Winter Trip to Israel 1998/1999

During winter break I had the honor of going to Israel with the Betar youth movement and Tagar. This trip was different from others in that it combines volunteering in the town of Kedumim and visiting cities in Yehuda and Shomron area. This winter we had eighteen participants, some returning for the second or third time. The ages ranged from teenagers to parents of teenagers. The majority of the participants were college students, mostly from Cleveland. As previously, there was a wide mix of people, from immigrants of the former Soviet Union, to Israelis; from religious to secular. There were Betar members from Canada and England as well.

Kedumim, a municipality of 600 families, provided food and places for us to stay in some of the empty small houses. For most of the dinners and for Shabbat (Sabbath) we split up and stayed with various families.

So much happened in the three weeks I was in Israel that it's difficult to summarize it all in one article. I'll try to give a brief overview and some of my impressions.

About half of the time was spend working to improve the community. We planted trees, spread dirt, painted buildings, cleaned out storage rooms, helped in the greenhouses, pruned olive trees, peeled almonds, and cleaned firearms.

The most "memorable" workday was when we went out to cultivate one of the fields. As we got closer, we could see a large brown pile sitting on the field. When we went up to it, we could smell this pile, and realized that we were to spend the day spreading manure. The pile was hot and sticky. We could actually see steam coming off of it. By the time we finished, we were tired and in need of a good shower. We had also exhausted every "sh-t" joke we could think of. But this was truly an important job. Any land that hasn't been planted or built on will be given away by the current Israeli government.

We were also priviledged to see the communities of Elon Moreh, Itamar, Sebastiya (formally called Samaria, formally called Shomron), and Sussia.

We hiked up Mount Eval and saw where Joshua built the altar when our ancestors first returned from slavery in Egypt.

We visited the Western Wall tunnels in Jerusalem. Some people think that they were dug recently, but they were actually dug thousands of years ago by the Jewish Maccabees.

We saw Joseph's Tomb in Shchem, Rachel's Tomb in Bethlehem, and the Cave of Machpelach in Hebron.

One of the days that stands out most for me was when we went to the large city of Shchem to see Joseph's Tomb. Even though the city is now under PLO control, Jews nevertheless take the risk of going there to pray and study in the yeshiva.

The only part of Shchem that Israel retains control over is the tomb, which is like a compound surrounded by concrete, barbed wire and sandbags. Many in our group were angry that this city, with so much Jewish history, is now under hostile occupation.

Most of the men there wore tzitzit (tassles) with techelet, the blue thread, which only the most religious wear, and which you can only get in Israel. As we davened mincha, the afternoon prayers in the small crowded yeshiva, I noticed two silver trumpets, like the ones used in the Holy Temple in ancient times, hanging on the wall behind me. Just then, someone said "sleecha (excuse me)", reached behind me and took them off the wall. Before I knew it, there were two men in the front of the room with the silver trumpets and a man in the back with a shofar (ram's horn). They blew them simultaneously. It sounded like Rosh Hashanna; "tekiya, shevarim, teruah, tekiyah gedola".

Afterward someone explained to us that the silver trumpets are supposed to be blown in times of danger... in Shchem, they blow them every day.

Another memorable experience was visiting Hebron. Sadly, not everyone gets a chance to see where Abraham walked and lived. There we saw the Cave of Machpelach, where Sarah, Abraham, Rebecca, Issac, Leah and Jacob are buried.

It was good to see this ancient and holy Jewish city. But this ancient and holy Jewish city continues to have major problems. Eighty percent of Hebron is now under Palestinian Authority, with the remaining twenty percent under Israeli control. It is truly a divided city. Unfortunatly, not everyone gets a chance to see what the "Middle East Peace Process" is really like. We could walk down one street, but not the next street. The week after we visited, two school teachers were shot and injured in their car. These two survived, but we visited the homes of the many of those who have been killed in the past. This is just another example of the numerous violations of the "peace" treaty the Israeli government signed with the PLO.

We also got a chance to see the many unique features of Kedumim. For instance the ancient tombs they found in the ground; the ancient olive presses; the country's only Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder school; the girl's school program for Jews born in Ethiopia; the Jewish immigrant from Russia who built a miniature replica of the Holy Temple in his bedroom; the country's only winter blueberry plants; the hill from where you could see all the way to the Mediterranian sea on a clear day.

One evening we went horseback riding with a group of the Kedumim youth in Netanya. Netanya is right on the coast of the Mediterranean sea. Walking down to the beach and seeing the moon over the sea was one of the most beautiful sights I'd ever seen. After the horseback riding along the beach, we all gathered around in a circle on the ground. Someone had a guitar, and someone else had a bongo drum and we sang all night. We ended up singing every song we could think of, both in Hebrew and in English. It was a experience I'll never forget.

We talk a lot about Israel in Cleveland, but this winter, we actually went to Israel to make a difference. There was a special kind of pride we experienced by helping to rebuild our homeland. In many ways, the people of Kedumim gave us more than we gave them.

The next trip will be this coming summer and will last five weeks. It will include everything described above plus more. There will be a weeklong army experience program as well. Anyone interested can contact the Betar office at 216-320-0726 or e-mail tours@betar.org.

Pictures from the trip