Our Board Chair Details Her Travels in Israel
This past week, Project Kesher’s own Chairperson of the Board of Directors, Barbara Glickstein, traveled to Israel for the first time since October 7th. During the trip, she wrote us often, detailing the emotional impact of her visit. She says:
I think about the last five months since October 7th and I am overcome with emotion as I arrive at an empty Ben Gurion Airport. Moments later, I am greeted by Project Kesher’s Executive Director, Rabbi Olya Weinstein, with a strong and lingering hug, one of many I will receive and return to people during my time in Israel. At the Aroma coffee shop in the airport lobby, we shared stories about our personal lives and Project Kesher. We arrived in Ramat Gan and entered a reception room filled with over 150 Russian and Ukrainian speaking women who traveled from all over Israel to attend Project Kesher Israel’s Purim day of learning. I took in the familiar buzzing sounds of women engaged in conversation and witnessed hugs and smiles. I felt immediately at home being connected with the women of Project Kesher Israel.
In keeping with the ethos of the Project Kesher tradition, PKI women will speak for themselves. Below is an edited translation and shortened post from Project Kesher Israel’s Facebook page:
“All of a sudden, in the middle of a war, to find yourself among people who are dear to your heart is a huge gift, and it gives hope that everything can again be fixed.” PKI woman participant
The March 15th Project Kesher Israel meeting was dedicated to learning about Purim. Purim is different this year and was celebrated in the context of our life in Israel today. There were no carnival costumes, there was no overjoyed fun. Instead, we paused for a moment to remember those women who are still being held in captivity and for whose release we pray for every day.
And yet, Purim is a special occasion to speak about women’s life and status, about equal respect and dignity, about the ability to resist the challenges of this world and about women’s resilience.
In full silence and with bated breath, we followed Rabbi Olya Weinstein’s lesson of the Purim story, we read sections of the Megillah, and she taught us through a feminist lens to further understand the ramifications of the patriarchal society on women's lives.
The Purim lesson of women’s strength, resilience and creativity to solve problems continued with a lesson from clinical psychologist Ella Berchansky. She spoke about Esther's image development and its relevance to our lives in Israel today. We saw that Esther is not only a character in an ancient story but representative of a woman's journey.
We remembered Rachel Edry, a woman in her 70s from Ofakim, who for 15 hours used her skills to charm five armed terrorists in her home on October 7th while she secretly sent information to the Israeli SWAT team who arrived at 3:00 a.m. and killed the terrorists. Like Queen Esther did several thousand years ago, Rachel used her smarts, including her intuition, to save herself, her family and protect the Jewish people.
We also collected sweet gifts and every participant created Mishloach Manot packages that will be distributed to women whose lives were impacted by the ongoing war as well as the women living in a shelter who survived gender violence. This was indeed an uplifting experience for all of us.
“This meeting gave a lot to all of us together and each of us personally. With gratitude to Project Kesher Israel that brought us all strength, and faith that we will overcome all trials and challenges” PKI woman participant.
Rabbi Olya Weinstein, the Project Kesher Israel staff, and every woman activist are heroic women. They went through the worst horrors, who are still in the midst of war, as they juggle their homes, careers, and children. These are the brave Project Kesher Israel women who show up to build a more resilient community by caring for other women and their families in every way imaginable. They carry on Queen Esther’s legacy of courage, resourcefulness and activism.