10 Months Later, Southern Israel Villages Strive to Return to "Normal"

 

The Southwestern Israeli villages of Kfar Aza, Nahal Oz, and Kissufim are as close as Israeli civilians and visitors can get to the border of Gaza. Today, these once-vibrant villages are mostly empty and silent: Orange, lemon, and pomegranate tree branches bend under the weight of unharvested fruit; stray cats stalk rodents in the tall, brown grass; birds sing. The air is redolent with the scent of flowers, rosemary, citrus, and death.

Death came to Kfar Aza with the dawn of October 7th. It came to Nahal Oz, Nir Oz, Re’im, Be’eri, Erez, Yad Mordechai, Karmiya, Zikim, and Sderot. It reaped a horrible harvest at the Nova music festival. In total, at least 1,500 Hamas militants killed 1,139 people: 695 Israeli civilians (including 38 children), 71 foreign nationals (including 36 American citizens) , and 373 members of the security forces (Israel Police and IDF). It was the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust.

Nova Music Festival memorial

At the Nova music festival site, Hamas deathmongers killed 364 civilians and wounded many others; trained teams abducted more than 240 hostages—including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, one of the most internationally recognized hostages taken by Hamas that day. To many people in American and Israel, Hersh had become a symbol of hope. Alas, hope is neither a strategy nor does it reflect the reality of the physical, psychological, and paramilitary terror Hamas has inflicted on Israel.

In late August, I visited several towns overrun by Hamas. Escorted by a senior Israeli law enforcement officer, I accessed areas that are closed to most visitors—Israelis and foreigners—and met with leaders of the respective Security Councils. The memories of October 7th remain fresh in the minds of many of the people I met. They tell their tragic stories slowly, lurchingly, angrily, with resolve.

Grenade impact outside a shelter in a house in Kfar Aza.

On the morning of October 7th, Hamas terrorists launched the biggest rocket barrage ever on Israel. The wave of missiles from Gaza forced residents into their secure shelters–a common, almost daily, occurrence, I’m told. Squads of heavily armed Hamas militants followed the missiles, swarming villages from the West, South, and North. The well-trained terrorists infiltrated from the air and on the ground, by paraglider, truck, motorcycle, bicycle, and foot.

In the months since the Simchat Torah massacre, more than 120,000 residents have been evacuated from a 10KM archipelago of kibbutzim, moshavim, kfarim, and cities that stretches from the Mediterranean Sea in the West to Kerem Shalom in the South to Ofakim in the East. Although the refugee situation in Gaza garners media attention, reporting about Israel’s hundreds of thousands of internally displaced citizens—the largest displacement of Israeli citizens in the sovereign state’s history–remains minimal.

While most accounts of October 7 are incomplete and missing crucial details about the sequence of events, one fact is abundantly clear to all Israelis: The country’s intelligence and operational systems collapsed. Another fact has also become increasingly evident as the war drags on beyond a year: The economic fallout is negatively affecting Israel’s construction, agriculture, tourism, hospitality, and entertainment sectors.

For example, Kfar Aza—a major producer of corn, citrus, and dairy—was once home to 500 residents; its population is now less than 50. Down the road in Nir Oz, Hamas militants machine-gunned Thai workers alongside the cows whom they helped the villages’ 438 residents care for. About 38 Nir Oz residents were killed by Hamas and another 75 seized as hostages. Will the residents return? No one seems to know.

Kfar Aza shelters: Right destroyed by Hamas-launched RPGs; Left destroyed by an Israeli tank to kill the terrorists hiding inside.

In Kfar Aza, the one-sided battle lasted a few murderous minutes: The attackers launched RPGs at shelter windows—the most vulnerable point. Once breached, the attackers threw in fragmentation grenades and sprayed shelter interiors with exploding bullets that shredded everything inside. Structures meant to protect became mausoleums; houses attached to shelters were burned, looted, and desecrated in unspeakable ways.

The attackers marauded through Kfar Aza, murdering, burning, raping, beheading, and kidnapping defenseless residents. Their rampage remains visible in the charred remains of the modest houses which, now cleared of human remains, are mute witnesses to another murder of our innocents. Asking about the holes scattered randomly throughout the detritus-strewn combat zone, we’re told they represent the Sisyphean efforts of a father who searches for his son’s head; trying to bury it in a grave dug months ago.

