Category: General

Aya Korem was born in Nazareth Illit, now known as Nof Hagalil. For many years she has been a successful singer, residing in Israel’s cultural epicenter, Tel Aviv.  Aya has just released a song oozing with nostalgia for her childhood city. In the lyrics of “The star of Nazareth Illit,” she admits that she always feels most at home in Nazareth Illit, and somewhat estranged with the pace and life and Tel Aviv.

The video below was filmed in Nof Hagalil, sharing scenes of the city and the people.

Aya Korem made headlines a decade ago when, along with members of the Knesset, she managed to amend musician’s antiquated contract deals that in some cases lasted for 18 years. As a result, a law was created limiting contracts in the music industry to no more than 7 years.  

Put on your running shoes and get ready to tour the Central Galilee region

Let’s celebrate together Israel’s Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day) with a refreshing and enriching virtual running or walking workout (or just on the couch!) through the historical roots of our Central Galilee Partnership region to learn about the many different faces of Israel. And come and meet Amit, Noa, Itai and Ron, the new Shinshinim, who will be joining you in Detroit next year.

Daniel and Michael from @runningaroundjerusalem have prepared three different routes that lead us back and forth in the Jewish history and the building of a nation and a country.

Migdal HaEmek: Zionism Up Close and Personal

Run across the history of immigration and absorption in Migdal Haemek, where Jews from many different backgrounds and origins from North Africa, the former Soviet Union, Ethiopia, and more live together.

Zippori: Old and New

In Zippori, run through thousands of years of history in the magnificent archeological site of the ancient town that played an essential role in the conservation and reviving of Jewish faith and traditions. You’ll have a look at the modern Moshav Zippori that specializes in sustainable agriculture and tourism.

Nof HaGalil: Along the Nazareth Ridge

Nof Hagalil was envisioned by David Ben Gurion in the fifties. Experience the history of this unique diverse city.  From Tel Tirya, the ancient Jewish archeological site to the breathtaking views of the Galilee as well as the ancient streets of Nazareth.

To celebrate Israel’s 73rd birthday here is a list of 73 fun facts about the Old New Land…

1. Israel has the highest number of altruistic kidney donations per capita in the world: 1,005 in the past 11 years, and counting.
2. The oldest tree in Israel is a jujube tree in Ein Hatzeva on the road to Eilat, which is thought to be between 1,500 to 2,000 years old.
3. Scientists in Israel managed to grow fresh dates from sixth century seeds found at Masada and Qumran.
4. The Israel Postal service has a special Letters to God department, for all the letters arriving in Jerusalem from around the world addressed to God. They are opened and placed into the cracks of the Western Wall.
5. About 1 million notes are left in the Western Wall every year.
6. At the Church of the Holy Sepulchre an old wooden ladder has been propped up against a window since the 18th century. No one can move it because the building is managed by six different churches and none can agree on who owns the ladder.
7. Israel is the only country to have revived a dead language and made it the national language.
8. The hottest temperature ever recorded in Israel was 54 degrees Celsius (129.2 Fahrenheit) in 1942 at Kibbutz Tirat Zvi in the northern Jordan Valley. (The highest temperature ever recorded worldwide is 56.7 °C in Death Valley in 1913.)
9. While Jerusalem has snow storms every few years, and even the Negev desert gets occasional snow, Tel Aviv has only had one snow storm in its history. In 1950 it snowed 12-18 cm., thrilling locals, many of whom had never seen snow before.
10. More than half the landmass of Israel is desert, but it still has an Olympic bobsled and skeleton team.
11. Israel dramatically leads the world in share of the total population that received at least one dose of the Covid-19 vaccine and in the number of vaccination doses administered per 100 people in the total population.
12. Israel is a global leader in medical clowning, and was the first country in the world to send medical clowns into Covid-19 wards.
13. In 2007, Israeli businesswoman Shari Arison initiated Good Deeds Day to encourage people to help each other. That year, 7,000 people took part in Israel. In 2019, 3.9 million people took part in 108 countries around the world.
14. Israel is bordered by snowy peaks at one end and a desert beach on the other.
15. Israel has 137 beaches – all of them beautiful.
16. Israel is piloting a new locally-developed AI system to help lifeguards protect swimmers on the beaches and give real-time data on wind, waves and other possible hazards.
17. Israel recycles 90% of the waste water it creates, making it the leading nation in the world for water recycling. In the United States, only 1% of wastewater is recycled.
18. In July 2012, a group of artists in Netanya created the world’s largest mosaic made of socks, using 12,000 in total. (All of them clean, thankfully.)
19. Cows in Israel produce more milk on average than do dairy cows in other countries.

