On Thursday, I’ll be away for ten days as the rabbi-on-staff for Atlanta’s December Honeymoon Israel Trip.
Temple Emanu-El is a proud Reform Zionist congregation, which is why I am investing this time away from my family and my congregational family to share my love of Israel with the next generation of young adults. Israel is a priority of our community, and as I preached on Erev Rosh HaShanah, we enrich our spiritual toolkit when we travel to Israel.
Honeymoon Israel’s mission is “to provide immersive trips to Israel for locally based cohorts of couples (age 25–40) that have at least one Jewish partner, early in their committed relationship, creating communities of couples who are building families with deep and meaningful connections to Jewish life and the Jewish people.”
If you haven’t heard of it before, Honeymoon Israel (HMI) is a national organization co-founded by Temple Emanu-El member Mike Wise. The local Atlanta Director of Community Engagement, Elana Pollack, is also a member of Temple Emanu-El and an HMI alumna!
The 19 Atlanta couples (with at least one partner identifying as Jewish) on this trip, will build long-lasting relationships as a critical step toward lifetime Jewish engagement. More than that, the bonds built during this trip will lead to a deeper level of trust in not only Jewish institutions, but in Temple Emanu-El as a place for them to call their Jewish home.
For many young couples, there’s no easy entry point into Jewish life. However, a trip to Israel with other Jewish or Jew-ish couples has the potential to provide an entrance point into Jewish life, AND it can open the floodgates for deeper engagement.
A trip to Israel has this power because everyone engage in a shared sacred experience, AND they will then return home to continue to build those relationships with the other couples and wider Jewish community.
I am blessed with the opportunity to be the symbolic exemplar of what living Judaism in a modern, progressive, and Atlanta-based context can look like for these couples. Israel may be the classroom, but this trip is all about Jewish-Atlanta and the community we will continue to build once we return home.
Think that you, your kids, or your grandkids and their partner might be great candidates for this trip? Explore their website, see if there are HMI trips out of the city in which they are living, pass along the information, and don’t hesitate to reach out to me with any questions!
Learn more about the organization here: https://honeymoonisrael.org/
As you read this, I am mid-flight to the Holy Land!
Shabbat Shalom,
Rabbi Rachael