Skip to main content

Bruchim Haba'im

On February 19, eighteen members of the South Bay Jewish community arrived in Israel for a mission of solidarity. Rabbis and professionals, past and current lay leaders from synagogues, schools, Unexeptable, and Jewish Silicon Valley joined together to bear witness, visit the sick and comfort the mourners. This blog will feature posts from participants to document and share what we have witnessed and experienced.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Battle of Sderot: October 7, 2023 – a.k.a. The Fall of the Sderot Police Station

  Sderot crossing. Photo: Golan Sabag (aurora-israel.co.il) Prologue Sderot means boulevard A beautiful, wide thoroughfare, lined with trees Boulevard comes from bulwark Something that protects you from danger   Police protect the polis (city) The public, people, and property “The police station is the safest place in the city” A bulwark against outside threats   Shai is a municipal police officer, in Sderot, Israel Shai starts us off with two rules: 1.      If there is a red alert (siren) the protected space (shelter) is over there à (danger still threatens) 2.      Do not record, photograph, or film (people are being killed in these scenes we’re about to see) *** Shabbat morning, 7 th of October, Simchat Torah These are the first five minutes When there is a siren, all personnel immediately go to the police station They need to supplement the on-duty force 6:45 AM An officer fro...

Kikar HaChatufim - Hostages Square

By Josh Berkenwald, Rabbi of Congregation Sinai in San Jose, CA Our last stop for today, Tuesday, February 20, was at   Kikar HaChatufim , Hostages Square, in front of the Tel Aviv Art Museum.     What a powerful and heavy place it is. Filled with signs, posters, artwork, personal messages, and protesters.   The long, empty Shabbat table is still arranged for the hostages who are still missing. A digital billboard counts the seconds since they were taken on October 7. One art installation,  The Tunnel , by Roni Levevi, “simulates the terrible reality into which our hostages have been thrown, while a light at the end of the tunnel is a beacon of hope.” It is covered, inside and out, with messages demanding their return and prayers for their protection. A group of women from the organization  Women Wage Peace  stand with signs. They gather every day from 5 – 6:30 pm to demand the return of the hostages at any cost. As we arrived, one older woman carried ...

Miracle at Yad Mordechai

The Miracle at Yad Mordechai Rabbi David A. Kunin, Congregation Beth David   On Tuesday we journeyed to the South to better understand the horror that overtook Israel and the Jewish people on October 7 th .  As the trip was planned, I wondered if visits to the south would add much beyond a prurient almost tourism.  But this could not be further from the truth.  Yes, we all had heard the stories, and seen the videos on our screens, and they are still with us, even after all this time. Yet, much of the impact was lost even in the words, photography, and videos shown on the media during the last 5 months.  It was necessary to be there and bear witness and to remember the horrors, and the heroes and victims.    A bit more than 75 years kibbutz Yad Mordechai survived a siege during Israel’s war of Independence.  Rather than falling to the Egyptian Army’s onslaught, the kibbutz survived, forcing the Egyptians to bypass the strat...