A SNEC group with a large contingent from New Haven and Springfield had their nerves doubly tested when they visited Israel for a solidarity mission the week of September 9, 2001. In addition to making the decision to come to Israel in spite of the current unrest, they suffered terrible anxiety from being so far from their own homes when the unimaginable attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon occurred. In spite of the tremendous personal difficulty everyone was feeling in light of the traumatic events, the group decided to continue with their plan to visit their Partnership 2000 region in Afula-Gilboa. All of us here who met with the participants were deeply touched by their visit. During the mission's visit to Ha'Emek Medical Center, we conducted a short memorial service for the victims of the attack with the lighting of a memorial candle.

Later in the afternoon, the mission participants met at the Ein Harod Art Museum with teens from Seeds of Peace and with adult volunteer leaders for the discussion which has become an integral part of these missions over the past year. Only this time it was different. Rani Yerushalmi, a Seeds of Peace teen from Afula who is a veteran of the solidarity discussions from this past year, offered expressions of support on behalf of his peers. He gave a warm and touching speech expressing feelings of camaraderie and support for our guests from SNEC in their current personal and national crisis of uncertainty. It seems that the difficulty of traveling between our communities has been increased; however, we feel that we will all succeed in reasserting our mutual connections and in reinforcing these connections in creative ways.

  Heshvan 5762 - November 2001