Opinion

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Mutually Satisfying Visit To Israel

BILL HARD IMAN

Community View

E

ver since my teenage years, I
have had a strona b desire to
visit Israel. When offered the
opportunity to travel there with col-
leagues and members of the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan.
Detroit, I was ecstatic. Israel has sig-
nificant religious and economic
importance despite its relatively small
size among the nations. The focus of
the whole world seems to be on this
small strip of land.
This journey to Israel posed political
and potential economic benefits to the
state of Michigan. The goal of this trip
was to find an opportunity for greater
economic partnership between the
state of Michigan and the state of
Israel, with the hope of encouraging
job growth in Michigan. We wanted
to learn about Israeli models of social
service delivery with the expectation
that we can provide better human
service delivery in Michigan. Finally,
we wanted learn more about border

Bill Hardiman is a Republican state
senator from Kentwood near Grand
Rapids.

and homeland security from Israel.
We had the unique opportunity to
speak with entrepreneurs and converse
with the Israel-American Chamber of
Commerce in hopes of establishing
economic partnerships that would
benefit both Michigan and Israel in
the future.
One of the sites that we visited was
the Mavazeret Tzion absorption center.
This particular center housed many
Ethiopian Jews who were being assist-
ed in assimilating into Israeli life. This
assistance respectfully considered their
cultural difference as they worked to
become a part of a new nation. We
had thought-provoking conversations
about the impact of race in Israel as
well as America.
As the former mayor of Kentwood,
Mich., I was intrigued with the visits
we had with other public officials,
especially the local city mayors. I
enjoyed comparing and contrasting
our styles of government as well as our
different cultures. During our Israeli
visit, we had a particularly interesting
and timely conversation with a profes-
sor at the Hebrew University in
Jerusalem about the Gaza strip and the
complicated political and economic
importance of disengagement.

Sen. Hardiman visits the Western Wall in Jerusalem.

Visiting Israel has given me a better
understanding of the complex political
and cultural make-up of the region —
something you are not able to pick up
in a book or on television. Israel is
truly a land of beauty, contrast, diver-
sity and conflict.
From a very personal point of view,
as a devoted Christian it was a tremen-
dous blessing to visit the sites I have
only read about in the Bible. Visiting

the places where Jesus lived and minis-
tered has left an overwhelming impres-
sion on me. I also had the opportunity
to stand in the Jordan River to watch
a baptism service and look over the
hills of Nazareth.
I especially enjoyed the discussions
with my Jewish colleagues about their
faith and culture — basic truths I held
seemed more real in Israel. For exam-
ple, I have read and heard about the

After Katrina, A Trip To Ft. Custer

I

got on the list of the Red Cross,
United Way, the governor's relief
project and even an Internet site
called Craig's List. I signed on to offer
housing, community support, money,
blood and mental health. Sept. 4, the
Sunday before Labor Day, along with
members from the Birmingham
Temple, I attended a rally where the
United Way was registering people to
help.
At the rally, we presented a plan to
help 18 families settle in the Detroit
area. Seventy-two hours passed; no
one called. On television, there were
people dying in the Superdome. We
were offering a total package of sup-
port: transportation, housing, money
and even help finding employment.
No one called.
Tuesday, Sept. 6, I heard that people
from New Orleans were arriving on
an army base in Michigan. Did our

Tamara Kolton is a rabbi at the
Birmingham Temple in Farmington
Hills.

9/22

2005

46

congregation's principal and my good
friend Rebecca Smith know where this
place was? Her husband is a lieutenant
colonel in the National Guard in
Michigan, and she is always traveling
back and forth to Battle Creek. I tele-
phoned her.
The next morning, we were at the
guard post at Fort Custer with mili-
tary clearance. Having contacted the
chaplain on the base, one rabbi and
one military wife drove into U.S. his-
tory in the making.
The good news was that the 289
on the base from New Orleans were
safe. They were not hungry. The
housing at Fort Custer seemed more
than adequate and the atmosphere
was optimistic and calm. The bad
news was that no one seemed to be
in charge.
The chaplain of the base was the
only person with any overall sense of
organization or vision. Although the
news media reported that major
organizations collected enormous
sums of money to be immediately
dispersed for relief, the people we

met seemed untouched by
$7,000. The basketball hoops,
their efforts.
balls and games arrived. We
A man named Roger was
bought sweatshirts, shoes and
walking around in a pair of
batteries. The children came
dilapidated shoes that had
out to play.
been on his feet throughout
Someone asked us who we
the flood. Another man sat in
were. We remarked with
front of the chapel steps until
humor, "We are the volunteers
I approached him. He said
RABBI
designated to implement the
his knees hurt, and he needed
TAMARA
Family Life Center at Fort
a cane to walk. Did I have a
Custer Operation Hurricane
KO LTO N
cane? There was a group of
Katrina Relief!"
Community
children who desperately
We left at 10:30 p.m. and
View
needed some form of recre-
returned the following day.
ation. There were plenty of
The services on the base were
television sets but no toys. Rebecca
improving. Almost spontaneously,
and I agreed that we wanted to create
there was a makeshift hair salon and a
a recreation area for the children.
pharmacy; and someone had hung a
handwritten sign on the door of a
Help From Home
rundown building that read, 'AA
That is when I sent a request to my
Meeting Here Tonight."
congregation for donations. How
But the people from New Orleans
incredibly fortunate I felt to have a
continued to feel disoriented. "Where
temple and Jewish community who I
is FEMA?" "How do I call my people
could turn to in a time of need.
in Baton Rouge?" "Do you have a bar
Almost immediately, members of
of soap and a comb?" Many of them
the Birmingham Temple e-mailed
were disoriented to the buildings and
back pledges, and we collected almost
relief organizations on the base.