Bomb Attack from page 3
can't imagine what the race is going to be like.
I'm sure it will be held, but under much differ-
ent circumstances in the future. It's very much
a shame."
Record Time Changes Fate
According to the Boston Athletic Association's
marathon roster, 560 of the more than 20,000
runners were from Michigan. Elizabeth Sollish,
46, of Huntington Woods
was among them. She
ran her greatest race ever,
crossing the finish line in
3 hours and 31 minutes.
Sollish believes her new per-
sonal marathon record likely
changed her fate.
"It was beshert (meant to
Elizabeth
be):' she said. "This was my
Sollish
fourth Boston Marathon.
The last two times I ran
closer to four hours, which was around the
time of the explosions. Had it been any other
year, we firmly believe I would have been in
the chaos:'
Sollish, a mother of two girls, Harper, 8, and
Remy, 6, traveled to Boston with her parents,
Gerrie and Buddy Sollish of West Bloomfield,
and her partner, Lisa Bargende Sollish. Lisa
met her at the finish line and they reconnected
with her parents back at their hotel, about a
block away from the bombing site.
"We got back up to our room and we heard
the explosions:' she said. "A building was
blocking our view. We couldn't see anything
out the window but people running. There was
panic on everyone's faces, but nobody knew
what had happened. It had to have been very
much like the 9-11 terrorist attack in New
York:'
Sollish says they couldn't make any phone
calls or send text messages in the moments
after the blasts. Eventually, they learned what
was going on through news reports on the
local television stations. The group was able to
hail a van to the airport and make it onto their
evening flight back to Michigan. They arrived
back home Monday night.
"We didn't know if it was terrorism; we
didn't know how many people were hurt:' she
says. "It was shock at the airport; it was on
every TV. The mood was somber:'
Tuesday morning, Sollish told her children
what happened. She recounted her amazing
race and also let them know that something
scary happened and people got hurt.
"You could see on their faces they were
processing it:' she says. "Right now, I'm feel-
ing fortunate. I don't want to feel angry. I'm
not going to give [whoever did this] the power
and the satisfaction of making me feel tainted
about something I'm passionate about. There's
still a lot to celebrate. There are a lot of heroes.
Volunteers and others didn't turn away; they
rushed to help every single person who was
part of the marathon. I'd rather celebrate those
things than be angry about the whys:'
Prayers And Concern
Rabbi Jason Miller of Farmington Hills, a local
rabbi and businessman, heard about the explo-
sions on his car radio. He was on his way to the
Jewish Community Center in West Bloomfield.
As soon as he got there, he sent a text mes-
sage to Elizabeth Sollish to check on her and
her family. Many concerned friends also
posted messages on her Facebook page and
on the pages of Sandra Woolman, 47, of West
Bloomfield who ran with Andrea Eisenberg,
50, of Franklin and other local participants.
Woolman and Eisenberg also made it back to
their hotel safely before the bombs went off.
Miller said, "I also went on Facebook using
my phone to check on Noam Neusner, a friend
in Washington who runs the Boston Marathon
every year. It's very scary when something
like this happens and your mind immediately
turns to everyone you know who's a marathon
runner. All we can do now is pray for the
bereaved and injured. As a rabbi, I don't have
the answers to why people are willing to cause
the unthinkable. I just pray that such acts of
cowardice cease in our world and that peace
prevails:'
According to the mara-
thon roster, a large number
of Metro Detroit runners
came from Ann Arbor.
Kelley Kozloff, 36, was one
of them. Her husband, Ken
Kozloff, spoke by phone to a
local television news station
Ken Kozloff
providing live coverage of the
tragedy. Ken did not run in
the race; they were not hurt.
"My wife finished the marathon about 30
minutes before the explosions:' said Ken,
whose father, Ed, of Huntington Woods is with
the group Motor City Striders.
