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June 29, 2001/Tamuz 8, 5761, Vol. 53, No.39
Go to Israel - or buy, learn and speak out
HELEN FREEDMAN
Special to Jewish News
I recently returned from a magical week in Israel. I scheduled this trip, yes, to check up on my daughter who made aliyah in February, but also because I work in Phoenix's hospitality industry and understood the devastating effect of news reports of the ongoing violence on Israeli tourism and on the psyches of our Israeli brothers and sisters.
I wanted to witness the normalcy, vitality, energy, and, yes, safety, of Israel and urge everyone to get on a plane and GO.
My daughter, Stefanie, and I walked the streets of Jerusalem, without any trepidation, late at night and early in the morning. We drove and spent time in Haifa. We took a bus - an armored bus, that is - to Gush Etzion, a belt of communities just south of Jerusalem, for an annual yeshiva dinner.
The road we took is the Tunnel Road, where just hours before, an IDF officer was murdered by an Arab double agent. We took a bus, also armored, to visit the family of Joel Rebibo, son of Rabbi David Rebibo of Beth Joseph Congregation in Phoenix, for Shabbat at Beit El, where my bedroom window overlooked the outskirts of Ramallah.
We took crowded buses all over Jerusalem. And I must tell you that whenever an older person got on the bus, someone got up to give that person a seat.
The message I bring home is this: we remember the six million who perished in the Holocaust, and we say "never again."
Today, in the year 2001, another six million Jews, the Israeli population, tough and strong though they may be, are again in peril.
Their feelings of isolation and abandonment are devastating. Everywhere I went, shopkeepers, people on the street, cab drivers, young and old, everyone thanked me profusely for being there - for being with them.
They hear of the cancellation of youth group tours; athletes and coaches refuse to come for the Maccabiah games; tour buses are empty; most sadly, the Kotel, the Western Wall, is practically devoid of tourists.
If you can't travel to Israel, please consider doing the following:
- Look for, and buy, Israeli products.
- Educate yourself about the true facts of this conflict.
- Set up Israel awareness e-mail routings or committees at your synagogues, community centers and organizations.
- Recognize biased and inaccurate news reports on Israel and demand accuracy from the media by calling, faxing or writing your disapproval.
- Write to your congressmen asking for their support of Israel.
- Don't be silent. Share the facts about the Arab-Israeli conflict with your neighbors, colleagues and friends. Most importantly, teach your children about the history and beauty of Israel. Ensure that this young generation can look back with pride that their parents put aside political and religious difference to stand strong in support of Israel.
Helen Freedman works for Brede Exposition Company. She resides with her husband, Jim, in Tempe.
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