Mifgash and Conflict and Hope Seminar

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This part we only had two seminars.. one which was a mifgash (encounter) with israeli young adults our age as well as a conflict and hope seminar.

The mifgash was a lot of fun, I was in a group with past Ramah counselors and we got to reminisce about our time staffing there and what not. Nothing has changed in Ramah Berkshires it is kinda sad, but I heard Rabbi Resnick is leaving and for this coming summer 2009 there will be a new director. That should be interesting. It seemed very forced nature and some Israelis didn't feel comfortable to speak that much English all the time so for some parts we had a language barrier. I wish that the email list that they said would go out.. would go out and it hasnt yet . I just think it is pointless that they had us meet these people for a weekend and get to know them and do give us the tools in order to stay in touch. That was the fault of Otzma and Avi Chi foundation.

We had a five day seminar about the conflict between Israeli's and Palestinians and to learn the crux of the conflilct. I think it is better for you to read my reflection rather than try to explain all the speakers and what not. My reflection is about how I felt after spending a weekend in Tekoa at the Mandell house.


Over this almost six months of iving in Israel Otzma has had seminars to integrate Israeli live with ours. The past seminar was called the hope and conflict. Coming into this five day seminar I was ready to soak up more information to continue formulating my opinion on the current situation and was ready to hear new opinions. What is tolerance and intolerance. Tolerance is a noun - a fair, objective, and permissive attitude toward those whose opinions, practices, race, religion, nationality, etc., differ from one's own; freedom from bigotry. Intolerance is just the opposite of that. I find myself a tolerant person who can hear both sides and try to rationalize common sense to a complicated situation however it is not that easy at certain moments. I think these five days were one of those moments where I found myself siding compltely with one side and was not ready to hear the other because I know the majority isnt the people or nation that the speakers were talking about.

In two thousand and one when I was 14 and in eighth grade september 11th happened. Terror affected my life directy I was in middle school going about my day and all of a sudden an Islamic extremist organization was targetting the western world. If my family stayed in Isael and I grew up in Israel possibly in Jerusalem where they were living before my parents moved back to america terorismy could have been a part of my daily life.

I heard about the Kobe Mandell Foundation after that horrific event which ended up killing Kobe. In the height of the 2nd Insafada in May 2001 Kobe Mandell was a 13 year old living in Tekoa with his family and decided to hike into the Wadi with a friend. They decided to cut school and not tell anyone so that they could explore a new part of the wadi because both the young boys get to hike it often. The boys got stuck in a cave and were stoned to death as a result of the violence going on between the Israelis and Palestinians. The only way that these boys could be identified by the IDF (Israeli Defense Force) was by their dental records. This weekend I was given a family and my host family in Tekoa happen to be Rabbi Seth and Sherri Mandell and the last name did not click that this was THE mandell family.

Shabbat dinner and conversation was so warm and welcoming just like any other shabbat meal I have had yet so far this year and the fact that I was in Judea Samaria (west bank) didnt really matter to me. I could tell that something was off while we were sitting at the shabbat lunch table the conversation of the conflict came up. Since this whole weekend is titled conflict and hope I wanted to hear what the Mandels had to say. They went around in a circle in the order of Seth, Sheri, Danny and Gabi. I was curious why they choose to live and have their children grow up in Tekoa and be open minded to what is going to be said because they had no idead what I think or my perspective on living in the West Bank and the current situation.

It was clear to me from what Seth said that he has lost hope in the peace process and is waiting patiently but also doesnt ant to live in a two state solution and urges that there is tolerance on both sides when the right time comes. He seems to be a pessimistic realist. Sherri said something along the lines "we should have no mercy and ust kill them all" I knew people had opinions like thhat however I was quite surprised that she it sort of casually. Until this moment it still did not click that these adults were Kobe's Parents. This was the first time in a long time I have heard intolerance towards the other side of Palestinians like that. (Even the speaker in Efrat another settlement was more PC than that)

Their oldest son Daniel is extremely tolerant of the situation and is also a soldier in the IDF. He knows something must be done to achieve peace and will do whatever he can in his power to help takes steps there. he calls Tekoa his home and would never call the US his home even though he grew up there basically his entire childhood. He just finished his service in the Gaza war and believe right now military action and force is the only wa to go. To follow those three people and say my view was quite overwhelming but i still decided that it was an appropriate time to say what I think.

Right now the only way to stop the rockets was a military force and I think talks towards peace need to happen. When they take place if the west bank was in place like Barak Had it in 1999 I now would be esitant to hand it over to Palestinian control. That would make the state of Israel 1/2 of what the current size and twice as volunerable to terrorist attacks. In order to have a Jewish state right now.. this can not happen, we are simply not ready. The family was surprised of what my stance since they noticed I was a Barak Obama fan they all of a sudden saw me as a liberal but I was able to surprise them a little.

Later during Shabbat afternoon Seth Mandell spoke to my entire Otzma group about his son and the foundation they have created in his memory. This is the time I realized why Sherri is so intolerant and the rest of her family is tolerant to a degree. Even though eight years have past she is still grieving.

This weekend was an eye opener for me and I was so privileged to meet a family like the Mandells who are loving warm and caring even after a orrific tragety which has torn their world apart. I think this reflection really is a representation of what I experienced. I will soon add the total list of people we met with

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