PERSIAN GULF CRISIS
DETROIT
When An Evening
Becomes Long Night
PHIL JACOBS
Managing Editor
A
Ian Goodman said the
scene in the lobby of
Congregation
Shaarey Zedek was reminis-
cent of a Tel Aviv street
when war was breaking out
in 1973.
There, he remembers,
Israelis gathered around
radios in various cafes, reac-
ting with grim faces and
tears to hear news of war.
Last Thursday, some 18
years later. Detroit-area
Jews who came to be part of
the opening of the. 1991
Allied Jewish Campaign,
stood in shock and despair
around a television set and
watched a correspondent with
a gas mask on his face and a
backdrop of eerie sirens tell
them that Tel Aviv was be-
Photo by Bob Benyas
The Scud attack on Israel turned the
Allied Jewish Campaign opening
into a grim, somber affair.
ing attacked by Iraqi Scud
missiles, possibly tipped
with poison gas warheads.
Israelis rushed to nearby
telephone booths with call-
ing cards in hand, com-
municating with parents in
Tel Aviv, a sister in Haifa or
a brother in Jerusalem.
Mr. Goodman, executive
director of the Detroit Jew-
ish Family Service, and an
Israeli Defense Forces reser-
vist, was in self-described
shock over the news.
"I'm feeling my heart ab-
solutely sink," he said. "I'm
sick about this. I have
friends in the Israeli army
and in the reserves. This is
very personal to me."
And personal it was to
almost all of the 400 people
who forced themselves away
from the television sets and
radios and listened atten-
tively to Middle East scholar
and Republican think tank
member Alan Keyes talk to
them. Mr. Keyes, a strong
pro-Israel advocate, warned
the audience that when the
dust clears in the Middle
East, the only three coun-
tries standing shoulder to
shoulder in a coalition will
be the United States, Great
Britain and Israel.
When Mr. Keyes' speech
was completed, he received
loud, friendly applause, that
assuredly would have been
rousing under different cir-
cumstances. But for most of
the crowd, nothing anyone
said from the bimah could
shake them from the sadness
others, he said. "Like the
body, the Jewish people is
interdependent."
In addition to prayer on
behalf of the Jewish state,
Temple Israel's Rabbi Paul
Yedwab suggests that mem-
bers of the Jewish commun-
ity write letters of support
for the U.S. role in the war to
President George Bush and
other elected represent-
atives.
Jews also can join in the
American war effort by do-
nating blood, needed by U.S.
forces, and giving to drives
that send letters and other
goods to soldiers, he said.
Temple Israel is one of a
number of local organiza-
tions holding such drives.
Rabbi Martin Berman of
Congregation Beth Achim
urges Jews to "be alert dur-
ing conversations about
Israel. They should be
prepared to defend Israel's
position and show how Israel
has struggled hard to help
the United States."
Israel's enemies may try to
use the country as a
scapegoat for the war, he
said. "But some of that bite
and sting can be taken
away" if listeners have a
clear understanding of
Israel's position.
Meanwhile, a support
group for Israelis in the
Detroit area, particularly
those with family in the
Middle East, has been estab-
lished. For security reasons,
the place and time of the
group's meetings will not be
announced. Interested per-
sons may call the support
group hotline, 661-2547. El
Those attending last week's Campaign opening are frozen in front of a Shaarey Zedek television. Among
those watching is keynote speaker Alan Keyes, third from left.
Community Rally
Continued from Page 1
for battle. For information,
contact the program center
at 661-5440.
The .program center also
will answer questions regar-
ding Israel's situation dur-
ing the war.
Area rabbis encourage the
Jewish community to give
tzedakah, say tehillim
(prayers — many recom-
mend Psalms 79 and 83) and
study an extra chapter of
Torah to help bring peace to
Israel.
"We should add to every-
thing that's good in a spiri-
tual sense," said Rabbi
Yitschak Kagan of the
Lubavitch Foundation. Just
as an injection in one's arm
can cure illnesses in other
parts of the body, so too im-
provements in one part of
the Jewish people can affect
22
FRIDAY, JANUARY 25, 1991
.
they felt. When the program
was complete, the audience
sang the "Star Spangled Ban-
ner" and then "Hatikvah."
When the anthems were
complete, the audience
quietly filed out of the sanc-
tuary.
They were greeted in the
lobby by television cameras,
lights and microphones,
along with reporters from
the city's daily newspapers.
Obviously, the media
weren't there to cover the
opening of Federation's
Campaign. They were there
to cover the significance and
effect of what was happen-
ing in the Middle East. Some
of the reporters had
difficulty cutting through
the emotions of a number of
people who were struck
dumb by the shock of the
news out of Tel Aviv.
After five people turned
down a Detroit Free Press
reporter's request for an
interview, she asked why no
one would talk to her. A per-
son answered her, "When
you are watching your
homeland attacked, how can
you talk?"
Indeed, Sivan Maas, the
shalicha at the Israel Pro-
gram Center, had difficulty
holding back the tears and
talking as she tried to get
through to her Tel Aviv
relatives from a nearby tele-
phone. When she finally got
through, she was relieved to
hear that everyone at home
was all right.
"They said they heard the
missiles, but thank God,
everybody was okay."
Ms. Maas said that it was
difficult for her because she
is so far away from Israel to
live through all of this via
television and telephone.
Her husband, Yiftach, an
IDF army officer, is awaiting
a call-up notice.
"You go to sleep with an
easy feeling every night
while you are in Israel," she
said. "I can remember when
I was 9 when the war started
in, 1967. We were living in
Haifa and the sirens woke
me up. It was the most
frightening thing that ever
happened to me in my life
because I was a child and I
had to wake my parents up. I
knew something was wrong
before they did."
Ms. Maas vividly re-
members a 1969 incident in
Haifa when terrorists'
bombs exploded inside
several homes. Ms. Maas
was just outside her school
when a house across the
street exploded, literally lif-
ting her off the ground. She
said her family for years
after inspected their own
home for anything that
looked suspicious. To this
day, when she enters a room
with floor-to-ceiling
columns, she casts a wary
eye to make sure an
unclaimed package isn't
nearby.
Hannan Lis of Huntington
Woods had a look of relief on
his face as he walked away
from the Shaarey Zedek
phone booth towards the
lobby television. He had just
gotten off the phone to Haifa
to make sure his parents
were okay.
"I'm upset," he said. "I'm
upset that I'm not there. I've
lived with war before, but
never long distance like
this."
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