In December 2025, Mark Raphaely joined JEWISHcolorado’s Impact Mission to Israel. Below is a reflection of his experiences visiting Israel as the country recovers from war.
My first trip to Israel was in 1986 as a nine-year-old boy. My family and I toured the length and breadth of the country before my older brother’s bar mitzvah, and benefited from the pre-intifada calm that allowed us to visit places like the Tomb of the Patriarchs in Hebron and the Al Aqsa Mosque on the Temple Mount. That visit was followed by a ten-week school trip in 1992; pilgrimages with friends during and after college; visits as a parent with my own children in the 2010s; and more recently, having the solemn honor of burying my parents at the Eretz Ha Chaim cemetery in the hills of Beit Shemesh, just outside Jerusalem.
In total, I must have visited Israel over a dozen times in the past 40 years, so imagine my surprise when, on my most recent visit, on a Leadership and Impact Mission with JEWISHcolorado, I found myself affected in ways that I’d never been before.
I’d been to Israel after October 7th. I’d walked the eerie fields of the Nova Festival and huddled in a bomb shelter in Tel Aviv as rockets from Iran were shot down by the Iron Dome. But somehow this seven-day mission in December 2025 gave me insights into the resilience of our brothers and sisters that I’d never seen before. It underscored the decades-long connection between a tiny country in the Middle East and our Jewish community in the Rocky Mountains, and emphasized in the most tangible way how each of us relies on and draws strength from the other.
The purpose of this mission was to highlight the impact that donations from thousands of Coloradans have had on Israeli society these past 2 years. Our group consisted of Neil Oberfeld and his wife, Barb. Amazingly, they were scheduled to depart on a trip to Israel on October 7th, 2023, and this was its long-awaited substitute; Aspen-based Steve and Julie Schlafer, who have done so much to increase Jco’s visibility and influence in that mountain hideaway over the past few years; Michelle Osterman from Steamboat Springs and Denver, whose decades of generosity and service have shaped our partnership region, Ramat HaNegev, and the country as a whole; Marv Rockford, who, in addition to be being married to JEWISHcolorado President & CEO Renée, brought his decades of experience in the TV news industry to shine a unique light on the complex world we were exploring; and philanthropic titan and former JEWISHcolorado board chair Diana Zeff Anderson, who, with her international credentials, selflessness and devotion, has probably done more than any other Coloradan to cement relationships between our own community and the Holy Land. I was there as a newly minted JEWISHcolorado Board member, and a part of the Israel & Overseas Committee, and we were shepherded on this incredible journey by Jco’s Chief Development Officer, Wille Recht, Shlicha Nelly Ben Tal and President & CEO, Renée Rockford.
Ramat HaNegev is an Israeli regional council that is geographically larger than any other local authority in the country. It encompasses about 22% of the land mass, and is home to approximately 8,000 residents spread across kibbutzim, moshavim, and community settlements. In 1999, the then Allied Jewish Federation of Colorado chose to partner with visionary leader Shmulik Rifman (z”l), who was Mayor of Ramat HaNegev at the time.
Israel’s founding father, David Ben Gurion, famously noted: “The future of the State of Israel lies in the Negev,” and that came to reflect the national strategy to develop the desert, and enable it to bloom. Appropriately, thus, our mission began on a chilly, sunny morning at the grave of Ben Gurion and his wife, Paula in Sde Boker, overlooking the stunning Zin Canyon. We were met by the region’s current mayor, Eran Doron, whom many of us knew from his frequent trips to Colorado. Eran began by giving a high-level summary of the relationship between JEWISHcolorado and Ramat HaNegev. As he talked proudly about the myriad ways that we have supported them, my eyes were drawn to Michelle who tore away from the group and embraced a middle-aged man the way a mother would a long-lost son. We would soon learn that this man was Dov Roll, a Ramat HaNegev legend, whom the Ostermans have known for more than two decades. From my perspective, their embrace personified the indelible link between Colorado and Ramat HaNegev. The connection between our two regions is clear, but we are so much more than that. At our core we are, simply people; Jews, who, despite the thousands of miles that separate us, have formed bonds of friendship that will last a lifetime.
Dov met the Ostermans in the early 2000s when he stayed at their home in Steamboat Springs. In the decades since, he has spent thousands of hours volunteering as a search and rescue specialist in this remote part of Israel. The Ostermans funded the construction of a state-of-the-art search and rescue center where Dov and others give of their time to find missing hikers, and tragically sometimes, only their remains. This has made Dov an expert in this field, and has given him a skill set that he would use to serve his country in the most noble of ways following the October 7th attack.
