The events of October 7, 2023, have created an unlimited need for avenues of healing and dealing with trauma, not only in Israeli society but also in the Jewish world, where antisemitism has run rampant.
Gilad Perry, a musician and Jewish educator from Karmiel, combined his two loves to form Hashayara, a musical ensemble that brings together the community through song.
Perry, 47, explains that Hashayara means “convoy – people going someplace in a direction, where everyone can get on board and join,” and that the musical journey he’s created with help from his keyboard-playing brother Asaf, “uses music to bring people together to create connections – with each other, with the community, and with the songs.”
Since October 7, they’ve played for displaced families, evacuated communities, soldiers on the front lines, and youth in bomb shelters. And more recently, the 14-member ensemble performed for nine Jewish communities in the US, from Massachusetts to Texas.
Perry, born in Karmiel, spent a lot of time in the mid-1990s playing hard rock music in bomb shelters. “We played Nirvana and Pearl Jam but also listened to the oldies and goodies at home – Chava Alberstein, Arik Einstein.” He looks back on joining the HaNoar HaOved VeHaLomed (Working and Studying Youth Movement), which he reports was “life-changing.”
He credits the kibbutz youth movement for his deepened knowledge of and connection to Zionism, which he describes as “a call for fulfilling values and reality.”
Perrys feels that “there is something very Zionistic in shira b’zibbur (public singing) – everyone sits in a circle and can see each other, everyone can participate, there is no hierarchy, and our voices literally create sound waves together – something deep happens when we hear songs we like. There is something very rewarding and healing.”It is this healing power of singing together that Perry and Hashayara put in to action in the days following October 7.
“In October 2023, we realized as part of our mission, we have a responsibility to bring music, healing, and connection wherever it is needed. We put our instruments in the car and started driving.” They essentially haven’t stopped driving and sharing their important work. They have performed over 180 shows and musical encounters for soldiers, evacuees, survivors, and various communities.
“In a meeting at a Dead Sea Hotel with evacuees, we saw people with pain but also resilience facing the most important challenges of overcoming trauma and creating a normal life.” Perry describes “meeting thousands,” performing songs in lobbies and conference rooms, and witnessing “laughing, crying, and letting go.”
At each gathering, the musicians strive to “break the barrier between stage and audience.” They pick five or six songs, followed by the audience selecting songs. “Some evacuees and soldiers even joined us on stage and became part of Hashayara!” The musicians have donated guitars, ukuleles, melodicas, and darbukas to both army units and evacuees following performances.
Hashayara extends reach outside of Israel
Following their warm reception within Israel, Hashayara decided to share their important musical and healing experience outside of Israel.
“We realized that the Jewish community in the United States is going through very challenging times and that our responsibility is not just for those within Israel. We are needed there as well.” A program for non-Israelis would need to offer a different message and take lack of familiarity with Hebrew in to account. “We did things like create mashups – Let It Be with Lu Y’hi and I’ve Got Sunshine with Keren Shemesh. We also project lyrics in Hebrew and English and teach some songs.
The US shows included two special songs – “Anachnu Ve’Atem” (We and You) and a moving Hebrew adaptation of John Denver’s song “Country Roads.”
The first song, originally written in the 1970s by Yoram Taharlev and Yair Rosenblum, was rearranged to offer a message of unity between the Jewish communities of Israel and the US. The second song features raw emotion-containing lyrics by Noa Hobara from Kibbutz Sufa, in memory of her husband, Ido Hobara, who was killed on October 7 defending their home.
Perry never forgets that “Israel must be a hagshama, a realization for such values as tikun olam (repairing the world), v’ahavta l’reacha k’mocha (loving your neighbor as yourself) and kol Yisrael areivim zeh b’zeh (all Jews are responsible for each other). Through music, we can try to remember that and create a call to our participants.”
The group’s performances have touched a nerve. Ayala Gidron, a PhD student at Bar -lan University, saw the Hashayara performance in Virginia while spending the 2024 academic year at the College of William and Mary and says that it created hope for her.
“The focus isn’t on what might be, but on the encounter-taking place in the present moment – between us and you. That’s why it actively creates hope, turns it into a tangible experience, grounds it, while still preserving its spiritual depth. It’s not detached from what is happening in the room–it generates it,” she says.
Nammie Ichilov, president & CEO of the Jewish Community of Greater Naples, said that he loved having Hashayara in his community.
“Hashayara’s presence brought the spirit of Israel directly to our community at a time when we needed it most; and the image of the standing-room-only packed 400 community member social hall, spanning generations, waving flags, dancing in the aisles, and joining together in song will remain with us for years to come.”
Hayashara currently has two more shows scheduled in the US in October and hopes to tour such countries as England, France and Austria. Hashayara also plans to create music and healing programs for residents returning to their communities in the north and south.
“It’s important for our show to be a journey during the very hard times that we are experiencing – and address October 7, loss, the hostages and other issues in Israeli society,” says Perry. “We go through that, as well as hope, solidarity and togetherness.
Freed from a supporting role, Deni Avdija found his rhythm—and emerged as the Blazers’ most reliable force on both ends of the court.
By HOWARD BLAS APRIL 18, 2025 04:16
DENI AVDIJA speaks to reporters upon his return to Israel this week following a NBA season that saw him take his game to the next level with the Portland Trail Blazers.(photo credit: YEHUDA HALICKMAN)
There was no singular moment that defined Deni Avdija’s fourth NBA season. No viral dunk or buzzer-beater that rocketed him into superstardom overnight.
Instead, what unfolded over the course of the 2024/25 campaign was something rarer – a slow-burning, month-over-month evolution that turned heads across the league and marked the 23-year-old Israeli forward’s transformation from a solid contributor into a genuine cornerstone.
The numbers paint the picture clearly. Before the All-Star break, Avdija averaged a respectable 14.5 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game – all career highs at the time. But something changed after mid-February. Over the final stretch of the season, his production soared: 23.3 points, 9.7 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game. The leap was real – and undeniable.
