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PERSPECTIVE
Parents of slain Israeli infant to speak at Young Israel of Oak Park.
SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
Staff- Writer
T
he tragic death of their
infant son during a
Palestinian stoning attack
near their Shilo home last
June pushed Bat-Sheva and Beni
Shoham to publicly discuss and defend
their choice to live in the West Bank.
The young couple will address syna-
gogue members and guests at a 7:10
p.m. Saturday, Aug. 11, program at
Young Israel of Oak Park. Bat-Sheva's
grandfather, Alex Saltzman, is a long-
time member there.
Five-and-a-half-month-old Yehuda
Shoham died of massive head injuries
caused by a rock thrown through the
front windshield of the family car as
they were returning from a shivah call
in Ra'anana late June 5.
Their car was stoned and the infant,
sitting in a rear car seat next to his
mother, was hit. The parents were
unharmed in the attack by Palestinian
Arabs from the village of Luban a-
Sharkiya in the West Bank, north of
Ramallah, near where they were travel-
ing, according to news reports.
Hardly a seasoned public speaker,
Bat-Sheva, 24, says: "I never even raised
my hand in class. Now I am in the
public eye and now people are touched
by our story and want to hear it.
Reports on the news of what happens
in Israel aren't always true."
Rabbi Spolter
The Shohams are on a self-financed
U.S. tour; they've already spoken in
Cleveland and Los Angeles. After six days in Detroit,
they will address groups in New York and then return
to Israel. "We are not political," Bat-Sheva says. "We
are not speaking for any organization. We just feel it
is our duty to tell our story, to give our view."
Young Israel of Oak Park Rabbi Reuven Spolter
says: "The goal of their talk is to give us, the Jews here
in the U.S., a sense of what life is really like for regu-
Bat-Sheva, Yehuda and Beni Shoham
lar Israelis, especially those living in Yehudat
and Shomron [the West Bank]."
Hoping to dispel the sense Americans
may have that settlers are right-wing fanat-
ics, Rabbi Spolter feels it important that the
community hear the firsthand impression of
how the Shohams live their daily lives.
Living On The Edge
"We believe Israel is our land — the land
of the Jews," says Bat-Sheva, whose parents,
Jerry and Elaine Saltzman, made aliyah 31
years ago from Oak Park.
"We are one country — one big land, our Promised
Land — and we need to live everywhere," Beni says.
Conceding there is more danger in the region they
live in than in other areas of Israel, Bat-Sheva main-
tains, "It doesn't make a difference to Arabs where
you live in Israel. Even in Tel Aviv, there was a
shooting this week."
She says if she and her neighbors
moved away from the Israeli border, it
would cause the creation of a new
border that also would be the site of
Arab attacks.
"People always ask us why don't we
move away. We believe this is our place.
Someone has to be living here," she
says. "The Arabs won't make me move
away. If we move, it would be giving in
and they would win."
"We must continue to be strong and,
hopefully, they will understand the only
way to have peace is to live together on
the land," Beni says.
Oak Parker Alex Saltzman stands by
the Shohams' decision to live where they
do. "Sometimes I have qualms about
them being there, but everybody's enti-
tled to do what they want," he says.
"They have a real love for Israel."
At 92, Saltzman has visited Israel 14
times. His late father, Samuel, owned
land in Palestine and was a Zionist.
Continuing To Build
When she married Beni, now 26, Bat-Sheva moved to
Shilo, where her husband is a student at Yeshivat
Shilo. The school is raising money to dedicate Kiryat
Yehuda, a dormitory, in memory of the Shohams' son.
Rabbi Spolter looks at the Shohams' visit as a way
for Americans to show they want to learn about the
suffering of Israeli Jews during a difficult period.
"I want them to be able to return home to tell the
people of Israel that the Jews of America do care —
that they made the effort to learn about what's really
going on, and that they have heard, and understand,
how their brothers and sisters in Israel are paying the
price on our behalf."
❑
The Shohams will be in Detroit until Monday,
Aug. 13, and are available to address other
groups. Call Young Israel of Oak Park, (248)
967-3655, to arrange a speaking engagement.
8/10
2001
11