Our morning begins with a debriefing by Yizhar Hess. Between 2007-2020 Yizhar served as the Executive Director of the Masorti Movement in Israel. Yizhar also coordinated our last Cantors Assembly leadership mission in the summer of 2022 (more on that later). Three major takeaways from our interactions:

Yizhar mentions that we are the 4th Solidarity mission of Masorti (Conservative) leaders since October 7. He reframes the significance of us being in Israel at this moment, our mission, in how it relates to zionism. In 1897, the Zionist Movement was a minority- the first congress only had 207 participants. 1903 the Kishinev pogrom. This wasn’t a large pogrom by any scale, but the key to this moment was that a delegation was sent after the tragedy, a delegation that included the great Hebrew poet Bialik, who wrote Be-ir Heharageh. In retelling the story, it galvanized the Zionist movement. Stories, real life stories, matter to changing the direction of a narrative. We are now associated as tellers of this unbelievable story (remember to believe the unbelievable).

 The second update was on Yizhar’s family. He is the only civilian in his family. For his oldest son, one week he was in Nepal, the next week on the beach in Gaza. His younger son is in the IDF and his wife is a colonel in the IDF. Yizhar reminds us that Israel had been in turmoil BEFORE the war- every Saturday night hundreds of thousands protesting in the streets, fighting for that holy balance of democracy and Jewish statehood. And it was through this turmoil that people felt they were protecting Zionism, holding flags, having ownership over what Zionism is.

The third portion, which was the focus of our talks with Yizhar 18 months ago, is the strengthening of the diasporic pluralistic voice of the people. With Mercaz (elections may be in early 2025), American Jews can have a voice 100% by voting for Masorti Mercaz. The PR for Masorti must be this fact and the fact that all of these values people are fighting for- showing resilience in the battle for inclusivity and democratic idealogy, we can be stakeholders, as American Jews, in this endeavor. We can influence how the Gaza envelope will be repaired, how egalitarianism can matter for the Jewish homeland.

We head over to two schools in Jerusalem that now house what’s known as a Hamal, a civilian command center. We meet Adir Schwartz, the 29 year old who is both head of the largest political party in Jerusalem (hitorirut) and the director of this Hamal operation. By the end of October 7, Adir had already plugged in the first laptop on the fifth floor of this building to mobilize a movement. The theater is a newer construction, meaning it has shelters..and soon Adir and his team took over the entire building. Through the organization Lev Echad, this group of volunteers created an organization of 20 departments as they heard the needs of 3 key demographics: the 30,000 evacuees coming to Jerusalem, Soldiers, and the Jerusalem community (some 10,000 will be directly affected by this war). These departments include mental health, storage, transportation (getting out of harms way, delivering food), hot food, blood drives, and so on. Adir also describes the plan to not create dependency – the direct goods and services we are seeing will eventually turn into a voucher system and eventually a discount system before its entirely phased out, b’h, in a few months time.

People want to reclaim their agency, and Lev Echad is helping to do that in a number of ways. The first feeling one can have is powerlessness, but through Hamal, they are able to participate. Adir reminds us that the Hebrew word “Kavod” is not just honor, but human dignity. We see this in a “store” called Otef, meaning “embrace.” It’s a store, but it’s free. The experience returns agency to all who enter. 

Adir is quick to thank all of the volunteers. When the government (in this case the municipality) finally came in to help, the volunteers were running the show- they knew what to do, what to ask, what to say; many of them were then hired by the municipality to continue in this role. 

On one hand, I hear a common positive theme when Adir describes how all of the rival political movements in Jerusalem joined together to create this movement. Yet on the other side, Adir calls the Hotels in Jerusalem “63 refugee camps with a lobby.” Boredom is the #1 problem for refugees and evacuees…and I don’t hear a complete answer to this problem. For every story of communal resilience, I’m more saddened at the lack of access to services (at least under this current government).

After a short lunch break we head to the Old Train Station for a soundcheck for our concert with Hila Ben David. It was wonderful to have members of my family there (who I had never met before!) and to see my colleagues, Hila, and the band give their all. You could see the joy on people’s faces, and as I remarked before one of my favorite songs, Rikma Enoshit- we are all one tissue: when I hurt, you hurt; when you find joy, I find joy. May we all find joy and comfort in the days. Video forthcoming

And finally, a relief. As we walked back to the hotel, I learned that Amit Shani was released today alongside 11 other hostages. Amit was partnered with our congregation to add special prayers for these past few weeks. In a cruel layer of misinformation, Amit’s information was included in group from a few days ago, but tonight he heads home. We pray until they are ALL home #BringThemHome