For those watching closely, the breakout wasn’t just statistical. It was in the way Avdija carried himself. He attacked mismatches with confidence, became a more decisive ball handler, and defended with the same grit that had defined his early years – only now, with a more complete offensive package to match.
Deni Avdija of the Portland Trail Blazers reacts in the final minutes of a 127-113 win over the Atlanta Hawks on April 1, 2025. (credit: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
Proving his power
“People always talk about potential,” Avdija said one night in New York, speaking to a group of reporters after a loss to the Knicks at Madison Square Garden. “But I feel like this year, I didn’t want to just show flashes. I wanted to prove I could do it consistently, night in and night out.”
That night – a 26-point, 14-rebound, 4-assist performance – felt like a culmination of all he’d been building toward. The Blazers lost the game in overtime, but Avdija was the best player on the floor for stretches, holding his own in one of basketball’s most iconic arenas.
“I know this is a special place, and I wanted to show what I can do,” he said. “It means a lot to me to perform here.”
Avdija’s breakout couldn’t have come at a more pivotal time for the Portland Trail Blazers. After trading away franchise icon Damian Lillard in 2023 and officially entering a rebuild, the Blazers were desperate for young players to take a leap. They had promising talent in rookie guard Scoot Henderson and athletic wing Shaedon Sharpe, but it was Avdija – acquired in a preseason trade from the Washington Wizards – who quickly became the team’s most consistent presence.
Freed from the role-player confines of Washington, where he was often the fourth or fifth option behind Bradley Beal, Kyle Kuzma, and Kristaps Porzingis, Avdija stepped into the Portland lineup with a green light he had never known before.
“From day one, the coaching staff just told me to be aggressive,” Avdija said. “That trust, that freedom… it made all the difference. I wasn’t looking over my shoulder every time I took a shot.”
He responded with career-best performances across the board – setting new personal highs in points, rebounds, assists, field goal percentage, and usage rate. He also shot over 38% from three after the All-Star break, up from just under 31% before.
The transformation wasn’t just mental – it was physical too. Avdija spent the summer prior to the season adding strength and refining his handle. The work paid off, allowing him to play through contact, initiate offense, and bully smaller defenders in the post.
The night at Madison Square Garden was emblematic of his rise – a national stage, a hungry Knicks crowd, and a competitive game that came down to the wire. And through it all, there was Avdija, unflinching.
“When you play here, you know the lights are brighter,” he said with a grin after the game. “But that’s what you dream about as a kid – big arenas, big moments. I didn’t feel pressure. I felt energy.”
He had 10 points in the fourth quarter alone, helping the Blazers claw back from a double-digit deficit and forcing overtime. Though Portland ultimately fell short, Avdija’s performance was a statement: he belonged in these moments, and he could lead.
“Deni was incredible tonight,” head coach Chauncey Billups said. “That’s the kind of competitor he is. He gives us everything – on both ends.”
What made Avdija’s season more impressive was his ability to lead amid adversity. The Blazers were one of the youngest teams in the NBA, and the losses piled up quickly – especially as injuries sidelined key players like Sharpe and Deandre Ayton for stretches.
Through it all, Avdija remained a stabilizing force. He played in 77 of Portland’s 82 games, often guarding the opposing team’s best scorer while also shouldering more offensive responsibility than ever before.
“He doesn’t take nights off,” veteran guard Malcolm Brogdon said. “That’s what I respect most about him. You can see he wants it.”
His leadership wasn’t loud or performative. It was quiet, steady, built on work ethic and presence. Young teammates looked to him in huddles. Coaches leaned on him during chaotic stretches. Fans embraced him as one of the few bright spots in a difficult season.
While Avdija has always carried the weight of being the highest Israeli draft pick in NBA history – selected ninth overall in 2020 – this year felt like the first time he fully embraced the responsibility that comes with that.
He spoke openly throughout the season about representing Israel during a complicated time back home. In interviews, he balanced pride with perspective, often deflecting attention away from himself and toward his role as a cultural ambassador.
“I know a lot of kids are watching me – not just for basketball, but for how I carry myself,” he said. “That’s something I take seriously.”
In return, Israeli fans followed every box score, every highlight, every breakout performance. His postgame interview at MSG – where he switched between English and Hebrew – went viral in Israel. When he waved to a section of Israeli fans in the crowd after the game, it was clear how much the moment meant on both sides.
“I saw them,” he said with a smile. “It gives me chills, honestly.”
The Blazers finished the season with a 24–58 record – well outside the playoff picture – but the front office now has a clearer vision of the future. And at the center of it is a 6-foot-9 playmaking forward who just completed one of the league’s most impressive post-All-Star surges.
“I’m just getting started,” Avdija said in his final media availability of the season. “I’ve always known what I can do. Now other people are starting to see it too.”
He’ll enter the offseason with momentum, confidence, and perhaps – for the first time – a team fully committed to building around him. While Scoot Henderson may still be the long-term point guard of the future, it’s Avdija who has shown the highest floor and perhaps the most untapped ceiling.
His improved three-point shooting, ability to rebound and push the pace, and versatile defense make him a rare two-way wing in a league that covets exactly that.
“Deni’s game has matured,” Billups said. “He’s not forcing it. He’s letting the game come to him – and when it does, he knows exactly what to do with it.”
Four years into his NBA journey, Deni Avdija is no longer the raw teenager who arrived from Maccabi Tel Aviv full of promise. He’s bigger, smarter, more poised – and, most importantly, confident in his ability to lead.
“Being in the league, you grow up fast,” Avdija said. “You learn how to fight through tough nights, how to bounce back. I’ve learned a lot. I’ve failed a lot. And I’ve grown a lot.”
This season wasn’t just a breakout. It was a foundation.
And if the second half of 2024/25 is any indication, the best is still to come.
The history of Jews in the Hawaiian Islands, when they arrived, what happened during World War II, and what their lives are like today – including the Big Island’s first bar mitzvah boy in 1970.
