CM Mission to Israel Fourth Day Report - Thursday August 21, 2014

This morning, we were privileged to take part in a ceremony dedicating the donation of the first permanent Torah at Azarat Yisrael. The Torah was donated by Larry Ritter of Israel Tours Connections. We were accompanied by music as we brought the Torah from our bus to the Kotel. Our colleague Sandra Kochman, who also runs all the religious services at the Kotel for our movement, met us there. It was very moving to take part in such a special occasion. 

After breakfast, the group traveled to Tel Aviv where we met with MK Ofer Shelah (Yesh Atid) on the 47th floor of Azrieli tower. We spoke with Shelah about, among other things, the lack of religious pluralism in Israel. He said that the country he wants to live in should be free and liberal but Yesh Atid was elected in a climate where Israel's security was not as pressing of an issue. Shelah thought that it would take time, maybe generations, to acheive this vision, but he assured us that he was committed to our cause. 

Major General (res.) Danny Yatom, former Head of the Mossad, was our next speaker. He spoke about the security situation and then took questions from the group. One interesting takeaway was his assertion that successful peace deals are based on trust between the parties and that trust will be necessary for any future deals. He told us that peace could not be negotiated with Hamas, only perhaps a ceasefire based on deterrence. After lunch, we met with Major General (res.) Yaakov Amidror. He also briefed us on his thoughts about the current situation and answered the last remaining questions the group had. 

Next we headed to Zichron Yaakov to visit Kehilat Ve'ahavta and met with our colleague Elisha Wolfin. Elisha told us of the work he was doing with Israeli children to help them cope with the existential questions that arise from living under the threat of terrorism. He spoke about the challenges of bringing God into the Israeli school system where secular Israelis are skeptical of religion.

We finished our evening at Shoshana Winery in Atlit which is under the supervision of our colleague Dubi Hayun. The owner told us that she sought out non-Orthodox hashgacha becuase the rabanut's rules are so restricted that she would not be able to make the wine herself as she'd have to turn over the keys to them. Dubi told us that hashgacha is based on trust, and that he trusts her. Watching the sun set from Atlit while sipping tasty wine was the perfect ending to the mission.