EDITOR'S NOTEBOOK Alt Ore 34th Annual Meeting and Election of Officers Shock, Then Awe T hey jumped into the ambulance, their instincts as medics kicking into gear. They went 80 mph past green lights, putting on two sets of gloves and preparing body-parts bags should they be needed. Leah Stern, a native Detroiter, and other medics for Magen David Adorn, Israel's emergency and relief agency, were responding to a suicide bombing in the French Hill neighborhood of Jerusalem. It was 5:50 a.m. May 18 — a Sunday. Egged Bus No. 6 had blown up in one of five ter- rorist acts that killed 12 Israelis and wounded 70 people May 17-19. "Get there; you have two minutes!" declared the dispatcher. Stern, 22, was en route to her first explo- sion, what Israelis call a pi gua. She was about to see what so many Israelis have endured in 32 months of Palestinian ter- ror; at least 787 Israelis and foreigners have died in the savagery. ROBERT A. "It is everything I expected it to be, the SKLAR ultimate act of violence: blood, body parts, Editor the expression on the dead sitting upright with their legs crossed in their seats," she told me via e-mail. I was moved by her bluntness. The turbulent landscape of her life in the Middle East unfolded quickly. Her will to press on despite the horror underscores just how brave and determined residents of Israel can be. Leah is a 2002 graduate of the University of Miami in Florida; her major included Middle Eastern studies. Her mother and a brother made aliyah in December 2001. She moved to Israel in February. She's not only a medic, but also a Jerusalem Post reporter. "If everyone had the ability to see the terrors of a suicide bombing," she said, "they would under- stand why Israelis are as tough as they are and why violence cannot be tolerated — that these incidents of human terror need to cease or else peace will never exist." In Jerusalem's Har Hamenuhot Cemetery, Leah, awestruck, stood with Lena Perov, a Kazakhstan emigre whose mother, Nellie, died with six other Stern Israelis in the French Hill blast the day before. "I felt her pain through her tears that landed on my cheek," Leah said. "She embraced the picture of her mother the entire time." With her camera focused on Lena, Leah joined other press representatives in capturing "that second of complete sadness so others could understand the terrors of terror- ism." Shifting Priorities A former magazine administrative assistant and public rela- tions account executive in New York City, Leah learned quickly what really matters in Israel. Being able to buy food and hire school guards — and settling a trade work- ers' strike so that reeking trash could be collected — seem infinitely more real to her than wondering which Gucci bag to wear or which car to lease. Leah, second youngest of four children, calls her Detroit- born mother, Leslie, "a starving artist" who paints Judaica. "I love it here," said Leslie, 51. "There is something in Jerusalem's air that makes me feel alive. I am with my own. Leah's brother Ellie, 20, is a soldier in the Israeli army. "If you can make it in Israel," he said, "you can make it anywhere. He then said something, as related by Leah, that shook me: "The Jews in America should not stay quiet like dur- ing the Holocaust, but rise up and truly support Israel." Moral support and giving money from the diaspora are important, but stepping off an El Al plane at Ben-Gurion Airport to personally comfort distraught Israelis and boost their war-ravaged economy is the ultimate show of sup- port. The 250 people who so far have made deposits for Federation's Michigan Miracle Mission 4 to Israel April 18- 28, 2004, speak to Detroit Jewry's sensitivity to that. Spiraling prices haunt Israel's economy, which is stag- gered by plunging tourism, rising joblessness and height- ened poverty. Language is another hurdle. Speaking from experience, Leah said, "The trick to maximum respect in this country as an immigrant is to be fluent in Hebrew." Caution must be foremost, but Israelis can't lose hope. Breaking the spirit of Israelis is what the terrorists staking claim to Israel ultimately want. Leah told me she burned a hole in her wallet taking "overpriced taxis" before toughening up and starting to ride the buses, the backbone of Israeli transit. "Violence is a way of life here," she said, "and if you stick around long enough, the fear wears off and your survival instincts kick in." " Concern, Yet Hope On the front lines as both an Israeli and a journalist, Leah regrets that Americans rely on an unsympathetic CNN for news about the Jewish state. She trusts only America among the international players who bro- kered the tenuous road map for peace in the Middle East. As I do, she insists that the Palestinians must weed out terrorists in their midst and neutralize Yasser Arafat, their terror-monger - president, before the map will have a chance to res- onate. I admire her courage. She gave up many of the things that Americans take for granted for the risks of our ancestral homeland. "I believe that every breath I take here will make a difference," she said. Whenever a bus blows up or she's down to just a few dollars, she wonders if Israel is where she belongs. "But when I wake up in the morning, and cherish my cup of coffee and warm cheese berekah [pastry], I am truly happy," she said. "So what if I have to carry my gas mask with me everywhere I go and pay almost $2 for a minia- ture bag of peanut M&Ms? I feel alive." That's why she resists the temptations of America that call to her in correspondence and cablecasts. And that's why she has hardened herself to evildoers. As she weighs aliyah, she's content that, for now, she'll be around "when that next call comes in to lend a hand, to shout out my voice for the world to hear, to know what it feels like to really be alive, and to live long enough to see peace between eternal enemies." She wants me to know that "Israelis are still holding strong." May that assurance stir the soul of Jews the world over. FA Wednesday, June 4, 2003 7:30 PM D. Dan Et Betty Kahn Building Jewish Community Center 6600 West Maple Road West Bloomfield Join us to honor Outgoing President JIM ZACK 2003-2004 Slate of Officers Directors President Daniel Gilbert Vice Presidents Joanne Aronovitz Carol Kaczander Robert Nusbaum Secretary Bobbie Miller Treasurer Eli Scherr Additional 3-Year Term Expiring 2006: Jeffrey Cohen Otto Dube Daniel Gilbert Ronald Hodess Lenny Hutton Barbara Jonas Daniel Medow Bobbie Miller Beth Kroft Mondry Robert Nusbaum First 3-Year Term Expiring 2006: Lisa Brown Mindy Chemey Steve Cicurel Shelley Gach Diane Gallagher Edward Hersch Howard Luckoff Christine Niskar Sheryl Stoddard Mary Topf — No Charge — jarc wwwjarc.org 30301 Northwestern Highway Suite 100 Farmington Hills, MI 48334 248.538.6611 • Fax 248.538.6615 5/30 2003 5