By HOWARD BLAS, NATAN ROTHSTEIN MARCH 29, 2025 13:54
Updated: MARCH 30, 2025 03:51
ON OAHU: View at sunrise from Lanikai Pillbox Trail.(photo credit: HOWARD BLAS)
“Are you Jewish?” the Budget rent-a car agent asked as I was about to exit the Daniel K. Inouye International Airport in Honolulu, Hawaii, and begin my eight days of exploring two of Hawaii’s seven main islands (there are 137 in the 2,400 km. long Pacific archipelago).
HAWAII IS not just the well known 6 or 7 main southeast (windward) islands, but an archipelago of 137 that stretches about 2,400 km. in the middle of the Pacific ocean. (credit: Honolulu County/Wikimedia Commons)
I thought I was being careful by keeping a low Jewish profile, which I employ these days while traveling. My baseball cap was on my head and my yarmulke safely stashed in my pocket, but the Hebrew letters on my old Jewish summer camp T-shirt was apparently showing and blew my cover.
“I’m Jewish, too,” Nachelle the rental agent said proudly, putting me at ease. This 30-something woman of color shared that she was in the process of converting to Judaism. She eagerly proceeded to provide an overview of Jewish life on Oahu – the island which is home to the state capital of Honolulu, as well as to its Jewish governor, Josh Green, and its longtime Jewish US senator, Brian Schatz. The majority of the state’s residents live on this island, as do the majority of the estimated 7,000 to 10,000 Hawaiian Jews.
Nachelle provided useful information about prayer services, Shabbat meals, a seasonal kosher restaurant at the Chabad of Oahu, and a small kosher section at the Safeway supermarket that supplements the already abundant supply of kosher-certified crackers, cookies, peanut butter, cereal, hummus, lox, beans, and tortillas found in the store. There was surely enough kosher food available to keep this tourist satisfied on hikes, at the beach, and over Shabbat.
While this was my first trip to Hawaii, Jews have reportedly been arriving to the Aloha State since the end of the 18th century. According to an article on the website of Honolulu’s 60-year-old Reform Temple Emanu-El, “The first mention of Jews in connection with Hawaii was in 1798, when a sailor on the whaling ship Neptune recorded in the ship’s log that the Hawaiian king had come aboard and brought a ‘Jew cook’ with him!”
The Reform congregation in the Nu’uanu Valley area of Honolulu, founded by 35 families in 1938, offers a religious school, as well as bar and bat mitzvah training and services, and considers itself “a venue for Jewish and Israeli culture.” There are reportedly 17 Jewish congregations, associations, and organizations and four Chabad Houses in the Hawaiian Islands. Locals say that there is also a handful of other informal Jewish prayer groups and organizations, as well as Jewish and Israel-related activities.
WAIMANALO SHORELINE, where it is possible to see humpback whales. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)
Oct. 7 remembered in paradise
Denise Kaufman, a member of the Ace of Cups female rock band founded in 1967, which opened for such legendary performers as Jimmy Hendrix, The Band, and Janis Joplin, is a longtime resident of the island of Kauai. She proudly shared a video of the October 7th Kauai Memorial, marking “the first year anniversary of the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust.”
The two and a half hour program, at the Kauai War Memorial Convention Hall, featured speeches, musical performances, and prayers by notables such as Kauai Mayor Derek Kawakami; IDF Lt.-Col. (res.) Jordan Herzberg; Supernova festival survivor Jenny Sividya; Marc Levine of the ADL; Yehuda Solomon of the Moshav Band; and the gathering’s driving force, Rabbi Michoel Goldman of Chabad. Kaufman attended the program and helped organize a trip for islanders to the Nova Music Festival Exhibition during its recent two-month run in Los Angeles.
Such an illustrious group arriving from far away to attend the commemoration was no small feat. The breathtaking 50th state, with its beautiful weather and daily picture-perfect sunrises and sunsets, is located more than 2,000 miles southwest of the US mainland.
One of only two noncontiguous states in the US, Hawaii has a population of about 1.4 million, around the 10th smallest, similar to New Hampshire and Maine. A nonstop flight from New York to Honolulu is just over 11 hours; flying nonstop from San Diego takes six and a half hours.
Kaufman, who arrived in Hawaii from Los Angeles in 1983 to attend music school, was a bit of a pioneer. But Jewish merchants began arriving in Hawaii more than 130 years earlier. Some, who arrived between 1850 and 1900, owned coffee plantations and provided supplies to the island’s sugar plantations. In 1901, forty Honolulu residents founded the Hebrew Congregation of Hawaii. They also established Hawaii’s first Jewish cemetery.
VIEW ON the 1.6-mile round trip hile from the base to the summit of Diamond Head – especially beautiful at sunrise. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)
Jewish presence increases after the world wars
After World War I, the Jewish Welfare Board sent Alexander and Jennie Linczer to establish a JWB center in their home. Two families soon joined them on Oahu to serve as leaders of the Jewish community. In 1939, the Jewish Community Center was founded. The leased location served as a prayer space and central place for the Jewish community. Jewish chaplains stationed in Hawaii used it for religious services. In 1942, the Hebrew Burial Society was established, which dedicated a section of the Oahu Cemetery for the burial of Jewish community members.
Many Jews arrived in Hawaii after World War II, some of whom had been stationed there during the war. In 1947, Rabbi Emanuel Kumin went there to serve as director of the Jewish Welfare Board. Soon afterward, he served as a part-time rabbi for the Honolulu Jewish community, helping Jewish life to continue expanding there in the 1950s. In 1960, they constructed the state’s first synagogue.
Few US mainlanders have family connections to the island state. However, as a child, I remembered hearing of an uncle who “served in the military and was stationed in Hawaii.” Prior to my trip, I tracked down my distant cousin Harvey and his wife, Diane, who are in their 80s. They happily invited me to visit them in their home in Kailua, 30 minutes from Waikiki Beach, where I was staying.
