Sharing her passion for Israel

As a tour guide in Israel, Renee Halpert “thrive[s] on engaging with people, the constant learning, and exploring the country.” (photo from Renee Halpert)

In the late 1970s, Renee Swartz was a teenager living in West Vancouver. Even though she went to Sunday school, attended Jewish camps and had her bat mitzvah, she always felt a yearning to be more involved in the Jewish community. 

Today, now with the surname Halpert, she belongs the modern Orthodox community in Israel. She has four grown children with her husband Joe and is a tour guide living in Beit Shemesh. She comes to Vancouver often to visit her parents, and I met up with her on a recent visit. She is still her bubbly old self. Thinking back to her experience growing up here, she said, “In terms of Jewish community, we were isolated. Only three Jewish families that I know of attended Hillside High School at the time.”

Everything changed when Renee joined Hillel House in 1980, when she started attending the University of British Columbia.

“When I stepped into Hillel, I found an entire community of young, affiliated and active Jews,” she said. “Rabbi Daniel Siegel was an incredible mentor, encouraging Jewish-focused learning, activism and family-life with his wife, Hanna. We would study Jewish texts. We would discuss current events. He encouraged us to join the North American Jewish Students Network, a non-denominational activist community of university-aged Jews across the continent. Thus began my Jewish activism, advocating for Soviet Jews and participating in Israel Week on campus. I felt connected to a community and inspired by all the energy, creativity and meaningful activity.”

I knew Renee as a fellow student activist. All of us helped Judy Feld Carr fundraise to smuggle or pay for Jews to get out of Syria, which was ultimately a success. 

After her first year at UBC, Renee studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. When she returned, she continued being vocal on behalf of Syrian Jews, Ethiopian Jews and Israel.

“I also facilitated Holocaust educational programming and raised awareness of Nazi criminals in Canadian academia,” she said. 

Renee’s connection to Israel began with traveling there when she was 14, “thanks to the insistence of my mother, who always acknowledged the importance of Israel for the Jewish people. The trip was a real eye-opener and fascinating,” said Renee. “At 16, I returned to Israel for the summer on USY Pilgrimage. I loved the adventures, hikes, Jewish content and the community feeling.”

After graduating, Renee returned to Israel yet again. “This time,” she said, “it was to deepen my knowledge of Judaism itself through textual study at Pardes. During my year at Pardes, I began to keep kosher and keep Shabbat on a regular basis. You could say that I began my journey as an affiliated but not-so-educated Jewish teenager and peripheral Zionist, and as a young adult became more connected to Orthodox Judaism and modern Israel.” 

Renee moved from Vancouver to Toronto in 1986, during the recession, looking for job opportunities. Her romance with her now-husband began when a cousin invited her to a Shabbat dinner at a local synagogue.  

“Honestly, I was so new to town that I was not really paying much attention, but Joe and I kept meeting – through mutual friends and at Jewish events,” said Renee. “Both of us loved the outdoors and were on similar personal journeys to deepen our connection to Judaism. Joe and I were married at the Schara Tzedeck in Vancouver in March 1988, with both Rabbi [Mordechai] Feuerstein of Schara Tzedeck and Rabbi [Wilfred] Solomon of Beth Israel officiating.”

A few years later, the couple decided to live in Israel for at least one year.

“We had a house, good jobs, great friends [in Toronto], supportive family and two young daughters, but I never let go of my dream of one day making aliyah,” said Renee. “Joe had also made a quiet promise to himself to give it a try one day.”

Ultimately, Renee says they were successful in adapting to Israeli society because they treated every day as an adventure.

“Our attitude was positive and we were motivated to make the transition work for our family,” she explained. “Our move from urban Jerusalem to Beit Shemesh a few years later provided us with a strong, dynamic community, where we still live today. I think our kids thrived being close to nature within this supportive community atmosphere.”

That was 32 years ago, and the couple hasn’t looked back. In 2013, Renee became a licensed tour guide. 

“I thrive on engaging with people, the constant learning, and exploring the country. I am thrilled to be able to share my passion for Israel with others who are interested in experiencing Israel firsthand.” 

After Oct. 7, 2023, most tourism in Israel ceased. One of Renee’s sons and both sons-in-laws were called to their army reserve units. Her daughters and grandchildren moved in for several weeks. 

“Besides helping them out, I would cook for soldiers, purchase supplies to take to different bases and volunteer at many farms,” she said. “There was no creative energy. There was barely any energy! But I made a choice to keep busy and be useful.”

By early 2024, Renee began leading educational trips to southern Israel and the Gaza Strip for synagogue missions, educators and individuals supportive of the Jewish state. 

“I’ve led almost 100 such trips,” she said. “Many of these trips combine meeting with locals and survivors, volunteering and fundraising for communities or projects. We speak of the heartache, the heroism and the gradual renewal that is taking place. While these trips give me purpose and a chance to process what I am personally going through, the real impact is felt by supporting locals and by helping my overseas visitors gain insights, so they, in turn, can continue to inform others and stay involved.”

And so, my friend continues to be the activist she was all those years ago.

“The past two-and-a-half years have certainly been the most challenging, scary and heart-breaking since we moved here 32 years ago,” said Renee. “There is so much pain … yet, our lives are rich and interesting, our children and grandchildren are well-adjusted, we have a sense of purpose, and we maintain hope for better days ahead. We have no regrets having chosen to live here.”

For more information about Renee’s tours, go to israeldiscovered.com or find her on Facebook at Renee Halpert-Your Guide to Israel. In addition to guiding in Israel, Renee is available for online virtual tours and presentations about sites in Israel, its geopolitics, history and cultural diversity. 

Cassandra Freeman is a freelance journalist and improv comedy performer living in Vancouver.