Day 6 - The Last Day

We had breakfast all together in a conference room since we started the day out with a workshop. While it was (still) delicious, I missed the big "to-do" in the main breakfast hall. Alas, I'll have to go back again. That, or learn to make my own Israeli breakfast.

I've hinted at workshops throughout these blog entries while not really addressing them. I was chosen by my local Federation to go on this Women's Leadership Mission to Israel. It was a tremendous honor. And so, while we were in Israel encountering all these amazing things, we also "worked". We learned about public speaking, we learned about leadership and qualities of a leader, we learned about solicitations and handling difficult situations, and we learned to use the skills we have and the skills we learned to come home and be leaders within our Jewish communities. The five women who created this trip for us and ran these workshops have taught us valuable life lessons. Confidence, humor, trust, self-realization...I could go on. They are an amazing group of women and I am so thankful that they wanted to get this mission going and that I was able to join them for it. So a BIG HUGE shout out to Lori, Paula, Mim, Anne and Betsy. I doubt you're reading this, but you all are an inspiration, not only for your leadership skills but also for showing us all what friendship looks like. Long distance friendship at that. THANK YOU.

After our workshop, we rode the bus into Talpiot which is a suburb, I guess, of Jerusalem to go visit Susan's House, a workshop of at-risk youth. I've highlighted Susan's House here as a link to their web page. But when I last checked, it wasn't entirely working. Keep checking though (and I will too) because it's totally worth the visit.

Susan's House was built with love by her husband, Eyal. The VERY brief synopsis of how this all came about is that Susan and Eyal had a mutual friend who lived to be about 32 years old and was not at all supposed to live that long. When he died, Susan wanted to start a foundation in his name. She wanted to open a paper workshop to help at-risk youth to learn a trade. When Susan, herself, passed away, Eyal made it his mission to complete this dream on her behalf. They saw a need to help 15-20 year old kids who weren't cared for. They work with abused kids, kids with issues at home with physical violence, kids with sexual identity issues who feel they cannot go home, etc. At Susan's House, they bring these kids back to life through business and art. Eyal and his friend Tal and others built this operation on their own. They knew people through their work, they made connections, set everything up and THEN went to the government and the JDC for additional help. They ASKED KIDS what they needed and then provided for them. They helped to find them jobs in paper or glass factories, they helped to set up apartments to provide them with a home so that they could live independently. The kids have no art background but find it in themselves to create the most beautiful things...beads, glass plates, paper products. We were in awe.

The JDC (Joint Distribution Committee, remember from Day One?) supports non-profit businesses like this to help further their work by connecting them with the right government ministries to help financially support them. The JDC is simply a middleman in this case.

We were lucky enough to hear first hand from one of the kids at Susan's House about his experience. An 18 year old named Ronen who, before Susan's house, wasn't studying or working. He had been with Susan's House for two years and he felt that it was home to him. He was strengthened by his experiences there and it helped to encourage him to go back to classes in the evenings. Before Susan's house, he trusted nobody. He went there and felt support and that he was worth something. Now he is responsible for sales at Susan's House as well as glass cutting. He still attends night school and is completing his education. Someday he wants to be a businessman.

Ronen stood in the center of our group of women, with Tal by his side. It was clear how proud Tal was of Ronen. We ALL were proud of Ronen for the things he has accomplished for himself. We realized that the room was filled with kids with similar stories, all working hard to make beautiful things and to make something of themselves rather than vanish in the streets. It was incredible to see the work that they did, first hand. And to hear their stories and FEEL the love and the trust. If I could, I would have purchased every last thing in that room to help support this program.

So, of course, I could NOT buy it all, but I did my share and carted what I could back to the states. I am hoping to get to them to tell them I cannot access their site because I would like to buy more and send you all there too. Aside from just buying to support them which is a worthy endeavor in and of itself, the things they make are beautiful and sophisticated and would bring me such pride to use them or wear them back at home. Each Shabbat I use a plate that I purchased there. It has such meaning to me and is a constant reminder of their struggles to find self-worth and a place in this world just for them.

