Opinion
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Editorial
God Bless Our Home
0
ne of the best-selling recent
novels among Jewish readers
has been The Yiddish Policemen's
Union, by Michael Chabon.
The book begins with a startling prem-
ise. What if Israel had been defeated in
1948 and there was no genuine Jewish
homeland? Instead, the United States
agrees to settle the displaced Jews in
Alaska, where their culture has become
demoralized and debased.
But the real question Chabon raises is
larger than this. What would the conse-
quences be for Jews everywhere if there
were no Israel celebrating its 60th anniver-
sary this week?
No pride in the vibrant culture that has
taken root there. No refuge for those Jews
displaced from Russia, Ethiopia, Europe
and South America. No breathtaking
technological progress that has raised
Israel's standard of living to match much
of Europe's.
No source of Jewish national identity for
our children and grandchildren. No cer-
tainty that when Jews are called upon to
fight for their freedom they will do it well.
Israel has given us all that in its 60
years, and it would be wonderful to say
that after all that its future is assured. But,
of course, we know that there is still far
to go.
The possibility of a nuclear-armed Iran
has emerged as an existential threat, and
some commentators suggest that there
is a 50-50 chance Israel will have to deal
with that militarily even before this year
is over.
Hezbollah and Hamas are entrenched
in southern Lebanon and Gaza. These
terrorist groups have shown they can rain
missiles on Israel's cities whenever they
are inclined. Just as disturbing is the sym-
pathy professed for these organizations by
Israeli Arabs, who enjoy the highest degree
of political freedom in the Middle East.
Not all gazes into the future are nega-
tive. Israel's high-tech boom has raised
many of its citizens into solid middle-class
status. Although the distribution of wealth
may not be as even as the founders of the
state would have preferred, it has opened
up a true capitalist dynamic in a once
impoverished land.
Besides acting as a refuge for Jews,
Israel is also providing an outlet for guest
workers from Eastern Europe. How are
they to be integrated into the community?
It is another problem associated with
increased wealth, but a problem nonethe-
less.
There is the ongoing debate about who
speaks for religious institutions in Israel, a
debate that intensifies as the Conservative
Dry Bones
THE PALESTINIANS ARE
EXPANDING ATTACKS ON
ISRAEL, FABRICATING
ATROCITIES, FAKING A
HUMANITARIAN CRISIS IN
GAZA, TUNNELING INTO
EGYPT, ACTING AS AN
IRANIAN SURROGATE,
No WAINER
ANC CONDI WANTS TO
KNOW WHY DONOR
COUNTRIES ARE NOT
FULFILLING" THEIR
PLEDGES OF SUPPORT
FOR THE
PALESTINIANS?!
WOULD ANYONE
LIKE TO EXPLAIN
IT TO HER?
O
A
www.drybonesblog.com
and Reform movements seek to attract
secular Jews and demand a legitimate
voice. The fervently Orthodox insist on
retaining primacy, though, and have the
votes in the Knesset to waylay any attempt
to bypass them.
At the age of 60, most human beings
can take satisfaction at their accom-
plishments and look forward to a life of
reduced pressures and responsibilities. But
that doesn't happen with nations, espe-
cially not this nation.
Nonetheless, Israel has been forged by
the fires it has come through. It is a tough,
humane, inspiring and miraculous place.
And we are all better for its existence. ❑
new friends. She returned
bubbling over the country she
found there.
My older daughter, Jaime,
chose a tougher route, going
with March of the Living.
This is the program that
takes Jewish teens to Poland
and the death camps and
then to Israel. Participants
are told in advance to prepare
themselves emotionally and
psychologically.
When my daughter returned, she spoke
about marching into the former ghetto
in Krakow, singing Hebrew songs and
watching the current occupants of the area
peering from windows and balconies in
curiosity. Whether friendly or hostile she
could not tell.
And then the release of landing in Israel
and the unmistakable sense of having
returned to another home.
Weeks after she came back to America,
we were in our family room discussing her
trip when she suddenly looked at me and
said: "I love being Jewish!'
And I thought to myself, "Well, at least
I've done something right as a father."
I would like to go back once more. With
my wife this time. I'd like to stand with
Sherry in Jerusalem at the Montefiore
windmill at twilight and look across the
valley at the walls of the Old City. I'd like
to have dinner at Jaffa across the harbor
from the lights of Tel Aviv.
Show her the view from the top of the
mountain at Haifa. I never made it down
to Eilat, and I'd like to do that, too.
And pray with her at the Wall, for peace
and for the blessed memory of those we
have lost. ❑
Reality Check
Land Of Memories
0
ne of my earliest memories is
standing beside my mother at
Central High School in Detroit
to hear my uncle, Joseph Haggai, speak at
the celebration of Israel's independence.
He was among the leading Zionists in
the city, and when I visited Israel for the
first time 17 years later, a mandatory stop
was to visit his son Jeremiah at his kib-
butz, Ein Hashofet.
After I left Israel, my cousin wrote my
mom, who was convinced he would talk
me into making aliyah, to reassure her.
"George is too much an American boy to
do that:' he wrote.
He had me pegged. But Israel has
remained a major part of my concerns
as an American Jew. More than ever after
three subsequent visits as a journalist.
I have experienced things there that
will stay with me the rest of my life. A
bat mitzvah atop Masada. Shabbat din-
ner with a Yemeni family in Jerusalem.
A18
May 15 • 2008
N
Attending an Israeli Arab wed-
ding celebration in Nazareth.
Floating on the Dead Sea with
Rabbi Harold Loss and the
Temple Israel group.
Attending a party at Zev
Chafets' home to watch the spu-
rious handshake between Yasser
Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin. I also
did my best to interview Israeli
Arabs and Palestinians, too.
Because a journalist's first duty
is to understand, not propagandize.
While I treasure all these memories, I
treasure even more the effect Israel had on
my children.
The memorial fund we established at
Temple Israel for my daughter Courtney
goes toward student travel to Israel. She
went with Young Judaea in 1997 and
deliberately chose a group based outside
Detroit so she would be forced out of her
comfort zone to experience Israel with
George Cantor's e-mail address is
gcantor614@aol.com .