20. An Israeli company has developed a revolutionary spray-on skin made of nanofiber to help heal wounds.
21. Israelis love kids. With an average of three children per woman, Israel has the highest fertility rate among the 37 countries in the OECD, where the average is 1.7.
22. Israel performs more in-vitro fertilization per capita than any other country, and it’s free for the first two babies.
23. Babies in Israel are 10 times less likely to be allergic to peanuts than in other countries. Studies suggest it’s because they eat Bamba peanut snacks from an early age.
24. According to Hebrew-language Wikipedia, there are seven different ways to eat a Krembo, one of Israel’s favorite snacks.
25. Members of a voluntary organization called Trail Angels open their homes to hikers on the 1,025-km (637-mile) Israel Trail, offering free beds, showers and other amenities.
26. Israel is roughly half the size of Lake Michigan.
27. The glue on Israel’s postage stamps is kosher.
28. Israel has over 50 alternative meat startups – a disproportionately high number compared to elsewhere around the world – making it a fake meat powerhouse. Perhaps it’s no surprise, given that the country has more vegans per capita.
29. Researchers in Israel have grown mouse embryos in bottles in a revolutionary way to observe the first stages of mammalian embryonic development.
30. In 2020, Israel was the eighth most expensive country in the world to live in. Switzerland came in at number one.
31. Israelis eat some 24 million sufganiyot (donuts) during the eight-day holiday of Hanukkah.
32. In 2020, Tel Aviv was named the fifth most expensive city in the world to live in, according to the Economist Intelligence Unit. Zurich, Paris and Hong Kong came in before it.
33. An Israeli company has developed a paint that uses sunlight to activate a cooling mechanism on cars, buildings, planes and even clothing, providing air conditioning without electricity. The hotter it is, the more the coating cools.
34. Israel takes in more immigrants than any other country in the world per capita. Since it was founded in 1948, 3.3 million people have immigrated to Israel.
35. In 2020, the most popular baby names in Israel were Mohammad for boys and Miriam for girls.
36. Syrian hamsters were first domesticated as pets by a zoologist at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 1930.
37. Israel has more museums per capita than any other country in the world — 230 and counting. A new museum dedicated to women is opening soon.
38. Israel has its very own Stonehenge, an ancient stone circle called Galgal Refa’im with massive rock walls that jut 8 feet into the sky. The stone structure is around 5,000 years old, and is made up of some 42,000 tons of basalt stone. It was only discovered in the 1960s.
39. The Mount of Olives is the oldest continuously used cemetery in the world. It’s been in use for over 3,000 years.
40. Israel is home to the largest known dog cemetery of the ancient world. More than 1,300 dog skeletons, most of them puppies, were found at the Ashkelon site.
41. Israeli students won an international award for producing real honey without bees, using a bacterium programmed to “learn” how to make honey.
42. An Israeli company has developed an atmospheric water generator that can create clean drinking water from the air. It has been deployed in disaster situations all over the world.
43. Israel has the largest underground hospital in the world: the 2,000-bed Sammy Ofer Fortified Underground Emergency Hospital at Rambam Health Care Campus in Haifa.
44. In Israel it is legal to write the Jewish calendar date on all official documents, including checks, instead of (or in addition to) the Gregorian date.
45. A Tel Aviv company has invented a folding car that can retract its wheels for narrow streets and snug spots, but still can reach speeds of 55 miles an hour.
46. The main compounds of the cannabis plant were first isolated, analyzed, synthesized and named in Israel.
