In late January, days 118-125 after October 7, a diverse group of 22 Jewish professionals from the Atlanta metro area traveled to Israel with the Jewish Federation and Jewish Community Relations Council of Atlanta to bear witness to the devastation of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel and the resulting war. We met with dozens of people representing a broad swath of Israeli society. We found that what connects us is greater than what separates us. Both among the trip participants – including rabbis from the Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, and Reconstructionist denominations of Judaism – and among Israelis, we felt a sense of a shared peoplehood, a shared history, and a shared destiny.
Editor’s Note: One participant, Eric Robbins, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta, also wrote about the trip in this piece on Rough Draft.
A tapestry of encounters
Each one of us was inspired and amazed by the resiliency of the Israeli people. We met the grandparents of Bar Kupershtein, a young man taken hostage by Hamas on October 7. Bar’s grandfather survived the Holocaust. He calls October 7 the “second Holocaust.” Bar’s fate is still unknown. We met Maoz Inon, an owner and operator of Abraham Hostels. Hamas burned his parents alive in their home on October 7. Yet, Maoz wants and believes it is possible to achieve peace in four to six years. Immediately after meeting Maoz, we heard the sirens warning of a missile attack in Tel Aviv, exited our bus, and ran for shelter in a nearby auto showroom. While running, we saw the Iron Dome missiles fired to intercept enemy rockets. Though we all emerged safe from the encounter, it brought home the daily reality of Israeli life so close to Hamas rockets.
We met men and women in the northern cities of Yokne’am and Megiddo, the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta’s partnership communities with a large population of…
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