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Aiding Israel

Video archive documents
those who helped create the Jewish state.

SHARI S. COHEN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

J

ABOVE: Aryeh
Many of those who helped Israel were World
ews throughout the diaspora were excited
Halivni, Toldot
War II veterans whose service inspired them.
and inspired when the State of Israel was
Yisrael executive
“They didn’t see themselves as heroes,” Halivni
declared in 1948. Hundreds set aside their
director, interviews said. “They said, ‘How could we not?’ They lived
regular jobs or school activities to help the
Ernie Goldberger of in a time that required certain action.”
fledgling state as it faced attack from its Arab
The William Davidson Foundation is funding
neighbors and prepared to welcome thousands Los Angeles about
his service in the
Toldot’s interviews in North America.
of Jewish refugees from Europe.
Palmach.
“Toldot Yisrael is making it possible for the
Some opened their checkbooks and their
world to learn about the unwavering com-
address books to find resources and contacts
mitment and solidarity of the Jewish people, includ-
that could help with munitions, technical knowledge
ing countless American Jews, during the tumultuous
and vital supplies; others traveled to Israel to fight.
post-World War II era,” said Kari Alterman, senior
Now their individual stories are being videotaped
program officer for Jewish life at the William Davidson
by Toldot Yisrael, a nonprofit Israeli organization that
Foundation. “As the State of Israel neared creation, so
seeks to preserve this part of Israel’s heritage.
many people — the well-known and the little-known —
“Toldot Yisrael means the ‘chronicles
stepped up to ensure that a Jewish homeland would be
of Israel,’” explains Aryeh Halivni,
funded and thrive. Our goal in supporting Toldot is to
executive director. He emigrated from
help them supplement and complete their work.”
Cleveland to Israel in 2002 and found
there was nothing comprehensive
documenting the founding of Israel.
LOCAL INTERVIEWS
Joseph “Jerry” Lapides, 87, of Southfield was born in
Inspired partly by Steven Spielberg’s
Europe and spent his earliest years in the U.S. His fam-
video archives of Holocaust survivors,
ily immigrated to Palestine in 1934. He remembers his
Halivini
began
to
interview
a
group
of
Aryeh Halivni
school’s advanced physical education class was actually
individuals, mostly in Hebrew, to cre-
a thinly disguised form of military preparation for the
ate film testimony about their role in
anticipated war of independence. His school bus was
Israel’s founding. He then expanded
the target of rocks thrown by Arabs; protective wiring
the interviews to the second generation, who could tell
was installed over the windows to protect the students.
the stories of their deceased ancestors, some of whom
In 1947, he was invited at age 17 to join the Haganah,
fought for Israel, smuggled weapons or helped develop
the Israeli underground defense organization active
the new nation’s infrastructure.
during the years of the British mandate. He was a
Halivni and his team have completed more than
shomer — a guard outside an Arab village — and then
1,000 video interviews, mainly in Israel, and are work-
served in the Israeli Air Force after independence was
ing on a series of approximately 100 in North America.
declared. His father was an American citizen and the
(Examples of interviews are available at www.
family returned to the U.S. in 1948; Lapides later came
toldotyisrael.org.) Most of this group is American
“because Americans were in a position to contribute the to Michigan for graduate studies. Now a retired profes-
sor, he continues to visit Israel where three of his grand-
most,” he says. Interviews have been conducted in New
children live.
York, Reno, Cleveland, Portland, Minneapolis and in
Dorothy Gerson of Franklin described a multigen-
Metro Detroit.

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September 6 • 2018

jn

erational dedication to Israel in her
video interview. She attributes her
commitment to Israel to her grand-
father, Joseph Wetsman, who immi-
grated to Iowa as a young man. He
was “one of the earliest people to
believe that the Jewish people had to
have a homeland. He went to the sec-
Dorothy Gerson
ond Zionist Congress in Switzerland
where he met Theodore Herzl. I grew
up from childhood knowing there
has to be an Israel,” she says. Gerson’s mother, the late
Sarah Wetsman Davidson, was a founder of Detroit’s
Hadassah, part of the women’s Zionist organization.
During the early 20th century, Gerson’s grandfather
visited Palestine with friends, Gerson said. Together
they bought and donated land that became the future
site of Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem. That commit-
ment expanded over the years through major contribu-
tions by the late William Davidson (Gerson’s brother)
and his wife, Karen, and other Gerson-Wetsman family
members to the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower of the
Hadassah Medical Center in Jerusalem.
Detroiter Ed Levy Jr. told the story of his father’s role
in meeting Israel’s acute need for housing after inde-
pendence. The late Edward Levy Sr., who owned a large
construction supply company in the Detroit area, donat-
ed and shipped surplus military and other construction
equipment to Israel and helped establish a quarry for
building materials.
Others from Southeast Michigan who were inter-
viewed include Ann Newman and Armand Lauffer.
Halivni expects that most interviews, some of which
are several hours long, will be completed this year. Then
it will require a few years to catalogue them for online
use; they will be housed at the National Library of Israel.
Individuals who have a story to tell about personal or
family roles in helping to create the State of Israel can
sign up at www.toldotyisrael.org. •