47. An Israeli company provides off-grid, solar-powered automatic handwashing stations to developing countries, using water pulled from the atmosphere mixed with a precise dose of soap, to fight the spread of life-threatening infections.
48. A revolutionary “human on a chip” developed at Hebrew University aims to replace animal testing for new pharmaceuticals.
49. When Israel was founded in 1948, there were only 806,000 residents. The population reached two million in 1958, and is expected to reach 10 million in the next three years.
50. In 2020, 28% of Israel’s population was under the age of 14, and only 12% older than 65.
51. In Israel, people regularly stumble on amazing ancient finds while out hiking.
52. Archeologists recently discovered the world’s oldest woven basket, in the Judean Desert.
53. The oldest-ever cave tool, dating back 350,000 years, was found in Israel.
54. The field of video therapy was invented at Jerusalem’s Ma’aleh School of Television, Film and the Arts
55. In a tech first, Israeli scientists made a robot hear using a dead locust’s ear.
56. In Israel, people are taught from an early age to turn off the tap while they brush their teeth, to save precious water.
57. In Israel, a meal without a salad is not a meal. Even breakfast.
58. Tel Aviv has over 4,000 Bauhaus buildings, the largest concentration of Bauhaus buildings of any city in the world.
59. An Israeli company has developed the world’s first autonomous beehive. It can house up to 40 bee colonies (around 2 million bees) and take care of their health and upkeep with a simple app.
60. Israel was the first country to ban underweight models from participating in fashion shows.
61. During Passover in Israel, supermarkets are not allowed to sell chametz (forbidden foods like bread and cakes), and if you bring the products to the checkout, they cannot be scanned. Large sections of the shops are covered in plastic sheets.
62. In Hebrew, Happy Christmas is ‘Chag Molad Sameach’ which means Happy festival of the Birth.
63. In Israel, the most common way to mop the floor is by doing what’s called a sponja: flooding the floor with copious amounts of water and using a long-handled squeegee to push the dirty water outside or down the nearest drain.
64. Israeli toilets have two handles: A smaller one that releases less water to flush down #1, and a larger one that elicits more water to get rid of #2.
65. Israel’s Parliament, the Knesset, has 120 seats because it’s modeled after the Second Temple-era Knesset HaGedolah (the Great Assembly), a leadership body of 120 sages, prophets and scribes.
66. In Israel, there’s hardly such thing as a gift registry for weddings and bar mitzvahs. Instead, people come to the parties bearing envelopes full of cash.
67. Matzot Aviv in Bnei Brak baked the world’s largest matzah this year: 13.2 pounds (6 kilograms), nearly 20 feet (six meters) long, 3.5 feet (1.06 meters) wide, and 0.16 inches (4 millimeters) thick.
68. The Israel Start-Up Nation cycling team’s roster for the 2021 season includes 32 riders from Israel and 16 other countries, including four-time Tour de France winner Chris Froome from Great Britain.
69. Tel Aviv University recently launched the world’s only Center for Combating Pandemics, aiming to create best practices for infection containment, vaccine and treatment development and social and economic resilience.
70. Israeli companies raised a record-breaking $10 billion in investments during 2020, despite the uncertainty and instability caused by the worldwide pandemic.
71. 85 percent of Israeli households get hot water from rooftop solar heaters, compared to less than 1 percent in the United States.
72. An Israeli scientist’s invention to turn dog droppings into odorless, sterile fertilizer powder instantly is starting to revolutionize how animal and human waste is disposed of.
73. Israel has more than 300 wineries, 70 of which harvest at least 50 tons of grapes per year. Approximately 60,000 tons of wine grapes are harvested in Israel annually.

