevitable, unavoidable, and valuable; but what is most important is your ability (and willingness) to recognize the validity of the other perspective. But the text goes even further – our tradition suggests that in order for your argument to rise above the opposition, you have to immerse yourself completely in the other perspective – you almost need to ‘own’ your opponent’s position as if it were your own, and only then does your argument gain credibility above and beyond your opposition.

I wish I could spend a few hours walking through each one of the incredible sessions and locations we visited during our trip, but you can go to the blog I created to read all the details. Instead, I’d like to focus on two issues which seemed to take center stage throughout our trip – 1) religious pluralism in Israel and 2) the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. The issues themselves are not surprising, but what was so valuable about this trip was the way in which we were able to gain exposure to the ‘other’ perspective – to wrestle with positions and perspectives that don’t come naturally to us as west coast liberal Jews. One session in particular, with Dr. Micah Goodman from the Hartman Institute, combined these two major issues into one fascinating proposal which I’d like to share with you now. Supposedly, Goodman has a book coming out next year and we were one of the first groups to hear him begin articulating his ideas out loud in a lecture environment. The book will be called ‘Catch 67’.

He began with some background:

In 1946, the UN sent a commission to investigate if Arabs and Jews could govern themselves and as we know, the commission ended up recommending a partition plan with two states for two people. But that wasn’t the obvious recommendation at the start of the process. It turns out that Ben Gurion was worried about what the UN would propose and he also knew that the UN would interview Haredi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews who lived there because they’d always been on the land – he knew they would say that Jews couldn’t govern themselves because that was against their understanding of our religion. So Ben Gurion had a meeting with the Haredim. He told them, “when the UN comes to interview you, tell them we can govern ourselves.” They agreed, but on one condition – they would control the religion of the new state. Ben Gurion knew it was a bad idea, but he said yes. As a result, Israel was founded on a great compromise. We gained a state of our own, but it was not the state our founding fathers had in mind.

And then in 1967, the Six Day War broke out and Jordan started a war with Israel on the eastern front. This ultimately led to the West Bank falling under our control and since it was won in battle, based on Jordan’s aggression, there technically was no need to return it. Israel did, however, offer it back to Jordan in order to achieve peace, but the offer was refused. That area is now referred to as the West Bank.

As Goodman puts it, that land is not occupied and yet the Palestinians are occupied – it’s disputed territory, according to the Supreme Court. We didn’t gain the land illegitimately (it was won in war), and at the same time, the people are occupied because they can’t vote and they don’t have equal rights in Israel. 70% of Israelis think that if we continue to occupy the Palestinians, it threatens the Jewish state. Therefore, we need to leave the West Bank. But at the same time, if we leave the West Bank, chaos may enter the Territories and before we know it, we’ll find ISIS on our border. And for that reason, we must stay in the West Bank.  So what’s the solution? It’s pretty obvious – we must leave and we must stay.

Goodman called this scenario a “Catch 67”. The two issues – the role of the ultra-Orthodox in the government and the occupation of the West Bank are linked. As of now, any coalition government in Israel needs to include the Haredim and so they get a say in maintaining religious control over the state, even though they represent only 12% of the population. For those of us who are not ultra-Orthodox, Goodman believes that we’ve been willing to trade in our version of Judaism in Israel in order to solve the conflict with the Palestinians. And yet, we haven’t solved the conflict with the Palestinians yet AND the Haredim aren’t willing to compromise on the Jewish nature of state.

But things changed in the summer of 2011. That’s when tent cities popped up all over Israel, as Israelis hundreds of thousands of Israelis calling out in social protest. And it wasn’t about the Occupation – it was about the rising prices of real estate and cottage cheese.  For over 40 years, the conflict owned the political passion in Israel – thousands would show up for protests about the occupation while no one would show up for protests about social issues. The conflict held all other issues hostage.

Finally, in 2011, Israelis started to deal with issues that weren’t about the conflict.  Israelis had thought they would deal with all those social issues once the conflict was resolved, but the irony was that they started to deal with the social issues once they realized that the conflict would never end.

Most people want to see a quick end to the conflict. For those on the Left, they believe that if a solution isn’t reached soon, more and more settlements will be built in the West Bank. And those on the Right want to keep building settlements because they want to stop a deal before it happens.

So here’s Goodman’s plan – let’s freeze settlement building for 5-10 years and at the same time, freeze peace initiatives for 5-10 years. During that period, the Israeli/Palestinian conflict is off the table. The Left doesn’t need to worry about new settlements being built and the Right doesn’t have to worry about finalizing a peace settlement. And during this period of time, we can focus on Israel’s internal challenges, namely, the role of the Ultra-Orthodox in decision-making. We could leverage this time to focus on the central issue of synagogue and state and we could create a more free-market society. Not economically, but Jewishly. Free-market Judaism – where people have choice and opportunity to express and engage in Judaism in the ways they should – openly and freely. As we know, free markets create better products.

