Late Wednesday night, Mindy Zeitzer, Jewish Federation’s Chair of the Board, and I returned from five days in Israel. Once the ceasefire was announced, we felt it was important to go to Israel to see firsthand the special projects our community funds, along with the Hand in Hand School (integrated Jewish-Arab schools), the Jewish Agency for Israel (JAFI) and JDC. We traveled around the country to meet with each organization and hear about the incredible challenges they have faced since October 2023. We should be very proud that our community’s dollars have been used effectively and with great impact.

Instead of providing a “travel log," I thought I would share key insights and observations about our trip:

Everyone thanked us for being there on the ground in Israel.

The number one priority for Israelis is for every hostage, alive or dead, to be returned to Israel. Our first stop upon arrival was "Hostages Square" in Tel Aviv. It was challenging to see all the hostage posters and "count up" clock showing how long the hostages have been held. As one person shared, “Returning the hostages is the essential social contract Israel has with its people.”

Right before we left the country, Israelis learned the fate of Oded Lifshitz, Shiri Bibas, and her two children, Kfir and Ariel Bibas, ages nine months and four years old when they were taken alive on October 7. Yesterday, Israelis were shaken even more. The bodies of Oded, Kfir, and Ariel were returned and identified (forensics show the two children were "brutally murdered" in captivity just a month after their abduction). While Israeli authorities were assured the fourth body returned was that of Shiri Bibas, investigators concluded this is inaccurate, and the identity of the body remains unknown. Heartbreaking!

Israeli President Isaac Herzog mourned their return. “Agony. Pain. There are no words. Our hearts—the hearts of an entire nation—lie in tatters. On behalf of the State of Israel, I bow my head and ask for forgiveness. Forgiveness for not protecting you on that terrible day. Forgiveness for not bringing you home safely,” he wrote.

Six living hostages are scheduled to be released tomorrow. They should ALL be home.

We heard repeatedly, the country must rebuild – on a physical plant level, mental level, social level (especially between Israeli Arabs and Jews), and trust level (of the government and military). The last will be the most difficult.

We visited the north, including driving across the Lebanese border. Of the 250,000 people who live in the area, 70,000 are still evacuated. People are eligible to return to their homes starting next month. There is great concern that many will never go back. The Mayor of the Upper Galilee wore a t-shirt that read – “Our Home! Return to the Galilee!”

Brigadier General (ret.) Ilan Levy guided our tour of the north. What made it so interesting was that his 21-year-old son, Roy, who just completed his army service four months ago, joined us. Roy told us he was supposed to go out with his friends that day but sharing his war experiences with us (Americans) was even more important. Ilan, who served in the military for 36 years, sounded tired, pragmatic, and yearning for peace, while Roy was jubilant in his Israeli pride and its military prowess. For whatever the reason, I expected the reverse.

While on the Lebanese border, we heard about the evacuation of Kibbutz Sassa on October 8, 2023 (too many people do not realize Hezbollah started bombing the north of Israel one day after the Hamas attack in the south). The next day we visited our grantee Dror Israel at Kibbutz Ravid in the Galilee. The kibbutz already has its own regional high school, yet in less than two months, modular units and full infrastructure (water pipes, electricity, etc.) were brought to Kibbutz Ravid and a new high school opened for 350 students from Kibbutz Sassa. It is amazing how they could literally build a new campus in 58 days. 

In Israel, when you want a brutally honest opinion – ask your taxi driver. One said to us, “Apparently, it is Israel’s job to be the protector of the world – that should be the role of the United States. The US and world should thank Israel and Bibi for what it has done with Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran, and the regime change in Syria.”

Another said, “Bibi has no reason to end the war. No political incentive and no moral incentive. It will not end until he is gone. We need new leadership now.”

In discussing challenges within Israel between Jews and Arabs, one person shared, “Israeli Jews want less integration as trust is very low, yet Israeli Arabs are seeking greater integration. They do not want to be associated with Hamas.” Many wonder if Israel can return to where things were on October 6, when there was more a sense of a “shared society.”

We met two Ukrainian teenagers who came to Israel without their parents in October 2022 to escape the war there. They came speaking no Hebrew and no English. They live at Kfar Galim, a youth aliyah village and boarding school we fund. Can you imagine – they left their homes due to the war with Russia and one year later they have to live through war in Israel? These girls were so impressive, including both are now fluent in Hebrew and English.

On the 500th day in captivity for the hostages, we visited Kibbutz Be’eri on the Gaza border where 102 people were killed, 31 kidnapped, and seven still currently held in Gaza. It was devastating to see the homes Hamas destroyed and burned -- watch this video. The kibbutz is already rebuilding -- the question is whether people will return?

We had the privilege of sitting with Dr. Ofer Merin, CEO of Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem. Beyond running the hospital, he serves as Israel’s Military Field Hospital Director (Israel’s famous response efforts to natural disasters around the world). He shared with us his experiences during the war, including the medical treatment of terrorists at the hospital who killed Jews on October 7. He also explained his role as one of three medical professionals responsible for the painstaking effort to determine whether hostages in Gaza were dead or alive. You can read more here.

Most impactful and memorable was meeting Millet Ben Haim, a survivor of the Nova Music Festival. She shared her harrowing story of first trying to drive out of the festival, learning the roads were blocked by terrorists. Then, she and others abandoned the car and ran and hid lying silently, buried under brush, with terrorists all around for over six hours before finally being rescued by a civilian. She told us she has nightmares every night. The heartwarming news is that she got engaged two weeks ago.

At the end of our meeting, Millet, a strong and brave woman, shared three intimate thoughts:

While hiding she told us she “prayed for a rocket to hit her” instead of being taken by a terrorist.

“The mantra following the Holocaust became ‘Never Again.’ My generation’s mantra is ‘We will dance again.’”

She ended emphatically, “I will not let them change my heart!”

This trip was different than my visit in December 2023, when the war was only two months old. Today, people are tired. Israelis want the hostages home and to find a sense of normalcy – if that is even possible. At the same time, they are resilient. Despite all the challenges, and there are many, they continue to push forward. May we see peaceful days ahead.

If you want to see and experience Israel, join us April 27 - May 4. You can learn more here.

Shabbat shalom.