time coping with.
"Those who are Holocaust survivors are having a
terrible time with it, and patients who have had
major traumas in their lives are all reminded of
them," he said. "They're anxious and down."
The advice he gives everyone is to talk it out.
"If you have to cry, cry. Talk about all the sadness
and loss," he said. "But you still have to do what
you were doing before."
Dr. Mark Silverman, a Birmingham psychiatrist,
says children have been greatly affected.
"I see it in their drawings and in their play. It has
left an indelible impression," he said. "It's frighten-
ing. There's a whole new generation of people affect-
ed."

Dining Out?

After Sept. 11, business at restaurants plummeted as
most Americans stayed home, transfixed by the con-
tinuous stream of news about the terrorist attacks.
The business is slowly getting back to some kind
of normalcy, said Roger Zingle, president and chief
executive officer of C.A. Muer Corp., with 20
restaurants across the country.
Chuck Muer's Seafood Tavern in West Bloomfield,
for example, saw a 15 percent drop in business the
week of the attacks, he said. "It impacted us, but
now it's headed in the right direction."
Muer restaurants normally show TV sports with-
out the volume, but for at least 10 days after the
attack "so many people were interested in what was
going on that we switched to news and turned up
the volume."
Zingle partly blames the economy for the slow-
down.
"Since Sept. 11, businesses locally and nationally
have cut down drastically on business travel and
business expense dining."
Meanwhile, the catering business seems to have
been less affected. Alan Linker of Sperber's Kosher
Catering said his business is strong.
"We had a bat mitzvah party at [Congregation]
B'nai Moshe the weekend after Sept. 11 and it was a
big lift for people," he said. "People are concerned
about guests coming from out of town, so that has
affected things slightly, but bookings are very strong. .
People still want to give their kids a nice wedding, a
nice bar mitzvah."

A Learning Curve

At local schools, the primary goal is make children
feel secure in these insecure times. Teachers are mak-
ing time for questions; administrators have suggested
guidelines for parents and a sense of patriotism often
permeates classrooms and hallways.
For her students, patriotism has been a positive
offshoot of the terrorist attacks, says Robyn
Glickman, lower school principal at Hillel Day
School of Metropolitan Detroit in Farmington Hills.
"Along with fund-raising [for the relief effort],
they've been adding prayers for our country when they
pray at minyan," she said. Patriotic murals and art
projects line the halls. And the children also have been

ALERT on page 18

Our Turn Now

Americans can learn from the way Israelis deal with
terrorism on a day-to-day basis.

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN
StqffWriter

rian Schwartz attended a
study program in Israel
this spring and spent
four months of his life
"living in terror every single day"
The 17-year-old West
Bloomfield student expected to
come back to the United States
and be safe. "[But] guess what,"
he asked plaintively "More terror.
Is it right for my Israeli friends to
be calling me and asking me how
I am? Since when is there terror-
ism in America?"
Since Sept. 11. That's a new real-
ity for Americans, but it has been a
way of life in Israel since even
before the Jewish state was founded
in 1948. And many people who
have lived there say we can learn
caution from the Israelis — and
take comfort that the fabric of
everyday life does not unravel.
Rachel Kapen, a Tel Aviv native
now living in West Bloomfield,
recalls being in a Tel Aviv bus sta-
tion when it was evacuated after
an unattended bag was discov-
ered. People in the bus station
didn't panic. "Israelis obviously
learn to live with the situation —
they have no choice," she said.
"We had it very comfortable [in
the U.S.] for too long, but it is
possible to change when our lives
depend on it," she said.
Rabbi Tamara Kolton also has
seen firsthand how Israelis react in
threatening times. She was in
Jerusalem in February 1992 dur-
ing the Gulf War when Iraqi Scud
missiles hit.
"It was very chaotic," she
recalled. "Everywhere people were
carrying their gas masks over their
shoulders — in the streets, in the
supermarket." But, she notes,
people were still out and about.
"The major difference with
attacks in Israel and the Sept. 11
attacks on America is that this is
the first time this has happened to
us," she said. "Unfortunately,
Israelis are so used to it, it
becomes part of their daily lives."
Rabbi Kolton believes Americans

must continue to discipline their
fears and live their lives.
"We must make safe choices and
stay in charge of our emotions," she
said. "In this way, Israel is a wonder-
ful role model — a country that
refuses to live in fear."
Rabbi Lawrence Kelemen, who
made aliyah 15 years ago, agrees
that Americans can learn a lot
from Israelis about living with
uncertainty.
"We've been dealing with terror
in Israel every day," said Rabbi
Kelemen, an American-born
counselor and education professor
at Neve Yerushalayim Women's
College of Jewish Studies in
Jerusalem.
"Yet people in Israel are calm
— people are more realistic. In
America, a handful of planes
crashed — and suddenly there is
more security. Anthrax appears —
and there is a run on Cipro.
"This is not rational," Rabbi
Kelemen said. "In Israel, that
would never happen. We've been
living with the threat of anthrax for
the last 10 years, but there would
never be a run on Cipro. There is
just the understanding that if it
becomes needed, it will be there."
Ironically, Americans' panic is
contagious, says Rabbi Kelemen.
"I've traveled to the States many
times. This is the first time I've felt
fear — as I gave each of my five
children a hug — that I was travel-
ing to a dangerous place," he said.

Terrorism Is Terrorism

Rabbi Ari Winter, principal of
Michlelet Esther in Har Nof,
Israel, also was concerned about
coming to the United States.
"My wife and kids were scared
of me being on five or six planes
in the U.S.," he said. Rabbi
Winter, who was in this country
interviewing potential college stu-
dents, stopped in Detroit the
weekend of Nov. 2.
The rabbi, a former New Yorker
who made aliyah 10 years ago, sees
the American government's reaction
to terrorism at home as incongru-
ous to the way it views it elsewhere.
"It is increasingly frustrating to

see how Americans do not see a
connection between terrorist attacks
here and in Israel," Rabbi Winter
said. "Terrorism is terrorism. How
can America respond . . . by
attacking in Afghanistan and not
understand the need for Israelis to
retaliate against terrorists who
attack in Israel? How can we allow
one form of terror and not allow
another?"
West Bloomfield's Schwartz is
also critical of America's position
regarding Israel.
"What I don't understand is
that when a suicide bomber walks
into a crowded Sbarro pizza
[restaurant] in Jerusalem and kills
many people, the United States
tells Israel to talk with the
Palestinians and come to terms
with them," Schwartz said.
"[But] when terrorists fly planes
into our buildings, [we don't] talk
with the terrorists and come to
terms with them. No, the United
States just wants revenge and
retaliation.
"I think the sole reason Israel
does not respond to the suicide
bombers within their nation like
America is responding to Osama
bin Laden is because Israel wants
nothing more than peace — and
is willing to give a lot for a real,
lasting peace," Schwartz said.
Schwartz used his position on the
national board of the National
Conference of Synagogue Youth to
ask fellow American members "to
come together and visit the sick and
comfort the bereaved and donate
blood," which is exactly what Rabbi
Kelemen says is the Israeli way.
"When there is a terrorist attack
in Israel, we take our kids to visit
the elderly; we show them we are
not helpless and we allow them to
see that there is good in this
world," he said.
"I know that 50 miles from my
home there are schoolchildren
being taught that the greatest
thing they can do is to kill them-
selves and take 80 Jews with
them. We must respond to this
evil by teaching our own Jewish
children to make the world a bet-
ter place," Rabbi Kelemen said. ❑

11/9
2001

15

