TN Thoughts

Israel: I Just Can't Get Enough

At Israel's Yad Eliezer, a food bank that

Fallon Garfield Turner
Community View

makes daily donations to thousands of
Israeli families in need, are, standing,

from left: Ben Shipper (West Bloomfield,
U-M); David Devries (Farmington Hills,

Ann Arbor

I

way.
My first trip to Israel was a Birthright-
esque senior class trip with the Frankel
Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit
class of 2004. My second trip, Hasbara
Fellowships, was after my first year of
college. It was a very advantageous trip,
as I learned how to advocate for Israel on
campus.
After these two incredible trips, I could
not figure out how to get back to Israel
on my minuscule student budget.
As a sophomore at the University of
Michigan, I began to feel lost because
I was surrounded by so many different
cultures and ethnicities. On a campus of
approximately 40,000 students, it was a
bit challenging for me to cultivate a strong
Jewish identity. While searching to find a
Jewish niche for myself, I realized that I
was already embarking on a spiritual jour-
ney at Machon L'Torah's Jewish Resource
Center (JRC) on campus.
This journey began after beginning
Jewish Awareness America's (JAAM)
Maimonides Leaders Fellowship where I
connected with an extraordinary group
of Jewish students and rabbis. After three
years at U-M, I finally found a place to
learn, to socialize, to enjoy a free Shabbat
meal and, most of all, I found an inexpen-
sive way to get back to Israel! I was look-
ing for a post-Birthright trip and I found
exactly what I wanted.
Following that very inspirational semes-
ter of Maimonides, I attended my first
JAAM Israel trip last May with Rabbi Fully
Eisenberger. The trip was so incredible that

Women's from page B1

read a Torah commentary written by men;
for the longest time, that's all we had. So
why should anyone ask whether men
should read a commentary written by
women?
If a Torah commentary sheds light on
the biblical text and its enduring meaning,
should anyone wonder about its relevance
for both women and men? If a commentary
showcases the most up-to-date research on
the Bible and ancient Israel, offers insight-
ful readings of the biblical text and wrestles
with its complexities, should anyone doubt
its value for all those who study Torah?
The new commentary does not seek to

B2

U-M); Danny Levy (West Bloomfield,

n the past four years, I've been to
Israel four times and each experi-
ence has been very unique in its own

January 31 • 2008

Columbia College in Chicago); Josh Apel
(Huntington Woods, U-M); Cory Kay

(Ohio); Eric Awerbuch (West Bloomfield,

Michigan State University); Ben Golsky

(Farmington Hills, MSU); Rabbi Shneur
Steinberg (Oak Park, U-M); Eric Cohn

(University of Oklahoma); a Yad Eliezer
volunteer on far right, bottom row,

Josh Cohen (West Bloomfield, study-

ing in Israel for the year); Rabbi Fully
Eisenberger (Oak Park, U-M).

Left: In the Judean Desert, Stefani Silberstein, Natalie Perach and Fallon Garfield-

Turner, all of Farmington Hills, U-M; Sara Kahan of Bloomfield Hills, MSU; and Nicole
Perach of Farmington Hills, MSU

Right: At their engagement party, Jeff Gross of West Bloomfield and Rachel

Imershein of New York City, both U-M students

I extended my stay in Israel for nearly four
months. In those four months, I learned
about my Jewish roots, I volunteered for
Save A Child's Heart and Magen David
Adom, and I traveled across the country to
meet family members for the first time. I
enjoyed the trip so much that I went again
in December for my winter break with

Rabbi Fully and Rabbi Shneur Steinberg.
We spent time in the serene Jerusalem
hills, embracing our heritage and engaging
the great texts of our tradition. We learned
from world-class speakers who explored
the depths of Judaism and the secrets of
the ancient Jewish homeland. We studied
our past, challenged our present and chart-

supplant existing Torah commentaries but
to supplement them, adding an array of
new voices to our collective conversation
about the Torah.
How is the publication of this com-
mentary a turning point? One answer to
that question became clear when the panel
ended and I spoke to one of our authors,
a Bible professor who wrote one of the
Central Commentaries in Leviticus.
The professor said she did not fully
appreciate the significance of this project
until she taught the commentary she wrote
to the sisterhood group at her local syna-
gogue. She explained that for the first time,
many of the women saw themselves as
part of the implicit audience of the Torah.

They were no longer bystanders listening
in on a conversation aimed at someone
else. Instead, they sensed that the Torah
was speaking to and about them. They
were able to see how the text was relevant
to them as contemporary women and how
their lives as women were relevant to the
interpretation of the biblical text.
On a literal level, a watershed is an area
of land that channels all the streams and
rainfall to a common outlet. This is, in
fact, an ideal metaphor for A Women's
Commentary.
This volume gathers five forms of exege-
sis into a single location. It collects the
wisdom of several hundred Jewish women
— scholars, clergy, poets and other writers

ed our future in a place super-charged with
inspiration and stocked with exceptionally
interesting and stimulating individuals.
I was given the opportunity to engage
in captivating discussions and debates
about my beliefs with students from
around the country. Two U-M students and
Maimonides graduates, Rachel Imershein
and Jeff Gross, even got engaged on our
trip and we had a big engagement party
for them.
The opportunities for discovery and
exploration were endless as I was provided
with intellectual and spiritual stimulation
that I have brought back to Michigan and
incorporated into my Jewish life. I cannot
fathom a better, more fulfilling spiritual
journey than this past trip to Israel, and
I recommend the trip to all students who
have already participated birthright. ❑

Information on JAAM: Contact Rabbifully@
gmail.com or visit www.JAAMUM.com.

Fallon Garfield-Turner is a senior at University
of Michigan's School of Nursing and a program
coordinator for JAAM.

— into one place. It assembles the writings
of Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist,
Orthodox and secular Jews into a common
source.
As women and men study its words, it
has the potential to bring people together,
enriching our evolving understanding of
our most sacred text. ❑

Rabbi Andrea L. Weiss is assistant professor
of Bible at the Hebrew Union College Jewish

Institute of Religion in New York and associate
editor of "The Torah: A Women's Commentary."

It was initiated and funded by the Women of

Reform Judaism and published by URJ Press.