A trip of a lifetime

At the start of 2023, we decided  to celebrate my son’s barmitzvah in Israel the following year. I am well known for my very advanced planning, and by April 2023 I had booked a shul in Jerusalem, found a lunch venue and even organised the photographer 18 months in advance. After Jewish life was forever changed on the 7th of October, we decided to proceed with a more reliable barmitzvah at home in Melbourne. But as the months went on, my husband and I still yearned to take our kids on their first visit to Israel, if not for a barmitzvah simcha, then to at least to show them their Jewish homeland and bring to life everything they have learned about their Jewish identity since as far back as they could remember.

With a feeling of angst, we booked our flights in January 2024, carefully reading the cancellation terms and conditions. As the months went on and the volatility of the war fluctuated daily, we were met with a lot of resistance when conversations turned to our impending trip. Family and friends judged us (some less subtly than others), the Australian government changed their travel rating and with that travel insurance options went out the window, and I guiltily questioned our decision multiple times, feeling like an irresponsible parent taking my children into a war zone. On the flight to Tel Aviv, as I recited the Tefilat Haderech prayer, I added something extra…..asking Hashem to protect us from war-related terror and ballistic missiles.

We have now returned three weeks later from one of the most fundamentally important trips of a lifetime. For everyone who was telling me that this is not the right time to visit Israel, I beg to differ. For it is exactly the right time to visit Israel. It is the time for every Jewish person across the world, and even more importantly non-Jews, to understand for oneself the resilience and determination of a nation that will never stop celebrating life, no matter what their bordering enemies throw at them and no matter what propaganda the rest of the world tries to sell.

My children have received a life education they could never have encountered anywhere else in the world, and have experienced first-hand a significant moment of Jewish history. We visited the sites of October 7th murder and destruction, which are still so very authentically raw and confronting. I was expecting to feel traumatised, but what I was not expecting, was that amidst the horrific realisation of the intensity and scale of the horror, we encountered a zest for life, right within the heart of where indiscriminate killing took place. At the Nova festival site we met a scribe writing a new sefer Torah in honour of a victim and my son had a Torah letter written in his name too. I could not believe that in the exact spot where Jews were murdered, a new Torah, the ultimate symbol of Judaism, was being created. It epitomised the ultimate weapon against evil Jewish hatred. We enjoyed a meal with soldiers at the well-known Shuva junction and met Dror, who together with his brothers set up a simple table with food on the 8th of October 2023, and today they are feeding over 3000 soldiers every day, and more importantly have created a haven where soldiers get to unwind from the constant battles they are fighting over a year later. At the graveyard of cars, once we had overcome our initial shock and disbelief at the vastness of bullet-ridden and burnt cars, we heard from Ben’s father, a young adult who selflessly returned three times to the Nova festival to rescue strangers, before being murdered. Throughout the day my emotions were erratically juxtaposed, for I did not expect to encounter the many stories of heroism of people who fought so hard for their lives, the lives of others and their country. And I certainly did not expect to feel an overwhelming sense of pride at the countless selfless volunteers who continuously fight for the land of Israel every single day.

Every day we heard stories and witnessed events about what it means to be Israel in today’s times. There were signs of war everywhere….from protests at hostage square to the eerie sirens we awoke to in the middle of the night, quickly followed by the thud of the iron dome interceptor. Every restaurant greets its customers with a yellow stencilled free hostage sign and as you arrive and leave Ben Gurion airport, you are reminded just how many innocent souls remain stolen in the confines of Gaza. Our young guide in Jerusalem had recently returned from fighting in Lebanon and shared incredulous stories with us. When I asked him what the army has taught him, he responded simply – “to be responsible for life”. And this is why everyone needs to visit Israel right now. Whilst across the rest of the world we are experiencing the rising tide of antisemitism and anti-Zionism, in Israel they don’t care about that, as every day they are fighting for a right to exist. They are a nation that refuses to simply survive – they demand to thrive!

During a visit down south, we drove past never-ending date plantations in the middle of the arid desert and encountered hundreds of Israel’s technologies and innovations being implemented in every day practise. We heard wonderful stories of new immigrants and the support they receive from the government. During our ‘dialogue in the dark’ tour at the Children’s museum, our guide explained how Israel provides services that have taught him to shop, cook, travel and live on his own despite being totally blind. We packed food for the needy at Pantry Packers and learned that on October 8th 2023, Kollel Chabad provided significant financial support to every single person within the Gaza envelope. After being woken by a siren alert in the middle of the night, a few hours later I was running along a packed Tel Aviv beach front, with Israelis of all ages getting up and going for their morning run and coffee and dog walks, carrying on daily life no matter what the houthis throw at them. Throughout the eight nights of Chanukah, we stumbled across a variety of street parties, from the black-hatted Chabadniks dancing around the chanukias dotted all over Mea Shearim, to the musicians gathering with their neighbours in the streets of Nachlaot. At Machane Yehuda on Friday morning, our family joined the throngs of people shuffling and buying challah with an electric Shabbat energy I have never encountered previously. And on our last evening in Jerusalem, which happened to coincide with Rosh Chodesh Tevet, we stood on the roof of a Yeshiva overlooking the setting sun in Jerusalem, whilst the sounds of hundreds of Jews at the kotel reciting Hallel reverberated across the hills. Every city we visited, every corner we turned, we were met with signs of life celebration, from the religious to the secular, the native Israelis to the olim – there is a love for this country that is unparalleled.

I am not a religious person who prays daily or studies Torah. But visiting historical sites throughout Israel and hearing our guides linking ancient and modern history to passages in the Tanach has reminded me why the Jewish nation, and Israel, has survived for so long and will do so for eternity. For the Tanach is the ultimate guide for how to live life. And there is no nation in the world that understand this more than the people of Israel.

Three weeks ago we arrived in Israel. As I write this on the plane, I feel like I am leaving a part of my neshama behind, for it really does feel like home. My children came to enrich their Jewish identity and understand their heritage. They are leaving as prouder Jews than ever before, and the confidence to tell everyone they encounter that Israel has, and always will be, their forever Jewish home.