Cogregation Beth israel From Rabbi Stephen Kahn "Update from CBI's Family Israel Experience" for Friday, 26 December 2014

From Rabbi Stephen Kahn "Update from CBI's Family Israel Experience" Friday, 26 December 2014 Shabbat is descending on Jerusalem and our eighteen CBI members are settling in their rooms. As I sit on my room's balcony at our hotel I am beginning to process these first few days. I want to thank Ken Seidberg for the insights he shared with you after our visit to Kibbutz Malkia where we brought presents on behalf of our CBI community to eight IDF soldiers. What Ken did not share with you because of his humility, was that it was he who brought every one of us to tears (including the soldiers and our guides) with his heartfelt and beautiful words of love, mourning and gratitude with the soldiers. Those kids (ages 19-25) wept with us as Ken summed up our feelings of loss and shared with them how we all watched the news of every single soldier's funeral this past summer during the war in Gaza. He told them that they were our kids too and showed them with his words how much we cared. I am so grateful to Ken for making what may creating one of the most memorable and profound moments of any Israel trip I've experienced on any trip I've led. The ascent to Jerusalem is always one of great anticipation. Today we were blessed by very little traffic as we drove up the Judean Hills on approach to this very holy city. As we entered the tunnel, which connects the city of Ma'aleh Adumim to the area, just bellow Mt. Scopus, I shared the words of the Psalmist, "I lift up my eyes to the mountains, what is the source of my help?" just as we entered the City of Jerusalem. I asked our group to consider the one's who came before us - pilgrims who made the same journey to Jerusalem over 2,500 years ago. We are here, we are ready for Shabbat and we are one. On Sunday, we will visit the Holocaust Memorial at Yad Vashem then go up to Mt. Herzl to pay our respects to the soldiers, heroes each one of them, who have given their lives for our Jewish Homeland. Then, we will visit the Har Nof Synagogue to bring Tzedakahon behalf of CBI in memory of the four Rabbis who were murdered there just a few weeks ago. I will ask one of our members to share their reflections with you at the end of our day. Shabbat is descending on Jerusalem...as I watch the sun setting on the golden walls of the Old City, I share with all of you my hope and prayer that we will all share a Shabbat Shalom. Rabbi Stephen Kahn

Congregation Beth Israel 10460 N. 56th Street Scottsdale, Arizona 85253 United States

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