El Pasoans travel to Israel

In light of the serious violence and terrorist attacks in the Middle East, El Pasoans gathered at Temple Mount Sinai Sunday to talk about their recent trip to Israel. Community members gathered to sing and pray after hearing stories from their peers of a recent trip to their spiritual homeland.

“It helped me to connect to a heritage that goes back 3,000 years,” Roberta Fennig said.

Fennig was one of 14 to travel to Israel earlier this month. She says despite a wave of violence that broke out in September, they did not experience the unrest.

“Just being a person there an average person, you do not experience and see it other then what you see on the news,” Fennig said.

On Friday, Israeli security forces clashed with Palestinian demonstrators in Bethlehem. Soldiers responded to stone-throwing Palestinian youth with rubber bullets and multiple tear gas rounds.

“When they suffer pain, we suffer pain. When they lose a life, we lose a life,” Rabbi Stephen Leon said.

Leon said the trip was a way for El Pasoans to show the people of Israel their support. He says the violence in the news lately is universal.

“Whether its a tourist attack in a theater here or killing a Jewish person who’s waiting at a bus stop in Israel these are acts that are evil acts,” Leon said.

Despite the unrest, those 14 community members say this month’s trip was unforgettable.

Those who took the trip also got to learn about advancements in Israeli medicine, agriculture and technology.