Memorial to the members of the Kfar Aza Quick Reaction Force who were killed in a Hamas ambush as they tried to reach the village’s armory.

Courageous members of Kfar Aza’s security council tried to reach the armory but entered a cunning ambush set up by the well-informed attackers. Triangulating fire from nearby rooftops, the terrorists cut down five members of Kfar Aza’s QRF (Quick Reaction Force). As he died, a mortally wounded resident warned others not to approach. A memorial decorated with faded flowers and photos marks where he perished.

I saw similar memorials at nearby Nahal Oz, an Army base where 66 soldiers (including 15 females) were slaughtered, in the city of Sderot, where eight policemen were killed in their station, and along two-lane roads throughout the zone in which Hamas terrorists penetrated.  When I visited Sderot, workers were building a memorial where the former police station stood.

Crouched on a berm looking across the border at the destroyed village of Jabaliya, I hear the whine of drones and the distant boom of artillery. As a U.S. Army veteran, I know these sounds well. As a Jew, I appreciate these sounds.

Indeed, I welcome these sounds, because they communicate that the IDF—which includes two of my nephews—is fighting back. And tomorrow Israel will fight back. And the next day, and the next month, the next year, the next generation.

IDF operations in Southern Gaza as seen from the Israeli village of Nir Oz.

These sounds tell me that the phrase “never again” isn’t merely said to console thousands of years of heartbreak. Today, “never again means now” reflects the service of my nieces and nephews. The strength of the Jewish homeland.

To those who protest Israel’s actions—the actions of a sovereign state—I say: Come to Kfar Aza. Come to Yad Mordechai. Come to the Nova Festival site. Come to Erez, Be’eri, Nir Oz, Netiv Haasara, Alumim. Come. See the carnage and devastation wrought by so-called “Freedom Fighters”. Perhaps then you will reconsider those for whom you protest and why.

“Tikkun Olam”: Massachusetts & Oregon Jewish Nonprofits Construct Coast-to-Coast Partnership to Help Homeless

“Building houses for the homeless in Portland, Oregon sounds like a great way to teach teens from Russian speaking families about tikkun olam,” thought Jookender Executive Director Sasha Grebenyuk when she learned of the opportunity to partner with Portland-based nonprofit Tivnu: Building Justice. The Jookender and Tivnu partnership made sense considering the organizations’ similar missions: Engaging social-justice oriented teens in hands-on, interactive learning from a Jewish perspective. So, Sasha said yes.

In Portland, Executive Director Steven Eisenbach-Budner was thrilled by Tivnu’s first partnership with a New England nonprofit. Fueled by their shared passion for engaging teens in social justice pursuits, Sasha and Steve took less than six months to plan a robust four-day pilot program. Planning was easy once both Executive Directors realized they shared the common objective of engaging, energizing, and enlightening teens. In late August 2019, 11 teens and two adult chaperones (parents of participating teens) from Boston area Russian speaking families made the transcontinental journey to Portland.

Four days later, the unique partnership stimulated educational and engagement benefits that exceeded everyone’s expectations. “My experiences in Portland were eye-opening,” said Gal Goldfain, one of 11 students in the Jookender delegation. “Words can’t describe how much I learned and gained.”

Based in Portland, Tivnu—the Hebrew word means “building”—is a nonprofit organization that designs and delivers “gap year” programs for Jewish teens in a city that ranks among America’s top 10 nationally for rate of homelessness. While Portland’s Jewish community of some 35,000 is about 15% of Boston’s (227,000 in the metro area), each city has a vibrant Jewish nonprofit ecosystem.

Hands-on building 'tiny houses'

Steve founded Tivnu: Building Justice in 2012 to enable Portland Jews to integrate their Jewish identities with their commitments to create communities in which the basic needs of all people are met. One of Tivnu’s primary goals is addressing Portland’s chronic homeless problem. 

Jookender’s mission similarly draws from Jewish ethics and values to teach and demonstrate Jewish values and offer programs that help others find their way to the broader Jewish community. Like Tivnu, Jookender is relentlessly inclusive.

Explaining Tivnu’s mission, Steve says, “We act from the conviction that housing is a human right and a human need. Access to housing is a cornerstone for a stable life and it’s linked to issues such as food security, environmental justice, and the overall health of neighborhoods and communities.” 