Here's a shot of Tal (on the right) and of Ronen cutting some glass. They were busy at work.





Here's a shot of the bead making process which some of us were encouraged to try (I didn't).

We caucused here at Susan's House. This is something they do on missions and I had heard many mixed things about what to expect. So I'll just tell you what is was for me. We all sat together in a big circle and, one by one, spoke about our experiences on this trip and what it had meant for us. It was a very emotional, warm, friendly circle of committed and devoted women. We all had our reasons for coming. We all had VASTLY different levels of giving. But at this moment and in this circle, we were the same. Because emotion, and devotion to the cause, and our committments to bring this knowledge back to our communities and get others as excited as we are...THAT is why we were chosen to come and THAT is why we were lucky enough to see and do what we saw and what we did. Some people upped their campaign gifts at this time, others didn't. Some people divulged what they gave and others didn't. But what mattered is that we were moved enough by our experience to bring the message home and share it. It is SUCH an honor to be able to do that. I value this experience right up there with the top experiences of my lifetime. And I'll talk about it as long as I have an audience to hear it.

After our caucus, we had a late lunch at a nice restaurant with special guest Zev Bielski who is the Chairman of the Executive of JAFI (The Jewish Agency For Israel) and the World Zionist Organization. We were supposed to meet him earlier in the week but were at least lucky enough to meet him over this lunch.

I want you to know that he did me an INCREDIBLE PERSONAL FAVOR which I won't get into here yet because I want to know the outcome first. Once I have the full story I will fill you all in. Suffice it to say, it spoke volumes about how important we were and how important the work that we do in our communities is to the Jewish people at home and especially in Israel.

After our lunch, which was running us quite late, we had a free afternoon with which to pack our things and do whateve last minute shopping we needed to do. If I had the time, I would have gone back into Old Jerusalem to visit the Wall one additional time before leaving. But I needed to pack and I missed out on some shopping since I took that time to spend with family (WAY more important). With a few friends, we hit Ben Yehuda street for an hour to see what was worthy of the trip home. There were so many beautiful things. But I got what I wanted and high tailed it back to the hotel to pack.

Interesting to note at this point, that our weather had been simply beautiful throughout the week. But this evening while we were shopping on Ben Yehuda, the rain and wind rolled in. We made it back to the hotel just in time before the skies opened up and the rain started to fall.

We packed. We checked out. We loaded our things onto the bus and said goodbye to the David Citadel Hotel, our home away from home. I hope to be back someday.

We rode the bus to a great restuarant (Schleifer) for one last group dinner. We said our goodbyes to each other since many of us were not leaving at this time, and we loaded the bus and headed to the airport.

The flight home was cramped at best but SAFE and isn't that the most important thing? We vowed to stay in touch and we do through a blog that Nicole lovingly set up for all of us. Of course, once we were in NY, we all split up through customs and then went on our merry ways with not a lot of fanfare. It was sad, sure, but we were focused, at this point, on our destinations and getting home in one piece.

Nicole and I spent the night in New York before leaving for PDX the next night.

When Nicole and Barbara and I see each other, it's different now. We have had this amazing shared experience. Without words we exchange glances of relief upon seeing each other because we experienced something so special and we genuinely MISS each other.

Immediately we had a big Federation women's event here in Portland called Connections. Nicole was the co-Chair of this extremely successful event, Barbara spoke eloquently about her experiences on our trip, and I cried like a baby.

I hope that I feel those emotions for a long time. More than anything I am SO proud of US for giving what we can and for doing what we can do for our community. Every part of our effort is filled with meaning and intent. Every dollar we give is meaningful as well. To know where that money goes is, without equal, the most important lesson I have learned. It will be my personal crusade moving ahead.

Thanks to all of you for reading and for caring enough to read all of these entries about the trip. I realize that I have here some people who do not and will not normally read my blog and that's cool. But I thank those of you who normally read this blog for your patience while I took the time to write this all down. It is so important to me to remember as much as I can. This was a project that I needed to complete. For me. And I'm glad if you benefitted from it too.

And now back to my regularly scheduled programming. Life in general.