34 | JUNE 24 • 2021 

15 Cities; 3 Days

I went to 15 cities in three days: 
My quarantine day in Jerusalem; 
Netanya and Ramat Poleg; then Tel 
Aviv (meeting the mayor of Umm 
al-Fahm); Lod: where I saw a torn, 
scruffy city that has not given up the 
goal of the 70% Jews and 30% Arabs 
building a flourishing city together 
— with the help over the years of 
Detroit philanthropists; Kfar Kassim 

— a charming Arab town that tried to 
help me find my destination, Givat 
Haviva International School; Tel Aviv 
— the Namal, the Old Port — one of 
the coolest places on earth; night 
in Hadera and then to Nazareth, to 
meet the mayors of Nazareth and 
Migdal HaEmek; then on to Migdal 
HaEmek “Shehechiyanu” restaurant 
to meet local community activists 
— Jews and Arabs — working in 

Nof HaGalil, and small Bedouin 
and Jewish towns to build a shared 
society for all. Then to the small 
Arab town of Manshiya Zabda to 
meet with local leaders — Jewish 
and Arab — from all over the Jezreel 
Valley, in the Al-Ro’aa special needs 
Arab school. Of course, how could I 
go to Israel without visiting relatives 
in Modiin, and then on to the Ben 
Gurion Airport.

ground, Yoav Raban, Naomi Miller 
Rockowitz and Noa Noff. Together, 
this incredible team set up a miracle 
trip for me for my two days in search 
of shared society.
I am also deeply grateful to Consul 
Daniel Aschheim of the Israeli 
Consulate to the Midwest, who 
helped set up a great meeting with 
the mayor of Umm al-Fahm, the 
third largest Arab city in Israel.
I came to Israel to show solidarity; 
to show that we in Detroit care about 
our Jewish brothers and sisters in 
Israel and for all those in Israel — Jewish, 
Muslim, Christian or Druze — who are 
building an incredible state together. 
What I found in Israel was inspiration: 
People who were not giving up on shared 
society in Lod, despite the violence and 
the breakdown; mayors, teachers, heads 
of schools, community activists, high-tech 
folks and entrepreneurs, all committed to 
Jews and Arabs making the modern Jewish 
state work. 

I came back energized and inspired that 
we, too, in Detroit, can work together with 
diverse communities and build a shared 
society right here in the Motor City. Israel is 
a land of miracles; the Galilee is a region of 
wonders — from the days of Elijah to today.
May the great accomplishments of shared 
society and mutual respect that I found 
amongst the students of the Al-Qastal 
Arab elementary school in Nazareth, to the 
high school students — Arab, Jewish and 

Christian — in the International 
School of Givat Haviva permeate our 
divided world and teach us how people can 
work together despite different narratives 
and different histories.
Israel with all its challenges, external and 
internal, will always be the land that pushes 
us to be better, to dream bigger and to be 
proud of who we are as Jews — Jews who 
are a light onto the entire world. 

Rabbi Asher Lopatin is executive director of the JCRC/

AJC.

TOP LEFT: Arab Mulsim fourth grad-
ers. In the back right is Head of School, 
Dr. Sirin Magli-Knana. ABOVE: In 
front of the Arab Israeli elementary 
school, Al-Qastal in Nazareth with 
Samia Basul, head of the Education 
Department of Nazareth; Samia Abu-
Alrab, Deputy Mayor of Nazareth; 
Lior Scher, programming director 
for “A New Way,” which sponsored 
the shared society; and Noa Noff, 
Partnership Director, Central Galilee. 
LEFT: Adorable kids from the Al-Qastal 
school.

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