Many of my friend, as I write this, don't even know that I left. Our mission accomplished many things. We met with our USY family, and shared our feelings and experiences with them. This is, as I'm sure we're all aware, a critical juncture in the history of Israel as well as the Middle East. While the CNN mentality has caused America, for the most part, to have forgotten the events of the last month, many of us realize that Israel is going through a large degree of soul searching, finding the path between despair and hope once again.
Every day there are casualties and deaths in Lebanon.
By going on this mission to Israel, we have had the opportunity to better understand these questions, to hear friends and officials answer them, to try and answer them ourselves. Now that we have returned, the mission goes on, as we reach out into our communities, synagogues, and schools. It ha always been the primary mission of Bogrei Nativ to work in our communities Hutz La'Aretz, to be messengers and teachers. Our friends, families, and neighbors should know that this time, of all times, we should be planning trips to Israel, not canceling them. It is part of our job to remind you that you are right, this is a tense situation, but we need to stand by Israel in those situations.