After a year and a half hiatus, the first Religious Zionists of America – Mizrachi delegation to Israel since the outbreak of the COVID pandemic arrived recently for a special leadership and solidarity mission.
The 25-member special delegation is the first RZA – Mizrachi mission to the Jewish state not only since the coronavirus pandemic began, but also the first since this spring’s conflict between Israel and the Hamas terrorist organization, as well as a series of Arab riots and terror attacks in mixed Arab-Jewish cities and towns.
Rabbi Ari Rockoff, Executive Vice President of Religious Zionists of America, and Rabbi Daniel Alter, Head of School Moriah School in Englewood, New Jersey, spoke with Arutz Sheva about the delegation’s visit, and the difficulties American Jews faced over the past year and a half in maintaining their connection to Israel.
“It is a leadership mission, a solidarity mission. We have 25 representatives, rabbis of synagogues, heads of schools, people leading large institutions. We’re here to show solidarity after 18 months.”
“It has been a difficult time, the last year and a half. When you’re a religious Zionist in America and you feel the great distance because of COVID – for a year and a half we had no access to Israel – and then you hear about the war with Hamas…then the things that happen in Lod, it becomes really difficult.”
“Finally being here is, for us, incredibly meaningful.”
Haven’t Diaspora Jews also had a rough time lately?
“It is true, we’ve had a very difficult year. We’ve all had as a world. And as a community, with anti-Semitism, it has been rough.”
“Someone in my hometown of Brighton, Massachusetts, was beaten up. It is very real.”
What part of the visit so far has touched you the most?
“The visit to Lod. We met with people who are idealistic, who are there because they want to make a difference. They moved to a community years ago that was struggling with high rates of crime, and they said we’re going to come here to make a difference. Hearing the shock they were in over what happened just a matter of weeks ago was really difficult for us, but very moving.”
“To think that there was a pogrom in our time, in 2021, based on the descriptions of neighbors, friends, pointing them out through the window and identifying cars to burn, homes to burn, that’s a shock.”
When you tell people that you’re religious Zionists, do people tell you to move here to Israel?
“Of course. This has been the story of our generation forever. We live where we live and we aspire to always been in the Land of Israel and to have it in our hearts.
You mentioned anti-Semitism in America. What is next, what needs to be done?
“We’re a strong community, a large community. We have a lot of education to do. The shock that Rabbi Alter mentioned is very real.”
“Anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism have now been equated. That has been a game-changer.”
Social media, Rabbi Rockoff continued, “has also been a game-changer.”
“Our children have access to things we need to be more educated about.”
Rabbi Alter added that his school recently opened an Israel advocacy committee. “We haven’t needed that in years.”
What about Israel do you want to bring back home with you?
“A lot of it is about relationships. We can teach the kids all we want about Israel and the history. At the end of the day they need to feel it, not just to know it.”
Can you bring Israel in to your communities without telling people to move here?
“Two-hundred-and-fifty shlichim [emissaries] will be landing in America in the next two months for our schools and synagogues. The key will be to create those relationships. Those are relationships for life.”
“They embody the values of religious Zionism. They define it, they live it.”
“Our challenge is to galvanize and use that force.”