Sukkat Shalom Reform Synagogue

ROS ELLIS NOVEMBER 2009

I have recently returned from Israel where I joined a JNF (Jewish National Fund) tour. I haven’t been to Israel since 1981 and I was very keen to see what has been going on there over the years and to visit some of the projects that I have supported through the JNF.

I thought I would share some of my experiences with you, although, to be honest, it was such a wonderful tour taking in so many places and meeting such interesting and committed people that I hardly know where to begin.

So here is a snapshot of the highlights.

*A visit to one of the main IDF Air Force bases near Haifa , where we saw F16’s close up and met some of the fabulous youngsters learning to service and maintain these aircraft…..we spoke to some of them just 19/20 years old with such responsible jobs. They are the support teams of the Israeli Air Force and learn about aircraft, aircraft mechanics and battle maintenance. They were delightful and so proud to serve their country. It was inspiring to meet them and chat to them.

*We went to Katzrin on the Golan Heights…I was last there in 1967 when it was little more than a few sheds!! Now there is a proper city with over 21, 000 inhabitants. I looked down over the Hula Valley to the Kibbutz where I once worked as a young girl and the memories came flooding back…….how the Kibbutzim were constantly shelled from up here prior to 1967 and how the Golan was nearly lost again in the Yom Kippur War. It is a tough life up there but the people know how vital it is to be on this front line creating a natural border with Israel’s neighbour, Syria.

*We had Friday night dinner with Tom Phillips, the British Ambassador and his wife. They were very charming. His speech was the standard British line on the Middle East…which is just what we would expect from our Ambassador.

On Shabbat afternoon I went on a walking tour of Tel Aviv to see some of the spectacular Bauhaus architecture for which Tel Aviv was awarded the status of “world culture heritage site” by UNESCO in 2003. Some of the buildings are magnificent and some of the older ones, which date back even further are so lovely….but it did rather remind me of Havana . The young architect who took us on the tour explained that Tel Aviv may have the status but it doesn’t come with any funding!!!! Ordinary people cannot afford to repair and maintain these buildings. The modern architecture of Tel Aviv is like the New York sky line….some of the buildings are innovative. But the city does need a huge investment to preserve some of its treasures and, of course, there are other priorities.
*Sunday was an amazing day. We drove to the Negev to see some of the infrastructure that JNF is helping to establish in this region and which is the key to Israel’s future development. We went to Sderot and met, at the Police Station, the Head of the local Police. In the car park are the remains of the rockets that have been repeatedly fired from Gaza into Sderot and its environs. 8,000 of them. There are still around 8 rockets a week being fired indiscriminately from Gaza. We saw Gaza just a couple of miles away…it is a modern city with skyscrapers..not at all how I expected it to be from the media coverage.

Our Police Inspector showed us film of what happens during a raid. Once the sirens go of the residents have 15 seconds to get into a shelter. We saw a kindergarten where the teachers were ushering such young babies and toddlers into the shelters….and the children were so frightened…..calling for their mothers. Many of them never to get to play outside…..even in the heat…because the mothers are too nervous to let them go in case they cannot get to the shelters in time.

In fact when the sirens go off the mothers are often frozen to the spot in fear when they cannot see their children. It is beyond our imagination. When the film finished there wasn’t one woman in the room who wasn’t crying and the men were also very emotional.

We went to see the new park funded by JNF where the residents can go and relax a little with shelters very near by. JNF want to create a children’s playground where the youngsters can play and the mothers will know there are shelters very close to hand. I intend to try and raise funds for this project as I have seen for myself how necessary it is. Many of the residents of Sderot are traumatised after nearly 9 years of living with the constant threat of terror and many of the children have speech and other emotional difficulties.

We then set off to literally the middle of nowhere to see a newly established community of people who relocated from Gaza after it was handed back. They had to leave a beautiful kibbutz which was soon in ruins and are starting again in the Negev. I cannot begin to describe how remote and hostile this landscape is…but they are determined to make the desert flourish and they work so hard. They are true pioneers…I couldn’t do it and I’m not sure many of us could!!!

