This story was updated on Thursday, May 15, with new information about how much the subject stands to lose if he doesn’t take his trip.
The Accolade continues with its feature that focuses on those who have graduated from Sunny Hills and how they are contributing to their community and beyond. In this latest segment, Journalism 1 cub reporter Amy Lim connects with Gene Bordy, who graduated in 1973 and returned to teach at his alma mater from the 2001-2002 school year to the 2022-2023 school year.
Gene Bordy has the patience of Job.
Bordy doesn’t suffer from any physical pain like the boils that afflicted the Old Testament biblical character. Neither has he lost all of his children in unexpected disasters.
But financially, the alumnus could stand to lose about $2,000 after the difference from the travel insurance he has purchased, he said. That’s the amount of the unrefundable cost of his tour he had booked with a travel agency as well as paid for his airfare from El Al airlines to tour Israel since 2023.
He said he was all set to go on his own two years ago, but then the October 2023 Hamas attack and hostage taking occurred. And then a year later, he got his wife to accompany him on the same tour, but that got canceled again because of the bombing attacks in northern Israel from Hezbollah and the unsettled Gaza hostage crisis.
These incidents prompted other airlines except El Al to cancel their flights to Israel, and most of the group that had planned to go with the Bordys could not get there because their flights were booked with those companies.
“I’m going to give Israel one more shot, and if it gets canceled again, I’m going to assume it’s God’s will,” Bordy said.
CHILDHOOD DREAM
The former English and Spanish teacher said his interest in the Middle East sprouted when he was a child, as he was raised under a Jewish father while his mother was a protestant practicing the Lutheran faith.
Bordy recalled at age 9 or 10 was when he started going to Saturday classes to learn about Jewish history and culture; then by age 11, he started to learn Hebrew, and by 13, he had his bar mitzvah.
“It was the teachers themselves in the classroom who would share heroes of the Jewish faith, who they were, what they did, why we should remember them,” said the retired instructor, who grew up in Buena Park until he was 10 and then moved to Fullerton until his early 20s and now lives in La Habra. “Because of [that] history aspect of Judaism I had encountered in the synagogue, I always had an interest to go there [to Israel] and see the places of the famous people in the Bible, where people had been.”
Bordy said he especially remembers reading about the miracle of Abraham and Sarah, who gave birth to their first son at old age. He also was enamored by Mt. Sinai, where the Jewish people believe that their God, also known as Yahweh, delivered the Ten Commandments to Moses on two stone tablets.
“Pictures that are put in the books can give you an idea of what it looks like, but you cannot appreciate it totally until you see it in person,” he said.
Ironically, his father never had an interest in visiting Israel, also known to the Jewish people as the Promised Land.
“My dad was a reformed Jew and didn’t practice the religion,” he said.
DREAM FULFILLED?
After getting hired at Sunny Hills in the fall of 2001 to teach first English and then eventually Spanish, Bordy said he never forgot that childhood aspiration to visit Israel. By then, he had become a Christian 24 years ago in 1977 and became a member of Whittier’s Redemption Hill Church, which is affiliated with the Conservative Baptist Association of America.
That desire was further solidified during a dinner he and his wife had with three other couples seven or eight years ago, he said. One of the couples mentioned having traveled to Israel.
“She said it was a life-changing trip,” Bordy said. “Seeing things in person that she had only read about, the places, the remains of the [Jewish] temple; being at the Dead Sea … seeing where the crucifixion [of Jesus] happened — it brought more of a reality to them.”
But he was limited to summers off — winter break lasted only two weeks, while spring break ended after a week — and June and July were considered the hottest times of the year for Israel. Most tour companies recommend visiting between April and May or September and November.
The idea then returned to him as he was nearing his last months on campus before retiring from the profession at the end of the 2022-2023 school year. He told his wife in February 2023 one of the things he wanted to do in his lifetime was to visit Israel, and he was willing to go by himself to join a tour group without needing his wife to accompany him.
“At the time I didn’t think it was a good idea [because] our children and I were thinking it was too dangerous to go there” given the instability in that region, Liliana Bordy said.
Regardless, the SH teacher said he followed his heart and planned the trip.
