over at the tears in my younger daugh-
ter's eves and saw that she realized, as I
did, that the time was 7:30, and Kim's
plane was at that moment taking off
from New York for Israel.
The next day, Kim called on her
new Israeli pe ephone," from her
dorm in the Greek Colony neighbor-
hood in Jerusalem. After her first
Shabbat, she told me how she attend-
ed a service at the Promenade at sun-
set, overlooking the Old City. We
talked when she registered for classes
in a Hebrew ulpan and one called
"Leadership Training on the Political
Situation in Israel."
Later in the week, Kim described
the lines running out of flower shops
on erev Rosh Hashana, of being
wished a shana tova by passersby,
about the backlog of mail as the coun-
try sent new year s wishes, and about
the family she met who made aliyah
and how they used to be Americans
but now were Israelis.
I told her I had just brought home
our Israel-grown, imported $50 lulav
and green etrog set. She told me how
she and her friend Shoshanna hand-
picked theirs, in the right colors, for
$12 in the marketplace. Since she
arrived, we have talked almost daily. We
talked on the day that a bomb explod-
ed at the bus stop at her school; she
told me how her friend Melanie's win-
dows shook and how the school was
checked and how classes continued as
scheduled. We talked the next week
when the entire city of Jerusalem shut
down at 2 p.m., including the bus
lines, the stores and the TV stations, in
preparation of Yom Kippur. She
described the abundance of sukkot that
were built outside of restaurants and on
apartment balconies, and the one that
she and her classmates built. While our
family went to shul for Simchat Torah,
Kim's friends were dancing in the
streets of Jerusalem, carrying Torahs at
the Kotel, and while we prayed for rain
in Israel, I had a different vision of
where the rain would fall.
As much as I miss Kim, I think,
"Isn't this what I wanted for her, for
this child who grew up in a home
where the Shabbat table was always
crowded and where children were
never just dropped off at shul, where
they went from a Jewish nursery
school, through Hillel Day School and
then Hebrew high school?"
Our family did not "vacation" in
Israel, we experienced it, making sure
our children understood the importance
of its history and their connection to it.
So, how dare I question her choice?
After a night of more thought than
sleep, I called my daughter. For the
first time since she has been in Israel,
instead of feeling the need to say that I
miss her and wish she were home, I
am now able to tell her how excited I
am for her, and how incredibly proud.
When I finished talking, it was
Kim's turn. Without even realizing the
impact of her words, she told me
something that made me truly under-
stand the life she is living now. "Mom,
I have to go. I have a class in a few
minutes. It's called 'The History of
Jerusalem.' And I can't be late ... it's a
field trip." ❑
WATCH
JET'S WINGS from page 27
'
ambassador to Norway but on hand to
help honor JET and his sister Henriet-
ta Hermelin Weinberg, pledged $5,000
to jump-start a projected $300,000
youth theater endowment. Before the
dinner ended, that just-created endow-
ment had mushroomed to $55,000 in
pledges.
"For JET," Hermelin said, "the best
is yet to come."
"David helped show us the way in
the early years:: Orbach said, "and has
never stopped caring."
JET has stressed reaching out to stu-
dents, Orbach said, so they understand
"there are ways to be entertained that
involve your heart and your mind."
Late-night experimental theater and
cabaret, a year-round capacity to tour, a
children's theater and conservatory
where students can learn firsthand the
many arts of theater . . . ultimately, a
place of its own where the light of Jew-
ish theater never goes dark.
These are all JET dreams . . . big
dreams for cast, crew, donors and
patrons alike.
"But they are not so big if you
approach them slowly, carefully, clear-
ly," said Evie Orbach, the eternal opti-
mist.
As emcee, daughter Lila Lazarus
clearly was both proud and in awe of
her mother's ability to ride the turbu-
lent jet stream of the stage. As she put
it: "Mom can convince anyone to
share the JET dream." El
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1998
29