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November 17, 2000/Heshvan 19, 5761, Vol. 53, No.8
Town hall participants speak out
BARRY COHEN
Community Editor
Valley residents expressed frustration, fear and anger at a town hall meeting Nov. 9, when they heard reports from a seven-member Valley delegation that participated in a United Jewish Communities solidarity mission to Israel, Oct. 29-Nov. 2.
"There was a lot of emotion there. (Those attending) did not have an adequate place to put it," said Deborah Harris, a community volunteer and president of the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School board.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix organized the town hall as a forum for dialogue with delegates Lanny Lahr, president of the federation; Art Paikowsky, federation executive vice president; Herb Sperber, federation executive committee member; Sol Moretsky, president of Kivel Campus of Care; Jay Schechter, headmaster of the Jess Schwartz Community High School; Rabbi William Berk of Temple Chai in Phoenix; and Nate Sachs, community leader.
About 500 people filled the sanctuary at Temple Beth Israel in Scottsdale for the meeting, said Harris. The delegates gave brief introductions, and then opened the floor to questions and comments from the audience.
The meeting was intended to communicate that Israel is still safe despite escalating Middle East violence, and that Jews should continue to visit, and that they should contact political leaders to express solidarity with Israel, said Rabbi Mark Bisman of Har Zion in Scottsdale.
The problem, said Bisman, is that the question and answer session "spoke to people's worst fears, that they are all out to get us."
"We need to be more distinguishing and sophisticated and not call one billion Muslims automatically our enemy," he said.
Bisman's son, Aaron, is spending his junior year abroad at Hebrew University at Mt. Scopus in Jerusalem. Bisman said Aaron has no plans to come home early.
Harris said she attended the meeting to "make a personal demonstration in support of Israel."
She said the current violence is "qualitatively different" than any other challenge Israel has faced in the past 30-plus years.
During the 1967 Six-Day War, "we were terrified Israel would be annihilated," and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War, "there were questions of whether Israel would be wiped off the map," said Harris.
She worries that today, too many American Jews take Israel's existence for granted.
Few members of the audience were younger than 40, said Harris.
"What is the attitude of those under 40, who always had the state of Israel?" she asked.
"I have had a strong interest in Israel for many years," said Frank Jacobson, president and CEO of the Scottsdale Cultural Council.
He first visited in 1997 with his second son Adam, now 25, and returned a year later for the bat mitzvah of his daughter Ashley, now 15.
Now that he has visited Israel, he spoke of a "sense of ownership ... (and) being a part of it."
Sandy Lewis said she chose to attend the town hall because of her love for Israel.
"Israel is vital to my personal interests," she said.
Lewis has relatives in Israel, dating back to the War of Independence in 1948. She said she is concerned because they are worried about the U.S. presidential elections. They did not like the George Bush presidency, she said, principally because they considered Secretary of State James Baker no friend of Israel; eight years later, the point person Texas Gov. George W. Bush sent to Florida to oversee the presidential election recount was James Baker.
She said one way American Jews can help Israel is to raise money for the sake of a public relations campaign to sway world opinion away from the Palestinians.
"We've got to take on this battle," she added. "For the first time in my life, I feel threatened. ... Our safety as Jews depends on Israel."
Dr. Errol Sweet observed that some people attended the town hall "out of respect for those who participated with the solidarity mission" and others "because they have family and friends in Israel and wanted to voice their frustration and concerns and a call for action."
Still others were "frustrated with the whole situation," he said.
"Like all town hall meetings, people leave frustrated," said Sweet. Although they may have had a chance to vent their emotions, they asked many questions that could not be answered.
"There is no way to predict what will happen next," Sweet said.
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