Growing in Israel

Tara DemyanTara Demyan’s trip to Israel this summer was an eye opener.

From the moment of arrival in Israel, as part of a group of 10 women from the Providence area, “I fell in love with Israel,” she says.

The group joined 200 other women in the Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project’s summer 2014 trip. They arrived in Israel in the midst of the search for the three kidnapped yeshiva students. Dinner the first night was interrupted by the news of the discovery of the students’ bodies.

The remainder of the trip went on as planned but the news affected the women, all mothers, profoundly. “You could feel the sorrow in the room” that first night, said Demyan.

They dedicated the trip to the memory of the boys. Said Demyan, it was all about “our boys.”  It was a very personal feeling throughout the group and Israel.

The women from Rhode Island joined groups from places like Boston, Chicago, Columbus and Norfolk to see the sights of Israel and learn a little more about Judaism. They came from all walks of life, different ages and affiliations and from all over Rhode Island, according to Elissa Felder, a city leader for the trip along with Tichyeh Schochet. “You go because you want to connect with your Judaism,” Felder said. “It takes mothers out of their lives.”

What do the women have in common? They are all raising Jewish children under the age of 18. Demyan has three children, Zoe Finkelstein, 15 and twins, Hannah and Jacob Finkelstein, 12.

One of the advantages of the trip is that everyone got a chance to meet and get to know other people they might never have met otherwise, said Demyan, a Realtor with Lila Delman Real Estate in Providence. Between the experience of sightseeing and the lectures on Jewish tradition “we bonded,” she said.

The women experienced many of the same sightseeing activities that teens experience on a Birthright trip. But with an adult spin.

They kayaked on the Jordan River, climbed Masada, even rode camels in the desert.  “So you can come home and tell your kids you rode camels,” said Demyan.

Some, who didn’t have them, were given Hebrew names in a brief naming ceremony on Masada. They danced at the Kotel, toured the tunnels and experienced a traditional Shabbat if they wanted to. Demyan said she participated in all those activities.

“There was a lot of sharing of stories of how we got there, she said. The 200 women on her trip came from all backgrounds and all degrees of observance.

“We were encouraged to bring care packages for soldiers,” she said. And one afternoon, they delivered the packages.

The takeaway for Demyan: “This trip exceeded my expectations and dreams. And that was in the first 24 hours.” From the crowds at the wall to Shabbat dinner with lone soldiers, she returned enthusiastic and refreshed. And her children “thought it was pretty amazing,” she said. When Hannah and Jacob celebrate their b’nai mitzvot this spring, they will be wearing tallit that Demyan bought in Israel.

The Jewish Women’s Renaissance Project aims to “bring people back to who they are as a Jew,” says Felder. “It’s about values and the land.”

This summer’s group continues to get together periodically as their busy lives permit. Sometimes they all gather; sometimes just a few are able to participate. Their trip was funded in  part by a grant from the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island.

Felder and Schochet will return as city leaders in summer 2015 with 10 more women. The upcoming trips will now bring 400 women to Israel. But everyone hopes there will be the same “intimate” feeling that Demyan says she experienced.

FRAN OSTENDORF is editor of The Jewish Voice.