OTHER VIEWS

is

A Welcoming Gesture

y entree into Jewish life
was hardly a warm one.
Unlike my son, who
was born into a Jewish
family and doted on to near-suffocat-
ing levels, I was a 24-year-old grown
woman who had sought out Judaism
and cleaved to it, wanting to become
a part of a community to which I felt
I already belonged.
I came in the hard way. I attended
classes taught by Rabbi David and
Alicia Nelson of Southfield. I studied
Hebrew and passed the beit din (reli-
gious court), answering questions
like, "How will you raise your child
if your marriage breaks up?" When I
made it through that, I was deemed
fit for conversion.
It snowed the night before I con-
verted, leaving the warm March air
to create a fog from the melting
snow. Mikvah water must be from a
natural source, such as rainwater. In
the middle of March in Michigan, it
means melted snow. And with the
broken heater in the Congregation
Beth Achim mikvah, it meant a
quick dip into freezing waters. My
actual conversion was probably the
quickest in history.
As I emerged from those purifying
waters, I couldn't help but feel very
alone. There was no one to help me

integrate into the community. Poofl. I
was Jewish and yet I hadn't a clue as
to how to move from the doorway of
Judaism into the fray, as a naturally
born member of the community
would feel comfortable in doing.
Instead, I felt I was left there, drip-
ping wet at the mikvah. I had to find
my own way, a daunting task for
newcomers.
My story really isn't remarkable
and that's sad. Too often, I have
heard the same things from others
like me, the rising numbers of those
who had converted and those who
did not, but who were raising Jewish
children in an interfaith marriage.
The journey was made harder still by
a community that didn't know how
to accept and welcome such individ-
uals.

Coming Together

Flash forward to a November night
in a Huntington Woods home.
Strangers, 26 in total, streamed in,
crowding each other in a large circle
during the second meeting of Sarah's
Tent. They were born Jews who had
little formal education, interfaith cou-
ples who are trying to find a comfort-
able compromise and seekers who are
on the conversion path.

NAOMI Communiry Council, is
Here, they learned hands-on, basic,
truly groundbreaking. It marks the
yet practical information from Rabbi
beginning of real, successful program-
Daniel Nevins of Adat Shalom
ming for individuals who are standing
Synagogue. He talked about
in that doorway of Judaism, unsure of
Chanukah and about Christmas, the
their next steps and feeling alone.
December dilemma with which so
The program originated in Miami,
many in the informal audience were
where Cooper, a fellow convert and
struggling. Latkes were eaten and
my co-chair for the Project NAOMI
information was shared on how to
Community Council, attended.
properly light a menorah.
When she moved to
After the rabbi left, Carol
Michigan, she brought the
Cooper, who facilitates simi-
program and her devotion
lar groups at Temple Israel,
to outreach to Temple
brought the discussion back
Israel.
to the individuals who intro-
That program, A Naomi
duced themselves, sharing
for Every Ruth, recently
information about what
garnered the Belin
brought them to the meet-
Outreach Award at the
ing. There was a frank dis-
Reform movement's bien-
cussion about having
nial convention. The con-
Christmas trees in Jewish
JILL SKLAR
gregation started an
homes and other holiday
Corn munity
evening program, Gesharim
conundrums. Strangers no
Vi ews
(bridges), to complement
more, they realized they
the morning Naomi meet-
have much in common with
ings. With the two Temple
each other. Most pledged to
Israel programs and the Jewish
return and met again Wednesday.
Women's Foundation-sponsored
Same home, same time, but with
community program, Sarah's Tenr,
Rabbi Nelson, of Congregation Beth
nearly 70 adults in interfaith rela-
Shalom, leading another informal
tionships, converts or candidates as
education segment.
well as born Jews, are receiving infor-
The program, sponsored by a grant
mal education and a welcome that
from the Jewish Women's Foundation
was
absent not long b aao
and implemented by the Project
b

Measuring A Visit To Israel

New York City
of everyone has a private
jet to fly to Israel like New
York City's Michael
Bloomberg. And while the
mayor-elect Mayor Rudy Giuliani
and New York Gov. George Pataki
attracted large, enthusiastic crowds
and major press coverage during their
whirlwind visit to Israel two weekends
ago, there are others making extraor-
dinary efforts, if less noticeable, to
show their love for, and solidarity
with, the people of Israel.
Take, for example, Rabbi Shmuel
Goldin of Ahavath Torah, an
Orthodox congregation in
Englewood, N.J. When an activist
congregant, Mark Sarna, came to him
with the idea of arranging a quick trip
to Israel to visit people injured by the
Dec. 1-2 suicide bomb attacks in
Jerusalem and Haifa, the rabbi was
skeptical. The rabbi's wife helped con-
vinced him he should go.
The trip was arranged in 24 hours,
and seven other congregants joined

N

12/21
2001

32

the rabbi and Sarna for a three-day
visit consisting solely of hospital visits
and condolence calls.
"It was a profoundly moving experi-
ence," says Rabbi Goldin, who noted
that though he has been on numerous
missions to Israel, there was nothing
quite like this exhausting yet exhilarat-
ing visit.
The group visited 30 to 40 seriously
wounded patients and their families,
and made three shivah visits to Russian
families. On arrival, they drove directly
to the hospital in Haifa, where medical
officials and family members, at first
somewhat skeptical, soon recognized
the sincerity of their visitors and began
to share their feelings, including sur-
prise and admiration for these strangers
traveling thousands of miles simply to
be with them at this difficult time.
"We told them, This is the only
reason we are here,"' Rabbi Goldin
recalls, "and they opened up to us."
One mother of a gravely wounded
teenager told him, "You are the first
one who has visited us without an

"We are bound by
agenda," noting there were
blood."
no politicians or camera
crews accompanying the syn-
agogue group.
Mutual Support
Not that Israelis were
It is difficult to measure the
unmoved by the 12-hour
impact of such visits — the
visit from the three New York
public
and the private —
political leaders. On the con-
but it is fair to say the good
trary, they were deeply appre-
will and sense of solidarity'
ciative of the presence of
GARY
transmitted by the
Bloomberg, Pataki and espe-
ROSENBLATT
Americans
to the Israelis
cially Giuliani, who has
Special
was
deep,
and
deeply appre-
become a hero in many parts
Commentary
ciated. And the feelings
of the world for the compas-
were not one-sided. Rabbi Goldin said
sion and resolve he has displayed since
when he was told that his visit with a
the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on
young American woman seriously
America. Each of the men seemed
injured in the Ben Yehuda mall
genuinely moved by the experience,
bombing in Jerusalem evoked her first
and stressed the empathy New Yorkers
smile, "that alone was worth the
and Israelis have for each other as vic-
whole trip."
tims struggling to live normal lives in
His message, and one all of us
the face of terror and tragedy.
should consider, is that each of us can
"We're together with you," Giuliani
help and we need not wait to join a
told the crowd at a menorah-lighting
large mission to go to Israel now to
ceremony in Jerusalem, a few feet from
show support. It can be 10 people, or
where one of two suicide bombers
five, or even one or two. There is no
blew himself up two weeks earlier.