*We visited Tse’elim where they are building a new reservoir…it was amazing to see the work in progress. Israel leads the way in water conservation and re-cycling, in solar energy, in wind turbine energy…..Israel is the only country in the world to have more trees in the 21st Century than in the 20th Century…and the forests are flourishing in the desert…amazing!!!!! Israel will have electric cars for all domestic use by 2020…..in fact this country is literally taking huge steps in saving the planet….We saw Nurseries in the middle of the Negev where tomatoes, peppers, courgettes and even the most amazing flowers are growing…in the sand!!! And I can’t even get a few to flourish in my back garden…in the earth…with rain and plant food!!! This was at the Applied Agricultural R and D Station of the Besor Region. One of Israel’s biggest problems is how to develop an agricultural base on land that is essentially a desert.

There are a number of Research and Development Centres across the desert regions to cultivate environmentally stable and sustainable foodstuffs and pasture that can survive and thrive in this environment.

*We went to the Foreign Ministry where we sat in the room where the Press Conferences are beamed all over the world. The security to get in and out was something else!!! We had a presentation by an amazingly vibrant man, Ido Aharoni. Head of the Brand Management Team in the Israeli Foreign Ministry on the complex issues surrounding Israel’s image abroad and the project he leads “Brand Israel”. It was a fascinating lecture and briefly…Israel doesn’t want to be seen as a “victim” …a military state…it is a vibrant country with so much skill and talent….they want people to focus on the positive more…a creative energy…a spiritual energy….that just hits you. So many good things are happening…we need to celebrate this….and let people know that whilst Israel has security issues of course…as do many other countries…but there are so many good things happening here that are overlooked by the outside world including the strides forward with medical research and new drugs for numerous medical conditions.

*Of course our visit to the Kotel (Western Wall) has to be a highlight…every time it takes my breath away. Our group leader said Kaddish (Memorial Prayer for the dead) for my dad at the Wall and it was a very moving personal experience for me.

We visited the new Yad Vashem building….the design of which is breathtaking. It hangs over the edge of the cliff…to signify how the Jewish people have been on the edge of extinction ….but as you leave the building you walk out onto the platform and see the most amazing views of the valley below and Jerusalem beyond…you walk into the future…. It was a very spiritual and uplifting way to leave such horrors.

One of the new exhibits is a moving collage of tiny pieces of film and photos put together from pre-war footage, with a haunting soundtrack, showing Jewish life as it was in the villages and in the towns of Eastern Europe before the Shoah….you knew what happened to all those people who were just living their lives doing ordinary things…smiling, laughing, skating, singing, dancing, working, school photos…….but here in Israel is the future…a young and exciting country full of people who are proud to live in the Jewish State…a testimony to good over evil.

*Ok…this is long enough!!! Let me finish by saying there was a lot more and I was only there for 8 days!!! They were long days…but every one of them was precious and inspiring. The group were all smashing people…great fun….and we all got on so well…we came as strangers and we left as friends. We had a wonderful party on the last night …we sang and danced…Israeli style of course!!!! I had a day on my own in Tel Aviv where I walked for six hours taking photos and enjoying the atmosphere…. the market in Allenby….the new promenade from Tel Aviv to Jaffa…the back streets and high streets of Ben Yehuda and Dizengoff. We also visited museums, archaeological sites, a winery….two shopping malls… and yes, there was even time for some shopping!!!!

One amazing thing was that on previous visits to Israel I have always seen so many young people in military uniforms carrying weapons…this time we rarely saw anyone in uniform except by the airport or near a military base. There were very few police on the streets and I hardly spotted a surveillance camera. There is a much higher profile of security on the streets of London than there is in any Israeli city now. And far more guns!!! You would never believe there was any trouble at all…..I don’t know how they are doing it….but they are!!!!

*It was the most wonderful trip. I saw where my donations have been spent and the progress made. I hope to do some voluntary work for JNF when I finally retire!!!! I hope you have enjoyed reading about my visit and perhaps seeing |Israel from a different perspective….a creative, spiritual, energising country. Maybe some of you would like to take a JNF tour next year….do come along…you will have the experience of a lifetime.