Israel Affairs VP

2010-2011 Hagesher Israel Affairs Vice President: Sarah Raff

Email: ia@hagesher.org

2010 Elections Speech:



It’s 2002, the second intifada is raging in Israel. More the once a week we are hearing of bombings; especially in Jerusalem, where I am supposed to be going for my cousin’s bar mitzvah and Pesach in April. But by the beginning of the year I already could tell likelihood of our trip actually happening was looking doubtful.  It is now Friday night. As I light the Shabbat candles with my mom and sister, I cover my eyes and say the bracha like I do every week. But to myself I add one sentence, one small prayer. “Let there be peace in Israel soon.” I repeat that one line every week in the same hopeful way until it becomes my mantra as natural as the bracha itself. My 8 year-old-self did not want to deal with the fact that it was a lot more complicated then that. Even after Pesach, even now, I’ll find that 8 year-old-me coming back into my conscience and adding her own prayer on Friday night. “Let there be peace in Israel soon”.

If there is one thing I wish was different about this story, it’s the Israel I was hoping for. This was the Israel I had been seeing in posters, at school and at camp. In reality I didn’t know much about Israel, but I still had that love. I want all of Hagesher to love Israel like I do now. I want you to love tangible pieces of Israel, the land, the language and the learning. These parts, I can,and will bring right here,to New Jersey and Pennsylvania.

I want you to love the land. I want you all, even if you have never been to Israel to feel the history we share through the land. I want to share the white of the mountains in the Golan, the green of the forests and fields in the Galil, The blue of the Mediterranean sea in the summer sun, the yellow of the Negev desert at sunrise and especially I want you to know the gold of Jerusalem on erev Shabbat.

I want you to love the language. It is something we have had as a people for                              thousands of years, and now we have a country to share it with too. Hebrew is such an important part of all of us. A language defines a people, and a people defines a culture. Hebrew is the gateway to anything and everything related to Israel and Judiasm. Bringing Hebrew to Hagesher will bring us all that much closer to Israel.

I want you to love the learning. I want you to have knowledge of the goings on and issues in Israel today. All throughout USY, we have learning and discussion, it is something unique that we share as a community. With knowledge we can all become better and more effective ambassadors for Israel. We all have the capabilities to stand up for Israel. I hope to bring the understanding and knowledge of Israel that will make those capabilities realities.

I want the Hagesherniks to be like my 16-year-old-self, not my 8-year-old-self. I want all of you to know Israel on a more personal level, a level where you have Israel with you always in your pocket and especially in your heart.