By Sarah Roper
On July 2nd, seven Richmonders met in Israel for an amazing six-day experience organized by Momentum Unlimited and sponsored by Keneseth Beth Israel.
Lizzie Drucker-Basch, Debbie Falik, Natalie Gaeser, Rebecca Haine, Kira Marx, Sorah Plotnick nd Sarah Roper are all Jewish mothers of children who range from elementary school age to young adults, brought together by a love of Israel and the Jewish people.
We embody the Momentum motto of “unity without uniformity”— we all come from different backgrounds and observance levels, and we represent the majority of congregations in the Richmond area.
Our group joined dozens of other participants from cities across the United States, as well as two from South Africa and one from Australia. Despite our differences, we all share a deep attachment to the land of Israel and its people, especially in the wake of the October 7th terrorist attacks.
We spent the week connecting with everyone on our trip, as well as Israeli leaders and participants from Ashkelon, Israel.
We volunteered with several organizations—we traveled to kohlrabi fields in Rishon LeTzion and harvested the vegetables for Leket, Israel’s national food bank.
We donated supplies, wrote letters of encouragement, and put together care packages through Thank Israeli Soldiers.
We visited the October 7th exhibit at ANU Museum of the Jewish People, a display of artwork created by victims of the attacks as well as artists’ responses to the horror of that day.
We walked through Hostage Square in Tel Aviv and learned about those who were taken into Gaza. We heard survivors’ stories at Kibbutz Kfar Aza and witnessed the destruction there.
We visited the Nova music site and talked with October 7th survivors as well as others who were visiting memorials for their friends. We listened to them and cried with them. Later that evening, we were welcomed for dinner at Kibbutz Alumim and shared in residents’ sorrow and the joy of being together as fellow Jews.
We danced with families, some of whom had just returned to the kibbutz the day before our visit.
Our trip offered lots of lighter moments, too. We will always remember welcoming Shabbat at the Kotel and dancing with young female soldiers, enjoying dinner at Café Rimon in Jerusalem, floating in the Dead Sea, shopping on Ben Yehuda Street, and bidding farewell to Shabbat with snacks and Havdalah with a stunning view of the Old City’s rooftops.
See photos below and later in the article
Traveling to Israel at this time means everything to our Israeli brothers and sisters.
They don’t necessarily feel that we are b’yachad—together with them—until we are physically there.
The people we met appreciated our presence so much, and they kept thanking us for simply showing up.
Momentum provides an impactful educational component, weaving in core Jewish values that are inspiring and meaningful to each member of our group. This was not a sightseeing trip; instead it was a journey of introspection.
Momentum provided the support and tools we needed to process everything that we witnessed, and encouraged us to dig deep and to find ways that each of us—individually and together—can bring our “Momentum home” and impact the Jewish people.
Thank you so much for Keneseth Beth Israel, our Momentum partner organization, for hosting and supporting this mission.
All seven of us are incredibly grateful that we had the opportunity to take this journey together, and we look forward to sharing it further with our community in the weeks and months to come.
If you are interested in joining a Momentum journey or would like more information about this opportunity to engage with Israel, please reach out to Rabbi Dovid Asher at dovidasher@gmail.com or Sorah Plotnick at sorahp@gmail.com.
See some more photos below.