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In an Israeli bomb shelter, my students restored my faith in their generation’s resilience and commitment

JL;DR SUMMARY The article by Mark Shpall reflects on an impactful trip with students from de Toledo High School to Israel, which coincided with the onset of conflict with Iran. A way out west there was a fella, fella I want to tell you about, fella by the name of Jeff Lebowski. At least, that was the handle his lovin' parents gave him, but he never had much use for it himself. This Lebowski, he called himself the Dude. Now, Dude, that's a name no one would self-apply where I come from. But then, there was a lot about the Dude that didn't make a whole lot of sense to me. And a lot about where he lived, likewise. But then again, maybe that's why I found the place s'durned innarestin'.

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Tags

Jewish EducationJewish IdentityCommunityResilienceSolidarityYouthBomb SheltersIran ConflictDe Toledo High School

Places mentioned

Jerusalem, Israel
"But standing in bomb shelters in Jerusalem with a group of my students, I saw something very different."
Southern District, Israel
"The students visited a kibbutz in the Negev, hiked through the desert, floated in the Dead Sea, climbed Masada and experienced the unique beauty and history of the land of our people."
Taba, South Sinai, Egypt
"Eventually what followed was a complicated journey out of the region buses south, border crossings, and hours waiting in a single airport terminal in Taba, Egypt, before boarding a flight to Rome and then to Los Angeles."
Los Angeles, California, United States
"LOS ANGELES When I boarded a plane to Israel with students from de Toledo High School in February, I knew the trip would carry unusual weight."

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This item was indexed and curated by Cairo, JL;DR's web crawler.
Cairo Item ID 80127
Cairo Source ID 42
Retrieved 2026-04-15 18:00:19 UTC
Curated 2026-04-15 19:00:53 UTC