4 111110011.111111111101111WOMMINNINO. Oainion Editorials are posted and archived on JN Online: www.detroitjewishnews.corn Meaningful Missions Dry Bones T he American Jewish community is gear- ing up for a summer of solidarity with the Jewish state, most visibly expressed by sending regular "missions" for weeklong visits in Israel. The goal of showing Israelis — and the rest of the world — that American Jews care is laudable. But the method may bear some scrutiny to be sure that it is the right tool for the job. The danger is that the missions may end up send- ing the wrong message, may be seen more like send- ing flowers to a funeral or lighting a yahrzeit candle than putting on your best duds to dance at a friend's wedding. Before the El Al jets loaded with American Jews thunder down the runway, participants need to decide what the mission of a mission is. They should be crystal clear about what they will need to learn when in Israel and what they will try to accomplish with that knowledge when they return. In recent, happier and more hope-filled years, mis- sions have been a way for American communities to travel together easily and comfortably to a destina- tion they would enjoy. Participants, many of them first-time visitors to Israel, reported enthusiastically on the overwhelming emotion they felt when stand- ing at the Western Wall or talking with an Israeli family in the Galilee. They returned fired up with an understanding of why the State of Israel was so important to the nation of Israel. The missions this summer will be different because the goal is to express solidarity rather than to build it fresh. But who needs to know about this solidarity and how will they get the message? not going to be convinced by a busload of Americans professing unswerving commit- ment when his cancelled reservations tell a tale of abandonment. Nor are the missions going to convince Palestinians that they better not mess with an Israel that is so powerfully connected. In embracing terror over talks, the Palestinians have already shown that they aren't interested in common sense — and their PA-controlled media isn't going to report on the trips at all unless a terror- ist attack disrupts one. Whether the rest of the world will know or care about the missions is probably. moot. Unless organizers put together the mother of all missions — with thousands of participants from every Jewish commu- nity around the globe — the trips this summer are likely to go unnoticed by most of the world, no matter how deeply they affect the souls of those who are on them. Luts-r f3 A t.),:? CilectINAYA ? EAsi TIMOR ? tvACEDONiA KOSOVO ? 1 +FE_, EDITO RIAL A Deeper Concern Even if the missions attract several thousand partici- pants, they clearly cannot make up for the devasta- tion of the Israeli tourist business, where the 90 per- cent drop in American visitation had hurt so pro- foundly. The operator of a shuttered tourist hotel is firtAPPN6S M,'S$416 111VOR., AFG4AwIslAN e Building Bridges Perhaps the most useful audience for the mission participants is non-Jewish America. Americans tell pollsters that they are generally well-disposed toward Israel, but many are not terribly well-informed and a fair number believe there is some substance to the Palestinian complaints about Israel's conduct. While they may understand why Israel could not accept the wholesale return of several million Palestinians, they don't understand the continuing occupation of the territories or the need for settlements or even the dreadful dilemma of how to govern Jerusalem. So before they leave, this summer's "missioneers" would be well served by arranging to listen to the very real concerns of their non-Jewish friends. They ought to go far out of their way to find out what it is that these neighbors would like to know and what might convince them that Israel does have right on its side. Then they could truly use the missions as oppor- tunities to gather that sort of information and use it in a coordinated outreach effort when they return. Who knows? In clarifying what their friends and neighbors most need to know about Israel, this sum- mer's mission-goers may return with a deeper under- standing for themselves that will help make them even more enthusiastic and effective ambassadors of our communities. ❑ On Finger Pointing Jerusalem ne spring morning in Jerusalem, a few weeks after the end of the Gulf War, I found myself in line at the local super- market behind the mother of Esther, one of my neighbors. Passover was fast approaching, but neither of us seemed much undone by all the housecleaning. We were much too full of joy for that. 0 Sarah Shapiro is a writer living in Jerusalem. This article was distributed by New York City-based Am Echad Resources, a syndication service offering articles from an Orthodox perspective to the Jewish and general media. SARAH SHAPIP,0 Special Commentary With gusto, we'd dismantled our sealed rooms and tossed our ghoulish gas masks onto the highest shelves. Ever since Iraq's Saddam Hussein had threatened Israel with chemical warfare seven months before, the prospect of some horrible, unthinkable death had been looming overhead. Now we were free. And Hussein's sud- den surrender, on Purim Day, had instilled into the event an implausible dimension of the miraculous. The rescue was as inexplicable as the strange Gulf War itself had been, and we were not only grateful, but also proud for we had stayed. We'd weathered the storm, and our ample reward for not fleeing had been to witness with our own eyes the bizarre unfolding of events. But amidst all this rejoicing, there was something I, and many other American immigrants, were not thinking about anymore, in the wake of our libera- tion. It was our own secret and solitary inner wars, about the children, that we were already forgetting. To stay or to go? It had been a daily torment. To leave FINGER POINTING on page 30 7/6 2001 29