I spoke on April 2nd at MJE’s 15th Annual Dinner. This year we chose to honor Israel, and its importance and impact on not only myself my immediate family, but that which it has had on the MJE community and family as a whole. I’d like to share here the story I shared with those who were fortune enough to be able to join us for the dinner just a few nights ago. Standing at the podium sporting one of my favorite Lennon shirts, I spoke of a Sunday long ago that has stayed with me to this very day:
It was a Sunday afternoon in July of 2000 and 35 of us were gathered at Kennedy airport for the first ever MJE Trip to Israel. I saw one of the participants standing in a corner of the terminal, a guy in his 20’s w/ a large backpack swung across his shoulder. I went over to introduce myself. I said my name is Mark, I’m one of the Rabbis on the trip. He told me his name was Jonathan and that he had really had very little to do with Jewish life, and that this was his first trip to Israel. Like most of the others on the trip, Jonathan didn’t know a soul when it began. When I caught up with him on the return trip, he told me that felt now not only a phenomenally deep connection with the other members of our group and Israel, but also with Judaism itself. “A deep connection,” I thought to myself, from one trip? Even I was a little skeptical, but when Jonathan returned to NY he started to come around. He began to attend MJE classes, our Beginner’s service on Shabbat, and then very rapidly he became an entrenched part of the MJE community.
A year or so later he returned to Israel–this time to study–which he ended up doing for many years until he eventually received simcha from none other than Rabbi Shlomo Riskin, to whom we paid tribute at the Annual Dinner on April 2nd.
A few years ago, Jonathan officially made Aliyah, and he now lives in Israel with his wife Dena and their 3 beautiful children. He currently Co-directs the RRG Hillel Beit Midrash program at Hebrew University, reaching out to American students traveling to Israel for their first time just like he himself did back in 2000 on the first MJE trip. So many others from that first trip are today Sabbath-observant and sending their children to Jewish Day schools. I’m just speaking of those from the first MJE trip to Israel. We’ve had many more trips to follow, each and every year w/ over 400 participants in all, all of whom have been powerfully impacted in so many ways. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why we chose to honor Israel. She is our mentor, our guide, our promised land. She is the mother, the teacher, who reaffirms in all of us what it means to be Jewish, and we carry that with pride.
In Israel you don’t just study or read about Jewish history, you see it. You live it.
Because Israel is the ultimate authentication of Judaism for the Diaspora Jew.
It backs up everything we’ve heard and provides us with evidence for all those stories we listened to growing up. It’s the embodiment of all the “reasons” we were told to be Jewish.
That our people, our land, and our faith are a living and breathing reality, and he wanted to be part of it.
We reflect on how Israel reminds all of us of our unique history and of our special connection to Hashem and His Torah.
Israel fills us with pride and serves as the greatest evidence for our Jewishness today. If the MJE trips to Israel have accomplished anything, it’s to bring this powerful message: Judaism is real and alive for ourselves and for hundreds of our Jewish brothers and sisters. MJE is proud to be here to help keep that message alive, and we hope to continue spreading it for years and years to come.
When i arrived at MJE for the first time at 2002, one of the first classes i took was on Israel, by Rabbi Mark Wildes. As an Israeli myself living abroad, it was the first time i encountered such sincerity and dedication that changed my whole sceptic perspective. It was so real.
Israelis have a tendency to ask: "If you love her so much, why don't you just move here?"
It was for the first time that i realized, that many many people, are truly dedicated to Israel, in their own beautiful way, even though they do not live here. They are active and involved more than many Israelis i know. They will protect Israel everywhere they go, and she is a part of their every day lives.
More than that, i realized, that some people have a real mission and the love and dedication they have for Israel, helps others in the big Mitzva of bringing people closer to Judaism. Such a person is you, Rabbi Wildes.
I will never forget my time in the US. It was literally defined by my connection to MJE, which made me, amazingly, a more devoted Israel- and encouraged me to come back to my homeland, a much stronger, happier and proud Jew.
Rabbi: Loved this speech of yours. I hope you saw the picture of me and Rabbi Riskind taken in Efrat – what a thrill that was for me and a surprise to learn he was the speaker on our trip that day. Wish I had been at the dinner and at Joshua's first "Friday Night Lights". Hope to meet you at the end of May when we will be visiting Joshua! Susan Klein (Joshua "Shuki's mother)