Rambam delegates report back

GRADUATES of two Australia/Israel & Jewish Affairs Council (AIJAC) Rambam study missions to Israel, comprising clergy and student leaders, spoke of their experiences at an AIJAC luncheon in Sydney last week.

Reverend Andrew Johnson from the Hope Uniting Church, Maroubra and the Chaplain to the University of NSW Uniting Church commented that it was “a blessing, a challenge and an honour to be included in the program … We are grateful that there was the opportunity to learn.

“There is no way other than being on the ground, to be there in person, to have the air in your lungs and to walk the streets to see how small the country really is in terms of size,” said Reverend Johnson.

Mentioning a number of highlights, including a briefing from Rabbi David Rosen, of the American Jewish Committee, Anglican Bishop to the Australian Defence Force Reverend Ian Lambert said, “I may have not made it to Jerusalem or Israel if not for this program. I am very grateful for that and more aware of the delicate strategic situation Israel is in in relation to her neighbours.”

Cameron Petrie, national general secretary of the National Union of Students (NUS), told the gathering that “It was incredible to see such a multicultural society.”

Further, “being on the border with Syria and then Sderot made me think, wow, this country is tiny; we live in a very big country and what I’ve seen here is something I’ve never experienced,” said Petrie.

Elizabeth Green, the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander officer for NUS, commented, “From Jerusalem and the Old City to the Erez checkpoint and Sderot, to the Ziv hospital and Tel Aviv, it was just surreal … We heard from professors, students, political advisers, locals and many more. 

“Seeing Jerusalem’s sights meant a lot to me coming from a religious family and I was able to learn things I couldn’t learn in a textbook,” she said. “It was the trip of a lifetime, I am very grateful to be given this opportunity.”

Chaneg Torres from the NSW Young Liberals and staffer to Victor Dominello MP, together with the other participants, spoke of their visits to Yad Vashem and the opportunity to sit down for a Shabbat dinner with Jerusalem locals as stand-outs of their experiences, adding that “Around the table were a group of ordinary people, like us.

“But there were different accents: Middle Eastern, British, American, Eastern European, but all Jewish. All had stories of families who had come to Israel to make aliyah, to go up, to find a place they felt they truly belonged to. 

“This sense of a defiant return from exile to me colours the deep sense that Israelis seem to have to make a success of their small but incredible state.”

AJN STAFF