From Israel21c.org ,  April 8, 2021

By Yiftah Leket

Some insights…

The Theme

When we started planning the Yoms in the Israel and Overseas Department of the Detroit Jewish Federation, we wanted to tell a story.  While the world continues to struggle with a pandemic, and each community is focused on its own survival, we decided on the theme “Hearts Together” to say that the story of Yom Hazikaron and Yom HaAtzmaut, is not only about Israel.  It’s about the relationship we as a community have with Israel. 

Our Youth

We wanted our youth to lead the Yom Hazikaron Ceremony and they made us proud. Students from Frankel Jewish Academy and our Partnership region took on the responsibility of carrying our community through Yom Hazikaron in a brave and dignified way. In the rehearsals, it was amazing to see how serious they took this role upon themselves, and how they expressed seeds of hope within the words of sorrow they read.

Partnerships

In many ways, Israel is a platform for different partners in our community to come together. You can be affiliated with any Jewish stream or any political ideology. Israel has a place for everyone at the table. The partnerships that formed in the planning of the Yoms became as meaningful as the outcomes. We worked closely with the dedicated staff and students from Frankel Jewish Academy. We partnered with JCC’s JFamily — who really know how to create the best environment for families. We worked closely with B’nai Akiva at Farber Hebrew Day School on an Israeli-themed picnic and we incorporated our Partnership region into most events. These partnerships show how Israel, and the Yoms in particular, can be a meaningful way to bring us together.

On a Personal Note

This was one of my only Yoms outside of Israel but it was definitely the most meaningful one.

When you grow up in Israel amongst the atmosphere of the Yoms, it affects you deeply and shapes your Israeli and Jewish Identity.

After years and years of ceremonies for Yom Hazikaron and celebrations for Yom Haatzmaut, some of them with my participation as a guitar player and some as an organizer, they all eventually feel like one long Yom. They blend together and it’s hard to remember specific moments. 

Ten years ago, Amichai Itkis Z”l, my friend from the Airforce, died in a night flight when he and his navigator crashed in the middle of the Israeli desert.  

That night the ‘national days’ took a very personal turn in my life.  

This year was special for me as I had the opportunity to combine my personal feelings with my new identity as a member of the Detroit Jewish community by virtually bringing Amichai’s sister to a Yom Hazikaron commemoration event with our Partnership volunteers. 

From Yom Hashoah through Yom Hazikaron, ending with our celebration of Yom HaAtzmaut, I was proud to be a Detroiter and an Israeli.

I want to thank our community for being together, remembering, celebrating, sharing memories and creating meaning for the Yoms. 

In July, 2009 Oded Weiss and Avraham Hayon went to a neighborhood in Kiryat Gat, made a bonfire and coffee and then waited. After a while, a group of 7 teenagers that were outside in the streets at night, showed up to check who these “strangers” are that are invading their neighborhood. Oded and Avraham said that they want to help those who are most in need in the neighborhood, but they are not local, and need help. A conversation started about who in the neighborhood needs help, and what kind of help they need. They arranged a meeting for the following week — and the Special unit was created. In a clandestine, military like operation, a bag of food was given to a family that the teenagers located and selected.

That’s how it all began.

The basic concept behind SAHI is to use food distribution as a tool for giving, through which youth begin to feel that they are meaningful as they open their hearts to positive adults in their environment. Oded thought of this idea while working in the “Kedma” Youth Village. Oded engaged the youth in a discussion of families living in hunger. Their reaction was: “we need to help these families. What can we do?” and so they started to distribute food together. The activity was conducted in the middle of the night, anonymously, with food packages being laid at the families’ doorsteps and without disclosing the identity of the givers. In the intimate environment created in the car while driving from one home to another, the youth began to share deeply personal, meaningful stories and feelings from their world. The “clandestine” night activity opened a window onto the inner lives of the youth and allowed them to open up their personal world to positive adult role models.

Ofri Butbul of SAHI was given one of Israel’s highest honors and selected to light a torch at Israel’s national ceremony on Independence Day

Ofri Butbul, 18 years old from the southern city of Ofakim, was selected to light a torch in the prestigious Israeli Independence Day national ceremony. Ofri has been volunteering in SAHI for two years, and as part of her volunteering was accompanying a lonely elderly person who collapsed. When he did not answer his phone, Ofri and her friends from SAHI went over to his house and called the police that broke into his house and saved his life.

 “I’m still processing it, can’t put it into words. It’s a great honor for me and for SAHI. I started volunteering two years ago, after my older brother. When we moved to Ofakim, he told me that a SAHI group is opening in Ofakim, and that I should join. I joined him to SAHI’s first activity in Ofakim. It gives such a sense of contentment and meaning. It’s hard not to get hooked. After the incident, it took us a while to process what happened. I didn’t really understand the importance at the time”, said an excited Ofri.

