Israel experience impactful for mayor

Providence Mayor Brett Smiley’s recent experience in Israel was quite different from his first trip in 2017.

Israel has changed and so has he. Smiley has since converted to Judaism and the Oct. 7 Hamas attacks and subsequent Israel-Hamas war has affected daily life in the country.

Smiley and his husband Jim DeRentis traveled to Israel this time with the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s latest mission for local leaders. 

“For me, this felt like a very different trip,” Smiley said in an interview after the trip. “Daily life has changed. During dinner in Tel Aviv, a siren went off. We had to stand up and go to a shelter. When the sirens stopped, people went back to dinner, picked up their forks and took another bite. It was very matter of fact.”

His visit to the Kotel was different this time as well. “My first trip as a Jew to celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat at the Kotel,” he said. “That was very meaningful.”

The group traveled to Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Bethlehem, the site of the Nova Music Festival and to a farm near the Gaza border. The mayor found conversation with a member of the farming community particularly poignant.

The man was part of the community’s security team on Oct. 7. Twenty members of the community died in the attack, yet he is still an advocate for peace, according to the mayor, who marveled he could still find charity and hope.

“No amount of news stories that you consume can put into perspective the lived experiences of the people,” he said. “We [in the U.S.] take for granted what we experience every day.”

His takeaway from the trip? “I hope it will help me better serve my community. It helped me understand why Jews in the Diaspora have such a relationship with Israel even if they don’t or never will live in Israel. I hope it will help me better explain to the non-Jews in the community this relationship and why it is important to our Jewish neighbors.”

The trip, Smiley said, gave DeRentis a whole new appreciation of how complicated, difficult and challenging the peace situation is.

The mayor hopes to be able to listen better and have the more nuanced conversations necessary to build some bridges in order to be able to protect all Providence’s residents.

“I’m proud to live in a city and country that allows freedom to speak. All our hearts should break for human suffering,” he said.

Smiley returned to Providence’s controversy surrounding the raising of the Palestinian flag at city hall and a Palestinian flag in the City Council Chambers. At the time, he said he was disappointed in the decisions made, given the possibility of exacerbating tensions.

During this interview, he told Jewish Rhode Island “The city has no flag policy and it's never come up. I expect to be issuing one via executive order in the coming days.” A flag policy was issued on May 23 requiring a more stringent approval process, while also aiming to  support inclusion and diverse opinions.

Meanwhile, Smiley said that he has been happy to see his fellow travelers embrace a taste of Jewish joy and culture after the trip as they try to recreate some of the food they tried on the trip. “Sharing with our neighbors…it’s wonderful,” he said.

FRAN OSTENDORF (fostendorf@jewishallianceri.org) is the editor of Jewish Rhode Island.