I discovered that the family lore about these cousins was not entirely true. While Harvey and his brother, Alan, did indeed serve in the US Army, they were not stationed in Hawaii (though many people in service were). It was his post-army career in the US Army Corps of Engineers that brought him to Hawaii after a stint with the corps in Guam. He arrived with his wife in 1977, fell in love with Hawaii, and never left.
Harvey and Diane raised their three children on Oahu and marked b’nai mitzvah for them at what they describe as their vibrant 300-member Reform temple. They report an extraordinarily high intermarriage rate in the Jewish community, as well as difficulties retaining rabbis; and children, like their own, grow up and leave the islands for the mainland. The Jewish governor and the senator are married to non-Jewish women.
MAKAPU’U POINT Lighthouse Trail on Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline in Waimanalo, Oahu. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)
Pearl Harbor – another surprise attack
For those who go to Hawaii, whether to visit, attend a conference, or live there, the place is paradise. The state has only two seasons: sunny summer, with an average daytime temperature of 85°F (29°C); and rainy winter, with average temperature not much lower than that at 78°F (26°C).
Advertisement
While a week is certainly enough time to sample Hawaii’s beauty, history, food, and culture, it is not enough time to get more than a small taste of one or two islands. Most flights from the mainland arrive in Oahu, as well as some to Kona and Maui. Other islands are easily accessible by affordable 30- to 60-minute flights between the main islands.
Spending a day at the Pearl Harbor National Memorial on Oahu helps visitors get a good sense of history and geography. Most Americans are familiar with the basic story of Pearl Harbor, which was bombed by the Japanese on December 7, 1941, bringing America into World War II.
I had never truly appreciated the extent of the casualties suffered by the US – 2,403 Americans were killed, and 1,178 others were wounded. In addition, 21 ships were sunk or damaged, while 188 planes were destroyed and 159 damaged. Viewing the various films of the days leading up to Japan’s surprise attack, I couldn’t help drawing parallels to Israel’s being caught off guard in a similar fashion on October 7.
One part of the museum is the boat ride to the sunken USS Arizona battleship, which is to see a museum with views of where the ship wreckage is. It was very dramatic. Passengers are told to put their phones on vibrate, as they are going to a cemetery. Many of the battleship’s crew are still underwater, so it really has the feel of a place worthy of respect and honor for the memory of those who died there.
I spent seven hours at the Pearl Harbor museum’s many sections, including touring the USS Missouri, which hosted the surrender ceremony of Japan on September 2, 1945; and the USS Bowfin submarine. It was totally worth it.
Maps on Pearl Harbor make it clear that Hawaii is located in the middle of the Pacific Ocean – about 2,600 miles from Los Angeles, and 3,800 miles from Japan. This helps account for the many Japanese families and tour groups traveling throughout the Hawaiian island, and the many Japanese residents dating back generations (43% at their height in 1920; 23% pure and mixed in 2020).
While a visit to Pearl Harbor is interesting and important, visitors should also rent a car and travel around Oahu, where there is no shortage of places to hike, snorkel, see waterfalls, and view humpback whales. Diamond Head State Monument, known as Le’ahi in Hawaiian (Hawaii is the only US state with two official languages), is a volcanic tuft cone formed about half a million years ago. It is worth making a reservation online to hike to the top of Diamond Head and view sunrise and nearby Waikiki Beach.
WELCOME TO Chabad of Hawaii. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)
Pineapples, waterfalls, and hikes
Other highlights of Oahu that are close to Honolulu include Honamu Bay (sign up in advance and rent on-site snorkeling equipment to view amazing coral and fish), and the Kaiwi State Scenic Shoreline – Makapu’u Light House. I was lucky and saw several whales, though the binoculars I schlepped came in handy.
Advertisement
A visit to the Dole Plantation isn’t a must, but it is fun seeing how and where the world-famous pineapples grow, as well as coffee, cacao, and macadamia nuts. Nowadays, most of their pineapples are grown in other countries, such as Thailand, Ecuador, and Costa Rica. There is a fun Pineapple Express Train ride and the Pineapple Garden Maze to keep families engaged, and there is no shortage of pineapples to sample and purchase, as well as pineapple-themed souvenirs.
ON LANIKAI Pillbox Trail (credit: HOWARD BLAS)
On several early mornings, I set out in the dark (with my headlamp) to see incredible sunrises. Less than an hour northeast of Honolulu is the Ka’iwa Ridge (Lanikai Pillbox) Trail, a 1.6-mile out-and-back trail near Kailua. Given the early start to the day, I had time for additional hiking on the Manoa Falls trail, another 1.8-mile moderately challenging one, which ended at the breathtaking waterfall.
One of the most difficult decisions while on vacation in Hawaii is just how ambitious to be. While Oahu is replete with fun attractions, one can spend a week in Waikiki Beach, where hotels range from the simple and affordable to the grand and luxurious. The white sand beaches are gorgeous, and swimming and surfing are possible many hours a day. The night offers abundant restaurants and bars. A noodle shop across from my hotel caught my attention for its long lines day and night.
The Waikiki hotels are located close to the beach and are a 20- to 30-minute walk to the Chabad of Hawaii, which has Shabbat services and offers Shabbat dinners for $85 per adult and lunches for $75. Somewhat steep, I thought, but I guess that’s part of how it supports its operation. It also operates Aloha Lani, a sit-down restaurant during the summer (July through September) and over winter break. In addition, the local Chabad offers meal delivery all year round through Oahu Kosher.
At the Chabad of Hawaii Shabbat morning service, 35 men, 20 women, and a number of children were in attendance. I offered the empty seat next to me to Harold, a man in his 70s – one of eight men clad in Hawaiian Aloha shirts. He and his family have been vacationing yearly in Waikiki Beach for over 30 years and recently purchased a condo.
When I asked for an estimate of the breakdown of shul attendees by locals to tourists, he said that he wasn’t sure but playfully added, “We have an expression here: ‘If you don’t like the person sitting next to you, don’t worry – he won’t be here next week!’”
