Rabbis’ Message: Dispatch from Israel: January 13, 2024
For the weeks over winter break, the Ben-Shoshan family traveled in Israel in order to achieve our second-eldest, Aidan’s, goal of becoming a b’mitzvah at a place with “Roman ruins and an epic hike”. He was thrilled to hike to the top of Masada with a little Sephardi Torah strapped to his back and then read that Torah while overlooking the Dead Sea during Hanukkah. While our family looks forward to celebrating with you (last Shabbat at TBY and this coming Shabbat at NTHC!), this trip has also given Rabbi Lauren a chance to catch up with a few friends around the country.
Recently, as the evening cooled, I walked with my friend, Lauren Joseph, an American born immigrant to the State of Israel. Lauren and I worked together when we were in our twenties, helping to run different aspects of youth trips for North American teens throughout the land of Israel, before each of us settled there (at least for a while). When we were younger, Lauren then went on to work for an organization that helped connect the sometimes isolated southern Bedouin communities to the larger Israeli society. Lauren was mentored by the late, great Vivian Silver, a renowned peace activist who was murdered on October 7th.
Like many old friends catching up, after we covered how the kids are growing, we attempted to solve all the Jewish world’s problems in a single walk (naturally). We talked about culture and complaints, about government and our love of democracy. We chatted about the protests and Israel’s promise to keep every single one of its citizens safe and its tragic failures in the past 18 months to do so. We worried over the backsliding of freedoms and educational systems both here and there. Lauren reminded me that, years ago, when she worked for the Israeli Religious Action Center, many of these same causes remain relevant today. The twin requirements of maintaining basic safety and building a country driven by its most positive and productive democratic ideals remains the forefront of all of its citizens’ concerns. Our conversation brought to mind a paraphrased verse from Ecclesiastes 2:12, “I realized that the only worthwhile thing there is, is to enjoy oneself and do what good we can in our lifetime.” Choosing how to cultivate our joy and which good we want to do in our lifetime is heavy and holy, a burdensome gift. Despite what it means to be a part of this moment in this cycle of Jewish history, we are obligated and utterly blessed to make space for the good we are able to do in our lifetime. It is my prayer that we are able to move forward, towards a secure peace, civil justice for all, comprehensive and meaningful education, and gemilut-chasadim, acts of kindness within and between our communities, as best we can achieve it.
There is so much work to be done and to re-do, yet it all remains worthwhile.
If you are interested in more about the Israeli Religious Action Center, their legislative and legal advocacy work, and their efforts to hold the State of Israel to its highest ideals, you can sign up for their updates by clicking here.
Rabbis’ Message: Dispatch from Israel: January 6, 2024
As you might have read, the weeks over winter break, the Ben-Shoshan family is traveling in Israel in order to achieve our second-eldest, Aidan’s, goal of becoming a b’mitzvah at a place with “Roman ruins and an epic hike”. Indeed, he was thrilled to read Torah on top of Masada during Hanukkah. While our family looks forward to celebrating with you as we head back (see below for when we are hosting Shabbat in honor of Aidan’s milestone!), this trip has also given Rabbi Lauren a chance to catch up with a few friends around the country.
Our friend, Iftach Ofir is a performance artist. As a bilingual writer, producer, and working actor, we were lucky enough to be in the audience for one of Iftach’s sold out rap-musical performances, Shmuel. Though set in Hell, the show explores the redemptive power of love and loss. His upcoming one-man show, Damn Me (available for travel), which he wrote post-October 7th, explores the nature of evil and repentance, forgiveness and personal evolution. Like Iftach, it is imaginatively, incisively raw, and hilarious. While he works as a part of the one of the most accomplished theater troupes in Jerusalem, Iftach dedicated his spare time to write, act, and produce a show that delves deeply into this aspect of recovery from tragedy. The horrific murder of his beloved cousin, who was a paramedic in Kibbutz Be’eri, on October 7th was one of motivating factors that sparked his newest exploration of how we might come to peace with painful tragedies, evil, and the outcomes of war.
Currently, as a whole, the art scene in Israel is both beautiful and heart wrenching. In addition to incredible fringe theater offerings, street art emanates emotion from almost every place we visited. Granted, street art has always been a vibrant part of Israel’s culture, from home-spun murals covering kibbutzim to large scale works by impressive and compassionate organizations like Artists4Israel. Certainly, Israelis are using public space art as an outlet to express the wide variety of reactions to and recovery from the past 18 months. Yellow, the chosen color to remember the hostages and deceased from October 7th, pops all over the country. Yellow painted cars - discarded and destroyed during the Nova Festival attack and now repurposed as remembrance sculptures - line Highway 2, stacked in surprising stops along the road. Empty yellow chairs, representing all those still missing, sit at the entrances of places like Kibbutz Yagur and the traffic circles of Kibbutz Ein Gedi, in theaters and restaurants, and other public spaces. Hand painted portraits and thoughtfully-picked photographs of the kidnapped appear on stickers and posters, dotted on cars and street-light poles and park benches. Art is everywhere; some of it explores grief, some of it, like Iftach’s play, explores forgiveness and how we can possibly construct a better future from here.