To heal Judaism in Israel should be our first priority. We’ve been obsessed with solving the conflict and because of that obsession, we have neglected the challenge of solving the internal challenges of our Jewish state. And by the way, we still haven’t solved the conflict! We need to delay seeking a resolution to the conflict in order to deal with the Jewishness of our state. As of now, in order to end the Occupation, we need to build a coalition that includes the Haredim. And when you build a government that includes the Haredim, they control Judaism in Israel.

We have to make a big sacrifice, according to Goodman. We need to delay resolving the conflict in order to save the Jewish identity of our state. It’s a significant sacrifice and compromise, but it’s one that the Jews of the Diaspora need to be willing to support. It may be hard for us to accept that peace may not come in our time, but if we come to that realization, we can take advantage of the opportunity to fix the Jewish nature of the State of Israel and therefore, make sure we make it a State for ALL Jews – a place our children and grandchildren will want to visit and support – a place where they would be considered full-fledged Jews and embraced as such. Because the assumption that peace is around the corner is giving the Ultra-Orthodox the power over Judaism in Israel.

It’s a bold and idealistic plan, and yet, I think it’s one upon which we should spend some time reflecting. As the Talmud teaches us, disagreements and arguments can be sacred tasks. The fifteen of us who went to Israel on this trip engaged in ongoing sacred arguments, dealing with some of the most challenging and troubling disagreements facing the Jewish people today. And now that we are back home, we hope to continue the discussion, because the state of Israel is also our home and we have an obligation to actively engage in her struggles.

Shabbat Services in Tel Aviv

Friday, March 4

Written by Steve Fox

So you think we have a small attendance when only 75 people come to services! For the second time in a week, our Temple Isaiah group of around 15 was a significant fraction of the attendees, this time at Kehilat Beit Tefilah Israeli, in Tel Aviv. And since so much of the service was in Hebrew, I was sitting there, hardly understanding a thing. But I was loving it. It was a wonderful demonstration of how the process works at a non-verbal level. Congregants were relaxed and happy to be there. They were quite informal, very congenial, and the music was great– led by a jazzy pianist and cantorial soloist. Who needed to understand the words of the prayer leader when you are just swept up by the spirit in the room?

We’ll have to return some day in the summer, when the services take place on the beach, and the participation increases 100 fold to about 1000 people. If I thought Friday night was a high…

Beit Tefilah Israeli’s Kabbalat Shabbat Service on the Tel Aviv Pier in the summer – it draws an enormous crowd.

My only regret was that even though Cantor Kent joined us, because he did not want to take away from those leading the service, we were not treated to his wonderful voice.

Graffiti Tour of Tel Aviv

Friday, March 4

Written by Janet Hirsch

– Neve Tzedek neighborhood, Tel Aviv

It is hard to imagine that our trip is almost over and today is perhaps the only part of the tour that I feel that I may actually know something. That the ground won’t shift beneath my feet – it will be interesting to see how that pans out. Today we are having a Street-Art and Graffiti tour of a newly gentrified part of the city, Neve Tzedek.

We are met by Niro, a very engaging, energetic young Israeli who clearly loves his city and his subject. He started out with a brief overview of why street art and graffiti are important especially in such a complicated political, religious, social environment that is Israel today. Graffiti is the visual representation of Chutzpa. It is literally “attitude on the wall”. We learn how the municipality of Tel Aviv has progressed from covering over graffiti to now embracing and promoting it as it is seen as a tourist attraction. That acceptance can have its price as some famous graffiti artists are in such high demand that looters strip their work off the side of buildings and sell it for tens (sometimes) hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Our enthusiastic group is first shown a large stencil of “squirrels” – right of the bat, people are saying “Wow they are huge, bigger than the trash cans, are there two squirrels or is a mutant squirrel with two heads?” We go on to learn the artist is known as Dede. We also learn there are no squirrels in Israel, and that Dede is suggesting that humans are two-faced, that we need to take care of the planet better, etc. The graffiti itself is gorgeous, and the stencils are completely made by hand.

We move on to a more accessible form of street-art, actual life-sized cat sculptures which are hiding all around the city, one curled up on a tree stump, two hiding on the top of a wall, another in a corner with his back to us. It becomes like a treasure hunt, who can see something new first. All the time our guide is showing us how Street Artists want to take art outside the elite world of galleries and museums and bring it directly to the people, where they live.

We find ourselves in a park, with gorgeous trees, and swings although it’s tiny by our standards.   Here we are introduced to Maya, one of Israel’s most famous street artists. This work by Maya is done with black wool and is signed with her signature red-wool heart. It is huge, taking up the entire one side of a building. It is a black nest with lots of birds flying away from it, trailing black wool behind them. This is dealing with the fact that a lot of young Israelis are leaving the country and moving abroad. A large number have settled in Berlin. They are literally leaving the nest.

The use of wool is also an interesting phenomena and came about in an attempt to make street art “warmer”. Now that we know what to look for we stumble upon bicycles and lamp posts covered in knotted woolen squares. There is a name for this – Yarn bombing.

Did you know that there are rules for graffiti? Well, we learned them and soon we are able were able to distinguish between legitimate artists’ work and the work of naughty school children – or as Nori referred to them – kids who are too cool for school. Temporary walls are ok, old walls are ok, walls facing public spaces are ok – newer, renovated walls are not ok.