Harold isn’t the only one from the mainland who have discovered Hawaii and may be considered “snowbirds” – people who spend the cold months of Canada and the northern US in reliably warmer climates. Due to Chabad’s proximity to the Honolulu Convention Center, there is a steady flow of conference-goers. On the Shabbat of my visit, several doctors who were in town for a medical conference came to Chabad for prayers and meals. Some of the few Israelis in town hawk their wares at the many indoor and outdoor markets; some have also found their way to Chabad.
Chabad Houses also provide useful support and resources to both locals and tourists on some of the other islands. One on Maui, another on Kauai, and two on the Big Island (one in Kona, one in Hilo) offer Shabbat food to visitors and locals (free, though donations are encouraged). Some Chabad websites note that it is possible to spend Passover in Hawaii.
THE REBBE greets diners and surfers at Chabad. (credit: HOWARD BLAS)
Over to the Big Island
After a Saturday late evening walk to see my final sunset along the beach in Waikiki (and passing a young kippah-wearing Israeli and his wife doing the same), I made havdalah in my hotel room, and the torches lighting up the bar below served as a useful aish (fire) for this Shabbat-ending ritual.
I packed, got a few hours of sleep, then caught a cab to the airport for a 6 a.m. flight to briefly explore one more island. Though any of the seven habitable islands of Hawaii’s 137 would have been good choices, I opted for the Big Island – confusingly also called Hawaii – home to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. I flew in to Hilo Airport and made the hour’s drive to this spectacular park.
My 30 hours on the island allowed just enough time to explore this national park (the Lava Tube and Kilauea Iki Crater Rim give a real experience of volcanoes and of walking on the moon!) and to see a beautiful waterfall at nearby Akaka Falls State Park. I stayed overnight at the funky Hamakua Guesthouse and was up long before the sun to drive to Mauna Kea, a dormant shield volcano.
I managed to get close to the Visitors’ Center at 9,000 feet to watch the awesome sunrise. Tour groups and people with four-wheeled vehicles are welcome to reach the summit at 13,803 feet – the highest point in the state. I opted for a quick tour of the Mauna Loa Macadamia Nut factory to stock up on snacks and gifts to bring home before boarding the short flight to Oahu, then the long overnight flight back to New York.
Tough decisions await. Should I return to Hawaii to explore the other islands or continue elsewhere to see more of our beautiful world?
Natan Rothstein contributed to the main article, and wrote the following family history.
THE ROTHSTEIN family at Kahalu Beach, Kona, in 1982 after the writer (L) returned from a year in Israel. Sister Ann and parents Judy and Jerry. (credit: NATAN ROTHSTEIN)
SHALOHA, HAWAII!
‘We’re going on a trip – to Hawaii!” our parents told me and my little sister Ann in the summer of 1970. It sounded cool to this 10-year-old boy from Far Rockaway, New York; little did the two of us know that we wouldn’t be coming back from the big “rock” far away. Shalom and aloha – both “hello” and “goodbye” in Hebrew and Hawaiian – farewell Atlantic coast, hello Pacific island!
We were going to visit my dad’s childhood best friend, Bob Reichman – they had been two nice, regular Jewish kids from Long Island who never dreamed they would end up – for good – on the Big Island. Starting out as short-haired, straight city kids, they ended up being long-haired, pot-smoking, Hawaiian beach bums.
Surfer Bob eventually became the live-in caretaker of secluded Makalawena Beach on the Kona Coast of Hawaii Island, and my dad eventually had a rather pash lifestyle: PASH, that is – Public Access Shoreline Hawaii, an organization he founded in the 1980s.
DAD IN his cluttered office, always working on some writing project. Like father, like son. (credit: Rothstein Family)JUDY ROTHSTEIN at the library where she worked. (credit: Rothstein Family)
He became an environmental activist who gained access for people, native Hawaiians especially, to shoreline that had been privatized by individual landowners and hotels. He was even awarded a resolution from the Office of Hawaiian Affairs for his “life of dedication to upholding Hawaiian rights.” My mom was a librarian in a little Kona library. Not bad for a New York couple hailing from Far Rockaway and neighboring Lawrence, one of the famous Five Towns, who ended up far away on the Big Rock.
“Many people come to Hawaii to get away from things on the mainland – bad relationships, bad weather, etc.,” says Barry “Bone Doc” Blum, a contemporary of my parents who, together with them and others, founded Kona Beth Shalom (KBS), the Kona House of Peace congregation, in 1980. “Jews who come to Hawaii generally don’t come here to be Jewish – but they always end up going back to their Judaism – somehow,” he remarks.
THE BAR mitzvah boy holding the Torah Scroll given to King David Kalakaua by a Jewish adviser in the 1880s. (credit: Rothstein Family)
The “Our History” page on the KBS website starts like this: “The first recorded (or recalled) Jewish community event on the Big Island was the bar mitzvah of Gary Natan Rothstein, the son of Jerry and Judy Rothstein, in Hilo in 1973.” All of our earliest claim to fame.
GARY NATAN at his bar mitzvah in Hilo with his proud Grandpa Ben from Far Rockaway. (credit: Rothstein Family)RABBI JULIUS NODEL of Temple Emanuel in Honolulu gives a blessing. (credit: Rothstein Family)MOM IN a Hawaiian muumuu flowered dress is flanked by Ann looking at her be-lei-d bar mitzvah bro. (credit: Rothstein Family)
My paternal grandfather, Ben, and maternal grandmother, “Nanny” Rose, came all the way from Far Rockaway and Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, for the auspicious and establishing occasion. As is customary for honorees, I was bedecked in a royal maile leaf lei (fresh flower necklace).
I learned my Torah portion with Rabbi Julius Nodel of Temple Emanuel in Honolulu (see main story), who brought a Torah scroll over for the celebration. This was no regular Sefer Torah, though – it was the one given to King David Kalakaua in the 1880s by a Jewish advisor. The only one to have ever been owned by a king, it was passed hand-to-hand until it eventually ended up at Temple Emmanuel. The first successful kings of both Hawaii and Israel were named David.
