Sermon by Rabbi Denise L. Eger, February 25, 2005

Shabbat Shalom

It is good to travel, but good to be home.

I completed this sermon—and then drove home for Shabbat dinner—only to learn tonight of the bombing in Tel Aviv at the club on Herb Samuel Street not far from the promanade at the beach. At least 5 young people have died and many are wounded—was it only a week ago that we too were in Tel Aviv—near the beach?

But despite the horrible news tonight it wonderful it was to visit all of our friends in Israel. This year our group of 15 travelers both Jewish and not—spent the last two weeks traveling the breadth and width of Eretz Yisrael and this year we included a side trip to Jordan!

As you know our trip had a little different focus than before—our itinerary so expertly planned with the help of our wonderful friend Russell Lord---covered not only Jewish sites but Christian sites. This provided a terrific opportunity for my friend Rev. Neil Thomas and I to teach and to show the ways in which Christianity began out of Judaism and where and how Judaism and Christianity differ.

We had many profound moments on our trip including the reading of Bible passages in the very sites where the story took place. Like reading the story of Elijah’s challenge to the false prophets at Carmel (1 Kings 18) or reading from the New Testament about the birth of Jesus at Bethlehem. We shared prayer before meals and lots and lots of laughter on the bus.

There were so many highlights on our trip. Our reception, at City Hall by openly gay city councilmember Etai Pincus on first morning of our trip set an amazing tone for helping us understand Israel, the political parties, the gay community in Israel. We had a wonderful experience at the Diezengoff House where Israel’s Declaration of Independence was signed. Our guide there- Talia- made the announcement of Israel’s birth seem real for us, as if we were there when Ben-Gurion made the announcement on May 15, 1948. As we sang Hatikvah in the very room—the history of that moment, the impact of that moment came alive. Another highlight of our time in Tel Aviv was our dinner in Jaffa—joining us at dinner in addition to Russell and Avi –was Michal Eden, who is a former city council woman in Tel Aviv, the first openly lesbian elected official in Israel. Some of you will remember that she came to visit us several years ago. And also the two women who successfully sued in the Israeli Supreme Court for second Parent adoptions.

It was cold in Israel—colder than I ever remember. But it didn’t deter us as we moved northward to explore the Galilee. We visited Haifa and Acco—the famous prison, including planting trees in the Galilee at the gay and lesbian forest on Kibbutz Tuval.
The next day we took a boat ride on the Sea of Galilee, visited Christian sites in the area including the Mt. Of Beatitudes, Tagbatha and Capernaum and ended our day in the mystical city of Safat.

On the next day, Friday we visited Nazareth, and the city across the way Tzipori and Meggido—better known as Armageddon—a tel, which has 21 layers of civilization—a city dating back over 5000 years to the Cannaanites and later its largest population at the time of King Solomon. We then made our way to Jerusalem for Shabbat.

Our time in Jerusalem was glorious despite, the rain and hail storm! Shabbat evening we went to services at Kol Haneshama, the Reform Synagogue in the German Colony, and had a wonderful Shabbat dinner in the hotel together once again Russell and Avi were able to join us as well as their Palastinian friend Anas who is a championship swimmer with the Jerusalem Swim team and will probably one day swim in the Olympics for Palestine.

That evening some of our group visited the only gay bar in Jerusalem—called Shushan—and had a terrific time meeting fellow Jerusalemites.

Shabbat day some of us attended services next door at Hebrew Union College—my alma mater in Jerusalem and then took a walking tour of east Jerusalem and the shouk in the Old City. That Evening we were hosted by the Jerusalem Open House, J-lem glbt center. We made Havdallah together and met their leadership—including the head of their Palestinian Support Group—Eli, The head of the religious support group Netanel, and some of their founders, like Danny Savage and other leaders. Many of us went out to dinner with them afterward.

We began our day Sunday with a special presentation by Anat Hoffman. Anat heads the Israel Religious Action Council an organization sponsored by the Reform movement of Judaism. Anat a former Jerusalem city council woman, activist and UCLA alumna, spoke passionately of her work to defend the rights of liberal Jews in Israel, her work with new olim, new immigrants to help them sort out their immigration status and her work on behalf of women’s equality. The talit I am wearing along with several others of us (thank you Eddie Berman) is the Women’s at the Wall tallit. This tallit was designed to support the efforts of women to have equal access in prayer at the Kotel, the Western Wall. If you would like to support their work, you too can purchase a tallit which supports equal religious rights in Israel— forms are in the lobby. The rest of Sunday was devoted to the Old City of Jerusalem We toured the archeological remains of the temple, the Wall, the tunnel beneath the western wall and the Arab and Christian quarters. We visited Jewish sites and walked the Via Dolorosa as well, visiting the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and then making our way across the ancient cardo to the back through the Jewish quarter. We ended our touring that day with a visit to David’s Tomb and the upper Chamber site of the last supper. That night we enjoyed a Hayden Oratorio performed by the Jerusalem symphony with a guest choir from Budapest, Hungary!

