metro >> Detroiters in Israel
Israel's Reality
Detroiters visiting or living in Israel maintain calm amid air-raid sirens.
Louis Finkelman
Special to the Jewish News
A
s the war in Gaza escalates and
rockets continue to be aimed at
the Jewish State, life for Israelis
goes on. Nate Silver, in his book The Signal
and the Noise, explains this is how Israel
typically deals with this kind of danger: "It
tolerates it because the alternative — having
everyone paralyzed by fear — is incapaci-
tating and in line with the terrorists' goals:'
Across Detroit's Jewish community, par-
ents have children in Israel and most seem
to be taking the current situation the way
Nate Silver says Israelis do.
Marc and Shelley Littman of Oak Park,
on a visit to their son and his family in
Ramat Beit Shemesh in Israel, went to din-
ner with Rabbi Reuven and Rena Spolter
in Jerusalem. (Spolter is former rabbi of
Young Israel of Oak Park.)
Mark's matter-of-fact report: "We have
heard sirens in Ramat Beit Shemesh
Aleph. Also, we met the Spolters for din-
ner last night in Emek Refaim. A siren
went off there, and we felt the vibration
from the explosion when the rocket was
destroyed by the Iron Dome. We also saw
the smoke ring that remained. Of course,
after, we enjoyed a fabulous Italian meal
with our friends:'
Several times in the past five years,
Hamas has launched its rockets at Israel
and the Israeli Defense Forces gathered at
the border with Gaza; now, Israeli forces
have gone into Gaza. So Yoel Finkelman,
former Detroiter of Beit Shemesh, sum-
marizes his feelings: "The war: been there,
done that. Replay of the previous few
rounds. We've had a couple of sirens here
in Beit Shemesh, and we have taken a pret-
ty relaxed attitude toward the situation:'
Yoel's wife, Nava, adds, "We are only bored
because we have the good fortune to be
out of the line of fire. People closer to Azza
[Gaza] have been bombed continuously for
weeks, and beside the constant disruption
to life are also in true mortal danger. I doubt
that their experience is one of boredom:'
In a blog entry titled "Here We Go
Again:' Spolter, now of Yad Binyamin in
Israel, writes:
"Interestingly, for the
time being, I'm quite
" calm about things this
time around. We've been
sleeping in our beds
and not in the protected
room and, fortunately,
Hamas has been nice
Rabbi Spolter
enough to shoot in our
8 July 24 • 2014
Members of the Finkelman and Shapiro families in a protected room
direction during waking hours (at least
for the adults). When the siren blares, you
just drop everything and make your way
to the safe room. We're working on mak-
ing our way swiftly, but also calmly, so as
not to overly upset the kids:'
While Spolter takes the disruption in
his life more-or-less in stride, he feels dif-
ferently about the impact on his young
son.
"That reality — that the rockets are
endangering and frightening our chil-
dren — is the aspect most infuriating to
me. I explained to him that we can't allow
our enemies to frighten us, and that our
strength is important — and he tries to
understand. But he's just a child, and it's
normal to be scared:'
Former Detroiters Chaim and Hassi
Brickman describe their experience in
Ra'anana:
"Hassi and I were relaxing at home July
9 at night. Ra'anana is approximately 25
miles northeast of Tel Aviv and has never
been threatened by rockets fired from
Gaza. Hassi was in the kitchen listening
to a movie via earphones while I read in
the reinforced protective room next door.
The sirens went off exactly at 10 p.m.
Until I heard all the metal window shut-
ters slamming shut in the surrounding
apartments, I thought the sirens might
have been a drill.
"I ran to the kitchen where Hassi was
concentrating on her laptop monitor,
oblivious to the wailing sirens in the
distance. We hustled into the protected
room, closed the door and drew in our
metal shutters. The lock on the shutters
was rusted and couldn't be engaged. Ten
minutes later we went back to our rou-
tine as if hardly anything had transpired.
Today, I fixed the lock on the shutters:'
ow.+001111•1
mr. ■ •101
Nati Faber (green shirt) during an NCSY
Kollel session in Israel
NCSYers In Israel
A contingent of teens from Metro Detroit
has gone to Israel as part of programs of
the National Conference of Synagogue
Youth (NCSY). But not every participant
has opted into the Israel section. One par-
ent said his daughter would go to Poland
but not to Israel on an NCSY trip. "This
way I'll sleep better:' he says.
Another NCSY group, the Kollel for boys
who want intense study as well as travel
and sports, was originally based in Beit
Meir in the Jerusalem area. Rabbi Moshe
Benovitz of the NCSY staff explains to
parents that, while the leadership judged
the Beir Meir campus as completely safe,
they still decided to move the program
north to Chispin. The leadership found
replacements in the North for many of
the activities originally planned for the
Jerusalem area: hikes, study sessions and
sports events.
The experience of huddling in a shelter
for much of their first two days in Israel
could wind up being the most exciting
and memorable part of the program. Teen
leaders undoubtedly made sure to keep
their spirits up in the shelter by singing
and studying.
Shelley Dube of Farmington Hills gets
only reassuring messages from her son,
Amichai Nadiv, part of
the NCSY Kollel. He is
immediate past interna-
tional NCSY president.
Another Kollel par-
ticipant, Nati Faber,
16, told his parents,
I Mark and Karyn Faber
Amichai Nadiv of Southfield, that by
moving North he regrets
he did not get to spend Shabbat with his
older brother, Gabe, in Jerusalem. Gabe, a
graduate of the same NCSY program, now
serves in the Israel Defense Forces.
Looking back over the changes in
plans, his mother, says, "NCSY did noth-
ing wrong; they did everything right.
"I am very happy to report that Nati
called today and said that every day
is better," she said on Sunday. "It took
some time, but they have worked to re-
establish the regular shiurim [classes]
that they would have had in Beit Meir,
and he says that it has really made a
positive impact.
"They have some very heartwarming
stories also. They cried together today
when they heard about the deaths of the
soldiers in Gaza, and then their head
of logistics and security was called to
Gaza in the reserves. The students were
very close with him and it was a heart-
wrenching goodbye:'
As for Nati's decision to go to Israel
for the program, even when the airline
canceled the flight out of security con-
cerns, she says, "I am so proud him. I
am so proud of both boys. Of course, I
am concerned. My life now is concern
about them; but it would be selfish to
worry only about my two boys. I am
concerned about all Israel."
The NCSY program that Shoshi Silow
of Huntington Woods is participating in
has moved North as well. The GIVE pro-
gram consists of doing good deeds such
as visiting sick children in hospitals,
visiting the elderly in rehab and nursing
homes, and helping to create a wedding
for an indigent couple. Among the 40
young women in the program also are
Detroiters Elana Berlin and Chaya Ross.
Although NCSY leaders had to recon-
struct the program in unanticipated
venues, Shoshi sends her parents, Dr.
Charles Silow and Sarah Hartman,
enthusiastic messages.
"She's having the time of her life," her
father says.
In the midst of war, the NCSY teens
are having fun as they bond, get to know
one another and support Israel.
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