Israelis who live in Tel Aviv live in a bubble that is very tolerant of difference, unlike those who live in other cities in the country. Neve Tzedek is fastly becoming gentrified and with that come other problems, especially for the artists that used to live in the area and of course where do they deal with their issues, on the walls of their city. We see gay rights promoted by a red stencil of two girls with a heart between them.

Now we find a grey, crumbling cement wall that used to be a door (with a very old, rickety frame) that had been cemented shut \ and on it a young Israeli poet has written in Hebrew a love poem to her ex-boyfriend, that was signed with her own name. The poem starts “You – there” and goes on to say “please leave the door open”.   Her name is Nitzan Mintz. Being anonymous is not important to her. She was so heartbroken that the entire community of artists was worried about her, and we were all delighted to know that she has a new boyfriend and his name is Dede and now you see her poems and his stencils next to one another, all over the city. They are known as the King and Queen of the Street.

We learned a few urban legends, but my favorite was found about an on an lovely old building that used to be the home of Shai Agnon (Nobel laureate – Author). Here we notice a a shutter lock that has the head of a person on it. When you have it one way it looks like a man, and when you unlatch it – it looks like a woman. The story goes that they were placed there to allow the lady of the house to signal her lover when her husband had left for the day.

We saw syringes with the word Botox inside them, that are done by a 13-year old who is against the gentrification which he feels is getting rid of the wrinkles of the city.

Close by the oldest synagogue in Neve Tzedek, tucked away in the corner is a stencil by Dede that has only been used once. It is tucked away, very close to the ground, and is a gorgeous black and white representation of the building – Dede is paying homage to this old, significant building.

We saw art that dealt with refugees, garbage, Alice in Wonderland having tea, and then finally another stencil by Dede (two large robotic type antelopes), next to a pepto-bismol poem by Nitzan, and a picture of a large doll without a head – the words of the poem (which is visible from the Alice across the road), say “My name is not Alice and this is not Wonderland”.

We ended our tour with a lovely group photo, with us all posed with some hilarious “attitudes”.

Now we are going to a late lunch and some shopping before Shabbat services.

Ethics in the Israeli Military

Friday, March 4

Written by Janet Hirsch

We started our day, with ‘an only in Israel moment’. Our guest speaker Colonel Benzi Gruber, a Deputy Commander in the IDF had mistakenly gone to the David Hotel in Jerusalem. While he drove to Tel Aviv we had the chance to process some of what had happened the day before, both at the Museum and the Refugee Hotline. It was wonderful to have Cantor Kent with us and once again our incredible guide, who could bring his unique perspective to help answer all our questions.

When Col. Gruber arrived he wasted no time in helping us come to some kind of understanding of his subject that he speaks to audiences around the world on – Ethics in the Field. We did learn another uniquely Israeli tidbit, Enav’s commander in the field was none other than Col. Benzi Gruber. Col. Gruber has 20,000 soldiers under his commend.

Not sure how much detail I should go into here, as this was a very dense presentation. His goal was to help us understand the guidelines that the IDF follows and passes on to each of its soldiers. This would also provide us with a time to have certain things we had heard in our visit to East Jerusalem, the settlement of Efrat, and the Palestinian Refugee camp in the West Bank clarified.

My take away from this is that IDF soldiers are trained that if there is any doubt that you may harm civilians you are not allowed to shoot. We viewed Reuters and AP footage that showed you how awful war is, how things are not always as they seem, and how you just don’t always have all the information you need. We also learned that often you have only 8 (or less) SECONDS TO make a decision. Bearing in mind that soldiers could be very tired (they carry up to 180 lbs on their backs), as the Colonel told us, after 4 hours carrying that weight you lose ½ your IQ points, and when you put the helmet on top of that you are just an idiot (his words – not mine). The videos were incredibly informative, and really gave you a clearer understanding of how complicated (that word again), and tragic the situation is.

We learned that shooting one’s weapon makes a soldier feel calmer, and that it is the commander’s role to stop the soldiers from just shooting to their hearts content, as they won’t have ammunition when they need it.

My take away was that:

1. If in doubt – don’t shoot
2. Soldiers are told that it is not their job to punish individuals for their past actions – the courts will do that
3. They are only to use the minimum amount of force to neutralize the threat
4. If a soldier kills an innocent civilian (although that is so hard to determine – refer back to if in doubt don’t) they will be a murderer and carry that around with them for the rest of their lives.
5. Killing someone to prevent them from becoming a “terrorist” in the future is not a good reason to kill them.
6. You can use your weapon and power only to protect yourself and your country.
7. Minimize the damage
8. Collateral damage is “not an open check”
9. PTSD can take up to 15 years to even materialize
10. Israeli soldiers do not commit suicide in nearly the numbers that US soldiers do.
11. IDF does not arrest people unless they have good reason to do so
12. IDF does undertake routine raids on refugee camps just to keep the situation under control, as they cannot control what does in and out of the camps

People asked their questions – as you can expect a lively discussion ensued.

The Colonel thinks that there is only one solution to the Israeli Palestinian situation – “We both have to educate our children not to hate each other”.

