Opinion

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More Than Understanding

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hen I first received informa-
tion about the UJC/JCPA
Israel Institute for Civic
Leaders, it took me about five seconds
to decide to nominate Shirley Stancato.
As a member of New Detroit's board of
directors, I had already come to know her
as highly intelligent, deeply committed
to fighting racism and actively engaged
in building bridges between the African
American and Jewish communities. So
when her nomination was approved, it
was no surprise when I called to invite her
to Israel that she took about five seconds
to enthusiastically say,`Yes!'"
The participants met for the first time
at JFK while enduring the lengthy check-
in procedures necessitated by El Al's secu-
rity concerns. Sixteen hours later, they
were standing on the Haas Promenade
overlooking Jerusalem's Old City and
Mount Moriah, the site of Abraham's
binding of Isaac. That singular moment
encapsulated the experiences that were
to follow as our group of Christian and
Jewish leaders came to see the land of
Israel — its history, its religious sig-
nificance, its breathtaking beauty, its
profound security challenges — through
each other's eyes.
The group also met the people of Israel:
Christians, Jews and Muslims; Israelis
and Palestinians; government officials
and critics of the government, scholars
and activists. This clearly was not a one-
sided propaganda junket. Rather, it was an
opportunity to explore complex, difficult
issues.
Discussions included the challenges
facing Israelis and Palestinians as they
strive for peace and a two-state solution;
Israel's efforts to balance security needs
with the protection of civil liberties; the
necessity of the security fence; the future
of settlements and the resolution of refu-
gee claims; the emerging challenges in
the aftermath of the war in Lebanon and
the threat posed to world stability by the
prospect of Iranian nuclear weapons.
The JCPA team leader told the group at
the start of the institute that she would
consider it a success if the Christian civic
leaders went home understanding that
Israel is complicated. The political, geo-
graphic and human situation there should
not be oversimplified, and the challenges
Israel faces are complex and evade solu-
tion. By the farewell dinner, it was clear
the participants gained that understand-
ing, and much more.

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November 22 * 2007

They saw that
Israeli society may
be the most ethni-
cally diverse on
earth, and Israel
is the only nation
to which people
of color have been
brought into free-
dom. They recog-
Robert Cohen
nized that Israel is
The Host
a vibrant democ-
racy wedded to the
institutions of freedom, where political
discourse is part of everyday life if not
always polite. They will carry that knowl-
edge back to their home communities.
As influential civic leaders, it's a good bet
they will share it with many others.
This trip also had a deeply impact on
the participants. They gained great-
er insight into the similarities of
and linkages between Judaism and
Christianity. They shared spiritual
moments that could only happen in
the land holy to both faiths. It was

Bridging The Racial Divide

I

t is hard to do justice to the full
range of experiences accumulated
in eight days in Israel, but I would
like to give you a few snapshots.
I met the inspirational deputy mayor
of Haifa, Shmuel Gelbhart, who is so
proud of the fact that his city is known
as a place where Arabs ands Jews get
along better than any place else in the
region. He described Haifa as "an island
of normality in this troubled area of the
Middle East."
I learned the Yad Vashem Holocaust
museum has changed its focus from the
pain of victimhood to honoring heroes
and martyrs who fought to resist the
Holocaust. Our guide at the museum
told us about the German expatriate,
Kurt Tucholsky, who wrote in 1935,"A
country is not just what it does. It is also

Visiting Israel

Eight prominent non-Jewish
community leaders from vari-

ous American cities traveled to
Israel last month for an institute

conducted by United Jewish
Communities (UJC) and the

Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA).

The participants spent nine days in Jerusalem, Nazareth, Tiberias, the Golan
Heights, Haifa and Tel Aviv. Their rigorous program included meetings with Israeli
public and private sector leaders, and site visits to various places of historic,
religious, cultural and civic value. They were accompanied by Jewish community
relations professionals and lay leaders from their home towns.

truly a privilege to show all our people's
homeland as we would welcome strangers
into our home. And it gave me a preview
of what members of our Jewish com-
munity will experience on a Black-Jewish
trip to Israel this January co-sponsored
by Council and Pastor Glenn Plummer's
Fellowship of Israel and Black America. If
you are interested in possibly joining us,
please call me at (248) 642-5393. I

Robert Cohen is executive director of the

Bloomfield Township-based Jewish Community

Relations Council of Metropolitan Detroit.

what it puts up with, what it tolerates."
In Israel, as I have found everywhere
I travel, it hurts to learn that darker-
skinned people are at the bottom of
the economic ladder (72 percent of
Ethiopian Jews live below the poverty
line in Israel). But I was inspired when I
met members of the Ethiopian National
Project who are working to guarantee
the right of Ethiopian Jewry to partici-
pate fully in Israeli society.
Inequality exists, but it is not being
tolerated.
We met Lydia Aisenberg, a mother

from Wales whose
son was wounded
in the war and
hospitalized.
Shortly after, a
wounded young
Palestinian was
put in the bed
next to her son.
Ms. Aisenberg
vowed then that
she would work
very hard so that
no mother should
ever feel what she felt watching her son,
and someone else's son, recover from
their wounds. She has devoted her life
to that effort.
We met representatives of the
Association of Civil Rights in Israel,
with a staff made up of both Jews
and Arabs working together pas-
sionately on behalf of both com-
munities.
We visited the Hadassah Medical
Organization, which treats anyone
regardless of ethnicity. If you are
hurt or ill, you can come there.
We visited the Coretta Scott King
Forest, dedicated after her passing,
and learned that Israel is the only
nation outside the United States
that observes Martin Luther King
Jr. Day.
We met people with a wide vari-
ety of views on the very difficult
issues that face Israel, such as Zionists
who believe Palestinians deserve their
own state and other Jews who passion-
ately disagree with that point of view.
I brought all of these images and so
many, many more back with me.
As hard as our work is to bridge the
racial divide in this region and this
country, we saw people doing similar
work under much more difficult cir-
cumstances than ours. They believe
that, as Kurt Tucholsky wrote, a country
is what it tolerates.
I was inspired by the work that I saw
people from a variety of backgrounds
doing to make Israel the place they want
it to be.
That is very energizing as I come
back to continue the work of New
Detroit. I I

Shirley Stancato is president and CEO of

New Detroit, Inc., southeast Michigan's race

relations leadership coalition.