With incredible emotion, Dov explained to us how hundreds of those massacred on that day were either left in remote locations, or dragged there by their murderers. In this heartbreaking situation, Dov and his team used their years of experience to track down and identify their remains.
In Judaism, immeasurable value is placed on the dignity of a burial. After losing a loved one in horrific circumstances, not being able to give them an honorable funeral only exacerbates the pain. Dov and his team methodically identified and rescued the remains of hundreds of victims of that tragic day. With tears in his eyes, he humbly confessed that he didn’t believe his acts were significant, because he didn’t save any lives. We shared with Dov something he probably knew already: that his selflessness allowed families to grieve in a way they would never have been able to without him. Yes, there are heroes who fight and defend our beloved homeland – and Dov had certainly done this too – but the gift of a dignified burial is one that can never be repaid, and for that reason it’s one of the greatest mitzvot that anyone can ever do.
At the regional council headquarters, we met with a therapist who told us about the counseling that she and her team were able to deliver to the people who were evacuated from the Gaza envelope and re-housed in Ramat HaNegev. The government was only able to provide a fraction of the funds needed to vet and compensate the councilors, so JEWISHcolorado stepped in to bridge the gap, and played a part in the healing of a shattered nation. We also rode on the brand-new coach that Jco funded, which shuttled people across the vast distances of Ramat HaNegev in the aftermath of that tragic day.
We visited a Jco-funded library in the elementary school at Kibbutz Mashabei Sadeh. Hearing school children share how their days are made brighter by the activities they are able to do at this beautiful facility really warmed our hearts.
The bus and the library are physical manifestations of our impact, but I found myself more profoundly moved by our influence on initiatives that are a little less tangible. To be clear, there is tremendous value in brick-and-mortar projects, but JEWISHcolorado is also playing a vital role in uplifting Israeli society. If the goal of our partnership with Ramat HaNegev is to see a lasting impact on the fabric of the people, then our investments in Nitzana and Derech Eretz are sure to yield the dividends that we seek.
According to its website, “Nitzana is a community based on the values of love for people and nature, where young people, adults, and families from across Israeli society and the Jewish people live and learn together.”
Sitting on an elevated deck in Nitzana, overlooking the Negev below, it occurred to me that if one is ever feeling pessimistic about Israel’s future, an afternoon at Nitzana is the perfect antidote. In this tiny enclave on the Sinai border young Israelis, both Jewish and Bedouin, are making the unthinkable come to life!
Nitzana empowers community members, and provides them with the tools to both dream and achieve. Through in-depth educational programs it allows its students to develop meaningful connections with people of all backgrounds, and they are trained and encouraged to become change agents in their communities. Simply put, those who pass through Nitzana advance the vision of a strong and cohesive Israeli society.
Sitting on that deck, our group joined twenty Nitzana residents to hear more about their life-changing programs. We met students and educators who reflected the diversity of the region, and marveled at stories not covered on the nightly news. We heard from a Bedouin teen who has an affinity for math, and aspires to develop iPhone apps; we sat with Ukrainian olim who traded the fear of a Russian invasion for the serenity of a day’s work in one of Nitzana’s fields; and witnessed the incredible pride of a young man who had just left the army, and is now mentoring teens from across Israeli society. At Nitzana, a more perfect union is not simply being imagined. It’s being lived.
Another Jco-funded program, which happens to house one of its campuses at Nitzana, is Derech Eretz. In Israel, where military service is mandatory, the division in which one serves can often determine an individual’s trajectory in life. With this in mind, Derech Eretz was founded to equip Israeli youth from the socio-economic periphery with the skills they’d need to be placed in elite units, and go on to become leaders in society. From its humble beginnings with one campus at Nitzana, Derech Eretz now operates in six locations throughout the Negev, and thanks to partners like JEWISHcolorado, has bent the arc of an entire generation of Israel’s disadvantaged youth.
