By Leah Justin, Melbourne, Australia Mini-School Director
December 2002

Why go there now? Aren't we afraid? How exciting! Are we mad? Go but be very careful.

A range of responses like these faced the group of 17 people who decided to come to Israel to attend the Florence Melton Adult Mini School Winter Israel Graduate Seminar entitled "Fateful Encounters through the Ages."

And what a memorable experience it turned out to be. Over 11 days we journeyed through the landscape of Israel, physically, emotionally and spiritually. Mount Scopus, the Hebrew University campus was our starting point, where we were treated to a panoramic vista of Jerusalem with the afternoon sun's rays illuminating the landscape ... a landscape which would prove to be the inspirational backdrop to the sessions ahead.

Our journeys took us to the Old City, Yavneh, Tiberias and Safed. We entered caves and ancient laneways and climbed to strategic vantage points in the Golan. The streets of Tel Aviv, the pathways in Jerusalem all became alive for us. Like ancient travelers, we were equipped with map…however ours were in text form...Rich and luminous text choices, poetry and essays illuminated the physical landscape that we saw and stimulated our mental fields.

Melton's approach meant that wherever we went we had to test our own preconceived notions and never was that more evident than the extraordinary day where we visited the Golan and were privileged to meet philosophers and farmers living there. The range of views was broad and it afforded us the opportunity through discussions to revisit our own perspectives. A great way to learn.

And what could be more exhilarating than Shabbat in Jerusalem. The light, the atmosphere "the air pregnant with prayer", underscoring the unique energy that pervades this ancient and beautiful city.

Our individual field trips to several religious neighborhoods on Friday morning was an eye opener. How many of us would have time to speak to a stranger arriving unannounced on a Friday morning whilst you are preparing a Shabbat meal for 20 people asking to come in and shmooze? And yet we all were welcomed into people's homes with warmth and hospitality. People's generosity of spirit was overwhelming; their gratitude at our being in Israel was moving and yet it was we who needed to thank them.

Shabbat in Jerusalem was simply lyrical…the Shabbat table resplendent, the stories rich and colorful, the laughter infectious, the learning pervasive ... none of us wanted Shabbat to end. Our group of 17 individuals from Chicago, Rochester, Sydney and Melbourne learned much from each other, laughed with each other and established a most wonderful camaraderie in such a short time.

Much of the credit for its success must go to those who designed a program with so much depth variety, balance and challenge... it was fun and it was fascinating, not to mention the food, oh so full-filling!

Haim Aronovitz, our Israel educator, used words the way a sculptor uses clay, making the stones speak. He introduced us to the language of Amichai and Bialik so that we were able to ‘see' with their eyes the complexity and richness of Israel's existence. Each time we ventured somewhere Haim created a verbal forecourt - a framework which focussed our view.

Many of us had been to Israel before, but we were seeing Israel as if for the first time. Who will forget- studying tombstones of early Zionist leaders in the fading light at Kinneret Cemetery? Chanting the haunting poem "written in pencil in a sealed railway car" at Yad Vashem? Listening to the tremors of emotion in the Hatikvah recorded when the State was first established? Climbing down into Bar Kochba's caves?

All of these experiences which made history "alive" and made us alive to the experience were richly embossed by Haim's insights and by our bus driver Ronnie's pithy views on the local scene...especially his views on Arafat!

11 days of intense connection to the land and spirit of Israel
17 people reluctant for it ever to end

It was the best of times...

The Florence Melton Adult Mini-School wishes to thank Peter Philippsohn for the use of his photographs in the Winter Seminar articles.

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