Michigan Jews travel to Israel amid crisis to comfort, show support

As the most senior religious leader at Michigan's largest Jewish congregation, Rabbi Harold Loss has visited Israel many times over the decades, feeling inspired by its vibrancy.

But when Loss, 79, of Temple Israel in West Bloomfield, visited the country earlier this year for the first time since Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, he and other Michigan rabbis who accompanied him felt a different atmosphere from their previous visits.

"Wherever you are in Israel today, there is this overwhelming sadness and angst mixed with determination," Loss said. "I was frequently in tears as I heard people's stories."

Loss' trip was one of a number of visits to Israel in recent months by Jews in metro Detroit who are traveling to show solidarity, comfort victims and distribute supplies to people in need. Some are traveling in groups with local and national Jewish or Israeli organizations while others are going on their own, illustrating the close ties that Michigan's Jewish communities have with the state of Israel.

The country experienced in October the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust. Loss was one of four rabbis from metro Detroit who traveled to Israel in January, visiting a kibbutz and a music festival site attacked by Hamas and delivering clothing and toiletries their congregations helped collect. The Jewish Federation of Detroit has raised tens of millions dollars to help Israel.

"It was a trip to let them know that you have a great deal of support, to give them a hug," Loss said, recalling an emotional scene when they encountered a mom who lost her child fighting in the war. "We sat with a woman at the grave of her son who had just died as part of the IDF (Israel Defense Forces)."

As Passover starts Monday night, many in Jewish communities will recall the story of Jews fleeing oppression in ancient Egypt that the week-long holiday celebrates. It's a story that remains relevant today for Jews as they face new challenges. During the holiday, when religious dinners known as Passover Seder are held, the Jewish community will be thinking this year of the hostages still held captive by Hamas and of other victims of the war.

"Passover is the holiday of celebrating the freedom of the Jewish people from oppression from slavery," explained Rabbi Shalom Kantor of Congregation B'nai Moshe in West Bloomfield, one of the four Michigan rabbis who went to Israel on the January trip. "There are a lot of people ... writing liturgical pieces to be added into the holiday of Passover that reflect on .... working towards the liberation of the hostages. I know a lot of people ... they're taking a picture of a hostage and putting it at their Seder table ... as if to reserve a space for that for that person."

"Once again, our people have been taken hostage, have been taken into captivity," he said. "There's a clear connection that's being made between the need to free the hostages and the freedom that Passover celebrates."

Kantor has been to Israel many times and lived there for several years. His experience on the three-day January trip to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv and the border area near Gaza was unlike any other visit.

"There was a subdued atmosphere or agitated atmosphere ... that indicated this was a different Israel," he said. "There was ... an introspection at what had happened."

The anxiety increased on April 13 when Iran launched hundreds of drones and missiles against Israel in an unprecedented attack in response to the earlier bombing of the Iranian embassy compound in Syria that killed three senior Iranian military commanders. There were reports Friday that Israel launched an attack against Iran, but officials in both countries did not immediately confirm them. The fighting comes as more than 30,000 Palestinians have been killed and 70,000 wounded after the Hamas attack on Oct. 7 killed about 1,200.

"It's still Oct. 7 in Israel," said Rabbi Steven Rubenstein of Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield, another of the four rabbis on the January trip. "The country is still very much fixated on that date because even though many quarters of the world have sort of put the lives of the hostages on the back burner, in Israel, there's just no way to forget their absence. And that's what people are waiting for, for those hostages to come home"

Rubenstein traveled to Israel a second time this year with Ramah Israel, which organizes solidarity and service trips to Israel where people can participate in volunteer work. He worked on farms and also helped prepare sandwiches for Israeli soldiers.

"At our first stop, we sorted vegetables, which were being distributed to the poor and also to families of IDF soldiers, who were in a difficult place because one member of the family was away for a long time serving," Rubenstein said of his volunteer work. "We were working in a scallion field one day for a little bit, basically weeding."

After the Oct. 7 attack, Israel's agriculture sector was hit hard because many foreign migrant workers left. Some of the victims of Hamas attack were farm workers from countries such as Thailand. Several Thai hostages are still being held by Hamas.

During the January trip, Rabbi Daniel Schwartz of Temple Shir Shalom in West Bloomfield dropped off cases of socks at a hotel room that his congregation collected. Many Israelis are currently living in hotels because they can't safely return to their homes in border areas. The hotels have donation areas where people can drop off items like toys, clothing and toiletries that others can pick up as needed.

Schwartz said he also delivered to soldiers Gold Bond talcum powder they requested to keep their feet clean, hand warmers, and energy bars to help "sustain them and bring them a little bit of comfort."

Some of the more intense moments of the trip involved speaking to survivors of Hamas attacks at the Nova Music Festival and at Kibbutz Kfar Aza, two areas the rabbis visited.

"There wasn't a dry eye in the room," during one of their meetings with survivors, Schwartz said. "I was present in the places where these things were happening. And it's still hard to believe that human beings could do such things to other humans."

At the same time, Schwartz and others had their spirits lifted hearing stories of courage.

"As we heard the stories of destruction which brought tears to our eyes, there are also stories of hope within them as well, about how other human beings responded," Schwartz said. "You saw the humanity ... that people who could have run the other way turned towards those who needed help. They went into the fire."

He recalled meeting two bothers in a hospital who said they had been in an area north of Tel Aviv on Oct. 7 when they heard about the attack, started getting weapons and joined police officers on a mission to help free civilians until an army unit arrived. They also met with a group of Bedouins in the city of Rahat who reportedly helped in the fight against Hamas on Oct. 7.

"Rahat ... is a Bedouin community in Israel that's mostly Muslim" who did "heroic work ... on October 7, going in and rescuing other Israelis," Schwartz said.

The rabbis shared their experiences with their congregations in sermons and provided ways for them to deepen ties with Israel. Rubenstein purchased dog tag necklaces remembering the hostages for congregants to purchase, with proceeds going to the Hostage and Missing Families Forum. On Thursday, his synagogue and the Jewish Federation will host a presentation by Natan Neppe, a commander in the IDF Search and Rescue, about his experiences.

Some of the stories they heard during the trip to Israel were too explicit to be shared, Loss said.

"I took photographs that are on my phone that I haven't and will not share with anyone because they're too painful," Loss said.

Despite witnessing the pain, the rabbis said they saw a positive determination in Israelis. Israel has faced withering criticism in recent months for its attacks in Gaza, but the trip reinforced their view that Israel has a right to actively defend itself against threats.

"We met with so many people who determined that this was not going to be part of the existence of the state of Israel, Loss said. "Hamas was not going to be in a position to take lives in the way it had before. And therefore defenses needed to be reestablished and Hamas needed to no longer to be in a position of power."

"This was the largest number of people killed in an antisemitic act of hatred since (the Holocaust)," Loss added. "And Israel has a responsibility to its citizens to provide security ... people in every country in every land should be able to live in peace, shalom. ... I would love to live to see the time when the Middle East is in peace, but it's a very complicated issue."

Contact Niraj Warikoo: [email protected] or X @nwarikoo.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Michigan rabbis recall Israel trips as Passover starts