I
Editor's Letter
Nutritionally
Speaking
By Ba rba ra Beznos,
RD, 1..1),'N
Integ rated Arlf trifler!,
When Safety Trumps
D
etroit native Laurie Sendler Rappeport
made aliyah 23 years ago. She supports
the Israeli army but believes her gov-
ernment waited too long to confront Hezbollah,
the south Lebanon-based, Shiite-driven terrorist
network that draws inspiration — as well as fire-
power and funding — from Syria and Iran.
"Israel should have dealt with them long ago,
before they were so strong:' said the resident
of the holy city of Safed — within range of
Hezbollah's Katyusha rockets. "Now we're going
to pay a much higher price for dismantling their
arsenal."
Mounting Israeli soldier and civilian deaths from 23 days of
fighting Hezbollah guerillas attest to that.
The mother of five has a vested interest in the war: A 20-
year-old son is a noncommissioned officer in Israel's Golani
Brigade. This week, he was to be sent to Lebanon.
Israel surely knew that Hezbollah rockets would be
unleashed someday. Apparently, it had no idea that their range
was so great. It's now paying the price for that huge miscalcu-
lation.
I can't help but think that
the Quartet — the U.S., U.N.,
European Union and Russia — is
glad that Israel is fronting the
battle with Hezbollah so it doesn't
have to intervene militarily.
Rappeport doesn't doubt her
decision to stay put in Israel
despite the Gulf War, Palestinian
bombings or Hezbollah terror:
"As other olim [immigrants] who
Laurie Rappeport
came because of desire, not neces-
sity, I can't say that I ever thought that my life would be more
fulfilled, or even safer, if I returned to the States."
Soul searching is routine for Rappeport.
"For instance she said, "the Safed e-mail newsletter had
a letter from a resident who reiterated the call of one of the
leading rabbis of Safed to residents who had left. It told them
that they should return to give support and assistance to
those residents who couldn't leave either because they didn't
have a place to go or because they physically couldn't leave'
That was a legitimate call.
As Rappeport put it, "What is our obligation to the Zionist
ideals of sticking together and supporting each other? Should
we stay? Are we obligated to take care of ourselves first or put
the good of the community first?"
Those are powerful questions, especially for American Jews,
6,000 miles removed from the front lines of fire.
Detroit Roots
Rappeport was a bat mitzvah at the old Beth Moses and is
a 1976 Berkley High graduate. She grew up in Detroit and
Oak Park amid stories about her family's Zionist roots,
which go back to the 1920s. She made aliyah in 1983, nine
years after her first Israel visit as part of a JCC trip. She met
her American-born husband, Yoni, a carpenter, on Kibbutz
Hannaton, the first Conservative cooperative settlement.
In Safed, Rappeport works at the Kappell Visitors Center.
She represents Livnot U'Lehibanot (Hebrew for "To Build and
Be Built"), which provides Israel experiences, including relief
opportunities, for post-college U.S. Jews. She also
serves Partnership 2000, an Israel-diaspora cultural
and economic exchange program whose twinned
communities include Safed and Palm Beach.
I was a sounding board of sorts as Rappeport
weighed her inclination to stay in Safed against her
fear for her five kids. "I want my family together as
much as possible," she said.
But she knows the danger of that. World head-
lines talk about terrorist-launched rockets on
northern Israel, Israeli defensive strikes designed to
push back the enemy from the Lebanon-Israel bor
der and all the casualties on both sides.
Ultimately, family safety and neighborly concern dominate
the minds of Israelis in Safed, the biblical mountain city
where T-shirted Jewish tourists share the narrow walkways
with black-hat Torah scholars. "Those are the issues that don't
make the news',' Rappeport said. "But there isn't a single per-
son in Israel who isn't thinking about it, even those who live
in the center of the country, because they all know that the
shelling could reach Tel Aviv at some point."
Shockwaves Spread
Until Safed, a popular tourist stop, no longer is rocket prone,
Rappeport told me that she will hunker down in Jerusalem
with her 10- and 18-year-old daughters. Two other kids are in
the U.S. visiting their grandparents.
The spillover effect of the Israel-Hezbollah clash was felt
in America last Friday in a brazen act of hate. A 31-year-old
Muslim of Pakistani descent, Naveed Afzal Haq, forced his
way into the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle and alleg-
edly opened fire. A. U.S. citizen, he killed one woman and
wounded five others. Police said his motive was to express his
anger at Israel and with the Jews.
Muslims from Dearborn have demonstrated in support of
Hezbollah and against Israel several times recently, widen-
ing the chasm between Metro Detroit Jews and Arabs. But
Imad Hamad, the Michigan director of the American-Arab
Anti-Discrimination Committee, drew the line at the deadly
encounter in Seattle and condemned it.
There's no need to panic in these turbulent times, but
American Jews — as well as Laurie Rappeport, other Israelis
and Jews elsewhere — must remain vigilant.
I say this against the inciteful backdrop of what Jihad Al-
Khazen, a columnist and former editor, wrote on July 24 in
Al-Hayat, the English edition of the Arabic daily in London.
Once more, Israelis were characterized as Nazi-like.
According to the Washington-based Middle East Media
Research Institute, Al-Khazen wrote: "Ehud Olmert's gov-
ernment perpetrates definite Nazi practices against the
Palestinians and the Lebanese. He is a young Fuhrer, and his
generals, like Dan Halutz and Moshe Kaplinsky, are com-
mando generals." I I
How would you react if bombs rained on
your neighborhood?
Is heightened vigilance more integral to
your everyday life?
E-mail letters: letters@thejewishnews.com
LLC
ues-
tion:
Dear
Barb,
cently, I was
diagnosed with
kidney can-
cer. Are there
dietary/lifestyle changes that might
improve my chances of success in
fighting this disease? Saul.
A
nswer: Dear Saul, by way
of background: according
to the National Kidney
Foundation, the most common
type of kidney cancer in adults is
renal cell cancer (a malignant mass
in the kidney). Kidney cancer oc-
curs most often between the ages
of 50 and 70 and twice as often in
,r_ , men than women.
The American Cancer Soci-
ety and other authoritative
q
t,/s
sources
have noted that
■
cancer patients/survivors
should follow an indi-
(
vidualized nutrition plan
prepared by a qualified
dietitian/nutritionist,
preferably, in conjunc-
tion with their health
care providers.
There's no real substitute
for individualized, professional
treatment, but here are some gener-
al behavior and dietary guidelines
that you may wish to follow:
• Do not smoke;
• Maintain a healthy weight and
exercise regularly;
• Avoid saturated fats, e.g., red
meat and whole fat dairy prod-
ucts; and
• Minimize your intake of pro-
cessed grains and sugars.
My best to you. I hope this helps.
— Barbara Beznos,
Registered Dietitian
Direct. Your Ouestions For. Barb
A nd Counsel t nI aqui ries
Integrated Nutrition, LLC,
32401 Northwestern Hwy.
Farmington Hills. MI 48334
Phone:
(248) 538-8050
E-mail:
barb@integratednutrition.com
Web:
www.integratednutrition.com
k. dvecttsz3n) ,, W,7
1085670
August 3 • 2006
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