I arrived in Israel after an uneventful trip beginning Saturday night at Logan. I wasn't certain it would be uneventful, and let me tell you why.

Some of you know that for May and June on Thursday nights, I've been going to Chelsea, MA to the FBI Boston headquarters to participate in the FBI's Citizen Academy, learning about the agency and in particular about cases handled out of the Boston office. Saturday morning we met at Ft. Devcns for a SWAT and arms demo, and to learn about how the agency processes evidence. At the end of the evidence presentation, the special agent said, "I hope none of you are planning to get on an airplane today, as you are now probably covered in bomb residue." Panic set in. I looked at him and said, "You're kidding, right? I'm flying to Israel tonight." 

The upshot was that before I left Ft. Devens for Logan, I got the cell phone number of the head of the FBI Boston office just in case she had to talk to Logan security to get me through. I was sweating, but made it through without any problem.

Now, on to Israel. Tonight we met one another informally, had dinner, and then met for about two hours to introduce ourselves. We are eleven from the U.S. Another five from Israel (mostly Americans and Canadians – Jews who made aliyah and non-Jews who moved here just because) will join us for some of the programming. And the staff of SK Tours adds another six. Most are Jews; one is married to a Jew.

The U.S. group is fascinating and diverse, even as we are nine Jews (four rabbis – three Reconstructionist men and me) and two Christians (one who was raised Muslim and one who is married to a Jordanian Palestinian Muslim).

I heard three quotes that I must share:

• From the river to the sea, we all need therapy.

• When your people are done being idiots, then our people will be idiots.

• The best way to describe Israel is as the Poison Kitchen of God.

We have an extremely full day tomorrow. I look forward to sharing more.

Thanks for reading,

Rabbi Robin