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Front Row Seats to History

Front Row Seats to History

on October 25, 2011

By Liza Tumen, NFTY-EIE High School in Israel student

One of the main goals of coming to Israel with NFTY-EIE is to learn Jewish history and culture. 34 other students and I are not only learning about history, but experiencing it being made. Sitting on a mountaintop, our breath was taken away by the beautiful view: castle ruins, rolling hills, and a small town on the top of a nearby mountain. Coincidentally, this town was Gilad Shalit’s home, and our breath was taken away even more with the news that he was to land in his town, that day at 4:30. Within minutes a distant humming caught our attention and two army helicopters flew in over our heads. The only words I heard from our group were “I can’t believe this is happening. I can’t believe we are actually watching this happen.”

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Now is the Time to be Happy

Now is the Time to be Happy

on October 21, 2011

By Ethan Bennet – Alumnus of Netzer Year, NFTY in Israel and URJ Goldman Union Camp Institute

Now is the time to be happy, for a boy has reunited with his mother and father after one-thousand, nine-hundred, and forty-one (1941) days of being stripped of basic human rights which everybody deserves, most importantly, the love of his family.

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The Day After Gilad Shalit’s Return Home

The Day After Gilad Shalit’s Return Home

on October 19, 2011

By Rabbi Rich Kirschen, Director, NFTY in Israel

If a country’s actions reflects its values, then the return of Gilad Shalit says a lot about Israel’s values. The entire episode of Gilad Shalit has been complex. But we made a decision; and that decision to bring home one soldier (this is beyond the specificity of the Shalit family) says a lot about Jewish values. It says that each life is holy. Just as if the Torah is missing one letter, it is not a complete Torah, so as long as this captive soldier was still alive, Israel as a society was not complete.

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Netzer Year Participants Respond to Gilad Shalit’s Release

Netzer Year Participants Respond to Gilad Shalit’s Release

on October 17, 2011

Many of us have been following the news about the imminent return of Gilad Shalit. After more than five years in captivity, all of Israel is holding a collective breath until he returns safely home on Tuesday. After arriving in Israel last week, participants on the Netzer Year program were part of a recent celebration in Jerusalem. Having been in Israel for less than a week, they are already experiencing the challenges of life in Israel as the joy at the return of Gilad is tempered with the understanding that the release of more than one thousand terrorists is not universally supported by all Israelis. Read here the reflections from one of the participants, and see some of the participants in a BBC News report.

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How can we Possibly Count Five Years of Captivity?

How can we Possibly Count Five Years of Captivity?

on October 12, 2011

By Beth Avner & Jesse Paikin

We have spent the last five years thinking about Gilad Shalit, but thinking about him requires a great stretch of our cognitive ability, for how many of us can truly appreciate what it means to be a prisoner? We sympathize with the pain Gilad and his family have experienced, but we do it from a distance; not knowing what it feels like. How can we possibly think about what it means to have spent five years in captivity?

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ShNN

Endurance and Commitment to Israel

on August 12, 2011

By Miranda Siler, Shlichut Noar NFTY participant

“After a few minutes of waiting, we got the chance to speak with Gilad Shalit’s father. When one of us asked what we could do back in the States he said that there wasn’t really anything we could do. This man has been living in fear for his son for five years now, and his situation has not changed. He has reason to feel at loss. However, I still admire the fact that he is still fighting. He continues to sit in that tent, day after day, looking at the empty chair next to him with a sign saying, ‘Reserved for Gilad Shalit.’ Despite his discouraging words, I am still able to take inspiration from Shalit’s father, through his endurance and commitment.”

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