I can still taste my very first falafel, smell the aromas of the spice stalls, and feel the ripple of the stones at the Kotel. The sights, sounds, smells, tastes and textures of Israel are captivating.   My relationship with Israel began in the spring of 1990 when my husband and I had the opportunity to travel with the first St. Louis community “Unity Trip.”

We were a very diverse group, traveling with community rabbis from each of the three movements.  I learned something different from each as they offered unique perspectives on the Land and the Jewish State.

It was the gentle lessons taught by Rabbi Aaron Borow (former rabbi of Nusach Hari B’nai Zion) that stayed with me as he encouraged me to see that I was not an “outsider visiting Israel” but rather an “insider traveling in the Land of my family.”  He taught me to “listen” and to “learn” from Israel.   I was profoundly affected; left with endless questions and an ever-deepening desire to learn. In my search for answers I discovered Israeli poet Yehuda Amichai whose poems of Jerusalem captured the emotions of that first visit,  “Jerusalem’s a place where everyone remembers he’s forgotten something but doesn’t remember what it is” (from “Jerusalem 1967,” #21).  One’s first Israel experience is often like this; everything is so new yet oddly familiar.

My second experience was very different; much more serious, less carefree, yet somehow richer than the first.  This time I really experienced Jerusalem and its residents.  In 2007, I traveled to Israel in my role as St. Louis Director of the Melton Adult Mini-school. I extended my stay in order to visit with a friend in Jerusalem.  Our days and nights were spent walking the streets sampling the diversity that is Jerusalem.  We talked long into the night about life in Jerusalem and the pain of the prior years.  I saw and felt the city in an entirely different way.  I learned that I am a part of Israel and it is a part of me.  “Jerusalem stone is the only stone that can feel pain, it has a network of nerves” (from “Jerusalem 1967,” #12). Amichai showed me that I was part of that network.  This time when I touched the stones of Jerusalem, I could feel her soul.  

On Feb. 21, as our plane approached the runway at Ben Gurion, the sky was overcast but the very moment we touched down the clouds parted and sunlight filled the sky.  I knew we were in for something special!  I was traveling this time with 18 members of a very dedicated combined group of Jewish professionals and lay leaders representing CAJE and the JCC. 

It had only been six months since our group had first convened to begin our Focus Israel initiative, an important project to promote opportunities for Israel engagement in the St. Louis community.  We were all very excited and ready to dive in, each day was packed and purposeful. Although we enjoyed each other, laughed long and loud, and marveled at how much we had in common, the seriousness of our charge was ever present.  We often jokingly asked each other if anyone had “found the golden ticket” in terms of a programming breakthrough.  However, everyone was acutely aware of the fact that there wasn’t a “golden ticket” to be found.  We knew that the hard work lay ahead, but it felt as if we were more then up to the task because of the relationships we were building with each other and with Israel.  

In his poem, “Ecology of Jerusalem,” Yehuda Amichai writes, “The air over Jerusalem is saturated with prayers and dreams like the air over industrial cities.  It’s hard to breathe.”  This time in Israel I “couldn’t breathe!”  

We confronted challenges facing Israeli society and the Jewish world today in an open and supportive framework. We met Israelis who expressed serious concern and doubt, others who offered hope and ideas of limitless opportunity.  We engaged in discussions of racism, poverty, joblessness, wage disparity, educational deficiency, and the possibilities of war and peace.  We were challenged to consider empowerment of individual freedom of thought, diversity in teaching, learning, and renewal in Jewish life.  We were reminded that Israel is still “becoming a Nation,” that there are opportunities to celebrate and savor, yet much work to do. We debated “Peoplehood” and we found strength in “family.”  As families do, conversations must continue.  

In the end I am left with the idea that Israel engagement is about our spirit, about moving beyond one’s local world into the world of our global community in order to enrich our lives.  The changing nature of our world presents new educational questions that must generate new responses.  I came home knowing that I am in a conversation with Israel; concerning the prayers and dreams of Israel…I find that I am left breathless!

Cyndee Levy is Director of Adult Education at the Central Agency for Jewish Education.  She is also the St. Louis Director of the Florence Melton Adult Mini-school at CAJE. She has served as a Melton Faculty member for the past eight years.