Four Perspectives from the Beth El Women’s Trip to Israel…

Some may call it a journey but I have called it my surge…I am referring to the constant energy and propulsion that has allowed me to rise in the past 16 months – the darkest of times-a time when so many want to fall.
This surge has driven my efforts in providing gatherings, rallies, vigils, and weekly hostage walks for our community.
This surge is also what took my husband and I to Israel this past summer at a time when many chose not to go-
I couldn’t fathom going anywhere else in the world – I only had it in my heart to travel to Israel. And so we went, we witnessed and volunteered. We came bome (miraculously) on the last flight out of Israel as the country was waiting imminently for Iran’s retaliation and all flights were cancelled.

Fast forward a couple months and I hear ruminations about a women’s trip to Israel through NSSBE-maintaining the same sentiment of only having a desire to be in Israel in my heart. I join the planning process and ultimately sign up – and then I ensure my husband is able to hold down the fort while I am away.
The surge is still there- it’s pushing me to go and bear witness to more atrocities from 10/7. Admittedly nervous to embark on what would be a very intense couple of days given the nature of our itinerary, I couldn’t imagine not being part of this incredible group of women who so perfectly represent NSSBE.
We bore witness to so much, listening and clinging to each word of the most devastating and detailed accounts of that tragic day. We stood in solidarity and cried on one another’s shoulders- we understood that it is now up to us to continue the surge by bringing these stories home with us and beyond. What will happen when the surge begins to diminish? I cannot bear to think of this – because for now as long as we have even a single hostage left in Gaza- we are not whole.

-Danielle Pearl

The power of this experience is still unfolding. What struck me most was the civic spirit of Israel- the way the whole country is pitching in and working together to take care of each other in spite of trauma, hardship, and political difference. Israel is embodying the idea that the way to heal trauma is through action. I truly felt that we are family and that “all of Israel is responsible for each other.” 

-Ali Drumm

Every moment, we are connected. The town of Sderot had a mural next to the destroyed police station with a Torah on it, which was riddled by real bullet holes from the Oct 7 battle, and the letters floating up like in rabbi Akiva’s dream, which was connected to the Torahs that are stored at the Shura base and morgue, where they cleaned and identified the many bodies of young and old from kibbutzim and Nova, doing a sacred work and being a vessel for god, as they so respectfully said, where they also provide torahs to soldiers going into battle, and then we saw a soldier Elia at the Mechina from which he graduated, and though he started as a 14 year old in organized crime, he worked his way to becoming a soldier, and eventually was in a battle back at that town of Sderot where he alone, a 22 year old, fought off multiple terrorists that dark day and then went into Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria and finally to his goal of investment banking. To seeing the grave of Aner Shapira, to the megunit / bomb shelter where Aner saved Or Levy’s life, but lost his own, Or Levy was a hostage released while many of us had arrived and watched from hostage square, to sitting down with Aner’s parents on the last day of our trip and them giving their thanks for the torah cover from Beth El and letting us know they just had met with Or Levy so he could tell them about Aner’s bravery. To finding out my Uncle David, z”l died back here in Chicago while we had just met wounded soldiers at Sheba Tel HaShomer Hospital and me recognizing released hostage Moran Stella Yannai on the way out, and while telling her of our admiration for her strength and bravery, she gives me hug for my uncle. Our trip guide, Lyana, who was with us all four days, her niece is at Schechter with our 8th graders, and also by the way can she please show us the grave of her daughter’s boyfriend who died this past Rosh Hashanah in the war and is buried at Har Herzl. And on my own last day there when I said goodbye to my cousins, as Sagui Dekel-Chen was released and didn’t know for almost 500 days if his family, whom he had protected, had survived, but not only did they survive, but he had a new baby daughter, to my cousin’s best friend calling as I was leaving for the airport asking if he could stay in their guest room so he could visit Sagui, his best friend and give him a hug. While there are 15 million of us, our stories are connected, our history is the same, and our futures will be too. 

-Sivan Schondorf

I attended the third day, as I wasn’t able to attend more (though Larry and I were in Israel for almost three weeks),  I was very impressed with the dedication to Israel and the compassion and care shown by the attendees to those traumatized by October 7 they met on this journey. I know we will all continue to advocate for Israel, do all we can to assist in the ongoing and long healing process, and share our incredible experiences with our families, friends and other NSSBE congregants. Thanks to all who organized this incredible journey.   

– Sandy Starkman