metro >> Detroiters in Israel

Israel Solidarity from page 10

"I am eager to continue volunteering and,
for the first time in my life, feel like I am
really making a difference in the Jewish
community."

— Hanna Berlin

the patient in the back. I just figured
there was a fire or other large emergency
nearby. Only after we had dropped the
patient off did the Israeli youth volun-
teer with us explain to me what the siren
was.
She said she was very concerned
because that's the first time she had
heard the siren go off in Tel Aviv in
years. I became very anxious to get
back to my dorm and asked the driver
to take me home. Although I had heard
the news about the murders of the three
Israeli teenagers and one Palestinian
teenager, this was the first time the real-
ity of the situation hit me.
Later that night there was another
siren, but this time I was prepared for it
and was less frightened. There is a bomb
shelter on every floor of the dormitories.
Just this morning, I was riding a city bus
home as I returned from a night shift on
the ambulance. I could barely hear the
siren in the background as the bus driver

Hanna Berlin of Farmington Hills holds

her licensed first-responder card.

pulled over and everyone exited the bus.
As we huddled next to the edge of the
road, we heard three large booms. We
turned to the sky and saw a single, small
white cloud. I later learned this was the
aftermath of the Iron Dome intercepting
the missile.
Our program coordinators gave us the
option to stop volunteering or to even go
home, but all of my peers and I felt more
motivated than ever to stay in Israel and
to continue volunteering with the ambu-
lance service.
During the last three days, I have
heard the siren go off about five times. I
continue to seek shelter each time, but I
actually feel very safe due to the efficien-
cy of the Iron Dome. I am eager to con-
tinue volunteering and, for the first time
in my life, feel like I am really making a
difference in the Jewish community.

❑

JN Intern Michael Higer contributed to
this report.

Glued To The News

Detroiter tracks the safety of her
brother's family in Israel.

Shari S. Cohen
Special to the Jewish News

W

est Bloomfield resident Dana
Patchak now intersperses her
busy days as a Real Estate
One agent with frequent scans of the
news from Israel. As shellings became
more frequent last week, so did her
communications with her brother, Craig
Kulman, who lives with his family in
Ra'anana near Tel Aviv.
"We have constant contact, and I talk
to him daily. He has a deliberate calm,
trying to reassure me on the phone. I'm
very concerned, and I'm glued to the
news — especially Haaretz online and
ynetnews.com . I can't help myself from
looking at the news," Patchak said.
Craig, whose wife, Orly, is a native
Israeli, and their four sons, ages 5, 8, 9
and 10, moved to Israel four years ago
from Florida. "Craig and Orly knew when
they made aliyah that it would be a very

12

July 17 • 2014

different lifestyle and mindset, but
Craig was ready for it. He has wanted
to do it since he was a little boy:'
Patchak said.
Despite the shelling, her nephews
continue to attend school while their
parents go to work as usual. The
boys are aware of what is happening
and have been instructed about what
to do when a siren goes off.
"After all, they're Israelis; they've
got to pay attention to what's going
on:' Patchak said, adding that her
brother and sister-in-law are "not
making the boys unduly uneasy."
Their apartment has a special
room with a reinforced door and
two sets of windows that serves as a
bomb shelter.
Patchak remembers a similar
Dana Patchak's four young Israeli nephews in Ra'anana
period of worry when her daughter,
Nina, then a high school student,
was on Detroit Federation's Teen Mission
in 2006. Nina remembers seeing shells
It's a difficult time, Patchak says, as
as attacks broke out against Israel at the
near Tiberias. No one in the group was
she worries about her family and all
beginning of the Second Lebanon War
harmed, but their trip was cut short.
Israelis while unable to help them.

❑

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