"We were sitting in a tent just sort of trying
to recover after the race when we heard the
blasts. It almost sounded like cannons going
off. Everyone in the tent froze. We saw the two
big plumes of smoke coming from the finish
line:'
Kelley and Ken managed to walk back to the
apartment where they were staying. On the
way, they passed a tent where seriously injured
people were being treated right on the street.
"The walk back was emotional," Kozloff said.
"We saw stretchers going in and out. There
were a lot of ambulances rushing back and
forth, up and down the street. There were a lot
of people just walking around. It was very sur-
real:'
❑
IN Contributing Writer Harry Kirsbaum
added to this news story.
How You Can Help
• Donate to the Salvation Army (www.salvationarmyusa.org ), which is offering
food, beverages and crisis counseling to survivors and first responders.
• Donate to the American Red Cross or give blood (call 1-800-RED CROSS).
42
April 18 • 2013
Free Speech?
Carter given Yeshiva U. award;
rebuffed Geller gets to speak at
other synagogues.
JTA and other sources
p
ersonal appearances recently
scheduled in the New York
Jewish community came
under protest — with varied results.
On April 10,
former President
Jimmy Carter
accepted an award
given by the Yeshiva
University law
school's journal,
despite protests
from pro-Israel sup-
porters.
The Cardozo Journal of Conflict
Resolution, at a ceremony in New
York City, bestowed its "International
Advocate for Peace" prize on Carter
for his political activism.
The event was "totally peaceful,
totally nonviolent, totally friendly:'
Brian Farkas, the journal's editor, told
the New York Times. "People were
laughing, people were smiling, we
engaged in an extremely respectful
dialogue:'
Carter's nomination had come
under attack by pro-Israel groups,
who accused the former president of
having a bias against the Jewish state.
They noted his likening of Israel's
West Bank policies to apartheid
and his meetings with Hamas lead-
ers. Carter wrote a 2006 book titled
Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.
The Forward had quoted one
alumnus as saying that a dozen or so
alumni would attempt to block Carter
physically from receiving the award.
Prior to the ceremony Alan
Dershowitz, a Harvard law professor
and pro-Israel supporter, challenged
Carter to a debate.
"Carter has prevented peace,
encouraged terrorism and done
more than anyone else to isolate and
demonize the Middle East's only
democracy, Israel," he said.
Another outspo-
ken critic of Israel,
rock musician Roger
Waters, was invited
by the 92nd Street Y,
a Jewish community
center, to perform a
concert on April 30.
Waters has called for
Roger Waters
total economic and cultural warfare
against the Jewish state through the
boycott, divestment and sanctions
(BDS) movement. A public outcry by
pro-Israel activists forced the center
to cancel his performance.
Geller Finds New Forums
Meanwhile, the Great Neck
Synagogue in suburban New York
canceled a planned appearance by
Islam critic Pamela Geller, citing
security concerns.
The Long Island
synagogue on
Thursday posted on
its website a letter
from its executive
board explaining
why the April 13
talk featuring Geller
Pamela Geller
had been called off.
As the notoriety
and media exposure of the planned
program this Sunday have increased,
so has the legal liability and potential
security exposure of our institution
and its member families:' the state-
ment said.
"In an era of heightened security
concerns, it is irresponsible to jeopar-
dize the safety of those who call Great
Neck Synagogue home, especially our
children, even at the risk of diverting
attention from a potentially impor-
tant voice in the ongoing debate."
Geller has been criticized for
her harsh comments about Islam.
She said that opposition to her talk
stemmed from the desperation of
"leftist and Islamic supremacist
groups," according to the Jewish
Week.
"They know that they are perpe-
trating a Goebbels-like 'Big Lie; and
so even though they have immense
influence in the media and in govern-
ment, they are avid to silence anyone
who speaks the truth because they
fear how the truth, even when spoken
in a small venue, exposes them," she
wrote in an email.
After the cancellation, however,
Geller was invited to speak that day
at two other synagogues. She was
greeted by hundreds at Chabad of
Great Neck on Sunday morning and
later that day at Congregation Beth-El
in Edison, N.J.
❑