Our Israel Committee helps nurture our connection to Israel by fostering education and promoting meaningful engagement with the Jewish homeland through programs, activities, and fundraising.
If you have a question about Israel and our congregation, or if you’re interested in getting involved in the committee, please reach out to israel(at)societyhillsynagogue.org.
Israel Dialogue and Engagement Subcommittee Listening Circles
June 8 (4-6 pm) or June 9 (7:30-9:30 pm) or 10 (7-9 pm) pending respondents’ availability
Sign Up to Join a Listening Circle
Our Israel Dialogue and Engagement Subcommittee (IDEC) invites you to participate in a Listening Circle — a small-group gathering designed to foster respectful, compassionate dialogue about how recent events in Israel and Gaza have impacted our lives. These circles are not debates or lectures; they are spaces for deep listening and reflection.
Sessions will take place on June 8, 9, or 10, depending on respondents’ availability. Trained congregant facilitators will guide each group in creating a safe, caring space for sharing.
You can review the Code of Conduct for the listening circles and a Summary of our Israel Survey Results, which shaped this program.
Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha’atzma’ut
Wednesday, April 30
We came together to observe Yom Hazikaron, Remembrance Day for Israel’s Fallen Soldiers and Victims of Terrorism, and to celebrate Yom Ha’atzma’ut, Israel’s Independence Day.
Different from how most Americans experience Memorial Day and Independence Day, in Israel, Yom Hazikaron immediately precedes Yom Ha’atzma’ut — a profound, emotional acknowledgement that freedom isn’t free. The somber nature of Yom Hazikaron is juxtaposed with the joy and exhilaration of Yom Ha’atzma’ut.
As the State of Israel marks its 77th year of independence, we will sought to channel this unique blend of emotions with a 25-minute Yom Hazikaron ceremony, including letters, songs, and prayers in memory of the fallen, which concluded with the siren heard throughout Israel on Yom Hazikaron, as everything stops, and people stand at attention.
We then celebrated Yom Ha’atzma’ut with an Israeli dinner, backgammon, Israel bingo, and a giant Israel map puzzle, soundtracked by Israeli pop music. Am Yisrael Hai!
Shabbat Lunch ‘n’ Learn — Making a Difference: My Volunteer Experience in Israel
Saturday, Jan. 25
It was wonderful to be together with so many congregants and friends at our recent Shabbat Kiddush Lunch ‘n’ Learn, sponsored by the Israel Connections Subcommittee!
David Levine moderated an inspiring and moving conversation with panelists Holden and Felise Nagelberg, Val and Mike Yasner, Rob Einhorn, and Rafi Licht (pictured), who shared their experiences volunteering with various organizations in Israel before and since October 7, 2023.
Here are links to some of the organizations and volunteering portals discussed at the Lunch ‘n’ Learn:
Read some of Rabbi Kamesar's Divrei Torah (words of Torah) about Israel:
The Power of Hope: A Cornerstone of the Jewish Experience
There’s one part of my previously emailed d’var torah that I kind of want to take back. In it, I shared the truism that “hope is not a strategy” (juxtaposing it to the notion that “neither is despair”). It is
Balancing Compassion and Critique: A Yom Kippur Perspective on Israel
Dear Friends, I’m sometimes reminded of the adage about Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, that it has the capacity to afflict the comfortable and comfort the afflicted. That is, some of us go through life and are so hard
The Jewish Story
Dear Friends, I wanted to share just briefly a bit about the mentality I’m holding each week when I write about Israel, Gaza, and the Middle East. I’m Jewish. I’m not breaking any news here when I say that, but
Identity, Israel, and Shared Humanity
Dear Friends, Each week I reflect, professionally, on a couple of fronts: for Friday nights, I try to write in a spirit that reflects the spirit of Shabbat—a poetic sensibility angled towards Shabbat as a palace in time, a foretaste
Pesah, Protest, and Poetry
We just got finished celebrating beautiful, if painful, Passover Seders in our homes and in community.
I wanted to begin by sharing the words with which I opened our Seder here at Society Hill Synagogue, with over 150 people across the generations crammed warmly in our social hall:
Finding God in Alienation
Dear Friends, About a month after October 7, my wife Caroline, stretching to find something with which to introduce the Israeli-Palestinian conflict — and, more precisely, a pathway through it to a better future — to our daughters Lila, 4