Last modified: Saturday, March 24, 2007 1:10 AM EDT Kim Bodemer, education director at Congregation Agudas Achim in Attleboro, reads the Torah at the Wall in Jerusalem. “It was a moment of huge pride for me,” she said of her visit to the remnants of the supporting wall for the temple destroyed by Romans. The wall is considered the holiest spot in Jewish life. (PHOTOGRAPHS COURTESY OF CONGREGATION AGUDAS ACHIM IN ATTLEBORO) 'Walking the Bible' BY GLORIA LaBOUNTY SUN CHRONICLE STAFF ATTLEBORO - A recent tour of Israel was expected to be a trip of a lifetime for a group from Congregation Agudas Achim. It turned out to be that and more - especially for the women who were part of the pilgrimage. They were able to lead and participate with the men in prayers at a portion of the Wall now open to women-led services. That would not have been allowed just a short time ago in the country controlled by a strict orthodoxy that is slowly easing under public pressure. "I chanted Torah at the Wall," said Kim Bodemer, the education director at Agudas Achim. "It was a moment of huge pride for me." It was the highlight of many bright times in the 12-day spiritual journey taken by 21 members of the Attleboro synagogue, many of whom had never been to the Jewish homeland before. Bodemer, who had two of her three daughters with her, viewed the trip as a way of experiencing the lessons she presents to her students. "To see the places we talk about, solidified my bond with the people and the country," she said. Rabbi Elyse Wechterman of Agudas Achim said studies of Jewish communities have shown that a visit to Israel ties people to their traditions and backgrounds. Because of that, she had always hoped to organize a trip at Agudas Achim. "It is personally transformative for people, and for the congregation," she said. A trip started becoming a reality a couple of years ago when actual planning began, and when a connection was made with a synagogue in West Roxbury that had similar plans. They hired a tour agency, studied their destination, and raised money to subsidize the costs for the children in the group. Their cross-country bus trip included stops at places such as Eid Gedi, where David composed many of the psalms and where the travelers spent time singing some of those psalms. They visited Zippori, where the Mishnah, the foundational text of the Talmud, was compiled, and here the travelers studied some of the texts that date back to 200 C.E. - the Common Era, the Judaic calendar equivalent of A.D. They stopped at Masada, the fortress where hundreds of Jewish rebels held out against Roman troops after the destruction of the temple in 70 C.E. until they chose to take their own lives rather than be captured. Then they went on to Jerusalem, the Holy City of the three major religious traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. "For me, it is the symbol of the Jewish past and the hope of the Jewish future," Wechterman said, especially the area around the Temple Mount and the Wall, the remnants of the supporting wall for the temple destroyed by Romans that has become the holiest spot in Jewish life. Women were there reading and chanting in a place that goes back to the ancient roots of Judaism, Wechterman said. "That was very powerful for me," she said. For Deborah Mandell of Attleboro - president of the synagogue who went on the trip with her 8-year-old daughter Emily Farmer and her 68-year-old mother Brenda Mandell - the journey turned out to be a true pilgrimage, and the prayer services at the various significant sites "infused the trip with a lot of meaning for us," she said. Yet she was struck by the reality of the restrictions at some parts of the Wall, where barriers separate men from women. She had no good answer for her daughter, who questioned why the separation existed there when it did not exist back home. "I was very conscious of being a woman," she said, especially in a Jewish place where women are not treated as equals as they are in this country, she said. The experience of exclusion, Mandell said, strengthened her Judaism even while it surprised her by how outside of the culture she felt. "It made me stronger as a Jew at home," she said, and gave her a deeper appreciation for the acceptance and tolerance in other branches of Judaism, including the Reconstructionism of Agudas Achim. "We take our rights so much for granted here," she said. "I am so glad to have a place at home that respects me for being a woman." Susan Bradie of Franklin, a member of the Agudas Achim board who went on the trip with her husband Gerry, said she was touched by the opportunity to stand at the Wall and feel its cold stones, then to think of all that those stones had witnessed over the years. "We were walking the Bible," she said. She was impressed not only by the religious significance of the country, but also by its changing landscape and climate that went from desert to green valleys to rainy cobblestone streets, and that varied from summer warmth to spring chill. What struck every traveler was the absence of fear, the sense of safety they felt in a country that has been wracked by violence and that is portrayed in the media as a dangerous place. Despite the fact that they were accompanied by a guard carrying a machine gun as all travelers in Israel are, "I did not ever feel unsafe," Mandell said. "We were led to believe there would be danger on every street corner," she said, but instead they were out walking and shopping and enjoying the sights. Wechterman, who lived and studied in Israel for a year a decade ago, said there were places she would never have gone back to then, but this time she went to them with her 11-year-old son Avi, who was only a toddler when the family lived there. Because the trip was meant to be a family experience as well as a religious one, the tour included some fun-filled stops for swimming and shopping and sight-seeing. Visit with former rabbi The synagogue's trip also included a study session and dinner with Rabbi Gail Diamond, who served at Agudas Achim before moving several years ago to Jerusalem, where she now teaches. And, although the intent of the trip was not political, the bus tour from one tip of Israel to the other gave them a new appreciation for the close proximity of other countries and the need to define borders and protect security. It also gave the visitors a better understanding of the realities of the conflict, and the reasons why decisions are made. Although the political views of synagogue members may vary, Wechterman said the community in general is supportive of and connected to Israel even though they may disagree on what should be done there. "When terrible things happen there, we feel the pain," she said. "It is our family." Since returning home, the travelers have shared their experiences with the congregation, and are planning ways of bringing more connections to Israel into the synagogue through such things as music, speakers, food and events. Several of them want to return. "I have an emotional attachment to Israel that I didn't have before," Bradie said. "We called it our trip of a lifetime, a thing we would do once. We're already ready to go back." GLORIA LaBOUNTY can be reached at 508-236-0333 or at glabounty@thesunchronicle.com.