The ministers in charge of the ceremony, minister of transportation Regev and minister of Culture and Sports Tropper mentioned: “Ofri embodies the Israeli spirit of volunteerism and comradeship. She represents the values of giving of the younger generation in Israel’s new centers that were once called a periphery. “

by Naomi Miller

Over 5 weeks, the Michigan – Central Galilee Partnership Region participated in a most inspiring pilot program “Café Hafooch” (“Cappuccino”) — an intergenerational program that aims to create meaningful connections between Jewish community adults and Israeli high school students. In addition to the connections, the Israelis work on advancing their English skills.

The Detroit pilot (adopted from the Toronto program that has been active for the last few years) included 3 cohorts of 6-7 participants. Each cohort included 3-4 Israeli 12th graders, 2 adult Jewish community members and an Israeli facilitator. Over 5 weeks, each cohort met for 1 hour on Zoom after watching assigned “trigger” videos, dealing with topics such as Jewish identity as Israelis or Americans, the global Jewish reality, stereotypes, charity, social responsibility, minorities and Peoplehood.

The responses of the participants illustrates the success of the encounters for both the Israeli teens and the American adults.

Hila, 12th grade student in the Jezreel Valley
The experience in Café Hafooch was so special. I am so happy that I was given the opportunity to discuss and deal with topics that dealt with Israel, Jews abroad, and the Diaspora, that I am part of but really hadn’t ever discussed up until now. Jack and Sue from Detroit and Naomi our facilitator were terrific and gave us a place to speak and express ourselves. It was also very new and inspiring for me to hear their perspectives. I really enjoyed the experience and recommend it for anyone who is invited to participate. 

Jack Folbe, Detroit community adult participant
I can’t thank you enough for giving us the opportunity to participate. I definitely gained greater insight into how our young adult partners feel about challenging topics. Our young adult Israeli partners also helped me understand my adult children, particularly educating me on racism, diversity, and tolerance, and generational differences on being Jewish. I definitely received more than I gave. 

Roi, 12th grade student in the Jezreel Valley
This wonderful experience made my knowledge wider, mostly about the Jewish identity in the United States and Canada. I shared stories about my Jewish roots, and got to hear other fascinating stories. It was a pleasure to get to know volunteers from the Jewish community in Detroit, and to spend a weekly online time with them and with my friends.

Yahel, 12th grade student from Migdal Ha’emek
The experience in Cafe Hafooch was one of a kind. It gave me the feeling of being in the U.S. but also with the comfort of home. I’m thankful for having the opportunity to meet these interesting people, and to discuss about the subjects that I don’t get to usually discuss.

Sue Curhan, Detroit community adult participant
Cafe Hafooch was an incredible experience. Even though on Zoom – we made great connections, built relationships, and learned. Our team was fabulous. Getting the opportunity to volunteer with my brother and share memories was sweet. Our fearless facilitator did an amazing job keeping us on track. The topics of conversation were sophisticated. We examined our own Jewish identity, cultures, and choices. We learned how young Israelis feel about the same topics. I am so impressed by these 17 and 18 year olds. Our future is strong. I can’t wait to give them hugs in person. Hopefully this is just the beginning of a regular rich and meaningful program.

By Dona Stillman, Associate Director Israel & Overseas Department, JFMD

Recently, a group of Ethiopian-Israeli teens from Migdal HaEmek got its first taste of online meetings with BBYOers in Detroit. The Ethiopian National Project (ENP) is an enrichment program that helps bridge educational and cultural gaps for Ethiopian-Israeli youth and is supported by JFMD.

Last fall, ENP piloted a partnership with BBYO, designed to strengthen the connection between Israeli and US Jewish youth. Teens from both sides of the Atlantic met online to learn about each other’s culture and lifestyle. Israeli-Ethiopian teens practiced and improved their spoken English, while US youth were exposed to Ethiopian Jewry and its rich culture.