Monday we also began a presentation. This time it was Tom Sowicki who is with The American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Tom is a former journalist writing for the Jerusalem Post and Haaretz who gave us an overview of both the recent Palestinian election and the Israeli government and prospects for peace. He added an important dimension and understanding to our visit. And then we were off to Jerusalem City Hall to meet Saar Natanel—the first openly gay city councilman in Jerusalem. We were registered as an official LGBT delegation—but the orthodox controlled city council offices gave Saar a hard time about finding a room in which to meet with us. He did find one—and we learned of the difficulties he has had in working with an orthodox controlled majority and the vicious attacks on him and his family. We helped him stage a bit of a protest and made our way down to the main chamber of the city hall—while he brought the pride flag down. We all sat around the council table—with the pride flag, the flag of Israel and the Jerusalem city flag behind us. A few minutes after the head scheduler for the room came in and tried to get Saar to leave and he told them he would not. The scheduler then stayed there in the back of the room while Saar continued to answer our questions about his work and the city of Jerusalem. We took a few pictures and then the Scheduler of the room tried to take the pride flag down and force Saar to remove it. He refused and said that if he wanted it down he would half to take it down. It was our little protest in the city of Jerusalem.

The rest of Monday was a new city day including a marvelous tour of the Supreme Court with a presentation on the Israeli Justice System, Visits to Ein Karem an important Christian site and A moving visit to Yad Vashem, Israel’s holocaust memorial. There we laid a wreath in the Valley of Communities with Kol Ami and MCC’s name on it and said special prayers in memory of those who perished in during the Holocaust including our 6 Jews million, gays and lesbians, Jehovah witnesses, the disabled, political prisoners, and the many soldiers who gave their lives to defend freedom.

Our day ended with crossing the border into the Palestinian controlled territory of Bethlehem. Yes, we had to cross a border, with soldiers, but as close to Jerusalem as Beverly Hills is to West Hollywood. We visited the Church of the Nativity and learned that Christians are now a minority in the town of Jesus’ birth. We visited with Palestinians there and learned a bit about the trouble they have endured during this intifada and the people we met who were relieved at the death of Arafat and anxious for cooperation and peace. It truly gave us all some hope.

We spent the next day, traveling in the Dead Sea region including a visit to Qumran—where the dead sea scrolls were found, floating in the Dead Sea and a wonderful trip to Masada—site of the last resistance to Rome in the year 73.

Then we were off on the next day to Jordan. We visited the ancient Roman city of Jerash—one of the Decapolis’ of Roman time—a huge city known as the city of 1000 pillars. Again, Russell met us and brought a new friend George who is the head of the LGBT community in Beirut Lebanon. George would travel with us through our stay in Jordan to learn about LGBT life in the states. He particularly wanted to learn about how to address issues of homosexuality and religion and spent significant time talking with Rev. Neil and I about some of the issues he faced in Beirut. We stayed in Amman and had dinner at a wonderful gathering place for the glbt community in Jordan—a café and book store. There is no formal glbt community in Jordan—it is very underground but this meeting place is the one progressive spot in a city not very hospitable to gay life. Madyan—the owner, spoke of his own trouble with the Jordainian authorities and told of how they chased him from the country and threatened his life. His only reason for being able to return was his close and personal friendship with Queen Rania who brought him home and offered him her protection.

The next day we visited Mt. Nebo—sight of Moses overlooking the promised land and Medaba—ancient city mentioned in the bible and made our way to Petra. Friday was spent touring the ancient Nabatean, red rock city, the land of Esau and Edom and expertly carved building facades. That afternoon—we drove back to the border with Israel and flew back to Tel Aviv from Elat.

Our last night in Israel, we had Shabbat dinner in a wonderful gay owned restaurant in Tel Aviv—Evita—I am sure it was the first time the Kiddush and motzi was ever said in the restaurant—and again, Russell and Avi joined us along with the head of the Agudah—Israel’s national gay and lesbian organization based in Tel Aviv and a representative from Kamoni Kamoha the Israel’s gay youth organizations and several other friends including our swimmer Anas.

All in all a rich and invigorating trip. What was clear this trip is that Israel and its neighbors are at an important crossroads—people across all borders Israel, Palestine, and Jordan are anxious for peace to break out, but indeed they are cautious and yes, a bit scared. The last four years of violence has scarred both sides deeply and there are many fears. But there is a small spark of hope that God-willing can be fanned into a wonderful flame of peace and justice.

This is the time to visit. This is the time to be supportive with your tourist dollars. This is the time that many of you can make a tremendous difference. Consider planning your own trip to Israel—I am sure our friend Russell would be happy to help you! Or more importantly consider going to World Pride this August in Jerusalem. Beginning August 17 the lgbt world will come to Jerusalem to protest, celebrate, learn and be filled with the unique a special spirit of Eretz Yisrael. There are many packages, and groups that are going, and if you haven’t made summer plans yet, perhaps this can be your opportunity to visit Israel. I know Russell will be happy to talk to you about it.

Our temple trips to Israel—make a difference—not only for us but for those we meet in Israel—our lgbt friends, our Reform Jewish friends, and for Israel in general. It shows our concern, our love and yes, our commitment to our People. I look forward to future trips together and strengthening our bonds with our family and friends in Israel and the Middle East.