What is the difference between a Terrorist and a Freedom Fighter – Terrorists aim to kill civilians – Freedom Fighters only kill enemy soldiers.

We learned that he loved to play a game called Matkot which is a non-competitive beach game in which two, or more, players hit a small ball back and forth using paddles.  This is a game that has no winners – ironic.

Col. Gruber was an amazing speaker, very charismatic, funny and charming. One thing you really came away with is his deep love of Israel and his belief that it is a privilege to serve in the Israeli Army. This comes from his family history and the fact that his grandmother carried her twin sister 500 miles in the winter of 1945. They had both been experimented on by Josef Mengele .

The goal is to win and still remain human beings.

Refugees and Flavors of Israel

Thursday, March 3

Written by Suzanne Solig

What a contrast in experiences (like most of our days in Israel): before lunch we enjoyed a “tasting” tour in Levinsky Market and in the afternoon we toured South Tel Aviv with Segalle Rosen, a representative from the Refugee Hotline.

Levinsky Market, five square blocks of spices, olives, cheeses, and pastries saturating our senses, was first settled by Greek immigrants in the 1920’s, followed quickly by the Turks, and then the Iranians in the mid-1960’s. We tasted burekas served with black hard-boiled eggs and almond juice at a Turkish pastry shop in business for 80 years and sweet meringue candies in a Greek bakery dating back to 1935. Of course, many shops had Purim costumes available for sale.

Our tour guide, Einav, and Cantor Evan Kent prepare for the upcoming holiday of Purim.

In the afternoon, we learned about the non-profit Hotline for Refugees and Migrant Workers, established in 1998 when some Israeli citizens shared a concern for the 34,000 migrant workers residing in Israel and more recently for those seeking asylum from Eritrea and Sudan to escape abuse, persecution and genocide. Particularly important is the Hotline’s work at the detention center in Holot where 3600 detainees (maximum number) are held. Volunteers from the Hotline meet with the detainees on a regular basis, provide paralegal intervention as well as legal representation. Unfortunately, only four detainees have been granted asylum; instead, Israeli authorities encourage them to self-deport, either to Eritrea or a third country that will accept them. Only Rwanda and Uganda have done so. For those refugees who stay, Holot’s gates are open but there are no services and nothing for them to do but contemplate their horrible situation.

While Israel continues to import Asians from Thailand, Viet Nam and the Philippines to provide services in hotels, restaurants, and day labor jobs, the government labels those who have walked by foot from Eritrea (where men are drafted into military service never to be released and women are drafted to be victims of sexual abuse), and from Sudan (where genocide is a daily threat) as “work infiltrators.”

The Hotline has successfully championed human rights laws, including one that stated asylum seekers can only be detained for 12 months and then conditionally released while waiting deportation. Although not allowed to work, some do find “under-the-table” jobs that help them meet their basic needs. Landlords in South Tel Aviv charge about 3000 NIS per month for a single room with toilet. Police often enter their shops and confiscate whatever cash might be in their drawers as a “fine”. We met a man, 36 years old, who is detained in Holot 6 days a week and one day a week is allowed to attend an art college in Tel Aviv. He is the only one of the 3600 detainees in such a program. The lack of a functioning and fair system for approving asylum applications is a sad reality in Israel.

Because the journey involves such difficult conditions, only 5300 women are among the 34,000 refugees. One bright light is that after 3 months every child has the right to an education. One school, Bialik-Rogozin School in Tel Aviv, where children from East Africa are at a secular school with Israeli children, tests in the 96^th percentile. The success of this school is noted in the short documentary Strangers No More, released in 2010 and the recipient of an Academy Award. The film follows several students’ struggle to acclimate to life in a new land, most of whom had never attended school before. As Cantor Kent reminded us, the Israeli government with regard to the refugee situation seems to have neglected the text, “You should remember your Exodus from Egypt.” To learn more about the Hotline, please see www.hotline.org.il

What Could Have Been – Reflections on the Rabin Center

Thursday, March 3

Written by Mike Diamond

The Yitzhak Rabin Center in Tel Aviv

I often think about “what could have been” when world events or life cycle events occur that suddenly take us in a different and unexpected direction. And, at certain times I think about bookmarks that have defined my political life – for example President Kennedy’s election in 1960 (I was 15) and President Obama’s election in 2008 (I was 63). Thursday in Tel Aviv was about “what could have been,” and these bookmarks.

On Thursday we visited the Yitzhak Rabin Center and this was a much more emotional and thought provoking experience than I imagined it would be. This is a wonderful museum that so effectively intertwines Rabin’s life with the history of Israel during that time and with major world events at during his lifetime. As I walked through the museum I kept coming back to the thought – “what could have been.” What could have been if Kennedy was not assassinated, if Martin Luther King had lived a longer life, if Bobby Kennedy had become president, if Rabin could have continued the peace process and countless other examples of people killed or dying before their time — George Tiller the doctor killed because he led an abortion clinic, the over 1,100 black men killed in the U.S. by police in 2015, the over 3,000 people killed in 9/11, Daniel Pearl beheaded by terrorists, and so many individuals I don’t even know that never had the chance to fulfill their own life cycle and have their own positive impact on the world that we all have the ability to do.

