38 | NOVEMBER 2 • 2023 J
N

OUR COMMUNITY

O

n Oct. 7, Maya 
Aisner woke up, 
checked her phone, 
and saw missed alerts about 
rocket attacks, including 
instructions to seek shelter 
immediately. There were also 
dozens of calls and messages 
awaiting her response. 
When the next alert 
came, the 18-year-old West 
Bloomfield High School 
graduate spending a gap year 
in Israel, grabbed a newly 
packed bag containing food, 
water and clothing and head-
ed for the stairwell of her 
four-story Tel Aviv apart-
ment.
Her building didn’t have 
a bomb shelter, so she and 
the other residents — all 
Americans participating in 
the same yearlong program 
— huddled together, listening 
to the sound of rockets over-
head. They watched in horror 
as a nearby building crum-
bled from a direct hit. 
“You could hear explosions 
as if they were right next 
to us. When you hear the 
bombs going off and see a 
building go down, it’s terri-
fying. Kids were crying and 
calling their parents, and we 
were all hugging each other,” 
she recalls. 

Aisner arrived in Israel on 
Aug. 27 for what was sup-
posed to be a nine-month 
program. But, on Oct. 15, 
she, Noah Tracht and another 
participant, all from West 
Bloomfield, boarded a U.S. 
government-chartered flight 
to Greece. Two days later, 
they arrived home.
“There were times when 
I was pretty scared, ner-
vously waiting to see if the 
Iron Dome intercepted the 
rockets,” says Tracht, a 2023 
Frankel Jewish Academy 
graduate. “A building was hit 
about three blocks from my 
apartment, and I think that 
was the turning point for me 
to call my dad and say, ‘Hey, 
listen, I want to go home.’”
There’s no estimate of how 
many American students 
were in Israel when Hamas 
surprised Israel in one of 
the deadliest attacks on Jews 
since the Holocaust. While 
the U.S. State Department 
tracks the number of stu-
dents earning college credit, 
those numbers don’t account 
for programs like Aisner’s or 
those studying at a yeshivah 
or seminar. 
Recently, the Jewish News 
spoke to Metro Detroit stu-
dents participating in various 

programs during the attack 
about their experiences 
beginning on Oct. 7. Some, 
like Aisner, came home, 
while others, after lengthy 
discussions with their par-
ents, decided to stay. 

THEY DECIDED TO STAY
Seth Weissman, an 18-year-
old recent West Bloomfield 
High School graduate, is 
studying at a yeshivah near 
the Shuk, a well-known mar-
ket in Jerusalem. He assured 
his parents he felt extremely 
safe and wanted to remain in 
Israel. 
Weissman, who was on 
his high school football and 
wrestling teams, went to 
Israel for a yeshivah experi-
ence. He’ll be attending the 
University of Michigan next 
fall. 
At the time of the attack, 
he was celebrating Simchat 

Torah and disconnected 
from technology. He recalls 
a festive atmosphere at the 
yeshivah, including everyone 
dancing around the bimah. 
Then he overheard talk of 
Israel being under attack. 
When the sirens inter-
rupted a prayer service, the 
young men ran to the bomb 
shelter, kept their tefillin on, 
and continued praying and 
singing. 
“It was very emotional. We 
sang about not being afraid, 
unity and brotherhood,” he 
recalls. 
In other parts of Israel, 
seminary classmates and 
friends Golda Rapoport and 
Amalia Smith spent the hol-
iday weekend with friends 
and family, each in a differ-
ent part of Israel. 
Rapoport of West 
Bloomfield was at a friend’s 
grandparent’s house near 

Metro Detroit students share 
their experiences.

JENNIFER LOVY CONTRIBUTING WRITER

In Israel 
When the 
War Started

Golda 
Rapoport and 
Amalia Smith. 