As we traveled around the country, visiting friends and exploring the safe places in this beloved land, Gerard Richter’s quote popped into my head, every time I witnessed each sticker and provocatively placed chair: “art is the highest form of hope.” Considering the amount of art that we are blessed to experience here, I certainly pray that spark of hope will return in full force sometime soon.
Our lights shine bright!
A recap of our Hannukah Celebration on December 28th 2024
Thank you to all who cooked, decorated, created kids' activities, and attended our wonderful Hanukkah celebration! We welcomed members and visitors alike to take part and enjoy the wonderful food that our whole community put together.
Our combined committee representing young families, religious school and sisterhood met and planned the celebration, starting weeks beforehand. Their hard work showed! There were kids playing dreidel and facepainting. We have to give a shout out to our Sisterhood member Justine and her husband Oren for their amazing Hannukah apparel!
With about 100 people attending our celebration, we’re excited to make this an annual event to look forward to each year!
Thanks to all who signed up to bring a dish, volunteered their time, or donated!
If anyone would like to help with a similar Passover event in April, reach out to Holly at holly@tbytahoe.org
Dispatch from Israel: December 30, 2024
For the weeks over winter break, the Ben-Shoshan family is traveling in Israel in order to achieve our second-eldest, Aidan’s, goal of becoming a b’mitzvah at a place with “Roman ruins and an epic hike”. Indeed, he was thrilled to read Torah on top of Masada this past Shabbat. While our family looks forward to celebrating with you when we return (see below for when we are hosting Shabbat!), this trip has also given Rabbi Lauren a chance to catch up with a few friends around the country.
The name Dr. Ilana Kwartin might already be familiar to you; she and her husband, Rabbi Lauren’s friend from high school youth group, Martin Beifeld, live with their four children in Eliav, the moshav which our communities connected with post-October 7th. Since the tragedy of that day, Dr. Ilana shifted to become the executive director of Healing Space Rishpon, an innovative healing center that aims to rehabilitate the mind-body connection ruptured by trauma.
As a whole, Israel continues to be on the cutting edge of resilience therapy research, training, and implementation. One of the most impressive aspects of Israeli culture is its evolving understanding of how to build resilience in the face of so much adversity. There is a deep interest in cultivating a better emotional and spiritual tomorrow than what we have today. Healing Space, its therapists, and its campus in Rishpon is a part of this vital goal.
Since October 7th, Healing Space mobilized 140 therapists to provide sessions to thousands of Israelis. They have accumulated over 30,000 hours of experience in trauma healing throughout the war so far. They use a wide variety of evidence-based modalities, from art and nature to embodiment and group therapies, to help Israelis throughout the country integrate their trauma so that each is able to not be consumed by their pain. However, the thing that struck me most when Dr. Ilana and I caught up about her work is the idea of hope. Hope for a better future - a future guided by healing over hurt, by compassion over rage - that drives this initiative and others like it.
There is so much dark in this season and in our world today. Yet the hope for healing, for compassion, for the potential for inner peace that this cultivates, exists. During Hanukkah, this is the kind of light we need.
Dispatch from Israel: December 23, 2024
For the next three weeks, the Ben-Shoshan family is traveling in Israel in order to achieve our second-eldest, Aidan’s, goal of becoming a b’mitzvah at a place with “Roman ruins and an epic hike”. Specifically, Masada. While our family looks forward to celebrating with you when we return (see below for when we are hosting Shabbat!), this trip has also given Rabbi Lauren a chance to catch up with a few friends around the country.
Alon, Rabbi Lauren’s husband, has known Leatt Segal since they were 15; Rabbi Lauren met Leatt only a few years later, at age 23. This year, Leatt’s 11 year old son chose to switch schools, specifically, to Hand in Hand, the Bilingual School in Jerusalem. While the overarching organization of Hand in Hand runs grassroots peace projects throughout Israel, the Bilingual School is one of the country’s premier educational institutions that teaches both Arab and Jewish students, together, as a unified student body, throughout the school year. Since many Israelis make their lifelong friendship connections through their schooling and educational experiences, this Pre-K through 12th grade school is an important experiment in peace-making.
Two weeks ago, the school hosted a hackathon for its middle school students. Over three days, the sixth and seventh graders prepared and presented projects. The students chose their projects based on shared interests, ranging from food issues to 3D engineering challenges. By working together, across cultures and languages, to think through the larger difficulties that face humanity, the students created something greater than solutions to our collective problems: their work together cultivates hope. Hand In Hand fosters hope for true co-existence, for a lasting and loving peace in the land of Israel. As Leatt says, “This amazing school not only produces a reality in which Jews and Arabs truly share the same heart, but also produces high quality learning experiences.”
You can find more about Hand In Hand, their projects beyond the school where Leatt’s family is proud to attend, and how to share the school’s story and grassroots-led peace work in Israel, click here.
We stand with Israel
The Board of Directors of the North Tahoe Hebrew Congregation express our unconditional support for the State of Israel and our abiding solidarity with the citizens of Israel. We will continue to support a solution that ensures peace and security for Israel and her neighbors and oppose efforts to demonize and delegitimize Israel.
Adopted from the Union for Reform Judaism