Posted by Enid Shapiro. Categories: Israel, RHR-NA Study Tour 2011, West Bank
on Jan 9th, 2012 | 6 comments
By Enid Shapiro, a participant in Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s Hands-On Human Rights Tour to Israel and the West Bank in November 2011.
This visit to Rachelʼs Tomb was a total surprise to me because of my memory of a visit to the site almost twenty-five years ago. What I remembered was how easy it had been to enter the Tomb. At that time the area around the entrance was entirely open and totally accessible. This afternoon, the third day into our trip, the experience was shocking and extremely unpleasant primarily because of the huge numbers of religious people jammed into the...
Posted by Enid Shapiro. Categories: Human Rights Education, Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights, RHR-NA Study Tour 2011
on Jan 9th, 2012 | Comments Off
By Enid Shapiro, a participant in Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s Hands-On Human Rights Tour to Israel and the West Bank in November 2011.
About a third of our group attended an optional study of Masekhet Atzmaʼut (Tractate Independence based on Israel’s Declaration of Independence). We learned the history of the Declaration’s language and dovetailed into a related text study of Genesis 12:1-7, Genesis 26:3, Genesis 28:12-14, and Deuteronomy 27:1-9.
We were greeted warmly by Rabbi Nava Hefetz in her lovely apartment overlooking the hills of Jerusalem just as the sun was...
Posted by Francine Perlman. Categories: Israel, RHR-NA Study Tour 2011, Settlements, West Bank
on Jan 4th, 2012 | Comments Off
By Francine Perlman, a participant in Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s Hands-On Human Rights Tour to Israel and the West Bank in November 2011.
Elon Shvut immediately struck me as the most verdant leafy place we’d seen so far in the West Bank. Elon Shvut is in Gush Etzion (Etzion bloc), and is administered by the Gush Etzion Regional Council. Gush Etzion, meaning the way by which Abraham went through the land, has had a rather tortured history. It was, in modern times, established in 1926, but the Jews left during the 1929 riots, according to Dr. Ido Hevroni, our host. It became a...
Posted by Francine Perlman. Categories: Israel, Rabbis for Human Rights, RHR-NA Study Tour 2011, West Bank
on Jan 4th, 2012 | Comments Off
By Francine Perlman, a participant in Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s Hands-On Human Rights Tour to Israel and the West Bank in November 2011.
During the evening of November 10, we had supper at the Grotto, a restaurant in Bethlehem area near Shepherd’s Field. One wonderful course after another rolled out of the kitchen onto our tables. A highlight of the evening (not talking food now) was a presentation by Suzan Sahouri, Executive Director of the Bethlehem Fair Trade Artisans.
Suzan sat first at one table, then the other, and just let the narrative flow. We heard first her...
Posted by Donald Greenberg. Categories: Israel, RHR-NA Study Tour 2011
on Jan 1st, 2012 | Comments Off
By Donald Greenberg, a participant in Rabbis for Human Rights-North America’s Hands-On Human Rights Tour to Israel and the West Bank in November 2011.
On November 15, 2011, we traveled to Hadera to meet with Rabbi Idit Lev, Economic Justice Director of the Israeli organization Rabbis for Human Rights (RHR), and several Jewish and Israeli Arab women working on economic justice issues through RHR. Hadera is a city located near the Mediterranean coast, 45 kilometers (28 miles) north of Tel Aviv.
After speaking with our hosts, it became clear that the budget of Israel is highly politicized and that...