Of course, “what could have been” by itself is a useless exercise unless it forces us to take actions for good on behalf of all those who no longer able to do. We can argue about how the world might be different if President Kennedy had lived or if Yitzhak Rabin had not been assassinated, but we can’t change the past and of course we cannot know the outcome if this had happened rather than that happening. But, what we can do as Jews is return to our values and obligations of Tikkun Olam and help repair the world – one action at a time, no matter how big or how small. At times, this trip has made me feel powerless and almost emotionally paralyzed in the face of all the challenges confronting Israel and the entire Middle East. Yet, in an odd way, the time I spent at the Rabin museum renewed my energy to do what I can to help realize the goodness of all those who no longer can do so. I doubt I have the capacity for big things, but I do have the capacity for small everyday actions that when added all together might help repair the world. This is the lesson for me that I learned over the last ten days during our time in Israel. Hopefully, my fellow travelers and the Isaiah community will help me bring this lesson to life.

Looking forward to going home!

The Rabin Center

Thursday, March 3

Written by Eileen Lewis

We visited the Rabin Center this morning. The center’s display follows two parallel lines-Rabin’s life from the early 1920s and the life & history of Israel during the same period, with the included context of broader world events, societal and technological changes.

Inside the Yitzhak Rabin Center

Presenting Israel in the context of broader events caused me to pause a few times, as I tried to integrate my personal history. The film clips from the 1920s and early 1930s showed Palestine as an exciting, vibrant undertaking. Suddenly I remembered the vague stories about my maternal grandfather leaving his wife and children in Brooklyn, and going, perhaps more than once, to Palestine. What was he thinking? Why did this Russian immigrant to America depart and then return? Was he a Zionist, or a Socialist, or a young man seeking excitement? What did he do while in Palestine? The backstory is gone.

My first trip to Israel was in 1969,  with my parents and sister. This was a trip that my very secular father chose. With amazement, I have realized this week, that choosing Israel for his first (post Army) trip abroad, was an extraordinary statement. And perhaps even more so that this trip was only 2 years after the Six Day War. While my parents never articulated it, what a statement of faith and hope that showed in Israel.

At the end of our visit today, we spoke of the “what ifs.”  What if Rabin had not been assassinated in 1995? Would Israel have peace with her neighbors? What if JFK had not been assassinated? Would the  Civil Rights bills have been passed if LBJ hadn’t become President? And yet, while the loss of each exceptional leader causes us to wonder “what if”, it is also a reminder that one person can sometimes make great changes. Therein lies the hope. And so we said a prayer for peace.

Israel’s Entrepreneurial Spirit – The College of Management Academic Studies (COMAS)

Wednesday, March 3

Written by Rabbi Joel Nickerson

A large display outside the mall where we had lunch in Rishon Letzion.

After lunch at a mall in Rishon Letziyon (see above pics for the display outside the mall), the fourth largest city in Israel, we came to the College of Management Academic Studies (COMAS). One of the participants on our trip, Mike Diamond, has worked with a few faculty members and leaders at the college and so we were fortunate enough to have an afternoon of wonderful learning from a variety of people, exposing us to the incredible entrepreneurial spirit that has given rise to the phrase “State-Up Nation” as a way to describe the vast array of start-ups, high tech ventures, and innovation that has positively impacted this country’s economy.

Entrance to COMAS

The list of schools

One of the buildings at the college.

COMAS was the first college established in the country. While there are 7 public universities in the country, COMAS become the first private college, where the average tuition is about $10,000 a year. It contains many departments, but the business school is by far the largest. We met with Danny and Yosi, friends of Mike Diamond, who told us about the history of the college. We heard from three speakers during our time at COMAS. The first was Yaron Daniely, a bio-medical entrepreneur with an impressive resume and story. He is currently the CEO of Alcobra Pharma and the director of COMAS’s Bio-MBA program, specifically designed for those working in bio-tech. In addition to telling us about some incredible bio-tech innovations that have come out of Israel, he also spoke to what he thinks are the reasons why Israel is so primed to support all these creative, new, and groundbreaking ideas and companies. He believes it is a combination of three things:

1. Innovation Capacity – The government has 25 programs that support entrepreneurs, pouring money and support into helping these strat-ups to thrive and grow. The army experience plays a special role in prepping young adults to work in groups and more importantly, to find ways to do their tasks as productively as possible, leading to a sense of always trying to make things better and faster. And the third piece is the role academia plays in supporting thoughtful research.
2. Investment capacity – Israel is a viable market and there are many VC (ventur capital) firms that have taken hold in Israel, allowing for many opportunities to raise money for new projects. The government also infuses money into these businesses.
3. Entrepreneurial activity – The following picture illustrates some of the reasons why Israelis are so primed for this.

The elements that make Israelis primed for innovation.