 Detroit participants were also joined by Israeli Shinshinim, Yuval and Noa, currently on a gap year in Michigan, who added input and inspiration to Ethiopian-Israeli teens and served as role models to teens looking to have a meaningful experience with peers overseas.

Detroit ShinShin, Yuval Aviram, sat down to interview American participant Drew Cohen about his experience:

How was your experience with the ENP program?
It was a great opportunity to connect with other people, particularly during that time when the covid was terrible. It was a wonderful social opportunity to communicate with people all over the world. It was really unique, and everyone was so welcoming and it was fun to see the difference between cultures and learn about it. It was nice to see how both of us are Jewish, but we have different Jewish culture. As a whole, it was a great experience that showed us the benefits of using today’s technology, and I’m glad I was part of it.

How were your interactions with the group?
I had really nice conversations with everyone on the call, not only because I got to meet the Israelis, I also strengthened my relationship with my friends in BBYO…I feel like if I’m going to go to Israel sometime and meet the people on the call, I would have a really good conversation with them.

What made you stay on the call?
People. It’s all about the social element because in this era we don’t get a lot of social experiences, the program was an hour that I could communicate with a lot of people like I used to do before covid…the programming was fantastic, but it was mainly just conversations between us.

What did you learn about in the program?
I’d say the culture and particularly the way we celebrate Hanukkah where here it’s a very big holiday and you’ve got all the gifts and decorations, and that in Israel it’s a small family holiday… I learned that in Israel, soccer is the biggest game and in here it’s probably football.

What did you take from the ENP program?
The ability to make connections and socially interact even if it’s across the sea and another thing is the knowledge about the culture.

*Drew is a senior at Bloomfield Hills High school, a member of Fisher AZA, Michigan Regional Board and will attend Indiana University next fall.
Click here to view a short program recap video

Hisham lives in the Arab town of Yafia, located between the large Arab city of Nazareth, and the Jewish city of Migdal Haemek. His family is part of the 30% Christian population in the town and for several generations, have belonged to Israel’s Greek Catholic community. He is the father of 2 daughters in their twenties who are active contributors to Israel’s Start Up Nation, both having graduated with degrees in electrical engineering at Israel’s reputable Technion Institute (often referred to as Israel’s MIT). They now work in the hi-tech ecosystem. His wife Rina is a math teacher in a private Catholic school in Nazareth and Hisham, until recently, was the director of the sports department in the Yafia Municipality. He is currently a lecturer in the field of Sport Science.

Hisham is a serious mountain biker, which is how he was introduced the world of the Michigan – Central Galilee Partnership Region. Through his passion for biking, he met Michael Mensky, an active volunteer in the Partnership and fellow biker. Michael had an idea to create a biking path in the region, crossing through 5 municipalities: the 3 Jewish cities of Migdal Haemek, Nof Hagalil and the Jezreel Valley and 2 Arab communities: Yafia and Nazareth. The 35-mile path, known as “Shvil Hashufut, Naim Beyahad” is now a reality with more than half of it completed. The name, a play on words in Hebrew, means both “moving together” and “pleasant together.”The path is a dream come true. In the backdrop of the bike path is the aim to strengthen Israel’s shared society.

Hisham is active in a number of forums that advocate co-existence amongst Israel’s Jewish majority and Arab minorities. He believes that only through dialogue and joint programming will Israel be a healthy and tolerant democracy with an open and accepting society as a beacon of cultural pluralism. The bike path has been a platform for creating this atmosphere. Today Hisham is on the project’s steering committee and, as a result, has met and developed warm friendships with many leaders in the Partnership, both in Israel and in Michigan. He has biked with fellow partnership bikers including the current Michigan co-chair, Ron Sollish, also an avid biker. Hashim is most impressed with his interactions with the Michiganders, whom he feels empathize with him as being part of a minority community and is keen to engage in dialogue.

Although the Covid-19 pandemic slowed the completion of the bike path, Hisham, with his positive demeanor, sees the advantages of the challenging year. He appreciates the family time, talking and being together for hours, learning new technological platforms and enjoying nature and the outdoors.
He is looking forward to hosting the Michigan visitors for a ride on the Partnership’s “Naim Beyahad” trail in the not-too-distant future.

