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Friday October 9, 1998

Palestinians, Israelis challenge teens' view of Holy Land

JOSHUA SCHUSTER
Bulletin Staff

The two East Bay teens who swept through Israel this summer as Bronfman Youth Fellows did something American Jewish youths almost never get to do -- they met Palestinians their own age.

On a hot, exhausting day, Jerushah Brock of Berkeley and Bryan Hirsch of Walnut Creek joined about 20 Palestinian teens for a pizza lunch and discussion at the American consulate in Jerusalem.

Brock and Hirsch, both 17, approached the lunch-time dialogue with sympathies toward the situation of the Palestinian youths. Neither was shocked by what they heard.

"I didn't hear anything new, but it was still a powerful experience," Hirsch said.

The meeting was moderated by consulate officials and Palestinian lawyers. After introductions, the teens split up into small groups to talk.

The tension displayed by the Palestinians caught Brock by surprise.

"The sheer amount of aggression they had toward Israel shocked me," she said, adding she was particularly bothered that several Palestinian teens said they don't recognize Israel as a state.

The Palestinian teens, many of whom had to illegally cross the border to attend the meeting, Brock said, spoke about how they were raised to hate Israel. Although the Americans tried to relate to the Palestinians as peers, she added, "the whole thing was rather impersonal."

Brock thought that the inability to establish a deeper relationship with the Palestinians was a two-sided problem.

"We came into it a little too confident of ourselves. We thought `We are smart Americans, we can work toward peace.' Nobody was actually willing to compromise," she said.

Still, she added, just the fact that the two groups could meet in a friendly situation held a measure of optimism.

Hirsch found the discussion frustrating, though still educational.

"It made me appreciate how difficult the situation is," he said. "I don't think it elicited more sympathy. Still, it was nice to introduce myself and feel very comfortable" discussing issues with the Palestinians.

Brock and Hirsch toured Israel under the auspices of the New York-based Bronfman Foundation, which selected 26 young Jewish leaders from throughout America to spend five weeks exploring Israel.

The two had previously journeyed to Israel on federation-sponsored trips, but they said this visit exposed them to more diverse aspects of Israel than they had experienced before.

While traveling, the American Bronfman Fellows teamed with Israeli Bronfman Fellows for a week. The two groups hiked through Northern Israel and shared stories of teenage life.

One highlight of the trip for Hirsch was listening to David Grossman, an Israeli journalist and author who Hirsch describes as "secular and definitely left-wing."

The American Bronfman contingent met with Grossman and barraged him with questions. For Hirsch, Grossman's most powerful message concerned how Israel challenges its residents to define themselves.

"Grossman said that, for a Jew, Israel is the most important place to live, because every day you can test your ideals," Hirsch said. "That's important to hear from a non-right person. A lot of people say that [point of view] does not exist in Israel."

Brock remembers vividly a moment in her travels when the Israeli experience unexpectedly challenged her Judaism. While visiting the Western Wall during Rosh Chodesh, the Bronfman group joined the Women of the Wall, who were holding a service at the back of the women's enclosure. Women of the Wall is an international organization that advocates for women's rights to group prayer at the Western Wall.

While the group was praying, three police officers ran to the scene and pulled off the kippot and tallitot the women were wearing. The women then finished praying under police supervision, receiving scorn from the Haredim women nearby, Brock said.

"It was a really painful moment for me. I don't think I've ever felt so insulted in my life. When I talk to God, the last thing I expect is for someone to shut me up.

"I got no spiritual feeling: The Wall became one of the most oppressive synagogues in world. I could be praying to a big pile of bricks and it would have been the same."

For Hirsch, the trip was successful since he discovered a lot about Israel's diversity and came home inspired to learn more.

He looks forward to meeting up with the Israeli Bronfman group in Washington, D.C. this winter. He also anticipates spending some time studying abroad in Israel during college.

When he returns, Hirsch will continue to develop his feelings toward Israel, which, he said, are still unresolved.

"I'm struggling with what my relationship with Israel should be in relation to the concept and the reality of a Jewish state," he said.

As for Brock, she no longer views Israel as a romanticized refuge, yet she also feels motivated to return soon.

A strength of the trip, she said, was that its organizers did not seek to instill blind faith in Zionism.

"There was tension and constant questioning," Brock said. "The organizers didn't want us to feel Israel is great just by sheer wonder."

But, she added, "There is no place that can make you feel so unsure and confused and make you still miss it."

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