My bar mitzvah was a rather royal occasion for this unconventional, long-haired new little man, almost 5,000 miles away from where the event would have been held in Far Rockaway if life had not taken a turn for the Very Far West.
We lived in Hilo at the time, the “big city” on the eastern side of the Big Island, a close drive to Bob’s lava rock homestead. We moved over to the “Kona side” five years later in 1978.
SATELLITE VIEW of the seven main and largest Hawaiian Islands, by size, are Hawai’i, Mau’i, O’ahu, Moloka’i, Lana’I, Ni’ihau, and Kaho’olawe. (credit: Wikimedia Commons/NASA)
A LITTLE bit about the Big Island. Although Hawaii is small as US states go, being the eighth smallest – slightly larger than Massachusetts – the land area of the Big Island is almost twice that of the other six main islands combined, at 4,028 square miles (10,432 sq. km.) – about the combined size of the smallest two states of Rhode Island and Delaware, and 40% of the entire 137-island archipelago.
Hawaii Island is also one of the most ecologically diverse places in the world, where you can find eight to 10 of the world’s 13 climate sub-zones, such as tropical monsoon, polar tundra, and desert, within an hour’s drive, according to lovebigisland.com – even more impressive because of its small relative size. My father, in a poem he wrote titled “Hawaiiisland,” calls it the “microcosm of our planet.”
LAVA FOUNTAINS rise hundreds of feet from the Halemaumau Crater of Hawaii Island’s Kilauea volcano on December 23, 2024, half a mile in the distance. Among the most active volcanoes on Earth, the most recent episode of this current eruption occurred last Friday. (credit: Arlene Buklarewicz)
Among the island’s other distinctions is that it has America’s southernmost point (naturally, called South Point), the southernmost city of more than 25,000 people (Hilo), and the southernmost state capital (Honolulu) in the United States. It also has the world’s largest volcano (Mauna Loa, which is mostly underwater, like all the islands), and Kilauea, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, which just erupted again last Friday. Hawaii Island also has one of only four green sand beaches in the world.
In 2009, Time magazine listed the “Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Hawaii” in a feature article celebrating the 50th state’s 50th anniversary. It says that the first description of surfing was made by a crew member aboard one of British explorer Captain James Cook’s ships around 1779 (Dad’s friend Bob, one of many modern surfers, used to leave his surfboard at our house in Kona).
Hawaii is called the most isolated population center in the world – some 2,390 miles from the US and nearly 4,000 miles from Japan. It is also the only state that has interstate highways that don’t connect to another state (that would be some feat of engineering, considering its remoteness), and is the only state where coffee is grown (2009). Kona coffee is one of the world’s 10 most expensive, at $40-$60 per pound!
Hawaii also has America’s only home to ever serve as an official monarch’s residence. Iolani Palace in Honolulu was built in 1882 by King Kalakaua for himself and his sister, Queen Liliuokalani, Hawaii’s last monarch.
Another thing you may have noticed, reading all the Hawaiian words and names, is that the Hawaiian language doesn’t have many letters – only 13, in fact, about the fewest in the world.
There are the five vowels, of course – A, E, I, O, U – and the consonants H, K, L, M, N, P, and W, plus the okina apostrophic glottal stop. (The name Hawaii is actually spelled and pronounced Hawai’i.) Interestingly, except for J, the Hawaiian alphabet has all the letters from H to P, plus A, E, U and W.
There are some Hawaiian words that have interesting apparent connections to Hebrew. Aloha is the singular form of “God’; Hawaii, when the W is pronounced like V, is like the holiest name of God – (Shem) Havaya (Name of Being), as well as is hava ee – “give me an island”; and a kahuna is a Hawaiian priest, like the Jewish kohen.
The name of the volcano goddess is Pele, which means a “marvel,” “miracle”, or “wonder” in Hebrew – like pelephone. And, of course, the most famous Hawaiian word is wiki, which sounds like and means “quick” – as in Wikipedia, WikiLinks, etc. Doubled gives wiki wiki means “very quickly.”
Hawaiians like to repeat things for emphasis. My parents had a pizza Italian restaurant in our Hilo days called Kau Kau Place (“the food place”). My mother and sister wore muumuus – brightly printed dresses. And the famous local reef triggerfish is called Humuhumu-nukunuku-apua’a (hyphens added for ease of reading). Although more well known, it’s still three letters shorter than Lau-wiliwili-nukunuku-ʻoiʻoi – which has three doublings instead of just two (try saying those while eating a humuhumus and poi-filled pita – oy oy!).
BARRY BLUM (center) reading from a prayer book with Jerry (R) and Noah Salzman holding the Sefer Torah. (credit: Rothstein Family)
BACK TO Jews in Hawaii. Like my parents, Bob and Sylvia Reichman were also among the Jewish community’s initiators. KBS says that in August 1974, Roz Silver and her husband, Bill, moved to Kona from southern California. Disappointed not to find High Holy Days services there, they celebrated quietly at home. Gil Martin, food and beverage manager at the Kona Golf Club, noticed a mezuzah nailed to the Silvers’ door jamb and a menorah.
Agreeing that it would sure be nice to have a Jewish congregation, they started to make contacts. Gil knew a couple from Hilo – he was Jewish and she was Japanese. They knew the Reichmans in Pahoa, a town close to where the volcano periodically erupts (parts of the town were destroyed in 2014 and 2018 lava flows). One contact led to another.
The 1975 High Holidays services took place at the Hilo Community Clubhouse. The Jewish Federation in Honolulu provided prayer books and arranged for Kirk Cashmere, who became a prominent ACLU lawyer, to perform the service. “The group, dubbed Aloha Beth Shalom, became the forerunner of KBS. Kirk brought over a tiny printed Torah and the prayer books. A total of 85 people showed up for these first Jewish services on the Big Island!” the KBS website states.
