Day 3 - A Day of Healing

Whoa.  This was quite a day.  I always remember when Uri, our educator on our family trips to Israel would greet us each morning he would say, “Today is going to be a great day.”  I think that because of October 7 instead our thought is “Today is going to be a meaningful day.”  And it was more meaningful than we could have imagined.  

On our bus ride to the first activity (by the way we left our hotel at 8 am and did not return until 10:45 pm) our educator Shaiah talked to us about making this a day of healing.  He explained that healing does not mean necessarily returning to complete health, but rather, especially for Israelis after October 7, healing is more like taking a wound and turning it into a scar.  That metaphor really resonated with me today.  Our first stop was the Rimon School of Music.  Founded in 1985, the Rimon School focuses on Jazz and contemporary music.  

Before entering the school we made a large circle and each of us on the mission gave one word that was to be our focus today.  We heard words like community, presence, bearing witness, togetherness, healing and of course, music.  

In the auditorium we met Mitchell who is the academic director at Rimon.  

He explained that there are 700 students at Rimon in a variety of focuses.  They are expanding with a new campus in the north and hoping to expand further.  He also explained how about 300 students were volunteering in their community, making music with at risk students and wounded soldiers.  This is Israel’s youth, full of creativity. It brought such hope for the future.  After we learned about the school he invited some ensembles to perform for us.

We heard Middle Eastern music and jazz music, both at such a high level.  What I loved most was the energy of the performers which was infectious to all of us lucky to be in that room.  I also loved how each ensemble had their teacher performing with the students.  They didn’t take the solos, but they were there sharing in the joy of making music with these talented kids.  It was an incredible way to start our day.  We were all so impressed to see a school doing such high level music.

“AND…”

Mitchell explained that on October 7, tragically, 3 Rimon School alumni were murdered by Hamas.  He also explained how out of the 700 students in the school,  many were drafted to fight for Israel (one student performer we saw had fought for 7 months).  We then met Shir and Shaked, two young women whose parents met while studying at the Rimon School.  They fell in love there and were eventually married and started their family, a family that the girls described as being filled with music.  

Shir and Shaked explained that on October 7, both of their parents were murdered by terrorists in their home on a kibbutz in the south.  They went into extreme detail of their experience (they were in a different part of the kibbutz than their parents) and how they survived.  As they detailed their experience including finding out that their parents were gone by a text message from their brother Rotem, who was hiding underneath his deceased mother while terrorists were in the family home.  They were finally rescued at 10:30 pm, more than 14 hours after the ordeal began.  They lost cell contact and didn’t learn the story of their parent’s death until the next day, and they, with so much courage and strength, shared the details of what happened to their parents, as told to them by their brother.  I will not share all of the details with you (it would take hours to write it all out).  But I will tell you that we were all amazed at the strength of these two young women who shared their story with 60 strangers.  We sat in silence and in awe of these two women.  As our tears flowed, they shared that by telling their story to us, it was as if their parents were giving them another hug.  It was a profound moment.  

After a break (we all needed a break after hearing from and Shaked), we got to sing with one of the a cappella vocal ensembles at Rimon.

After singing together in a circle the director had us go back to back with another singer and then, as we sang, we wandered the room making eye contact with other singers.  It was such a special moment, not only making eye contact with colleagues and friends, but even more special to make eye contact with these students.  It was a healing moment for us all after a very emotional morning.  We then went outside and they had us release balloons representing the hostages that are still captive.

While not very ecologically friendly, it was a special and meaningful moment.  And as we walked into the room where they had lunch for us, we were greeted by this wall display.

I spent a good deal of time looking at each name of the hostages, wondering which of these people were still alive?  I paid close attention to the young children on this wall, one of which has spent more of his precious young life in captivity than he has as a free Israeli.  The depths of this tragedy is endless.

After our morning of healing through music and sharing stories we split into two groups and went to our elective program.  I chose to go to the Healing Space, which works on healing trauma through a mind and body connection.  We learned that this place started as a place to treat the survivors of the Nova Festival, and has since expanded and has treated 10,000 people with trauma therapy.  They use yoga, sound healing, massage, pottery and more to help their patients through the trauma of October 7 and the war that has followed.  It was a beautiful facility, and we could feel the healing power of this place.

Following this program we went to experience Polyphony, an organization that aims to bridge the divide between Arab and Jewish communities in Israel through music.  Arab Israelis and Jewish Israelis, Muslims, Christians and Jews working together.  They have programming for young children all the way through adulthood.  We learned that one group started with just 3 Israeli Arab children and 32 Israeli Jews.  But, now, because of their excellence in music education, the group is split equally between Jewish Israelis and Arab Israelis.  They hope to serve as a model of cooperation throughout the world.  We were treated to an exquisite private concert of classical music that featured an Israeli opera singer and an Arab opera singer, backed up by a wonderful orchestra.  At the end of the concert our group got to perform two pieces with the ensemble, and I had the honor of singing a solo along with the Israeli and Arab opera singers and my good friend, Cantor Seth Warner, the president of the American Conference of Cantors.  It was a thrilling moment, made even more special by having our cantors and synagogue musicians serve as the choir for this piece.  

After we completed this activity we went to our rooftop dinner and service overlooking Tel Aviv.

This was followed by another wonderful concert by Maureen Nehedar, who blends traditional Persian instruments with western modern instruments.  She was voted one of the Israel’s 50’s most important women.  What a terrific concert!

It was an incredible day, my body is aching but my soul is nourished.  Oh yeah, and happy 4th of July!!!