Women Take Israel
Ronna Steinbeck has been thinking about her recent experience in
Steinbeck was one of 30 women from all over the
The trip far exceeded its billing.
“Where to begin?” asks Steinbeck. “There is not a thing that I would change about our mission's itinerary. I learned so much from each and every stop that we made along the way. With our female tour guide Tanya adding history to our locations and routes, I was fulfilled. My heart was full. I have spent the past eight years or so studying Judaism, filling myself up with all that I can spiritually, all that I never received growing up, and wanted to complete my studies with a trip to our homeland. Visiting
“As for the women on the mission,” she continued, “well, I feel that no one could consciously put together such an eclectic group of women yet we all found a place of comfort and friendship. We all have a story, a past, a history, and a common thread that drew us together for this experience and this journey. I admire and respect each woman for who she is and how she chooses to live her life.”
“It’s hard to describe in words the emotional experience that the 30 women who participated in the mission had,” said JNF Israel emissary Talia Tzour, one of the JNF professionals who ran the trip. “The ingredients that went into our mission were a love for
"A deep connection was created between the mission’s participants and the Israeli women they met, a connection that will remain with them all, forever. The connection was centered on identification, empathy, mutual history and roots and similar dreams of a better future, and was established during the warm and close meetings with Israeli women from all aspects of life.”
Israeli female soldiers, female residents who live on the Lebanese border and in the Negev desert, business women, a bereaved mother, the only female president of an Israeli university, a female Holocaust survivor, a Bedouin woman, an Arab woman, a religious Jewish woman from Gush Etzion, and young students, were more than happy to share their way of life with their American sisterhood in meetings and discussions, enabling them all from both sides of the ocean to look inside, ask questions and understand.
“Meeting these women was an amazing experience for me,” wrote 18-year-old Ma'ayan Shayovitz in her high school’s journal, after participating in a roundtable discussion with the participants. “So many different worlds and perspectives in the same room and part of one conversation, was fascinating. But what was most interesting was the realization that while we all may come from diverse places, at the end of the day, we all seek the same thing: peace and harmony. The feeling of sisterhood, which always seemed like a foreign notion to me, was palpable.”
At night, the Queen of Sheba participants celebrated with delicious Israeli food, a private belly dancing lesson, and a sing-along evening, allowing them to bond in a different way.
The group, also accompanied by mission chairs Marci Robinson, Terri Katz, and JNF professional Diane Scar, traveled through JNF development projects all over the country, from the north to the south, emphasizing the major role JNF plays in building and developing the state of
“My family was honored to host the Queen of Sheba mission,” said Tzour. "The experience left a lasting impression on everyone and my parents can’t stop telling me how much they enjoyed it. Ema Deena -- my grandmother who is 87-years-old and lit candles with everyone -- told me she feels like another 10 years was added to her life because of their shared experience.”
“It was just a magical, moving week,” said Valerie Van-Leer Greenberg, a Queens, NY resident and one of the participants. “The experiences were so varied and so rich; they entered your soul and have stayed there ever since. From meeting women soldiers, to pioneers in the
The 2nd annual JNF Queen of Sheba mission to Israel w
Attention Editors: Please look for a series of pieces this summer written by Susan Freudenheim, managing editor of the Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles, who was on the mission.
Captions:
1. At an IDF cemetery In Haifa, participants hug Rosie Dinamo who visits her 21-year-old son Uri's grave every Thursday morning at 8:15, the hour of his death last year.
2. Lighting candles with Ema Deena.
3. Roundtable discussion participants include a religious woman from Gush Etzion, a Bedouin, a Palestinian, and two students.
4. At the Kotel.
# # #
Jewish National Fund is a non-profit organization founded in 1901 to serve as caretaker of the
