My Experiences on Hadassah’s Solidarity Mission 2 Affected Me Deeply

Nova Music Festival Memorial. Photo courtesy of the author.

Hadassah Solidarity Mission 2 attendees with Jon Polin and Rachel Goldberg-Polin. Photo courtesy of the author.

I have had the opportunity to travel to Israel many times since I was 17.  Each trip was a bit different. After October 7, 2023, I felt compelled to return but I was unable to go on the first Hadassah Solidarity Mission this past January. When I learned there was going to be Hadassah Solidarity Mission 2 in March, I knew that I had to go. I knew also that this trip would be very difficult, but I felt I had to bear witness and lend support to the Israelis who experienced October 7 and are enduring the aftermath daily.

I left Seattle and headed to Israel (via NYC). When I landed in Israel, the first thing I noticed was the silence. I was used to what I call the chaos of deplaning, picking up luggage and going through customs. It was eerily quiet. As we walked down the ramp to pick up our luggage, the first thing we saw were the pictures of all the hostages lining the walkway. I could not help but stop to look and read their names. I saw these pictures and signs again all over the country as we went from place to place.

Our trip began at the Hostage Center in Tel Aviv. The building was donated as a place for the hostage families to gather by Checkpoint Technologies, an American Israeli software company. At the Center, the families are taken care of and receive meals, mental and physical care and legal assistance.  We met with the sister of hostage Chanan Yoblanka. She told us about her brother. She wanted us to get to know the person he was. Sadly, we found out in late May that Chanan’s body had been found.

We then walked to Hostage Square. There is a long table set up with place settings for all the hostages. We listened to Einat, the aunt of Alon Ohel, acquaint us with her nephew. He loved music, she said, and was at the Nova Music Festival near Kibbutz Re’im, close to the Gaza Border.

Our second day found us visiting both of Hadassah’s two world-class medical facilities, Hadassah Hospital Ein Kerem and Hadassah Hospital  Mount Scopus. It has been hard for me to share what I heard during our visit to Ein Kerem as it really affected me.

Dr. Devorah Bauman, head of Hadassah’s Bat Ami Center for Victims of Sexual Abuse, for example, described for us the violet trauma that many of the victims endured. We watched a powerful video with speaker Shari Mendes, who testified about her experience as a volunteer with the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) unit that prepared women soldiers for burial. Shari described the terrible conditions that the soldier women’s bodies were in and how she and her team lovingly cared for them. Talking repeatedly about this experience had become so difficult for Shari that she filmed her testimony.

Our next speaker, Dr. Esie Sharon Sagie, was the dentist in charge of identifying the bodies through dental records, while parents waited outside to learn if she had identified one of their loved ones.

As a life member of Hadassah, I am so proud of the Hadassah Medical Organization, which, way ahead of schedule, opened the sorely needed Gandel Rehabilitation Center at Hadassah Mount Scopus. The underground hospital, which originally was not scheduled to open until 2024, was set up within two weeks of the horrific October 7 attack. It was amazing to see how quickly the work was accomplished to assist the wounded people of Israel.

We toured the completed floors, including the Brain Gym, and met with a patient, Timor Sasson-Cohen, a police officer who lives in Sederot and is stationed in Ashkelon. He shared how when he headed to his police station, he met a group of Hamas terrorists dressed in IDF uniforms. He was only equipped with a pistol and they had machine guns. Though badly wounded in his right arm, he managed to rescue a soldier and drive away. He has endured many surgeries and is now doing rehabilitation therapy. He told us that he plans to go back to work as a police officer when he is released.

Our last day also left a lasting impression. We started the morning at the Nova Music Festival site. I could not help but feel that this was hallowed ground. To see the pictures of the victims (both kidnapped and murdered) was very emotional. As we were walking among the pictures, the quiet was interrupted by the sound of artillery fire across Gaza. It startled many of us and made us jump. The Nova Music Festival attendees had come to dance, celebrate and enjoy life. I can’t imagine the fear they felt when the terrorists descended.

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Michelle is a member of the Hadassah Writers’ Circle, a dynamic and diverse writing group for leaders and members to express their thoughts and feelings about all the things Hadassah does to make the world a better place, to celebrate their personal Hadassah journeys and to share their Jewish values, family traditions and interpretations of Jewish texts. Since 2019, the Hadassah Writers’ Circle has published nearly 450 columns in the Times of Israel Blog and other Jewish media outlets. Interested? Please contact hwc@hadassah.org.