Travel to Israel increases among Valley Jews
DEBRA MORTON GELBART
Special to Jewish News
Although travel to Israel among Valley Jews hasn't returned to the volume seen prior to 2000, it has picked up significantly since 2001 and 2002, the height of the intifada.
"People who visited Israel in the past year or so report that they had a wonderful time and felt safe there," says Eitan Ben-Ami, the community shaliach (emissary) from the Jewish Agency for Israel and the director of the Israel Center, part of the Jewish Federation of Greater Phoenix. "In the past six months, we've definitely seen an increase in teens, adults and delegations interested in going to Israel."
About 30 members of Temple Chai in northeast Phoenix have just returned from a 10-day trip to Israel and a group of eight from Temple Emanuel in Tempe departed on June 27.
"Ours was designed as a family trip," says Joan Brodsky of Temple Chai, who added that the tour was led by Rabbi William Berk, his wife Susan, Cantor Sharona Feller and her husband Daniel.
"Some of the travelers are couples in their 60s or 70s and some are couples with children between 10 and 13," she says. "Part of the trip was focused on hiking up to Masada to celebrate the bat mitzvah of one of the children."
Temple Solel in Scottsdale had planned a trip for June but too few members signed up to go.
"We were promoting this visit during the high holidays last year," says Rabbi Alan Berlin. "I know the number of registrations would be higher now," he says, because the number of attacks in Israel has diminished in the past few months. "We're going to put together another trip in the not too distant future."
The desire to travel to Israel is especially high among teenagers, Berlin says. "We're seeing more interest among high school students now than in the past couple of years."
That's heartwarming news for the Alexander Muss Institute for Israel Education (AMIIE), a national program based in Miami, Fla. with offices located throughout the country. The Bureau of Jewish Education of Phoenix has been affiliated with AMIIE since the late 1970s.
"About 350 high school juniors and seniors from the Phoenix area have gone to Israel to study for eight weeks at a time since the 1970s," says Elaine Hirsch, AMIIE's director of admissions for the Phoenix area. Significant scholarships are available through the BJE and the federation.
In terms of numbers of students who participate in the AMIIE program from the Valley each year, "our high point was in 1999 and 2000," Hirsch says, "and our low point was calendar year 2002." In the past year, enrollment has begun to grow.
AMIIE employs "intense security measures," Hirsch says. "The program uses its own buses and has its own guards and medics," she says. Since the intifada began in 2000, "students are forbidden from riding on city or inter-city buses while in Israel."
Travelers to Israel generally feel safe now. "Right now we have 20 young adults who just returned from a 10-day birthright trip to Israel," Ben-Ami says. "Six or seven more are scheduled to depart in July. Last summer, we had a total of 19 young people who went." Birthright trips are free to members of the Jewish community who are between the ages of 18 and 26 and have never been on an organized trip to Israel. Those who have taken a family trip there before are still eligible.
Valley residents who travel to Israel individually also report a sense of safety and security. "We were there in April," says Karen Bycer of Paradise Valley, who joined her husband Jay in attending the American Red Magen David Adom for Israel national mission to celebrate Israel's Memorial Day and Independence Day. ARMDI is the exclusive fund-raising organization in the United States for Magen David Adom (MDA), Israel's equivalent to a Red Cross Society. "We noticed there weren't a lot of tourists there, but we didn't feel any sense of danger," she says. This was the Bycers' third trip to Israel.
Jay Bycer says some in their group walked through Tel Aviv streets late on a Saturday night and saw that local residents were dining out and enjoying themselves. No one appeared to have security concerns, he says.
In Jerusalem, Karen says, throngs of people were celebrating Israel's Independence Day. "No one seemed worried," she says. Instead, "there was a real sense of joy."
Debra Morton Gelbart is a free-lance writer based in Phoenix.
|