JERRY ROTHSTEIN speaking at a KBS event. (credit: Rothstein Family)
Our grandparents sent my sister and me to Israel on an AZYF trip in 1981, similar to today’s Birthright. I stayed, became religious, and went back to finish college at the University of Hawaii at Manoa in Honolulu.
I was living with the Dratt family there, who brought two Chabad shluchim (emissaries) for High Holy Days one year to the small, aspiring congregation the family had set up in their house: Shaarei Gan Eden (“Gates of Paradise”). One of them was Rabbi Krazjansky (mentioned in the main story).
I made aliyah in 1986. My parents and sister came for my wedding in 1995 and several times after that.
Rabbi Israel Ganz, one of my wife Advah’s teachers in seminary, once told her that he would come to her wedding “even if your groom is in Honolulu!” His promise was prophetic: he cut short his trip to Switzerland to come to the wedding of his talmidah – and her Honolulu husband.
My parents’ story didn’t end well, unfortunately.
Driving home from a Tu Bishvat Seder in 2005, they were in a head-on collision, and both died. I went to help my sister, who still lives on the Big Island, arrange the funeral, which was attended by over a thousand people. From this tragic event, a Jewish section was set up in a local cemetery.
Two of my daughters went to visit in 2023. “We had the privilege of visiting Hawaii where our father grew up, we being our family’s third generation to be there,” Yocheved and Elisheva said. “Our grandparent’s presence is felt by everyone we talked to about them. We also felt it very strongly, and are honored by their lives and everything they did there – we feel like an inseparable part of it all. We loved Hawaii so much and hope to return there soon.”
PARENTS PICTURE published in the local newspaper obituary in 1995. (credit: Rothstein Family)
“Since we are on the opposite side of the world,” Barry Blum says, “when we want to face Jerusalem, we can face in any direction – including down!” From Hawaii, any direction you go is toward Israel.
By the way, it is rumored – and attested to by Karen Breier, another contemporary of my parents – that my father coined the portmanteau Shaloha. “Many people continue to use this wonderful word that says it all: peace and love,” she told me.
Shalom and Aloha also mean both greetings and farewell. Queen Lili’uokalani’s famous and beautiful 1878 Hawaiian folk song “Aloha ‘Oe” expresses a sorrowful farewell with the hope to meet again someday.
I merited to live in opposite, beautiful, and important ends of the world – connected, as things and people often are, also by their Jewishness. Shaloha Oy – Happily in Israel now, I may return to the other end one day…
Ceasefires, airlines resuming flights to Israel, the start of the spring holidays, and Israelis in the north and south returning to their homes work to assure those involved in group travel that students can visit.
For decades, the eighth-grade trip to Israel has been a central component of the Jewish day-school experience. The capstone tour traditionally brings students to Israel for a week or more to interact meaningfully with the people and the land, which they have been learning about throughout their elementary and middle school years. The trip also serves to bond classmates and sets the tone for what educators and parents hope will be a lifetime of positive Jewish and Israel experiences. It also serves as a recruitment tool for students to stay in day school for the high school years: ninth through 12th grades.
Planning and executing the eighth-grade Israel trip has usually been straightforward with school administrators working with tour providers and tour educators to customize the itinerary, book rooms, arrange for a guide, driver and security guard, and work out costs. In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic and skirmishes in Israel have proved challenging for Jewish schools wishing to provide a visit that is not only safe but provides access to museums and sightseeing spots on their itineraries.
This year, as the war in Israel starts its 17th month, Jewish day schools across the country are carefully weighing a number of factors as they assess whether or not such trips can go ahead as planned. Options include proceeding with tweaked itineraries, postponing until later in the year or next year, and considering non-Israel trip options, often to destinations in the United States.
According to Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools, consensus exists among schools as to the importance of the visits. “Jewish day schools in the Prizmah network across North America are deeply committed to their Israel trips. The opportunity to offer such a meaningful experience in middle school is an integral and important part of the educational journey of their students,” he tells JNS.
That said, differences in age groups are a factor, with the younger set ranging from 12 to 14, though Bernstein says that “leaders are again determined to go ahead with the trips if they possibly can.”
Still, administrators try hard to make such trips happen, even during difficult times.
Bernstein notes that last year, “schools did everything they could to maintain the trips. Many went ahead, and even in the face of acute situations like the Iranian missile attack last spring, they continued with the programs—carefully advised by the Israeli security professionals—to keep their faculty and students safe.”
Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah: Center for Jewish Day Schools. Credit: Courtesy.
Some schools tried even harder than in the past to create opportunities for community members to get to Israel.
According to Bernstein, “we saw schools that previously did not have organized trips launch student and parent missions, increasing the number of Jewish day schools visiting Israel at such a crucial time, standing with the state, bearing witness in the crisis and volunteering across the country to support agriculture and other important causes.”
‘A modified itinerary’
Decisions about moving forward with Israel trips this spring, summer and fall are even more complicated—and not just because of safety precautions. The sheer challenge of finding flights to and from the Jewish state since airlines other than El Al have limited or halted their routes is a pressing concern, as is keeping costs down at a time when tourism in Israel is more expensive than ever.
To help schools through the process, Prizmah has convened meet-ups for decision-makers at various levels as they undergo the process of determining if and how to proceed with their trips. Bernstein also tells JNS that “parents are being brought into the process in an active way.”
While some schools are planning to go ahead as planned, others spoke of alternative trips to places like New York and New England, as well as possible social-justice work in Oregon with the Tivnu organization that explores the Pacific Northwest. One even mentioned Panama.
Sara Weiss, dean of middle-school students at the Seattle Hebrew Academy, recalls being a participant in the school’s very first eighth-grade trip to Israel back in 1990. While she notes that a few trips have been postponed in past years, she says the school has worked hard to make them happen. “We have heard from so many of our alumni how impactful the eighth-grade trip was for them,” she tells JNS.
Weiss is hopeful that the trip will happen, “though likely with a modified itinerary.” She continues to monitor how colleagues at other Jewish day schools across the country are grappling with the issues, noting that plane tickets for the students have been purchased.
