Sitting on the bus for the two-hour journey to Tiberias last Thursday, I did not know what I was getting myself into. I was headed to the southern shore of Lake Kinneret with about 30 people from the OneFamily organization, and the reason for the journey was to attend and participate in the third annual Dragon Boat Israel Festival. While the extent of my knowledge about dragon boat racing came from a sports history course I took a year ago, and was very minimal, what I knew was more than anyone else on the bus did. So there we were, a bus full of dragon boat amateurs about to take part in a festival dedicated to it, and none of us knew what to expect. In the meantime, I figured I would share what little knowledge I had with my bus-mates, who were eager to learn. I told them that dragon boat racing originated in China over 3,000 years ago and was created to honor a well-respected poet who had drowned in the Yangtze River. Due to the language barrier, I wasn't sure how much my listeners understood, but one thing they started to ask was how dragon boats came from China all the way to Israel. From the Dragon Boat Israel website, I learned that the sport had taken the world by storm within the last decade and that 70 countries hold dragon boat races and festivals annually. Dragon boat racing has become particularly popular in Canada, and it was members of Canadian dragon boat teams who introduced the sport to Israel. Dragon Boat Israel was intended to combine several people's love for dragon boat racing and Israel, according to the website. Ottawa native Debbie Halton-Weiss, the group's chairwoman and founder, says that the idea came about in 2009 with the hope that the festival would bring people from different backgrounds together. “We felt that it's a sport that is accessible and inclusive, everyone can do it,” she says. “It's the idea of forming partnerships between people from abroad and Israelis, having them all under one tent together.” Deciding to start a festival was just the first step. Following that decision, $300,000 was raised to buy boats, hire expertise and get the festival off the ground. The first Dragon Boat Israel Festival took place in 2012, and the original goal was to have 20 teams – 10 from abroad and 10 from Israel – with all proceeds going to a charitable cause. It exceeded all expectations in the first year, with the sold-out festival featuring 20 teams from abroad and 20 from Israel. Dragon boat racing is often known as the “ultimate team sport,” not only because anyone can do it, but because everyone needs to work together for the boat to move. “It's one of the few things where men and women, young and old are equal partners, and they all have a seat in the boat, and everyone is appreciated for their contribution, so no one person is the hero,” says Halton-Weiss. That idea of people working as a team is what has attracted some organizations to the festival – among them OneFamily, which works to help victims of terror and has been participating since Dragon Boat Israel's start. According to Batia Weinberg, One- Family Israel's coordinator for the North, OneFamily Canada played a huge part in getting the Dragon Boat Israel Festival off the ground and is a sponsor for the festival each year. She says the organization's Canada chapter was the one that got the Israel chapter involved in the festival three years ago. “Usually [OneFamily Canada] has a team that comes to Israel,” she says. “It's great because our teams become friends, share stories, extend ideas, and are able to relate to each other.” This year, only Israeli teams competed, and the festival focused on empowering Israelis to take charge of the event. “We wanted them to take control and responsibility, we wanted them to be the coaches and steersmen of the festival, not just this year, but for future years,” says Halton-Weiss. OneFamily Canada's absence from this year's festival didn't stop One- Family Israel from putting forth a team. Mindee Levinger, the organization's coordinator for the Jerusalem area, says that each year OneFamily has a different scheme for assembling its team, this year focusing on couples from the Jerusalem region. “This year we asked for couples, because I wanted the bonding to be between couples, since they can understand each other and be there for each other in ways that other people cannot,” she explains. Two coordinators, four volunteers and 14 couples made up the OneFamily team; one member of each couple was a victim of terror. Each had their own story as to how they had ended up with OneFamily, but the commonality of having dealt with hardships created an instant bond. Prior to getting on the bus to Tiberias last week, the couples had only met each other twice. “I was amazed at how well everyone got along for not really knowing each other,” says Levinger. “This group of people bonded almost instantly, and by the end of the weekend they were inviting each other for barbecues and Shabbat dinners, and they are excited for our next sessions.” The previous two meetings for the team members were group therapy sessions at the OneFamily center, and Levinger says the Dragon Boat retreat weekend was not only a way for the couples to get out and have fun, but also a session on “working together, never losing hope and [learning] to continue no matter what.” A practice session the day before the festival was actually a learning session, as it was the first time the team had ever set foot in a dragon boat. It's hard to be thrown into a new sport, but the team surprised me, and within an hour, these strangers to the world of dragon boat racing knew the basics and were paddling their way from one side of the Sea of Galilee to the other. After the practice session, I joined the team in the remainder of their festivities for the day, which included a tour of famous Israeli spy Eli Cohen's undercover journey, dinner and a French movie called The Intouchables. During these hours, I got to know the 14 couples on a personal level. While some of them were more open than others about the traumatic events that had occurred in their lives, every one of them joked around with me, shared stories of their families and showed pictures of their grandkids. “I was surprised by how welcoming everyone was from the very beginning and how the feeling of family was evident so quickly,” says Chelsea Polanieki, a OneFamily volunteer from New York, whose first experience with these couples was the bus ride to Tiberias. That feeling of family and bonding was evident the following day when they got in the dragon boat and raced three times. “With each race, people were working together to figure out ways to get better,” says Polanieki. “Whether it was where people sat in the boat, or how they were going to keep timing, or just yelling at each other in a family, fun-loving way.” I ended up joining the team in the boat as the boat drummer – the person who sits in the front and keeps time for the paddlers. Originally I was planning to watch the team compete from shore, but when everyone asked me to participate, I couldn't refuse. Being a part of the team, feeling the emotions and watching the couples improve with every race was great – but my favorite moment was during the second race, when I fell off the boat. At the end of that race, I lost my balance in the drummer seat as the boat was rocking back and forth, and overboard I went. As it turns out, I was the only person, not only in the OneFamily boat, but in this year's entire festival, to end up in the water by accident. Everyone said it happened almost in slow motion. A few people even commented that it was probably a good thing it happened to me, because I was the only one who wouldn't freak out. I couldn't stop laughing, and everyone started laughing along with me as I came walking onto the shore, greeted with cheers and hugs. At that moment, I realized I had been welcomed into the family that had emerged among these couples throughout the weekend. The team atmosphere that displayed itself in the dragon boat was one I had previously only felt among teammates with whom I had practiced and competed for years. One would not have guessed that this team had only been together for less than two days. “They feel that it's something they [the paddlers] can actually accomplish together; it's confidence-building,” says Halton-Weiss. “It's not one person, it's everyone together.” “Dragon boat racing is a great sport to learn how to work together and to create or strengthen relationships,” adds Polanieki. Plans for the fourth annual Dragon Boat Israel Festival are already set in motion: Would-be participants can mark their calendars for May 28 and 29, 2015. Next year, the festival will go back to being an international event, and OneFamily will once again be putting together a team to race, even if it's just for fun and to learn about teamwork. “The Dragon Boat Festival is a lot of fun, and it's a [one-of-a-kind] experience,” says Levinger. “We will definitely continue with it next year and for many years to come.”
An intrepid ‘Metro’ reporter joins the OneFamily team at a Tiberias sports race(photo credit: LIA KAMANA)