These are fundamentally Jewish issues, he emphasizes: “We work with others to bring forth tikkun olam (ed. note: In Jewish teachings, tikkun olam means any activity that improves the world, bringing it closer to the harmonious state for which it was created). We create opportunities for Jewish youth to engage in social justice work not just as individuals, but as representatives of the Jewish community in partnership with other communities.”

Energetic, resourceful, and committed to evangelizing tikkun olam, Steve was raised in an affordable housing complex in New York City. “I know firsthand the centrality of housing to family and community stability and cohesion,” he says. A builder by trade, Steve is as zealous about Tivnu’s mission as he is generous with Jewish Carpenter jokes. 

Typically, Tivnu’s Gap Year program is nine months of hands-on social justice engagement in which pre-college Jewish teens explore the bonds between Jewish life and social justice while working with and in Portland’s cutting-edge grassroots organizations, Steve explained. “Like most youth today, Jewish youth are increasingly aware of and concerned about social justice issues. Tivnu puts their awareness and concern into action.” 

Tivnu was referred to Jookender by Boston-based Combined Jewish Philanthropies (CJP), which funded most of the program through an unrestricted grant to Jookender. The partnership was also supported by The Jewish Education Project, with generous funding from the Genesis Philanthropy Group.

“We planned the four-day pilot to start, rather than commit to Tivnu’s full gap year program,” said Sasha. Of the fifty students who applied, Jookender selected 11. The program—which combined travel, hands-on working experiences, and Jewish learning related to Tivnu’s work in Portland communities—cost Jookender $10,000 for the 11 student participants. Two adults—parents of participating students—chaperoned the group. 

Building "Tikkun Olam"

The Jookender delegation’s four days in Portland were carefully choreographed to expose participants to as many new experiences as possible: Teens met with local homeless people, toured “tiny house” villages in Portland (Hazelnut Grove and Dignity Village), helped build green, sustainable “tiny houses” at the Portland Jewish Community Center, worked at a farm to produce goods for “tiny house” villages, and sampled distinctive Pacific Northwest Latino dishes at the popular Portland Mercado “food cart pod” (a gathering of 10 or more food carts, unique to Portland).

“The exposure to homelessness resonated deeply among delegation members—both teens and chaperones,” reflected Sasha. “Remember, the older generations—the people who were raised in the former Soviet Union—aren’t as comfortable as their kids talking about social justice issues like homelessness. Growing up in Communist societies they didn’t see homelessness. Another benefit of the pilot program was that it helps the Russian speaking Jewish community become more familiar with social justice issues particularly as they intersect with Judaism and philanthropy.”

Steve echoes Sasha’s sentiment on the pilot program’s unanticipated cultural learning component: “The visit was somewhat challenging from a cultural perspective, because most American Jews who’ve grown up in liberal households have some intellectual understanding of the reasons behind homelessness. The RSJ (Russian speaking Jewish) community approaches some of these issues from a different cultural perspective. 

"From the survey results, we know that the teens on this tour were less familiar with issues related to homelessness, so they learned more. They became open to issues related to homelessness and developed some empathy and respect for people who are experiencing homelessness."

Though the Tivnu-Jookender pilot program was short in duration, testimonials from program participants indicate it was long on inspiration. More than 90% of respondents to a post-trip survey said they’d return to this or a similar program:

• 

  Jookender group enjoys a rare relaxing moment

  - “I learned a lot of interesting new things about homelessness. I didn’t know the different ways that people could become homeless including being sick and having to pay all their money to get better. I also learned about how Portland treats homeless people and the different laws Oregon has for them.”
• - “I talked with a lot of people who are houseless. I was also presented with the term houseless by a houseless female whose nails I painted as part of the night strike. I really enjoyed the people and the little community we made. I enjoyed painting and building the tiny houses.”
• - “I enjoyed this experience but I think it should have lasted longer. The people from Tivnu were very kind. The work we did was interesting and engaging.”
• - “I now understand how fortunate I am to live in a home and now I want to help others.”

Describing the Jookender delegation as hard workers and fast learners, Steve says: “Most of them enjoyed the work. They certainly worked hard, but I’m not surprised given what I know about Russian speaking Jewish families. They stayed focused and were proud of what they accomplished.” He added, “next time, we’ll relate the learning experiences to their culture and their families’ histories of immigration.”