Students from The Shefa School in Manhattan at prayer on a trip to Israel. Credit: Courtesy.
Chris Aguero, head of school of Ezra Academy in Woodbridge, Conn., says it seems “eerily familiar to where we were during the pandemic.”
He hoped that his nine eighth-graders would get to go to Israel this March, though at the same time acknowledged that he wishes the trip would take place even earlier, in the sixth or seventh grade. “As lovely as it is to be a culminating trip,” he says, “it would be more strategic to go then so they can come back inspired and with a greater appreciation of the Hebrew language.”
Aguero notes that the impact is clear: “You hear it in their graduation speeches, and you see it in their faces.”
In the end, parents were not all fully on board to send their kids, so a decision was made to go to Costa Rica in May, staying at a venue with kosher food and a place to keep Shabbat.
‘A meaningful alternative’
Rabbi Dov Lerea, head of Judaic studies at The Shefa School in Manhattan, is optimistic that his 43 eighth-graders will get to go to Israel. For Lerea and Shefa, the trip is part of a comprehensive plan throughout the grades to have students “engage with love and passion for the land and the State of Israel.”
He tells JNS that “the building of Jewish identity should include a sense of connectivity to the land of Israel and the dedication with which people returned to Israel to build a society.
Rabbi Dov Lerea. Credit: Courtesy.
When Lerea was tasked with creating a trip at the K-8 school for children with language-based learning disabilities, he had four principles in mind: love of the land, chesed (“lovingkindness”) spirituality and history. But he knows that “it’s gotta be fun, too.”
He is proud of the parent body that he describes as “deeply Zionistic” and “very supportive of the trip,” noting that even last year, “everybody was in. I didn’t get a single email asking how was I going to go to Israel?”
Last year, Lerea brought his students to the south instead of going to the Golan Heights, where at the time rockets were being fired by Hezbollah from Lebanon toward Israel’s north. This year, they also plan to spend time hiking in the south. Lerea notes that he will only cancel the May trip if their vendor explicitly says, “Don’t come.”
He is so determined to go that “if 35 families say, “we can’t do it,” I will say, “I understand and take five or so to visit hostage families, etc., and represent Shefa with pride.”
Others stick to the central part of the country—namely, Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Jerusalem, the Dead Sea.
Tamar Cytryn, director of Judaic Studies at the Chicago Jewish Day School, reports that her school’s 21 eighth-graders are on track to go to in mid-May. “We’ve already put money into the airline tickets,” she says.
However, “if we have to cancel, we will likely pivot” and find a meaningful alternative, she tells JNS: “Israel is supposed to be the capstone; if it doesn’t happen, we will create a final project that ties together all of their learning on Israel.”
During a similarly uncertain time, the school created “Israel in Illinois,” where they spent a week participating in parallel activities—from a hike to a water park—that approximated their scheduled Israel visit.
‘A range of solutions’
Rabbi Marshall Lesack, head of school at Jack M. Barrack Hebrew Academy in Bryn Mawr, Pa., said he is committed to students having an immersive experience in Israel. He points to the school’s traditional two-week spring trip in the eighth grade and its three-month program in the 11th grade as part of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel.
Students on a field trip as part of the Alexander Muss High School in Israel Program. Credit: Jewish National Fund-USA.
Following the Hamas-led terrorist attacks in southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, Lesack flew days later to the Jewish state to help bring the school’s Muss students back to the United States, as did many other groups of Americans. The 11th grade did not go to Muss in the fall of 2024 as the war in Israel continued.
He points to issues such as security; financial realities for each family; financial realities for the school if they commit to the trip and then have to cancel; parental concerns; and a possibly altered experience if the trip deviates substantially from its standard curriculum.
Nevertheless, he says, the school remains “deeply committed” to travel programs, saying the trips are meant “to unify and bind the grade.”
Given the school’s relatively early trip timed for March, coupled with the ongoing uncertainty in the Middle East, Lesack and his leadership team informed parents and 70 eighth-grade students just before winter break that the trip would not take place. Instead, the class will travel to Boston in early May for “a mix of bonding, fun and Jewish experiences,” as they did the year before when the middle-school trip was similarly canceled.
Jaffa, Israel. Credit: binael/Pixabay.
Lesack reiterates his school’s commitment to Israel and the Israel experience: “On one level, the trip is a capstone experience for the middle-school students. It is also a stepping-stone for their 11th-grade semester. We are looking for even more immersive experiences in the 11th grade.”
That said, a Zoom meeting on March 2 with parents went over plans for this fall’s return to Muss.
Bernstein tells JNS that “it is likely that there will be a number of alternative trips, which schools are determined should be educationally and Jewishly impactful, such as in Europe. We expect to see a range of solutions taking account of what is practical, the preferences of each school community and practical considerations such as supporting families with the cost of whatever the school plans.”
He says Prizmah’s Reshet (meaning “network” in Hebrew) communities serve as “a space for colleagues to seek information and support from one another. What we know is that to the extent that Israel trips are disrupted this year by insurmountable challenges, day schools continue to demonstrate their strong support for Israel and will resume visits as early as they possibly can.”
Students from The Shefa School in Manhattan on a trip to Israel. Credit: Courtesy.
Betsalel Steinhart, director of education for Ramah Israel Institute, whose organization organizes trips for many Jewish day schools, spent last November visiting academic institutions in the United States. After returning to Israel, he confirmed that most were “in a holding pattern,” telling JNS: “My sense is that schools want to come, but it is hard to know how many will.”
He thinks that such positive signs as the ceasefires, airlines starting to resume flights to Israel, the start of the spring holidays, and Israelis in the north and south returning to their homes will help assure people that they can come to Israel, though he tells JNS that he understands why many remain “on the fence.”
As dates for the planned trips approach, Steinhart reports that “schools are starting to come back—many with hesitations and all with the desire to add volunteering to their already packed programs.”
He acknowledges that the decisions are complex and singular to each establishment, noting that “these programs are always built around trust, and they trust us to make the right decisions for them.”