Next, we heard from Natanel Gelenter, a cyber-security researcher and hacker, who focuses his research on developing new attacks online. In other words, instead of coming up with defenses against cyber attacks, he spends his time coming up with the next best attack, therefore, providing Israel the opportunity to develop defenses before an attack even occurs. He told us about the fascinating world of cyber security and the exciting opportunities for people like himself to engage in the intellectual challenge of this ongoing ‘cat and mouse game’, where new attacks and defenses need to be developed all the time, as technology is constantly changing. He spent some time walking us through the various types that occur online and a new attack that he has developed related to browsers (Safari, Firefox, etc.) and the ability to get personal information from people without them even knowing they’re giving that information to a hacker. It’s way too complicated to explain in this post, but it definitely reminded me to be as vigilant as possible when browsing online. He also gave us a few tips:

1. Never use public wi-fi when logging into important sites, such as your bank or other financial institution.
2. Use one browser for your sensitive information (financial institutions, etc.) and another browser for just browsing the internet and things that aren’t as sensitive. That way, he and other hackers can’t get all the information they want about you because it will be spread over multiple browsers.
3. Never open or click the ‘unsubscribe’ button when you get an e-mail from what looks like a shady business or person. Once you click a link, it’s too late – they’ve got you. Instead, just delete the e-mail or mark it as spam.

The third and final speaker was a representative from the government – a deputy director of the Office of the Chief Scientist (OCS). He explained the big picture of how the government supports people like Yaron and Natanel who have companies and who want to develop products and services that can benefit the country’s economy. The goal of the office is to strengthen the industry and support the new ideas that people have. The OCS gives out $400 million a year to business – from an idea that someone has and they want to try and develop that idea into a business, to other companies that are already established but want to expand. The OCS provides funds for R&D (research and development, creates incubator labs around the country to foster innovation, and they even have a program that supports young entrepreneurs as young as 13 and 14 years old!

Overall, it was an impressive afternoon at COMAS and really exposed us to the incredible array of creative ideas and solutions that are being developed in Israel. It’s no wonder that next to the United States, Israel has the second largest number of companies traded on the NASDAQ.

And the day wouldn’t be complete without a little exposure to the Jewish elements of this country…Purim is coming!

Israel’s Secular Yeshiva – BINA

Wednesday, March 2

Written by Rabbi Joel Nickerson

We woke up this morning with beautiful, warm weather in Tel Aviv, having spent the night at the David Intercontinental hotel, just across the street from the beaches along Mediterranean Ocean.

View from the hotel room looking out at the Mediterranean Ocean.

Looking East into the neighborhood of Neve Tzedek, one of the older neighborhoods in Tel Aviv.

Our first stop of the day was a place on the border of South Tel Aviv and Jaffa; a place called BINA. In Hebrew, ‘bina’ means ‘knowledge/wisdom’ and after the death of Yizhak Rabin, a bunch of kibbutzniks established BINA as the only secular yeshiva in Israel. At first, it was a place to teach teachers about the aspects of Jewish tradition that weren’t being taught in the public school system. You may think that Israeli children grow up with a deep understanding of Jewish texts and history, but the truth is, they learn very little. Besides some parts of Torah that they need to know for their final tests, their exposure is extremely minimal.   BINA’s goal is to help secular Israelis, mostly those in their teenage years, start to learn and appreciate Jewish texts while linking the learning to the important social justice work that needs to happen in the area around their property. Bina recently moved into property that was the first campus of Tel Aviv University. For years and years, the buildings remained abandoned and the park next to them was known as a place where drug deals and prostitution were commonplace. The Israeli government leased some of the land to BINA and while they don’t have money to upgrade the buildings significantly, they do have some outdoor space and some classrooms that they can use.

Entrance

Learning about the surrounding neighborhoods and the history of this park.

Some of the vegetable gardens that Bina students are creating.

Some students studying in the garden.

Some wild parrots.

Looking at the original buildings of Tel Aviv University.

The old buildings were abandoned for decades until Bina came along.

Bina provides a few programs for Israelis and foreign Jews. The two we heard about were their ‘gap year’ program for international students and their mechina program for Israelis. The Gap Year program provides an opportunity for international students to come and study at this yeshiva while living in group apartments and volunteering in the neighborhood. Students work with the elderly, spend time with the children of foreign workers who get little attention from their parents who must spend their days working hard to make a minimal amount of money. They also work with the refugee population who live in the area, mostly from African countries. Their other major program is a mechina program – a gap year for Israelis who finish high school and do not feel that they are ready to enter the IDF (army) right away. Israeli offers dozens of mechina programs to these 18 year old Israelis and some years ago, BINA was approved as one of those programs. Bina has about 50-60 Israelis who participate each year, living with each other in the neighborhood, studying Jewish texts, such as Talmud, which they were never exposed to in school, and spending significant time volunteering in South Tel Aviv.

Hearing from one American student, Noa (left) and one Israeli participant, Hadas (right) about their experiences at Bina.