Jookender delegation members overwhelmingly expressed their desire to continue helping communities locally, nationally, and internationally—a yearning Sasha is positioning Jookender to fulfill. Sasha sees the success of the pilot program as a launching pad for increased engagement by American teens with underserved or underprivileged communities in Israel. “We know there are communities in Israel who could benefit from our ready, willing, and motivated teen workforce; in addition to offering help to local organizations, we’re seeking to partner with Russian community organizations in Israel.”

* * * 

Overcoming Cultural Barriers to Philanthropy & Education in RSJ Communities

Gap Years are atypical among the RSJ community because of the lingering fears among parents that a missed year could set a child back irreversibly. Sasha attributes the higher focus on completing education to memories of the USSR’s 5% quota for Jews to go to University.

“Our kids growing up now thankfully don’t have that sense of urgency, but the parents are afraid that if their kids take a gap year they won’t be as motivated to go to University and therefore, in the parents’ minds, they’ll be less likely to succeed.”

Sasha's own Gap Year heavily influences the value she places on these formative--and transformative--experiences. “I went to Israel and the experience affected me profoundly. Not only did I become more independent, but I also learned a lot about Israeli culture, history, and lifestyles. For certain kids, Gap Years can be transformational.”

The Tivnu-Jookender pilot program was especially effective because it overcame some of the older generations’ reticence about non-traditional education, she explained. “Parents who grew up thinking that the best education is in an actual classroom saw the impact of out-of-classroom education on their kids. They see how it’s increased their kids’ interest in education—especially Jewish education. We want our kids to be more involved in their communities and to experience different ways to help those communities. This is the kind of counterculture thinking Jookender brings to our programming.”

Because the philanthropic culture is new to the RSJ community, Sasha says organizations like Jookender face two challenges: The first is helping Russian speaking Jews understand the importance of philanthropy; the second is instilling a “culture of philanthropy” among a demographic for whom charitable giving remains unfamiliar. “The older generation recognizes that we have some old-fashioned ideas about community engagement, philanthropy, and even education. We don’t want to pass those ideas to our kids.”

Delta, Delta, Delta Needs Some Helpa, Helpa, Helpa: Code Share w/ Saudi Arabia Airlines is Indefensible

Delta Air Lines recently announced that Jews and Israelis (or passengers carrying any non-Islamic article of faith) will not be able to fly code-share flights from the U.S. to Saudi Arabia under the airline's new partnership with Saudi Arabian Airlines that is set to begin in 2012.

The bone-headed move is generating a firestorm of negative PR for Delta (which will probably force the airline to rescind the policy) and a stream of correspondence to the U.S. State Department from concerned citizens--regardless of religious affiliation.

I am opposed to the U.S. entering an "open skies" agreement with Saudi Arabia so long as that government maintains its policy of not allowing entry into Saudi Arabia of any American citizen who is either:
1) of the Jewish faith; or
2) has an Israeli exit or entrance stamp in his/her passport.
Saudi Arabia currently maintains both of these patently discriminatory prohibitions.

If Saudi Arabia or some other country had a visa policy that prohibited the entry of, say, Black American citizens, the State Department would never countenance entering a "open skies" agreement with a country that maintained such a patently discriminatory policy. Indeed, I would think the U.S. Government would not even allow the airline of that country to operate at all the United States, much less to do so with all the advantages of a "open skies" agreement.

Perhaps certain people in the U.S. State Department who administer such affairs believe that Jewish American citizens can be treated differently and that discrimination against them by a country like Saudi Arabia is acceptable merely because it is part of the Saudi "visa policy."

The U.S. State Department must act immediately to insist that Saudi Arabia abandon its two discriminatory prohibitions as a condition of enjoying all the advantages of a "open skies" agreement with the U.S. Now that the dispute has become public, it is up to Secretary Hillary Clinton to take the lead on pressuring Saudi Arabia to reverse these offensive discriminatory prohibitions.

In a statement to Religion News Service on Thursday (June 23), Delta said it "does not discriminate, nor do we condone discrimination against any protected class of passenger in regards to age, race, nationality, religion, or gender."

Cowering behind the statement that it is adhering to the visa policies of Saudi Arabia, Delta's stance is hypocritical, feckless and indefensible. With the airline now publicly accused of implementing a "no-Jew fly policy", it's only a matter of time until the U.S. public forces the airline to do what the U.S. State Department should have done as soon as it learned of the proposed Sky Team Alliance agreement.