Arrival and Shabbat Shalom

          The flight to Israel was uneventful.  I sat between a 14 year old boy from Miami who was going to Israel with his father and brother for the first time.  He attends a day school in Miami and was excited.  On my other side was a young man from Salt Lake City who had gone on a Taglit Birthright trip a few years ago and was going to further explore the country and his own Jewish identity.

          Upon arrival at Ben Gurion before I even got to passport control I ran in to my barber, Bobby Cardaro, and his wife Leslie, who are on the Federation’s Mission.  When I got to passport control I saw others from the mission.  Their flight had arrived a bit before mine and they were off to Tel Aviv.  We will meet again in Modi’in on Wednesday.

          Picked up my rental car and drove to Kibbutz Gezer where I am spending Shabbat with my dear friends Rabbi Miri Gold and David Leichman. 

My brother Rob arrived a bit later and it is wonderful to be together.  A little later I spoke with Shalom Tzvi (my grandson) who is on a school trip.  It was special to hear that he is having a wonderful time. I’ll get to see him after Shabbat in Jerusalem. 

          One more connection from home was receiving a phone call from Rabbi Shaya Kilimnick who is in Jerusalem.  We’ll try to get together.

          I went to Kabbalat Shabbat services with Miri and a family who had come to celebrate the b’nei mitzvah of their son and daughter.  Also with us was a Presbyterian minister, Rev. Dirk Ficca, who is in Israel to try and figure out a way to bridge a gap in the Presbyterian Church between various factions in regards to Israel.

At the Shabbat dinner table besides Rev Ficca, David, Miri Rob and me, was David’s father, his son Arishai and his girlfriend Lauren and cousins Mickey and Linda, who spend ½ a year living in Karmei Yosef. Ficca’s peaceful and thoughtful manner was encouraging.  Most of the Shabbat table discussion centered on the issues of various perspectives towards Israel and the Palestinians. A lot of this surrounds the pro-BDS (boycott-divestment-sanctions) vote by the Presbyterians and the BDS movement in general. We all agreed that there are at least two parts to BDS.  The less offensive to many are those who want to boycott the Occupied Territories, ie. The West Bank, in order to end the occupation and bring about steps towards a peace process.  The other perspective, which is highly resented even by many Jews and Israelis in the “Peace Camp” are those who support BDS in order to delegitimize Israel as a Jewish state with Jewish sovereignty.

          Ficca was also interested to hear of the Jewish-Arab (Palestinian) contacts between people.  He was interested to hear David’s description of his numerous Palestinian Israeli friends including his best friend Samir Dabit.  Besides the stimulating conversation the food was wonderful as well as a bottle of Harel Cabernet Sauvignon 2010, from Clos de Gat. It was all topped off with many flavors of David’s special ice cream, “Leichcream.”  Finally my exhaustion took over.