THE YOUTH on the Portland family tour to Israel prepare to place a wreath at the children’s memorial at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem. Dorice Horenstein led the group of 42 Portlanders.

Portland generations bond in Israel

By Amy R. Kaufman

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Dorice Horenstein’s third group tour of Israel July 4-18 bonded 42 Portlanders to each other and to Israel in unexpected ways.

As they were leaving Jerusalem on July 13, said Horenstein, the group visited the Rosh Hanikra Sea Grottos on the border of Israel and Lebanon, unaware that the eyes of the world would soon be focused on the spot. Twenty-four hours later, the picturesque chalk cliff became the site of the return of the mutilated bodies of two Israeli soldiers in exchange for the release of a Lebanese murderer and others.

The emotional reaction was counterbalanced by powerful spiritual experiences and camaraderie, according to participants’ accounts. Horenstein, who is education director of Congregation Shaarie Torah, said the group included participants from her congregation as well as Beth Israel and Havurah Shalom.

Suzi Demsey described standing at the Western Wall with her daughter Lauren and her granddaughter Cassie Mae, “actually touching the wall with our three hands overlapping ... clutching two very old, very special hankies . . . melting three generations into one.”

“I was that kid who got his bar mitzvah and only went to shul when required to from that day forward,” wrote Scott Aaron Bloom, who describes his moving experience at the wall with his two sons in an article on page 10 of this issue.

Another highlight was the bat mitzvah of Scott’s wife, Amy, at the egalitarian Southern Wall, said Horenstein, who helped 13 children prepare to read from the Torah at a service.

“Going to Israel made me feel more Jewish than I did before,” said Natalie Brown, 12. “Knowing that wherever we went, everyone was of the same faith as us was so different than what we get here at home, where almost everyone is Christian.”

“It’s true, a trip to Israel, preferably a longer stay (we stayed more than three weeks), truly helps solidify one’s identity as a Jew,” said Eden Rose Brown, Natalie’s mother, who was on her seventh trip to Israel. “That’s very empowering for everyone, but particularly so for the young.”

She said Horenstein’s “successful search and hiring of the most gifted guide in the country” contributed to “a magical experience.”

Scott Snyder, who said he was “changed as a Jew in a physical and metaphysical way that words cannot convey,” expressed his sentiment in one stanza of a longer poem inspired by the visit: “Is it the collective memory of this place?/Or, perhaps, the sheer weight of history making space/In the soul that awakens?”

Horenstein, who grew up in Kfar Saba, Israel, said she brings groups to Israel “to share my love for my country.”

During the group’s monthly meetings before the trip, she taught history, geography, culture and song. She said her husband, Bob, kept the group up-to-date on political events as they traveled. Bob Horenstein, community relations ddirector of the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, is an expert in Middle East affairs.

“Coming to Israel and seeing it through my eyes and the leaders and the guides I choose puts Israel in such a positive note as being the only Jewish state we can call our home,” said Dorice Horenstein. “People who were not as connected at the end were feeling such a sense of devotion to the country that it was astounding to them.”

That devotion is evident in the group’s current efforts to bring a cultural arts program to the Neve Michael Children’s Village in Pardes Hana, Israel, where the Portlanders had entertained the children with song. Randy Rogers said seeing the residence for neglected children and the petting zoo sponsored by JFGP “helped me appreciate what we have and how so little became so much for someone else.”

Dorice Horenstein said the group is working out the details of the cultural arts program with Neve Michael and JFGP.

“This will give the children a chance to learn to play musical instruments,” she said. “Then everybody in the community, not just those who traveled with me, could send money through federation for this program.”

She also is planning a trip to Israel for women in December 2009.