Our day in Ramat HaNegev ended with a dinner where we hosted partners and friends. In addition to leaders from the Regional Council, Nitzana and Derech Eretz, former Colorado Shlichim Osnat Fox and Itai Divinsky joined us, and we shared stories and memories spanning all the way back to 1999, when these relationships were born. The evening reinforced the emotion I’d felt 12 hours earlier seeing Michelle and Dov’s embrace. While our organizations partner in critical ways to reshape the landscape of the region, those partnerships pale in comparison to the friendships that have been forged over decades. I looked around the room and realized that in fact, we aren’t partners. We aren’t even friends. We’re family.
Our second day in the Negev was spent focusing on the heartbreaking events of October 7th. There is no way to properly articulate the pain we felt in hearing survivor stories from members of Kibbutz Holit, and how moved we were listening to the account of 23-year-old Nova survivor, Rafaela Treistman, whose boyfriend was murdered that day. I hope that Rafaela will come to Colorado one day and share her story, because hearing it, one can’t help but feel inspired by her incredible optimism. If she is in any way emblematic of her generation, Israel’s future is unbelievably bright.
Our final stop that day was at Kibbutz Nir Oz, scene of some of the most horrific acts of that tragic day. Nir Oz was home to the Bibas family, whose angelic faces came to symbolize the degree of untold cruelty that unfolded in communities across the South. As is often the case in this land of interminable conflict, though, heartening stories rear their heads, and that’s how we came to meet Gadi Mozes.
Gadi was a pioneer of Nir Oz. He literally built parts of the kibbutz himself, and was 79 years old on October 7th. His partner, Ephrat Katz, was murdered that day, and Gadi was taken into Gaza as one of the 251 hostages. He was held for 482 days, and returned to Nir Oz in January 2025. We had the honor of being guided around the kibbutz by Gadi, and for a couple of hours got to bask in the glow of his positivity. Despite being witness to unspeakable horrors, Gadi faces each day with optimism and joy. He is committed to seeing Nir Oz rebuilt, and wants to play a meaningful role in that task.
We sat in Gadi’s living room and recognized that we were in the presence of greatness. Not all heroes wear capes, and in Gadi Mozes we saw the triumph of the human spirit. His story and his determination are the things that legends are made of.
Gadi Mozes
No trip to Israel would be complete without a random encounter with someone in an unexpected way, and mine came at the Western Wall on Friday night, at the start of Shabbat. Before that, though, Neil, Willie, Steve and I stood on the plaza, and recognized with awe that Jews all over the world face this very spot when they pray. It was two days before the first night of Chanukah, and we also marveled at the fact that the miraculous story of the oil took place meters away from where we were standing!
As the rest of the group made their way back to the hotel to prepare for dinner, I surveyed my surroundings, looking for a minyan to join. I glanced to my left, and beamed as I saw the Denver Jewish Day School Junior and Senior class, who had arrived in Israel a few days earlier for their HIP (Hebrew Immersion Program) trip. I teach an English class at DJDS, so I know the kids well, and we exchanged hugs and high fives before attaching ourselves to a modern orthodox minyan who were singing Carlebach tunes. We danced around the makeshift bimah and welcomed Shabbat with the spirit and joy I needed after what had been a very taxing week.
The heartbreaking epilogue to this mission occurred on our final day, hours before heading to the airport. We spent the morning at the headquarters of The Jewish Agency, learning about the history of this institution that predated the founding of the State of Israel. Sitting in the very same boardroom where Ben Gurion, Chaim Weitzman, and Golda Meir had debated the priorities of the fledgling nation, we met with Chief Impact Officer, Shelley Kedar. She explained the vast and powerful impact that The Jewish Agency has in bringing Israel to the world, before glancing briefly at her phone. It was then that we learned of the terrorist attack on Bondi Beach in Australia. Details were scarce and the number of casualties was not yet known, but one thing was clear: Despite the great strides we’d taken as a people since the Jewish State was born, Jews were still vulnerable, and being targeted simply because they were Jews. In that moment, the critical role that our homeland plays came sharply into focus.
JEWISHcolorado has a reach that touches so many facets of our community. Its work on the home front is incredible, and in many ways dwarfs the influence it has in Israel.
That said, the week we spent on this mission showed beyond any doubt that our community is playing a vital role in strengthening Israeli society. We are improving the lives not only of our brothers and sisters, but of the cousins with whom we need to coexist. Our impact is immense, and anyone who has contributed to JEWISHcolorado recently should rest easily, confident that their funds are being diligently invested with the distinct purpose of securing a brighter future for the people and the place we hold so dear.
If you can, hop on a plane and visit. You won’t regret it!