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 5