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Rabbi Raleigh Resnick recently took a group of about two dozen people affiliated with Pleasanton’s Chabad of the Tri-Valley on a visit to Israel that ended with a 43-hour journey home due to the conflict taking place at the time between Israel and Iran.
Resnick — who founded the Chabad of the Tri-Valley with his wife Fruma out of their home in 2005 — told the Pleasanton Weekly that the group landed in Israel on June 9, just days before the Israel-Iran war began.
While Resnick said the trip started off calm and pleasant with the group exploring their Jewish history and culture, the atmosphere changed unexpectedly on June 13 when Israel’s government launched a surprise attack on Iran’s military and nuclear program, which led to Iran retaliating with its own missiles. Known as the 12-day war, the two sides have since agreed to a ceasefire, according to the Associated Press.
“In the middle of the night, we had sirens and (we) went down to the shelters and found out that the war with Iran started,” said Pleasanton resident Laura Silverstein, one of the trip organizers who had been in Israel for over a week at the time. She flew in ahead of the Chabad group as she had been planning her son’s bar mitzvah which took place on June 12.
Despite the turmoil that ensued during their visit, Rabbi Resnick, Silverstein and other members of the group were determined to maintain some normalcy.
From going out to pick cherries and celebrating at the local synagogues to distracting the kids with games at the hotel, Silverstein said her family did what they could to make the trip worthwhile.
Resnick added — and Silverstein agreed — that in some sense, the conflict actually brought their group closer to their community in Israel.
“Although we would not initially include any of this in our itinerary, it was actually the most powerful experience that we could all have,” Resnick said.
“You were seeing resilience,” he added. “You were seeing faith … we all see it from the western world as a warzone but to see and to visit families and to be there in this time where there was a feeling of global unity among the Jewish people, it was something which was very, very special.”
When it was time to leave on June 17, the group could not fly out from Ben Gurion International Airport amid the ongoing attacks.
With the help of the New York-based humanitarian aid nonprofit Tzedek Association, they took an alternate route that involved riding a bus through Egypt and then boarding a plane from the town of Sharm-el-Sheikh to Milan, Italy, where the travelers each booked their own individual flights home to the U.S.
Resnick said there was some feeling of anxiety having to go through Egypt. Silverstein added that the group was not allowed to pray and that at various times they were searched to make sure they were not spies for the Israeli government.
Reflecting back, Resnick said he is glad that everyone made it home safe and that even amid a harrowing situation, members of the group were able to connect with their religion and heritage.
