Chabad Young Professionals mission to Israel spurs recommitment to growth
'You got to deal with what you're dealt with and be happy, and always look for the good things even when it's really, really bad'
Taking a community abroad is helping build a community at home.
Alongside Rabbi Henoch Rosenfeld and Sarah Rosenfeld, co-directors of Chabad Young Professionals, nearly a dozen Pittsburghers traveled to Israel between Feb. 11-18.
The mission, Henoch Rosenfeld said, was to demonstrate “our strong connection to the land of Israel after Oct. 7, and to roll up our sleeves and do something practical.”
By visiting soldiers, spending time with the sick, volunteering on farms and speaking with residents, Pittsburghers not only achieved the goal but experienced something “transformative,” he continued. “Our intention was to make a difference and make an impact, and by doing that we were so impacted. Our intention was to be helpful, and we were helped. Our intention was to uplift, and we were uplifted.”
This wasn’t the first time South Hills resident Polina Neft, 25, visited Israel, but it was the first time she’s been there since Hamas launched the current war.
“The first thing I noticed when I got off the plane was that it almost felt like air had been sucked out of Israel — metaphorically speaking — just like there was tension in the air, there was this sadness in the air, and it was a little unsettling,” she said. “At the same time, there was also this overwhelming sense of unity in Israel. People are banding together a lot more, and they are really coming together with a common cause.”
Conversations with Israelis reinforced both realizations, she continued.
“There was something very special about talking to all these people,” she said. “Being with people who are constantly having to find light in their life, it helps you start to find light in your life.”
Reality that ‘should not be’
Like Neft, Shimshon Biton, 30, had been to Israel before the CYP trip. Still, a decade passed since the Greenfield resident last stepped foot on Israeli soil. In the interim, several of Biton’s friends and family moved to the Jewish state.
During a Chanukah party months ago Rosenfeld told Biton about CYP’s mission. Rosenfeld mentioned it again during a follow-up Shabbat meal. Finally, after a third time hearing about the organized excursion, Biton realized that “I’m never really going to make it out there on my own and this is going to be the help I need to get to Israel.”
Visiting the Jewish state with CYP was “enlightening,” Biton said. “We really saw a lot when we were there — you know, good, bad, ugly.”
The group’s itinerary included tours of Jerusalem and Tzfat, as well as a visit to the Gaza envelope and a stop at the Nova Music Festival site.
In some sense Biton knew what to expect during the southern Israel stay, but for 16 months he largely avoided videos of the Oct. 7 attacks.
“I couldn’t really stomach them. I’m not good with stuff like that — with reality, but reality that should not be a reality,” he said. “Going there was kind of like me facing what I didn’t really want to see or hear about. It was just so real.”
Throughout the trip there were powerful sights, but not all were devastating, he continued.
During a barbecue with IDF members in northern Israel, CYP travelers heard about the soldiers’ lives and experiences away from battle.
“Most of them have full-time jobs. Some of them have been up there for over a year,” Biton said. “Some of them get to go home every week. Some of them don’t.”
Being a small-business owner — Biton operates Samson Garage Doors in Munhall — the stories were impactful, he continued. “You got to deal with what you’re dealt with and be happy, and always look for the good things even when it’s really, really bad.”
Community takes time
Fox Chapel resident Brad Steiner, 27, had always wanted to go to Israel; work, however, largely precluded the possibility. After five years in finance Steiner left his Miami-based job last year. In the process of applying for an MBA, he discovered he finally had the time and ability to visit Israel, he said.
Before departing for last week’s trip Steiner didn’t really know Rosenfeld or any of the members of the larger group — along with the Pittsburghers, there was a delegation from Washington D.C. and Raleigh, North Carolina.
“I just met the rabbi briefly before the trip, and I was probably one of the least religious people on the trip, if not the least,” he said.
Those qualifiers don’t matter though, he continued. “Coming back, I feel that it’s important to build a stronger sense of community and be involved with the Jewish community.”
Steiner said that along with becoming more active with CYP he hopes others his age create connections with Israel.
He referenced the declining number of young adults who participate in Birthright or other subsidized trips to the Jewish state, and said that “especially among young Jews, there’s just less of an interest to go to Israel. I think there’s less of a connection to the place. But this should be the time when people want to go. Applications should be surging. People should feel a greater connection to it. People should learn about the history, especially given what you’re seeing on college campuses in the U.S.”
Steiner’s biggest takeaway was learning to appreciate a connection spanning 6,000 miles from Pittsburgh.
“It’s not just their struggle, but ours as well,” he said. “The violence that’s directed towards Jews — if we were in that place it would be directed towards us too.”
With jetlag finally subsiding Rosenfeld told the Chronicle he’s hoping to bring the Pittsburghers together for a post-trip processing session.
Perhaps over a Shabbat meal, the group can discuss that “we don’t understand why God brings tragedy but we can understand why God wants us to survive: to bring light into the world,” he said. “I want people to understand that the way we are going to win the battle of the 21st century is if everybody gets a little more Jewish in their identity — another mitzvah, a little more Torah, connecting to Israel, going, not just from a historical perspective. Getting involved in Judaism is how we’ll win against antisemitism. Screaming out against antisemitism is great. But winning the battle isn’t just by battling darkness. It’s by increasing light, and that’s what this trip was about.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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