Opinion

A MIX OF IDEAS

Editorials are posted and archived on JNonline.us .

Dry Bones CATASTROPHE

Editorial

Rising From The Ashes

I

n the aftermath of its worst forest
fire ever, Israel can only wait and see
how the process of natural regenera-
tion takes root. The backdrop is enor-
mous: a disaster that killed 44 people,
injured more than 30 others, damaged
or destroyed 250 homes, consumed 5
million trees, necessitated an interna-
tional fire fighting brigade and inspired
a worldwide relief effort.
As Omri Boneh, director of the north-
ern region of Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-
Jewish National Fund, explains, the first
step to rehabilitate the scarred land-
scape — a fifth of the mountain range
— is waiting for nature to do its thing.
Talk about converging paths.
As Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu and his administration
wallowed in the ashes of citizen anger
engulfing the Israeli government's
weak fire service in the vast Carmel
Forest, Israeli Environmental Minister
Gilad Erdan set the stage to rehabilitate
plant and animal life in the burned-out
northern region.
The government committee he impan-
eled concluded it would pursue natural
regeneration and hold off on planting,
which, at the end of the day, is the life-
blood of forestry. Committee members
suggested buffer zones with limited
vegetation between communities and
roads. The intent is to stop the spread
of fire to populated areas, a bit late for
residents of fire-ravaged Ein Hod, but

still an urgent pursuit. Another benefit
to buffers would be halting the spread of
fire within large forests.
Essential as it is for the balance of
nature, regenerating the Carmel Forest
won't come cheaply. Erdan's committee
pegged the cost at $46 million. The pay-
out would cover rehabilitating plant and
animal life, averting soil erosion and
improving trails, roads, campgrounds
and observation points. That's before
compensation to fire victims and their
families.
Interestingly, the surviving trees will
jump-start the regeneration process. Ido
Izhaki, head of the University of Haifa's
Carmel Research Center, told JTA: "The
forest needs to be left alone to recover
with only minimal human intervention."
How many times have we heard that:
staying out of the way and letting nature
take its course.
In this case, it makes perfect sense.
Seeds from the singed Aleppo pines
were released from the pinecones in
the heat of the flames. They'll sprout
in a matter of weeks. Sprouts from the
stumps of destroyed trees also will help
fill in the land scars.
Also being considered are selective
thinning, to limit density and coax
young trees to grow, and limited plant-
ing to bring biodiversity in the form of a
mixed forest replete with broadleaf trees
native to the area.
Izhaki also envisions more wildlife

and vegetation in
15-20 years as species
find room to thrive in
the mountain range,
provided fires remain
infrequent, which
speeds forest recovery
and renewal.
Meanwhile, the
Netanyahu adminis-
tration must come to
grips with a govern-
ment so ill prepared
and ill equipped to
fight what became
a deadly firebomb
that will haunt the
nation for years.
Accountability ulti-
mately rests with the
prime minister, but you
can bet he got scads
of bad advice when
it came to budgeting
for the fire service,
only 1,500 firefight-
ers strong in a population of 7 million.
What's more, there are woodlands up
north and plenty of buildings in all the
big cities — despite Israel's desert-like
image in its southern realms.
Amid the pain, grief and outrage
and coming together of the Chanukah
season blaze, Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit shaliach (emissary
from Israel) Yoav Raban put it well in a

IN essay: "Our trees have been destroyed
time and again, but, like the entire
Jewish people, they renew themselves
and grow fuller and serve to honor
those that have been lost."
But that renewal can be ever stronger
with a powerful commitment by the
Israeli government to document the
weaknesses of the national fire service
and strengthen them.

❑

Bullying No Rite, But Abuse

W by do children have to kill
other children or themselves
before we pay attention to the
problem of bullying?
Bullying is not a rite of passage. It is not
child's play. It is child abuse! The long-
term consequences of cruelty to children
can be devastating, whether the perpetra-
tor is a parent or a peer.
There are five kinds of bullying: physi-
cal, verbal, emotional, sexual and cyber
bullying.
For a long time, it was believed that
most bullying was physical. Physical
bullying is obvious and easily detected.
Consequently, intervention by adults is
quite common. However, this often is not
the case with the insidious forms of bul-
lying, such as name-calling, humiliation,
shunning, rejecting, slandering on the

22

December 23 • 2010

Internet and the use of sexual
language that can cause the
greatest pain for students.
Cyber bullying has taken
hurtfulness to a new level.
Because of its anonymity, it
seems to offer young people a
license to exceed all boundar-
ies of responsible behavior.
Even when the person claims
attribution, as was the case of
the unconscionable actions that
provoked the Rutgers student's
suicide, this generation has yet
to develop a solid value system
to accompany the new technology and the
doors it opens.
At the same time, we can't ignore the
fallout of mean-spiritedness that inhabits
our TV, radio, music, video games and

interpersonal communication.
Our children are bombarded
with trash talk, violent images
and sexual and homophobic
messages that replace their
innocence. Research indicates
that the hurtful behaviors mid-
dle school students exhibited
are now the actions of elemen-
tary school children.
Even our parochial schools
are not immune to the indigni-
ties that children suffer. When
I work in those settings, I dis-
cover from conversations with
students that the whole range of bullying
activities are taking place in sacred hall-
ways.
Our schools must be held accountable
when policies are not in place or not fol-

lowed. When children do not feel safe and
are not protected by all of the adults in
those settings, we must be vigilant. At the
same time, we must view our schools in a
larger context.
Think about a series of concentric
circles beginning with the infant in the
womb of the family. Babies have distinct
personalities that can add a lot of joy and/
or a lot of stress for parents.
Depending on children's experience
with their parents from this incubator of
family life, some children may enter the
school system with many problems. They
haven't learned basic social skills, impulse
control or moral values. It's not only the
sins of omission they are lacking; the sins
of commission have been imprinted in
their hearts and minds.

Bullying on page 23

