APRIL 6 • 2023 | 13
“IT WILL TRANSFORM YOU, THEY SAID.
BRING KLEENEX. EVERYONE WHO
GOES TO ISRAEL ENDS UP CRYING.”
continued on page 14
deep understanding, love and
respect for both religions), I
wasn’t expecting a “spiritual”
transformation, nor did I
expect anything to move me
to tears.
I was wrong.
DAY 1: HAVA NAGILA!
Due to the late arrival of the
flight, our mission trip orga-
nizers gave us a generous 10
minutes to freshen up at the
David Intercontinental Hotel
after the long trip before we
headed to our first adventure
— dinner and entertainment
at “Floor 49” atop the Azrieli
Towers in Tel Aviv.
Israeli “dignitaries”
Theodore Herzl, David Ben-
Gurion, Golda Meir and
Moshe Dayan were in full
costume and schmoozing with
the crowd, many who looked
dazed and tired but happy to
be in Israel at long last.
I started to get to know
my fellow mission-goers,
our Israeli guides and secu-
rity personnel (one of whom
would become a good friend
during the trip). I had a
friendly face at the table,
Yiftah Leket, Detroit’s shali-
ach (Israeli emissary).
In the meantime, waiters
kept bringing food to the table
— five, six courses, maybe
more. I lost count — every
dish was more delicious than
the last. Then the Ash Layla
Band started playing and peo-
ple began to dance. I ventured
out to the floor and saw some
people I knew. I didn’t really
know the steps, but they were
easy enough to follow. The
band played “Hava Nagila”
and as we moved in a circle,
I could see nothing but smil-
ing faces and felt an electric
energy pulsating through
the room. That was spiritual
moment No. 1 for me, a high-
light of the entire trip. I was
a part of this circle, and it felt
like a family celebration.
DAY 2: EXPLORING
TEL AVIV
After I collapsed in bed the
night before, my phone alarm
rang all too early for an Israeli
breakfast in the hotel before
we embarked on a walking
tour of Tel Aviv. I did not
know what an “Israeli break-
fast” was until I arrived in the
dining room. Friends, it was
the biggest buffet I had ever
seen: fruits, vegetables, salads,
breads, pastries, cheese, eggs
and smoked fish — endless
choices of each, including
shakshuka, which I had never
had before. (Israelis who come
to America must be sorely dis-
appointed when they find out
what an American continental
breakfast is.)
After breakfast, we met
our first guest speaker,
Ambassador Mark Regev,
former Israeli ambassador in
London and chair of the Abba
Eban Institute for Diplomacy
and Foreign Relations at
Reichman University. He
spoke about the challenges
currently facing Israel.
We had arrived in the coun-
try during a historic moment
— when much of the country
was demonstrating against
proposed judicial reforms by
the Netanyahu government.
Regev, a masterful diplomat,
explained the controversy
without taking sides, and did
his best to answer our groups’
many questions.
The weather was gray, drab
and rainy when we got off the
bus in Tel Aviv to follow our
JOHN HARDWICK/FEDERATION
A section of the mural in the Shalom Tower, Tel Aviv