"Part Three of a Three-Week Odyssey"

Honored to feature a Times of Israel piece by Ruth Kaplan, a longtime friend and partner in dreaming and building a stronger, more compassionate Israel. Her words capture the heart of her experience on Dror Israel’s inaugural Mission this November. A must-read:

Druze Counselors from Dror Israel Mourn the Loss of Children in Majdal Shams due to Hezbollah Attack on Soccer Field

For those of you who are still with me in reading my reflections on my recent journey to Israel, you’ve now come to what might be the best part of all.  Let me explain.

What is Dror Israel?

Approximately eight years ago, I was introduced to an Israeli organization called “Dror Israel.” I was told Dror was not really an “organization,” but rather a “movement.”  Already I was a bit confused.  In Haifa, I was introduced to two projects of Dror. One was an alternative high school for young people who had not been successful in a more traditional setting.  I remember being impressed with the level of creativity and engagement of the students who were clearly being treated as individuals by the caring staff.  I also met with young community activists working with low-income Haifa residents on strategies for successful advocacy in other to identify the needs of their neighborhood and effectuate positive change by working together with the Haifa Municipality.  These young leaders were educators living together communally as an urban kibbutz in an economically challenged neighborhood of Haifa. Over time, I came to better understand that Dror’s mission and activities were hard to explain because there was really nothing analogous to it in the U.S.

By way of further example, at the outset of Russia’s attack on Ukraine almost four years ago, I learned about the amazing work they did in very quickly establishing informal day care educational settings for children in transit locations in Poland to relieve their parents of their stressful refugee status.  The population served were by no means exclusively Jewish.  More recently I had heard a presentation locally by Dror representatives describing how immediately after October 7, the movement established multiple preschools for the beleaguered children of Kibbutz Be’eri on the grounds of the Dead Sea hotel where the entire Kibbutz was evacuated.  This project met the urgent needs of children for a sense of familiarity and normalcy while providing their traumatized parents with necessary respite following their jarring relocation.

Clearly, I understood that Dror’s skillful emergency responses were based on values of humanitarianism, education and social justice.  However, it was still a challenge for me to put all the pieces together to truly understand the “secret sauce” of Dror Israel. So when Eyal Tarchitsky, Dror’s Engagement Director, floated the idea of creating a first-ever Dror travel mission to Israel this past November, I enthusiastically jumped on the opportunity.   I was more than ready to work with him and a few other local supporters to shape the mission and recruit other participants.  Truth be told, I was eager to be back in Israel after a much too long absence, and I could not think of a more promising and unique travel experience.  Post October 7, I firmly believed in the obligation of committed Israel supporters like me to show up in Israel and be counted.

After six days of our Dror Israel mission, I finally came to understand Dror in all its facets, which is admittedly hard to enumerate in an elevator pitch.  They describe themselves as “a leading force for social change in Israel” which numbers over 1300 trained educators who choose to live and work in 14 “educators kibbutzim” in Israel’s most challenging neighborhoods.  Employing a communal living model, they further explain that they work together with local municipalities to address the most pressing local needs in order to improve their communities.

Encountering the people who make up Dror Israel

In order to truly understand the power of Dror, you need to see it in action and most importantly to encounter Dror members:  the educators and community activists who are its engine and spirit.  These young people (most leaders range in age from late teens to mid-40s) are passionately devoted to the state of Israel and its future.  Most live communally in urban “educator” kibbutzim, which means for the most part they inhabit apartments that are in close proximity to each other and they share responsibilities for communal activities such as child care and meals.  (Some also inhabit two traditional looking rural kibbutzim in northern Israel.) Dror’s main activities consist of operating a number of schools as service providers, running multiple branches of the Israeli youth movement “HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed” (NOAL) and facilitating community activism in the social and economic periphery of Israel.  With an extensive track record in emergency response, post-October 7, they have the added challenge of rebuilding resilience and fostering hope within Israeli society.

Dror Israel Diversity:  Arabs and Druze

Most of the activists of Dror are alumni of the NOAL youth movement, which currently numbers in excess of 200,000 youngsters.  This movement is unique as it’s the only one in Israel with branches among Israeli Arabs and Druze in addition to Jewish Israelis.  Both the Arab and Druze communities have their own unique needs and challenges.  In the Golan town of Majdal Shams, the local Druze community is still reeling from the Hezbollah attack that occurred there on July 27, 2024.  We visited the soccer field where 12 Syrian Druze children between the ages of 10-16 were brutally murdered by rocket attack in which 42 others were injured.  Overlooking that very soccer field and listening to the young Druze NOAL leaders share their emotions about this tragedy left an indelible impression on all of us.  The Druze of the Golan had traditionally retained their Syrian citizenship following the Six Day War in 1967.  This was in keeping with the Druze practice of pledging loyalty to the governing regime.  The majority did so out of their concern that if Syria ever regained control of the Golan, they would be extremely vulnerable as Israeli citizens.

The events of October 7 however have changed this stance for a significant number of Syrian Druze.  Not only are many members of NOAL, but they are choosing to serve Israel by engaging in national civil service following graduation from high school.  This movement to engage in national civil service was also the case among the branch of NOAL that we encountered in the economically challenged Arab Israeli village Jsr Az Zarqa on the shore of the Mediterranean not far from Kibbutz Magan Michael. There as well we encountered Arab citizens of Israel who were working closely with Dror for the betterment of their community.  The Arab leaders of the NOAL branch there were proud to be performing national service in Israel.  Such service is often geared to the strengthening of their own communities.  There is probably no identity on earth more complex than being an Arab Palestinian citizen of Israel.  Their connection to Dror’s youth movement gives them a much-needed sense of belonging to Israel.  When they meet up with Jewish youth also donning the customary blue shirts and red ties of the movement, it’s easy to imagine how their shared youth group experiences would fill them with pride and mutual acceptance. Social equality and shared society are hallmarks of the Dror ethos.

