Emotional Arrival

Detroiters on IsraelNow Mission pay homage to teens killed in disco bombing.

HARRY KIRSBAUM

Staff Writer

Tel Aviv

A

heart-wrenching event
awaited the 81 IsraelNow
Solidarity Mission partici-
pants from Detroit at their
first stop after landing in Israel. They
paid respects to the 21 Russian
youngsters killed by a suicide bomber
in front of a Tel Aviv disco on June 1.
Amid lunch-time traffic on a windy
coastline where sailboarders with para-
chutes whipped over the waves,
incoming Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit President Larry
Jackier led a short ceremony that
included the principal and a student
from the school where most of the
students attended classes.
"We as Jews always choose life. We
as Jews believe in rebuilding and cre-
ating," said Jackier. "Unfortunately,
our adversaries make other choices,
where there is no respect for the
worth of a human life, and where the
goal is to destroy rather than create.
"It's very appropriate that we begin
this solidarity mission here to com-
memorate those who unfortunately
experienced such a grotesque tragedy,"

he said.
The crowd lit candles and laid a
carnation in front of a stark stone
memorial etched with the names —
in Russian and English — of those
who died.

Emotional Reaction

June Raupp of Farmington Hills said
she followed the story when it hap-
pened, but seeing and touching the
memorial made it a reality.
"I'm not angry. I feel sad for a peo-
ple who feel that they have to use vio-
lence to attain their means," she said.
"I feel sad for the people who have to
endure this."
Dolores Farber of West Bloomfield
was angry. "I'm feeling grateful to
God that we're here and were able to
take part in this ceremony, and I just
asked Him to avenge these young
people."
Sara Levin, 17, of Farmington Hills,
the youngest member of the mission,
said it was more than emotional.
"If I lived in Israel that could have
been me or one of my friends, it was
like a wake-up call," she said. "It did-
n't make me cry, it made me think."
Shirley Jubas of Oak Park felt the

worst for one mother. "When the list
showed that two sisters were killed, it
was just so sad," she said. "And when
we sang Hatikvah, it gave me chills. It
set the tone for the trip. It's not going
to be like all our other trips to Israel."
Nearby, a metal sculpture showed a
silhouette of two children with a
Hebrew inscription that read, "We
will not stop dancing."
Jubas heard that the Russians don't
go there anymore because they feel
they're dancing on their friends'
graves.
The Detroit delegation ended its
first of four extremely busy days lis-
tening to Foreign Minister Shimon
Peres speak of the need to sit down at
the table with the Palestinians.
"As difficult as [Palestinian
Authority leader Yasser] Arafat may be
to us, he is the elected leader of the
Palestinians, and contrary to the other
groups, like the Jihad, like the Hamas,
who want to destroy Israel physically,
he is in search of legitimacy in the
Western world, so he has to pay atten-
tion," he told 532 mission partici-
pants from 25 American communities
and 10 from the former Soviet Union.
"I believe that there is no alternative
for peace."

Clockwise from top left:

Rabbi Reuven Schwartz of
Oak Park lights a memorial
candle at the site of the
suicide bombing outside
the Dolphinarium in
Tel Aviv while Ray Rebeck
ofWest Bloomfield shields
the candle from wind.

Scott Sherman, front, of
Farmington Hills and Randy
Wolf ofWest Bloomfield light
memorial candles at the
site of a suicide bombing at
the Dolphinarium.

Debbie Balkin of West
Bloomfield wipes a tear
at a memorial ceremony
at the Dolphinarium.

Peggy Walcott of Southfield,
Janice Katz ofWest Bloomfield
join Ray Rebeck in a memorial
ceremony at the Dolphinarium.

❑

9/14

2001

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