And in the meantime, put down your bike and put on your running/walking shoes for our virtual tour around the Michigan Central Galilee to see the highlights of our region. More information is coming soon for this great three part event in April. Check out our promo video here.

by Yiftah Leket

I remember when I was 16 years old, we used to go to school on Yom Hazikaron. It was a different kind of day. We used to wear a white shirt, jeans and put on our sad faces (although, back then, I didn’t know anyone who had died). By the time the school ceremony began, the seats in the auditorium were full of soldiers — alumni of the school who came with their uniforms and guns. I remember how we envied them. We also wanted to have that honor. We wanted to come back to school and show off with our uniform. Before we knew it, we were. We arrived proudly to our first Yom Hazikaron ceremony just after our IDF recruitment. More than 20 years later, recalling that situation seems to me like the strangest thing. When I was in the youth movement, we used to create the community ceremony, and as an amateur guitar player, I always took on the role of accompanying another teen singing. The strongest feeling doing those ceremonies was the sense of responsibility, like we had the whole community on our shoulders.

In a different period of my life, I remember how we used to say to each other “Mazal Tov” when someone was recruited to the army. “Mazal tov”? You can say many things to someone who is going to the army, but “congratulations”? I started questioning that gesture only when my little sister was recruited to the army . . .

On the other side of that evening, came Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel’s independence day) — which for most of my youth years meant going to see the big stages with performances, trying to ditch all the white snow spray people aim at you face, and going to the park the day after to do “Al Haesh” — an Israeli barbeque, sitting in the smoke between a million more barbeques . . .

As weird as these gestures seem, for Israeli’s, they are part of our identity, part of what it means to be an Israeli. This doesn’t mean it’s good or bad, I personally have questions about some of those parts of my identity, but nevertheless, in order to connect to our Israeli identity, this is part of the package.

There is one notion I have been hearing time and time again. That notion is that American Jews don’t feel connected, and historically don’t attend “the Yoms”, or more specifically they don’t feel connected to Yom Ha’zikaron (Israeli Memorial Day) and Yom Ha’atzmaut (Israel Independence Day).

And it’s not only in Detroit, I hear that from my fellow Shlichim as well.

I totally get it. I understand that it’s hard, even somewhat impossible, to connect to something that culturally feels so distant. It’s almost like trying to understand and connect to a ritual made by another species . . .

But at the same time, I also hear, and this is a very loud voice here in Metro Detroit, that people want to be more connected, understand more about Israel, and for Israel to be more deeply rooted in their identities and lives.

For that to happen, I think we need to slightly change the paradigm. The Yoms don’t have to be a commemoration or a celebration of things that happened in Israel. The Yoms can really be about the relationship we, as a vibrant and supportive Jewish community, have with the State of Israel and its people. We want to be with them together in grief and we want to be with them together in celebration. That’s why in the Israel and Overseas Department at Federation, we are building a vision with a new paradigm for the Yoms – “Hearts together”. We come together to soothe the pain of Yom Ha’zikaron and we also dance in circles celebrating Yom Ha’atzmaut.

These significant days are not only about Israel and its people’s story — it’s about our community and the story of being together with Israel over the years. For me, being together doesn’t mean you have to blindly support everything that is happening in Israel. Being together means to me that we can feel a mutual connection and care of Israel, even if we have differences among us.

Yom Hazikaron is not only about remembering and Yom Ha’atzmaut is not only a birthday party. They can be much more. They can be the days we reflect on past and current issues, they can be a platform to go deep with our everlasting search for Tikun Olam, while emphasizing Israel’s role in that Idea. They can be a time to connect to one another, with words or without them. Even more specifically, Yom Hazikaron can be not only a time of remembrance, but also a time for creating a future based on the heritage those who fell have left us to fulfill. Yom Haatzmaut can be the time to search for a better understanding of our connection with Israel, and bringing new notions to how we want our relationship with Israel to evolve.

This year, I want to invite you all, from different corners of the Jewish community of Metro Detroit, to be together, in days of memory and meaning.

Click here for 2021 Yom events.

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