When I was in high school, I had an amazing opportunity to spend a semester in Israel through a Reform movement program then called EIE – the Eisendrath International Exchange. (The program has since gone through a name change, among other changes – learn more here!) Along with seeding a lifelong love of and connection to Israel, my 4 months in Israel brought some very special teachers and friends into my life, most notably my Jewish studies teacher, Uri Feinberg. In the years since, Uri has shifted from teaching high school students to teaching learners and travelers of all ages as an educational tour guide in Israel. 8 years ago, I brought a group of young couples to Israel through a program called Honeymoon Israel, and was shocked when Uri boarded our tour bus upon arrival in Israel. I’ve learned many things from Uri over the years, but something he said over and over on that trip has stuck with me to this day. He turned to our group and said, “When you leave here and head home, returning to your friends and families, you’ll encounter people who might say something like: Now that you’ve been to Israel, obviously you’ll understand…of course you’ll know…of course you’ll see things this way. If anyone ever tells you that – they know nothing. Nothing about this place is simple, easy to understand, or obvious.”
Uri’s words echoed in my head over the last few weeks as I read the recently published The Gates of Gaza: A Story of Betrayal, Survival, and Hope in Israel’s Borderlands, by Israeli journalist Amir Tibon, a resident of Kibbutz Nahal Oz who hid in his safe room with his wife and two young daughters for hours on October 7, until his father, retired general Noam Tibon, came to their rescue. Tibon’s book alternates between telling the story of his experience on 10/7, and tracing the complex political realities in Gaza and in Israel that led to that day and its aftermath. It reminded me how little I know – about how the kibbutzim in the Gaza envelope were established in the 1950s and their ups and downs in the decades since, about the inner workings of Hamas politics and the tensions between Hamas and other Palestinian factions, about Israeli politics, not only of the last couple years but in the last several decades.
I encourage each of us to dig deep into what we don’t know – whether about Israel and its current conflict or Judaism more broadly – and find a way to deepen our own knowledge and learning through reading, listening to different voices, and opening ourselves up to new information. If you’re looking for a book suggestion – I highly recommend The Gates of Gaza as a starting point!
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