COMMUNITY VIEWS

My Summer In Jerusalem

up for a 10-day program.
This trip to Israel was different from
my prior trips. I went with my good
friend Shelly, who had never been to
fter visiting Jerusalem in
Israel. Our entire trip in Jerusalem
December 1998 with my
would be for three weeks.
family, I had a burning
Naturally, we were con-
desire to return.
cerned with how our hus-
With my daughter Sally
bands would clean and cook
scheduled to attended
for themselves in our
Camp Ramah for two
absence. But the minute our
months and my son Ari
plane took off, all was for-
going to Israel on a desert
gotten.
survival program, I finally
Our first Shabbat in
had time for my own sum-
was unforgettable.
Jerusalem
mer experience. During my
We
were
welcomed
to the
exploration of various sum-
home of our friends, the
JANICE
mer programs, a great idea
Cohens, overlooking the
SCHARG
came to me in the mail. A
Jaffa
Gate. Together, we
Special to the
friend sent brochures and
walked
through the Jaffa
Jewish News
information about classes in
Gate,
crossing
through the
Jerusalem. Bingo, I thought!
Arab
Shuk,
until
we came
What a great way to go
to
the
most
magnificent
sight
in
back.
Jerusalem: the Kotel, the Western Wall.
My eyes caught a shiny blue pam-
Thousands were rejoicing and praying
phlet with 'Isralight" displayed
as Shabbat began.
across the front. Inside it offered
After services, our small group
"Chicken Soup for the Jewish Soul."
quickly
walked back to the Cohens'
Rabbi David Aaron runs the Isra-
condominium,
where dinner was an
light Institute in the Old City of
amazing
experience.
The guests told
Jerusalem. After finding the applica-
about themselves and about what had
tion on the Isralight Web site, I signed
brought them to Jerusalem. We also
explored the biggest problem facing
a
nursery
school
teacher
Janice Scharg,
Israel: lack of ahavat reim, love and
at .Adat Shalom Synagogue, lives in West
respect for our fellow Jews. After din-
Bloomfield with her husband, Donald,
ner, students and visitors to Jerusalem
and children, Ari and Sally.

"You will find no beauty like the beauty
of Jerusalem.

A

stopped in for an oneg Shabbat. We
talked and sang until 1 a.m.
Once the Isralight program started,
it was fantastic. We delved into the
classes, held from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.,
with a 90-minute lunch break. The
classes were fascinating: Kabbala, the
Meaning of Life, Where is God, Toler-
ance, Talmud, Torah, and Mystical
Insights.
Rabbi Aaron, Isralight's director, is
originally from Canada and teaches
Torah with a kabbalistic view. The
other instructors were inspirational.
Rav Binny Freedman of Efrat, a dash-
ing IDF commander, sparkled as he
related the words of the Torah during
our day trip to Safat, Tiberias and the
Golan Heights and a second-day trip
to the West Bank. Rabbi Natan Car-
dozo, who is also a philosophy profes-
sor, stressed the dire need for tolerance
among Jews. Gila Manolson, a Yale
grad and baal teshuva (a now obser-
vant Jew), explained the role of
women in Judaism.
Each teacher was fascinating and
thought-provoking. We could not get
enough of the classes. We refused to
miss our favorite instructors. Each
night, we stayed up late, though
exhausted, reviewing our notes, ana-
lyzing and discussing the day's lec-
tures. We felt that we were seeing life
more clearly. Struggles and problems
were all part of the process of growth

and self-improvement. Shelly and I
were on a Jerusalem high!
Each day, during breaks, we found
ourselves navigating around the Rova,
the Jewish Quarter of the Old City. A
frequent stop, in addition to the
stores in the Cardo (the below-
ground, renovated 2,000-year-old
Roman marketplace), was the Pomer-
anz Book Store. The owner recom-
mended books for us in accordance
with our interests in the program. I
purchased and read books I never
expected to read, books by Gila
Manolson and Rabbi Aryeh Kaplan, a
physicist and Kabbalist. We shopped
the Rova like it had never been
shopped before, becorhing friendly
with shopkeepers Rifka and Mira.
Our frequent joke was that we were
performing a mitzvah by helping the
Old City's economy.
The 10-day program passed too
quickly, but the learning and memo-
ries will last forever. It was an extraor-
dinary adventure of personal growth,
spiritual renewal and intellectual
enrichment in the most miraculous
place on Earth — Jerusalem.
Now I really understand the
Psalmist who cried, "If I forget yciu, 0
Jerusalem, let my right hand forget its
skill ... if I fail to recall you, if I fail to
elevate Jerusalem above my foremost
joy." I am already planning my next
visit. 111

Tikkun Olam And Gun Control

cite historical precedent (mainly the
n recent weeks, my office has
Warsaw
Ghetto uprising) as support
received more than a dozen let-
for the assertion that only
ters lambasting the
when
Jews have guns have
Reform movement's
they
been
able to preserve
support for gun control.
Jewish
honor
and dignity.
While the number of letters
The
writers
point
to Israel as
is relatively small, it is more
an
example
of
Jews'
need for
feedback than many other
guns,
and
they
use
both
controversial issues have gar-
constitutional and talmudic
nered.
citations to rebut any
These letters assert that
attempt to limit access to
the shootings at the North
firearms.
MARK
Valley Jewish Community
Yet, despite their appeals
PELAVIN
Center summer camp in sub-
to
history
and judaic tradi-
Special to the
urban Los Angeles under-
tion, these pleas to oppose
score the folly of Jews sup-
Jewish News
gun control are far from
porting gun control. They
convincing. To argue that as
Jews
we
must
respond to gun violence
Mark Pelavin is associate director of
with
a
paranoid
impulse to grab our
the Religious Action Center of Reform
guns
in
self-defense
is a provincial and
Judaism — the Washington office of the
dangerous
perspective.
Such an argu-
Union of American Hebrew Congrega-
ment
assumes
that
a
vast
majority of
tions and the Central Conference of
the gun violence tearing America apart
American Rabbis.

9/24
1999

.1

nptroit 1pwish News

is specifically aimed at Jews, or, at a
minimum, the Jewish community has
no stake in addressing the larger
national epidemic
of gun violence.
Despite a rash of
highly publicized
anti-Semitic inci-
dents, it is simply
not the case that
Jews are dispropor-
tionate victims of
gun violence. While
we as a community
undoubtedly feel
under attack at the
moment, the bigger
picture does not
support an ethos of
constant persecu-
tion in America
today. In fact, study
after study clearly demonstrate that
the use of a firearm to resist a violent

attack increases the likelihood of
injury to the gun owner.
According to the Coalition to Stop
Gun Violence, "resi-
dents of homes
where a gun is pre-
sent are five times
more likely to expe-
rience a suicide and
three times more
likely to experience
a homicide than res-
idents of homes
without guns. Addi-
tionally, a gun kept
in the home is 43
times more likely to
kill a member of the
household, or
friend, than an
intruder."
Guns certainly
endanger the rest of us. Every year,
35,000 Americans die from gun-

Jews arming
themselves
would bring
heightened
prejudice and
vandalism.