We met two students, one American and one Israeli, who shared with us about their experiences in these two programs and the joy they found in not only volunteering in non-touristy sections of Tel Aviv (slum areas, essentially) but also studying Jewish texts and expanding their Jewish horizons. After meeting them, we participated in our own Talmud study session in one of the classrooms. Many in our group had not studied Talmud before and we had a wonderful discussion about a Talmudic story that was called ‘The Rabbi and the Ugly Man’. It’s a wonderfully structured story that reveals the challenge of forgiveness and reveals the negative impact of arrogance. Afterwards, we discussed the possibility of doing some more Talmud study once we get back to Los Angeles. As I mentioned to the group, studying Talmud brings a whole new perspective to studying Jewish texts that you don’t find when you only study the Torah itself.

 

Palestinian Refugee Camp and Ramallah

Tuesday, March 1

Written by Rabbi Joel Nickerson

Be thankful for what you have in your life.  That’s what I learned from today’s tour of the West Bank Al-Am’ari Palestinian Refugee Camp and the city of Ramallah (the capital of the Palestinian Authority and home of their leader, Mahmoud Abbas).  My brain is a little overwhelmed by the amount of information I’m trying to download, decipher, and decode and this post will not do it justice.  My goal right now is to just get a few thoughts down and let some of the pictures I took speak for themselves.

We left East Jerusalem with Rami Nazzal, founder of the Beyond Borders Tours, which takes people into the West Bank to see a world that few are exposed to on a stereotypical tourist trip to Israel.  Rami grew up in the West Bank and while he comes from a successful and well-known Palestinian family, he spent his youth hanging out with a tough crowd in the refugee camps.  Because of his family’s connections, he went to elementary school in Jerusalem with the children of diplomats and went to college in the United States.  He came back to Israel for a short bit, met his wife, and then moved back to the US where he lived for some years.  Only when his father begged him to return to Israel/Palestine did he come back to East Jerusalem.  Initially, he had no work but again, because of his family’s connections, he was able to secure work as a journalist for Time Magazine and later, for the New York Times.  He is currently a correspondent for the Times in East Jerusalem and the West Bank.  But his real love is leading these tours, for he feels he is able to provide insights into a world that most only read about in the papers.  Because of his excellent English, his understanding of both Israeli and Palestinian cultures, he is able to lead a very good tour.  Of course, he has his agenda and his perspective, but everyone you meet in Israel has their own perspective and opinions – that’s part of the beauty of this damaged and beautiful country.  By the way, the first Jew that Rami met was Rabbi Leonard Beerman, the late rabbi of Leo Baeck Temple in Jerusalem.  Rabbi Beerman hosted Rami and his parents one summer while Rami’s parents were teaching at UCLA (both are professors).

We drove through East Jerusalem to the checkpoint that leads into the West Bank Palestinian territories.  While there was a long line of cars waiting to come into Israel-proper, we had no trouble driving right through and into the territories.

The security border on our way to the check point.

The check point.

Seeing the security barrier beyond the check point, separating East Jerusalem from the West Bank.

Entering through the check point.

Traffic waiting to go into East Jerusalem.

Graffiti on the walls just inside the check point.

More graffiti.

The road through the West Bank.

Along the road.

Our first stop was the Al-Am’ari Refugee Camp.  It was one of the most depressing places I’ve ever been.  We learned that those who live in the refugee camps within the West Bank are treated by the Palestinian Authority as second-class citizens.  They are so abused economically and politically, that the Palestinian Authority security forces don’t even enter refugee camp areas.  If there is an accident or a problem within the camp, the people must bring their cars or their issue outside the camp before they call the security forces for support.  Therefore, each camp has created its own council, made up of residents of the camp (by the way, the camp we visited is only about 1.5 square miles and contains about 10,000 people!).  These council members help solve conflicts and issues that people have within the camps.  If a family is in need of financial assistance (more than 50% of West Bank residents live below the poverty line), the council members provide funds for them, often funds donated by wealthy supporters of the camp (there aren’t many of these supporters).

We met with one such council member, named Ahmed.  He was a little hazy in describing his past, but he did make it clear that he spent 21 years in Israeli prisons.  When we asked him what he did to deserve such a sentence, he responded with “I protested the occupation.”  We were left to guess what that actually means.  After a few minutes of sitting in the youth center (a small building near the entrance to the camp and full of trophies from the camp’s fencing and soccer teams – the soccer team from this camp is one of the best in the territories) and listening to some thoughts by Ahmed, we were taken on a tour of the part of the camp.  Let’s just say, these people live a miserable life.  No matter what your political view on the Arab/Israeli conflict, there is no doubt that the lifestyle of these families is unbelievably depressing and deprived.  Whether that is the fault of the corrupt Palestinian Authority or the result of Israeli ‘occupation’ is too much for us to cover in one blog post and is beyond the scope of my capacity to interpret this crazy and convoluted conflict.  Regardless, as we walked through the camp, meeting a few residents, watching as an entourage of young children grew in size around us, meandering through the decrepit streets and alleyways, seeing the graffiti and martyr posters on the walls, and listening to stories of residents, I became more and more aware of my blessed life.

The following are a variety of pictures from the refugee camp.  If you had an image in your mind that a refugee camp was a bunch of tents, you’re wrong.  There are people who have been living in this camp for their entire lives.  Keep in mind that ‘refugee’ is a term used by the Palestinian people to mean people who someday hope to return to their ancestral homes within the 1967 borders of Israel.  In other words, land that is completely controlled by Israel and is not technically ‘disputed’.  Even Ahmed said that if peace was attained, he would not need to go back to his ancestral home in Lodz (near Ben Gurion airport) and would be fine to live where he does now.

