EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK Masking The Danger a as mask use is an unlikely topic in an ulpan class where newcomers to Israel learn to read and speak Hebrew. But that's what Nancy Lipsey, a former Jewish professional in Detroit and Atlanta, learned about one day last week at the absorption center where she lives and studies. Each day, her ulpan teacher, Miriam Deutsch, reviews the Hebrew version of words.in the news — from "desalinization" and "territories" to "suspicious object" and "terrorist" — to help the class understand what's printed or broadcast in the Jewish state. The guest instructor who explained the gas mask, Tanya, was from the Home Front Command, created after the Gulf War of 1991 to serve Israeli civilians in wartime. Lipsey likens the Command to the Department of Homeland Security here in America. More than 690 Israelis have died in Palestinian terror and vio- ROBERT A. lence since the latest intifada (uprising) began 27 months ago. SKLAR Tanya had come to Lipsey's class at the Editor International Center for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, part of the World Union of Jewish Students Institute, to teach how to enter a sealed room, don a gas mask and inject atropine, a nerve gas antidote. The independently run Institute is in the Judean desert town Arad. The Jerusalem Post regularly carries stories that tell of the Home Front Command's positive effect. "There also are articles pleading with the public not to panic, assuring us that Israel is ready to deal with the threat of war with Iraq," Lipsey wrote to me in another exclusive e-mail essay from Arad. Her insightful essay arrived within hours after two Palestinians disguised as Israeli soldiers Nancy breached the West Bank settlement of Otniel on Dec. 27 and sprayed gunfire on Jewish seminary students gathered for Shabbat dinner. Four Israelis were slain and eight others were wounded. The juxtaposition of the gunplay and the e-mail rein- forced, at least for me, why Israelis can never, not for an - instant, let down their guard against an enemy who would settle for nothing less than expelling them forever from the Mideast, our ancestral homeland. Gas masks in the Jewish state were improved after two Israelis died in 1991 when they forgot to pull the filter plug that lets air flow inward. Now, the filter won't attach unless the plug is pulled, according to Lipsey. The improved eyeholes are now "made from a special unbreakable plastic that won't fog up," she added. Tanya went on to describe the kinds of biological and chemical agents that could be used in an attack against Israel. An injection of atropine, I learned from Lipsey, would stop the shaking and pressure on your chest caused by a nerve gas. "The atropine injections have a flexible needle to allow you to hook the used syringe on your shirt so the doctors can see how many injections you have head," she wrote. As 60 Institute students looked on, Tanya calmly told how to beat a common biological burn agent, in liquid or aerosol form but still called mustard gas because of its yellow hue. Long clothing and a gas mask comprise the best defense against this burn agent, but flour is effective in absorbing it for safe disposal, Lipsey related. Warning Signals Lipsey ran the Jewish Community Center of Metropolitan Detroit's Annual Book Fair from 1995 to 1998 and is the former Southeast Region director for Women's American ORT. She arrived in Israel last June for a year of study. Non-citizens — students, tourists, for- eign workers, year-round residents — are lowest in the order of who gets a government-issued per- sonal protection kit. The phased dispersal of the kits is intended to maintain a relative calm. "Warning levels aren't publicly announced but I knew the situation was changing three weeks ago when gas masks were being rented to foreign workers," Lipsey wrote. Two weeks ago, the Home Front Command reported that school Lipsey administrators would start instructing students in use of a gas mask. Last week, the Home Front Command opened Pr-otective Kit Distribution Centers for citizens on Fridays, generally a day when government offices are closed as Shabbat nears. "One of the final stages in this warning system," Lipsey wrote, "will be when everyone is told to carry their pro- tective kits with them at all times." Until her turn comes for a government issue, Lipsey has the option to buy a mask at a local military surplus shop for Boxed To Help about $150. Arad is a remote target in the event of an Iraqi attack, but Lipsey is confident her Institute family would Tanya, a young Israel Defense Forces soldier assigned to get her a mask if missiles started hurtling toward Israel. the Home Front Command in Beersheva (last names of Students who are new citizens were much more atten- soldiers cannot be made public), grabbed Lipsey's atten- tive to Tanya. "For them," Lipsey wrote, "Israel is home, tion when she began to describe the contents of a person- and the procedures being discussed might be put into al protection kit — a thick cardboard box about the size practice next month or in five years." of a shoebox with a black carrying strap. When Tayna left, Lipsey and her classmates returned to (new dim chadashim Only Institute students who are their regular studies. There was no discussion about gas immigrants to Israel) have been issued a kit. It's illegal to mask use or the prospect of war. Instead, the students open the kit unless directed to do so by the Home Front considered other life experiences also integral to grasping Command. So the contents — gas mask, filter, atropine the nuances of Hebrew. injection, instruction booklet — had been a mystery to As Lipsey put it: "We will continue to learn the words Lipsey. of war and terror, but thankfully in Israel, we also learn Tanya showed the class how to fit the mask to your face the words for job interview, relationships, getting along, and attach the filter. She also showed how to drink with forecast and peace agreement." ❑ the mask on. TENDER 271 WEST MAPLE DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM 248.258.0212 Monday-Saturday 10-6 Thursday 10-9 Sunday 12-5 Open a T E N DER Charge Today 1/ 3 2003 670560 5