A country ‘still in the traumatic phase.’
From 6,000 miles away, you might mistakenly assume that Israel’s wounds from October 7 and its aftermath have started scabbing over, David-Seth Kirshner, the rabbi of Temple Emanu-El in Closter, said.
But when he was up close, he said, “I was reminded that this is a fresh wound oozing blood. And we have to be reminded about that. When we hear noises at home about ceasefire and negotiations, we have to remember that this isn’t a post-traumatic situation in Israel. This is still in the traumatic phase.”
Rabbi Kirshner was in Israel through April 4 on a five-day American Friends of Magen David Adom rabbinic solidarity mission.
This was the inaugural initiative of the new AFMDA Rabbinic Advisory Council, intended as an apolitical, nonpartisan resource to positively engage American Jewish communities with Israel in general and AFMDA in particular.
MDA is Israel’s national rescue, first-response, and blood services organization, affiliated with the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.
Members of the mission learned about MDA operations in wartime and in less tumultuous times. They visited MDA’s William H. Bloomberg Center in Jerusalem, its helicopter team at Sde Teman, and its new Marcus National Blood Services Center in Ramleh.
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