Israel Mission trip highlights

A glimpse at some of the planned activities for our visit.

By Jane Schiff

Last month, I wrote an article explaining why now is an important time to visit Israel and show our support — Am Israel Chai.

This month, I want to share a few highlights of our upcoming trip. We will visit a hospital, The Galilee Medical Center, which is the largest hospital in northern Israel. It serves and is served by Jews, Christians, Muslims and Druse. Because it is located so close to the Lebanese border, it is fully prepared for security emergencies and features Israel’s only (mostly likely not for long) total underground hospital. This security for staff and patients is an exciting new concept that we will explore. We will hear from retired and active IDF (Israel Defense Forces) military about the current situation, how it is different and how it is the same from other times. We will talk with survivors and families who have been affected by the war. And on one Shabbat, we will have Lone Soldiers join us for dinner. The Lone Soldiers come from countries around the globe and have a unique perspective on serving in the IDF. Their experiences are heartwarming, heartwrenching and always interesting. They are young, full of spirit, lonely, grateful for a special Shabbat dinner with visitors and willing to open up about their journey. It has always been a highlight of every trip I’ve taken to have them join us.

We will do tourist things — Yad Vashem, the Western Wall, Akko, ANU Museum and Carmel Market, to name just a few. Then, there are the fun things. “Eat With” is an opportunity to have dinner in the home of a chef, where you will enjoy too much incredible food and great stories about their life as a chef. And how about a home hospitality barbecue dinner at Yesod Hama’la, a moshav founded in 1884 with help from Baron de Rothschild? Or a visit to the Naot factory? We will do all this and much, much more.

If you want to hear more details and find out about cost, travel options, etc., we have a scheduled information session on April 15 at 3 p.m. To sign up for this meeting, please contact Jeffrey Feld at Jfeld@jewishnaples.org or call him at 239-263-4205.