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