Aftermath of October 7

Our travels with Dror took us from Sderot and Kibbutz Be’eri in the South, to Tel Aviv, Rishon LeZion, Kfar Saba and Hod Hasharon in the Center to Haifa, Jisr, Majdal Shams, Akko and Kiryat Shmona in the North. Of course, we took time to bear witness at the Nova Festival site in the Gaza envelope and at Hostages Square in Tel Aviv.  Both are powerful and tragic reminders of the unspeakable horrors of October 7.  Despite the opportune timing of our visit—a few weeks after the ceasefire and return of all the live and many of the deceased hostages—the pain lingers.  Seeing all the youthful smiling faces of the 378 victims of Nova is truly unbearable.  I could have spent an entire day reading about each one individually.  Each victim was a whole world and you can’t give it justice just to stay for an hour or two.  But still it felt important to show up and just be there.  We heard the harrowing first-hand account of a young survivor who told us that sharing his story was therapeutic.  We know there are many survivors who are struggling mightily and some who have tragically taken their own lives.  The need for ongoing support through the “Tribe of Nova Foundation” is self-evident.

Leaving our mark at Kiryat Shmona

The next to last day of our mission was spent in the beleaguered northern city of Kiryat Shmona.  This evacuated city is one where many of its 25,000 residents have yet to return.  The small city was a struggling prior to October 7.  It was here that our stalwart mission group of 14 had the unique opportunity to get our hands dirty by cleaning up a neglected neighborhood plot and assisting in the planting of a community garden.  I was a bit skeptical of this activity which seemed like a bit of tokenism.  I mean, what activity could our small group do in an hour and a half that would make a difference?

In retrospect, I could not have been more wrong.  We set to work on clearing out dead brush and planting trees and other plants.  Working together like old fashioned kibbutzniks felt so good.  I neglected to mention what a great group of people we were on the mission:  folks who were Israel veterans but who each had a unique set of experiences and connections to Israel.  While the majority of us haled from the Boston area, we had participants from Connecticut, DC, and the west coast as well. Former CJP President Barry Shage served as our “scholar in residence” providing some pearls of wisdom along the way.  After five days of bus travel, shared meals and many listening and sharing sessions, I’d say we were nicely bonded and came to appreciate each other’s unique characteristics.  The spontaneous singing of old Israeli songs like campers on the bus definitely enlivened our travels!  But the experience of tilling the soil together and performing even a small fix in Israel was profound.  We had left a small mark.

In classic Israeli fashion, we were provided a rake that was a little bit broken.  It needed a connecting piece so that using it was only partially effective.  To me, the rake was emblematic of Israel post October 7:  the country is a little broken but by no means defeated.  We could have tossed that rake aside as basically useless.  Instead, we found a way to make use of it as best we could.  It made each task involving the rake go slower, which required more patience.  To me this rake did not mean that Israel itself is broken but rather that it’s not yet fixed.  Fixing Israel will require time and patience and dedication, by Israelis of course, but by us Zionists too.  Time is of the essence, however. We need to put our heads and hands together with our Israeli brothers and sisters to answer that all pervasive question on our mission:  What kind of State of Israel do we want?  This same question was posed by Yitzhak Rabin over 30 years ago.  But while pondering that question, we need to act.

“If you will it, it is no dream.”  Theodore Herzl

Our final night in Kiryat Shmona was spent with one of the founders of Dror who has a big vision:  his goal is the rejuvenation of Kiryat Shmona by increasing the population by thousands and creating a major technological hub in this depressed locale.  He has a detailed business plan and the will to make it happen.  Sound a little like that Zionist dreamer Theodore Herzl?  Indeed, at age 50, he and his wife left the comfort and buzz of Tel Aviv, along with their teenage children, to relocate to Kiryat Shmona. Now that’s dedication.  And that in a nutshell sums up Dror Israel:  idealistic Israeli educators who embody the Zionist kibbutznik spirit and will to create social change and fulfill the aspirations for a just, democratic Israeli society based on equality and social justice.

There’s a lot more I could say both about Dror and my 3-week journey in Israel.  I came home to Brookline feeling very fortunate and fulfilled, and even a little transformed.  The country is still reeling in the aftermath of October 7, and as of this writing, I’m no longer convinced that the war is actually over.  But one thing I do know:  this is not the time to give up on Israel.  The mood of the country is still a roller coaster of emotions and the grief remains.  But the resilience is also real and we need to partner with Israel in every possible way.  If you care, find your path to demonstrate your love.  Israel continues to inspire and I am forever grateful that Eyal and his team persisted in realizing their dream of creating this first groundbreaking travel mission to Israel.  Maybe you too will have the privilege of experiencing Israel through this very special lens going forward.  Stay tuned!

For participant Dan Brosgol’s additional account of the Dror Israel Mission: https://www.jewishboston.com/read/if-you-will-it-grassroots-zionism-in-todays-israel/

About the Author

Ruth is a writer and consultant with a varied career including academic pursuits in Jewish history, social services and governmental work, private practice as an attorney, and public service as an elected and appointed official dealing with public education. For the past 15 years, she has served the Jewish and Israeli communities in a variety of leadership roles, including Director of the Combined Jewish Philanthropies Boston-Haifa Connection and Director of Community Relations for the Consulate General of Israel to New England.