World

Life After Gaza

Former residents of Ganei Tal face barriers to starting anew.

Don Cohen
Special to the Jewish NeWs

W

hen former Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon
declared in June 2004, "By the
end of 2005, not one Jew will remain in
the Gaza Strip:' it was a terrible shock to
Rivka and Michael Goldschmidt of Ganei
Tal. as well as the other 8,000 Israelis living
in Gaza.
"It hit us like lightening because, of all
people it could come from, it came from
him," Rivka says of Sharon's decision. "But
we also knew that because he was such a
powerful man, it might come true."
Now 16 months after the destruction
of 21 Gaza settlements and the removal
of their inhabitants, the Goldschmidts
and their neighbor Moti Sender are in the
United States sharing their story. Steering
clear of politics, they are seeking support
for re-establishing Ganei Tal inside. Israel.
Besides Metro Detroit where they met
with community members and attended
a Dec. 17 concert and forum for Ganei
Tal at Congregation B'nai Moshe in West
Bloomfield, they will visit New Jersey, New
York and Arizona where other concerts
and forums will be held.
'A tenet of Jewish communal life is `Kol
Yisrael areivim zeh b'zeh' or all Jews are
responsible for one another:' explained
Dr. Gerald Katzman of Farmington Hills.
He organized the local program and is
on the board of trustees of the Cantors'
Conservatory, a national organization that,
together with the Jewish Minister Cantors
Association of America and Canada
(JMCA), organized the tour.
"What can be a more admirable
cause than to assist these chalutzim
[pioneers]who are still determined to
go forward after losing almost every-
thing? This is the optimism and stal-
wartness with faith in God that has been
responsible for the survival of the Jewish
people throughout the millennia."
Cantor David Montefiore, director of the
conservatory and president of the JMCA
and formerly of Congregation Beth Ahm
in West Bloomfield and Temple Beth El in
Bloomfield Township is accompanying the
Israeli visitors and performing in concerts
along the way.
"We fought for what we believed in,
and we believed in Gush Katif; we loved

it:' Rivka Goldschmidt says of being one
of the area's pioneers. "We spent 28 years
building up a yishuv (community) from
scratch in the middle of the desert. We are
trying to get out the message of what we
lost there."
Materials distributed by the
Goldschmidts call Ganei Tal "The
Destructed Paradise!' Their former
homes have been bulldozed and their
fields lie fallow. Technologically advanced
greenhouses purchased by European
donors and turned over to the Palestinian
Authority have ceased to operate and
many have been looted and destroyed.
They overcame economic hardship to
become a high-tech agricultural pow-
erhouse; as conditions worsened they
stood resolute in the face of terror that
killed friends and neighbors. But today,
many live in limbo, willing and anxious to
restart their lives together elsewhere but
unable to do so.

Sticking Together

Before they were removed from Ganei
Tal, built on sand dunes near the
Mediterranean Sea, the tight-knit com-
munity of 90 families, almost 400 people,
vowed that if removed, they would resettle
together. Though the Israeli government
has allocated land adjacent to Hafetz Haim
in central Israel, the project remains tied
up in bureaucracy so these formerly pro-
ductive members of Israeli society live in
temporary homes in Yad Benyamin, east
of Ashdod. Sixty percent of are unem-
ployed with others working in temporary
jobs.
"We used to wake up to a full day of
work; not doing so is devastating:' Rivka
says "We feel we are not progressing.
We've been 16 months away from home
and, while we have the land, there is no
infrastructure and not even the start of a
building."
Her husband, Michael, takes pride in
explaining his former business grow-
ing amaryllis bulbs. "I had a very good
growth," he says, describing the bulbs as
well as the business he built.
He wistfully mentions that the ama-
ryllis plants, which are bright red, used
to be sent to the U.S. and Europe at this
time of year for Christmas. While he has
found temporary work as a consultant, his
Palestinian employees have not been so

Seated are Moti Sender and Rivka and Michael Goldschmidt, formerly of Ganei Tal.

Michael holds a folder with pictures of the destruction of their old community and a

rendering of what they plan to build. Standing is Cantor David Montefiore, director
of the Cantors' Conservatory.

lucky; he sends them money when he can.
"We need to push forward:' Rivka says
of their effort to raise awareness and
funds in the U.S. "We don't want to sit
all day and cry about the past, though it
hurts. We want to build. Every day drains
our families, especially the children. The
only thing that can take us out of this is
hope and building a new yishuv [settle-
ment], and that takes money"
As time passes, the compensation
money the families received dwindles
as the cost of rebuilding their lives rises.
While the Israeli government eventually
will clear the land and provide infra-
structure, they must re-establish their
community. They are ready and willing
to build their new homes and businesses,
but face a lack of funds for public build-
ings: the synagogue, gardens, social center
and playgrounds that keep a community
together. "As we visit communities, we
tell them we want you to be our partners
in building Israel, just as you always have,'
Rivka says.

For information on the former residents
of Ganei Tal and Gush Katif and ways
to help, visit: www.katifnet/ganeital.

Answering
Israel's Critics

The Charge

As described in some world press
accounts last week, the "prominent"
rabbis of the anti-Zionist Neturei Karta
who attended the Holocaust deniers'
conference in Tehran lauded President
Ahmadinejad's "friendship with the
Jewish community."

The Answer

The Washington Post described those
so-called rabbis as "miscreants with
hateful views. "And reacting to the
abhorrent nature of the conference
convened by Ahmadinejad, 34 interna-
tional non-governmental organizations
(NGOs) that previously had relations
with the Iranian Foreign Ministry's
Institute for Political and International
Audiences have reportedly now cut all
ties to it.

- Allan Gale, Jewish Community Council of

Metropolitan Detroit

December 28 A 2006

19 .