They’ll visit Masada, Yad Vashem, the Museum of the Diaspora and the Western Wall. They’ll eat falafel and float in the Dead Sea.
But they’ll also meet with gay and lesbian activists, authors and artists, dine at gay-owned restaurants and sunbathe on a gay beach.
It’s all part of a 10-day “Journey of Pride” aimed at exploring gay and lesbian life and culture in Israel. The mission, scheduled for April 11 to 22, is sponsored by the gay and lesbian task force and the Israel Center, both of the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation.
The first such trip to be sponsored by the JCF, Journey of Pride aims to introduce first-timers and old-timers alike to a new perspective on the Jewish state. It is geared toward gays and lesbians, their partners and friends — though others can join the group as well.
“The theme is to show gay and lesbian Jews that Israel is a country where there is everything for everybody,” said Dr. Sam Tucker, a San Francisco psychiatrist and chair of the trip. “There is quite a vibrant gay culture there.”
Tucker has been to Israel twice, including on one JCF mission. But beyond a quick walk through a “gay-lesbianish” Tel Aviv neighborhood, he hasn’t had the chance to explore Israeli gay life firsthand.
Journey of Pride, he believes, will afford him an opportunity to see the country in “a whole different way.”
Participants will meet with pro-gay Knesset members Yael Dayan and Moti Zanberg. They will speak with a representative of the Association for Civil Rights in Israel to discuss the justice system’s role in protecting civil and religious rights.
And they will have an opportunity to enjoy a Shabbat meal in gay and lesbian homes.
The visitors will travel north to see Safed, the capital of Jewish mysticism, as well as spend time in the border town of Kiryat Shmona, the local JCF’s partner city. In the north, they will talk with Jewish settlers in Katzrin, in the Golan Heights.
The group will be in Israel to celebrate Israel’s Independence and mark Yom HaShoah, the Holocaust Memorial Day, and Yom HaZikaron, Israel’s national memorial day.
The trip — which costs $2,500 per person, including airfare, room, board and touring fees — arose out of recommendations made by the gay and lesbian task force established by the federation more than two years ago.
“There are so many gay and lesbian Jews in the Bay Area,” said Alan Rothenberg, who served as JCF president in 1996-1997, shortly after the task force was founded. “We were trying to figure out how to reach out to that group and make them feel more comfortable in a lot of Jewish settings.”
Besides establishing the trip, the federation also took other steps to include gay and lesbian Jews. The JCF made a loan to San Francisco’s Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, a Reform synagogue with outreach to gays and lesbians, to aid in purchasing a new site. In addition, an annual JCF booklet detailing activities available to newcomers now includes a gay and lesbian section.