“By March, I had committed to [a 10-day] trip; I signed up and financially committed to going,” said Gene Bordy, who turned in his deposit with Pilgrim Tours travel agency, the same firm that his church has used for its past Israel excursions.
The financial part included $1,400 to pay for his El Al airlines economy class ticket, a round-trip airfare to Tel Aviv departing LAX on Oct. 29. Another payment to Pennsylvania-based Pilgrim Tours reached $3,500 because of a surcharge for living in a two-person bedroom since he was going solo. That amount would also cover costs for transportation, tours and meals for breakfast and dinner every day except lunch, he said.
Another reason Gene Bordy’s wife didn’t want to go was because the Bordys’ daughter in Northern California’s Seaside was pregnant and expecting around the same time period, and this would be the Bordys’ first grandchild, the SH alumnus said.
“I knew my daughter would be in much better hands with my wife,” he said. “[My daughter] didn’t really need me.”
NIGHTMARE POSTPONEMENTS
However, the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, which began on Oct. 7, 2023, halted Gene Bordy’s travel plans.
Near the end of the month, he said he received a message on Oct. 24, 2023, from the group manager with an apology and explanation that Pilgrim Tours had postponed the trip because of potential danger in Israel.
“The opportunity to travel to the Holy Land is a life-changing experience for all our travelers,” wrote Pilgrim Tours travel agent Brett Ryan. “I can speak to this personally, as I recently returned from a tour with our travelers.
“It is our hope for you to join us on another tour soon.”
Gene Bordy said he was disappointed but understood the reason for delaying the trip. And he did not give up hope in fulfilling his childhood dream.
For the first week of November 2024, the SH alumnus said he attempted to book a tour with Pilgrim again — this time with his wife. Once again, he was notified through an Oct. 22, 2024, email addressed to him and his wife that this new opportunity, which was planned to be from Nov. 6-15, also got canceled.
“We are disappointed to share that Pilgrim Tours is postponing your upcoming scheduled departure due to the current events in Israel, airlines significantly reducing flights, and various other operational challenges specific to your tour,” wrote Moon Phongxaysanith, the travel consultant. “It is our hope that you will consider joining us on another tour soon for a life-changing experience to the Holy Land or another location.”
It was clear then that his dream was turning into a nightmare.
“I thought I was more ready [to go] than before because they assured me and my wife that even though war is going on, they were not going to places we thought might be risky, and everyone who went didn’t have any issues,” Gene Bordy said. “It was more frustrating; it seemed like it was more safe and secure, but other airlines were not feeling that way yet.”
Another ironic twist to this situation was that another grandchild was scheduled to be born during this period last November — this time, from the wife of his son who lives in Virginia. Because they couldn’t travel overseas, they were able to visit their son and his newborn girl.
THIRD TIME’S THE CHARM?
Ryan said the Gene Bordy’s predicament is similar to several others’ since the COVID-19 pandemic started five years ago.
“Obviously, it’s been a difficult number of years for traveling to Israel starting with COVID. … Then Oct. 7 happens and once again, Israel is shut down,” he said.
Despite the challenge of only Israel’s official airline flying into the country, the travel agent said tourism for that region of the Middle East has seen some revival.
“We have been traveling to Israel since February of 2024. … So we’ve had groups going and have had positive feedback,” Ryan said. “Israel right now all the sights are open to tourism. If Gene [Bordy] is questioning whether or not to go, I would say [to him] to give me a call.”
Gene Bordy said he’s also hoping a third attempt to get there will become the charm.
But not for his wife, who opted to get $1,100 refunded by the travel agency after paying a $270 refund policy; for him, he would lose $1,400 from the air fare cost and the rest of the nearly $3,000 amount paid to Pilgrim Tours, he said.
“I’m taking a financial hit,” Gene Bordy said. “I’m the unfortunate one who tried to go to Israel three times.”
And just as the faith of Job was tested in that Old Testament story — the character never choosing to curse God and die — the SH faithful has also held strong to his religious convictions.
“However it works out, I can accept it,” he said. “By faith, if my heart was willing to do that [travel to Israel] and wanted to do that, but it doesn’t work out, I just trust that it’s God’s will for that part of my life, and I can accept that.”
