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in
the

Passages Israel

From religions to
terrorism, African
American students
take in all sides
of Israel.

Mark Jacobs

Special to the
Jewish News

Top: Mark Jacobs
with some of the
students on the trip.
RIGHT: Students in Jerusalem.

I

write this article at Ben-Gurion airport
in Tel Aviv. Soon I will be boarding a
plane home after a 12-day trip through-
out Israel. But the trip is hardly the typical
trip American Jews take to Israel. I have
been part of the faculty for 80 African
American college students who went to
Israel to build bridges of understanding
between the U.S. and Israel as well as to
connect with their Christian biblical roots.
The group is sponsored by Passages
Israel, sometimes referred to as “Birthright
for Christians.” They send more than 1,000
students a year to Israel. In their mission
statement, they proudly proclaim that
“Israel is a force of good in the region and
the world.”
I was invited to join the faculty because
of my involvement with AIPAC’s “African
American Outreach” division. With
Passages, my job was to get to know the
students and then, when I return, help the
organization develop curriculum so the
students can stay connected to Israel and
Judaism. A tall order, yes, but a privilege
and an honor to undertake.
I’m a firm believer that Jews must reach
out to non-Jews. There are only 15 million
of us in a world of 7 billion people, so we
had better foster good relations outside
of our tiny community. And a strong alli-
ance with African Americans — a people
also victimized by unspeakable crimes and
injustices throughout history — makes
perfect sense. It’s a natural, and I’m proud
to do my part.
The students are very bright, inquisitive
and kind. Each was hand-picked by their
pastor as someone likely to be a future

leader — a pastor, professional, lawmaker,
entrepreneur. Our Israeli guide, Tal Mageed
from Jerusalem, and I are the only Jews on
the bus. At first, I admit, that was an odd
feeling, but that quickly dissipated as I
came to know and appreciate each student.

A NEW IMPRESSION

Their initial knowledge of Israel (rather,
lack of it) reflects the sparse, half-truth
bias that often makes its way into
America: that Israel is a big, bad, apartheid
state with a tenuous claim to its own land.

Yes, many believe, Israel has its biblical
roots, but its modern-day goodness and
right to even exist is debatable.
Israel’s “brand” — if we’re really being
honest — is badly tarnished, perhaps irrevo-
cably to many non-Jews.
So, visits to Israel, exposure to the facts
on the ground, face-to-face relationships
and constant education are the only ways
to address this challenge. Passages, under
the brilliant leadership of Scott Phillips, a
former Christian AIPAC staff member who
led Christian Outreach there, has carefully
crafted a very strategic itinerary.
It was heavily Christian at first
(Nazareth, Galilee, Stations of the Cross,
baptisms in the Jordan River) and then
a shift to Jewish experiences (a kibbutz
outside of the Gaza Strip, the Golan
Heights, Shabbat dinner at the home of
an Orthodox family, the Western Wall, Yad
Vashem and ending with the singing of
“Hatikvah” at Independence Hall, in the
very room where Ben-Gurion declared
Israel’s statehood).
Interspersed throughout the trip was
an impressive flow of dynamic speakers:
an Israeli peace negotiator, an Orthodox
scholar, a Palestinian journalist, an
Ethiopian Israeli woman who served in the
Knesset, a panel of IDF officers, a startup
entrepreneur and a representative of a
clinic that treats PTSD.
Tal and I are constantly telling the stu-
dents things they had never heard before
and are stunned to learn — that there are
Palestinian schools named after suicide
bombers, that terror tunnels from Gaza
continue to be dug, that when enemy

continued on page 18

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July 20 • 2017

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