Click on the pictures to see them full size.

Graffiti on the street outside the refugee camp.

A reminder of how far it is to the most important place.

Entrance to the camp, accompanied by lots of trash.

The entrance to the refugee camp.

Entering the camp.

A memorial to the ‘martyrs’ who lost their lives during conflict with the Israelis.

A flag flying above on the fence.

Ahmed, one of the camp’s council members.

One of the posters (there were many throughout the camp) praising a ‘martyr’.

The refugee camp’s soccer team is one of the best in the West Bank territories.

All houses or municipal buildings include a picture of Arafat and Abbas. This camp has lost faith in Abbas and tends to praise Arafat (even though he has been dead for some years).

An attempt to make the area outside the youth center seem hopeful.

Outside the youth center.

Outside the youth center.

Building the new municipal building with the image of the Temple Mount by its side.

We continued along the road in the camp.

Look at all the bikes stacked inside…

Posters of ‘martyrs’ on the street.

Our entourage of children.

Rami (our guide) talking about the children who live in the camp.

A stairway to nowhere. Seems symbolic to me.

A woman whose son was injured by the Israeli Defense Force sharing her story with us.

One of the side streets.

We enter an alleyway, which also happens to be a general walkway for many residents.

Some of the children of the camp.

How they dry their clothes.

More children.

Electricity is limited and is also installed in ways that are not safe – these wires criss-cross all the streets and are not safe.

Since land is limited, most families build up and in creative ways.

Notice the gun on the left.

Disturbing, to say the least.

The inside of a mosque that is under construction.

Many pictures, like this one, have weapons photoshopped in to the pictures to make the people look more menacing.

Some of the residents.

A memorial to a young man who was killed by IDF soldiers.

You can see how families just build up and up.

The inside of one of the homes.

A bedroom.

A typical kitchen.

A child’s room.

A living area.

This is inside the house – you can see how they build up and hang clothes in the stairwell.

At the UN facility in the camp, complete with bullet holes.

Along the street.

The sign doesn’t really match the setting.

All refugee camps have the symbol of the key on their entrance as a reminder that one day, all these people will return to their ancestral homes within the land of Israel and use the keys that have been passed down to them throughout the generations.

After our tour of the refugee camp, we boarded our bus once again.  By the way, we had to switch buses before we went on this journey – we had to use an East Jerusalem bus, not our usual Israeli bus; and our tour guide, Einav, couldn’t come with us because if you’re Israeli, you have to sign a waiver when you go into the Palestinian sections of the West Bank saying that you understand that no one will necessarily come to rescue you if something goes wrong.  For good reasons, Einav decided that he’d take a rain check.

Rami took us on a tour of the surrounding area (near the refugee camp), including a stop outside a Jewish settlement that was literally down the road from a wealthy Palestinian neighborhood.  He introduced us to the owner of a home that told us about the settlers and IDF soldiers who threw rocks at his home and broke his windows.

A Jewish settlement on a hill amongst the Palestinian villages of the West Bank.

The settlement walls in the background, with a beautiful (and empty) Palestinian home in the foreground.

An artistic palm tree in the home of a Palestinian family down the road from the settlement, showing canisters from the IDF.

The palm tree with shells and other things that were shot by the IDF.

A bullet hole in the man’s door.

Broken windows that were created by Jewish settlers from down the road.

More broken windows.

Our tour through the area showed us large business centers, beautiful homes, the headquarters of the Palestinian Authority, Prime Minister Abbas’s home, and even the Chinese embassy in the territories.  Most of these things were in the city of Ramallah, the capital of the territories and known for its wealthy Palestinians (which only make up about 3-5% of the Palestinian population).  It was a reminder of the corruption and failed distribution of wealth among this community.  Our tour ended with a lavish lunch in the most upscale neighborhood of Ramallah.  After that, we took a scenic and beautiful drive along an area of the West Bank that few Israelis (and even fewer foreigners) ever see.

All the homes have black water tanks on the roofs to store water.

Sheep crossing the road near Ramallah.

One of PM Abbas’s homes.

A nice business building in Ramallah

The headquarters of the Palestinian Authority – a building that has upset many Palestinians because of its lavishness.

Our lunch table.

Wealthy Palestinians enjoying a meal.

Coke in the territories.

The name of the restaurant where we ate.

At the restaurant.

The restaurant was like an oasis compared to its surroundings.

The Chinese embassy across from the restaurant.

The hills of the West Bank.

Along the road.

On the way out of the territories.

Palestinians crossing back into the West Bank from Israel – at the border where we entered back into Israel.

It was an intense and enlightening day.  I could write much more, but the day has been long and exhausting and it’s already very late.  As I mentioned in the beginning of this post.  Today was a wonderful reminder of just how blessed I am.  I recommend that everyone takes a tour similar to ours.  It is not for the faint of heart and yet, it adds a layer to the complexity of this conflict that can’t be found anywhere else.