No Hillel group ever concluded its Taglit-Birthright Israel tour more dramatically than the 40 students on Bus 549.
Bus 549, filled with students from four Southern California schools, were the last of 1,400 Hillel students who participated in spring and summer Birthright Israel trips. Worshipping in a makeshift synagogue in a hotel in the town of Tiberias, the group began their Shabbat by celebrating the bar mitzvah of several students who had never before been called to the Torah as adults.
But soon after the celebration ended, the group was sent to the hotel’s bomb shelter: Hezbollah rockets from Lebanon had defied all predictions and had landed in this city by the Sea of Galilee.
University of Oregon Hillel Executive Director Hal Applebaum was hiking with students in the Galilee when they heard the first rockets hit Israel. “I have no doubt that when they hear the phrase ‘pray for the peace of Israel,’ it has a deeper meaning for each of them than they ever imagined before,” he said.
Around Israel, the Hillel community has been deeply impacted by the current crisis. Israeli students have been called to army posts, and 200 students at the University of Haifa were relocated to a safer location at Hebrew University in Jerusalem.
Haifa’s Hillel director, however, is staying put.
Inbar Bluzer, the director of the brand-new Hillel in Haifa, which opened only a month ago, has been frustrated by wake-up calls from bomb sirens and canceled meetings. But, she said, she will stay in the city to plan future Hillel programs.
“I’ve been in touch with many people from Hillel. It’s very powerful energy. It gives me the power to deal with this and not to be afraid,” Bluzer said.
The University of Haifa and the Technion in Haifa have both been temporarily shuttered, and classes are expected to resume in late October. But Bluzer is concerned about the Hillel building in Haifa, which was supposed to be completed over the summer.
“The center may not be fully ready when the students come back,” she said.
In a closing conversation held in Jaffa, the Birthright Israel group reflected on their experience.
“The human spirit of our group and the way we stuck together in the bomb shelter was amazing,” said one participant. “My faith got stronger as the rockets fell.”