Today was inspiring.
That’s because I visited with hundreds of Conservative young people gathered in
Jerusalem as part of Ramah Seminar and USY Israel Pilgrimage. I’ve done this
for the last few summers, but being with the teens today, imbibing their
remarkable energy and high spirits, was truly infectious.
Our USY groups are among the
roughly 40 trips for young people now in Israel. As I said today on my conference call with
kehilla leaders and USY parents, the safety of our students is our highest
priority. We are in contact every day with Israeli security agencies, going
over itineraries and re-arranging schedules to make sure our teens are safe.
Our staff is well-trained and our kids have been briefed repeatedly on how to
respond if there is a siren.
 |
| USY Israel Pilgrimage staff |
And I can say
unequivocally that our teens are safe
and that they’re behaving in a way we can all be proud of. They’ve shown
amazing maturity, and they are clearly having an incredible time. Our goals for
these trips are to strengthen our students’ Jewish identity, enrich their knowledge
of Judaism and Jewish history, and promote their social development. All of these
goals continue to be met. And though we
would never have planned it this way, our kids are also gaining first-hand insight
into the political reality of modern Israel.
I’ve been asked recently:
when would you send them home? And the answer is, if the security situation
deteriorated to a point where our teens were spending more time indoors
watching movies than out having a meaningful experience, then yes, it would be time
to come home. So far, we are not even close to that.
 |
| USCJ Family Israel Experience participants at De Karina Chocolate Factory |
And it’s not only our
kids who are here. Across Israel, Conservative Jews – rabbis, families,
congregations – are traveling, studying, and having fun. USCJ’s own family trip
recently ended after a remarkable tour, and our Conservative Yeshiva in
Jerusalem is filled with summer students of all ages, including a large new
contingent of Jews from France.
Iron Dome is doing its
job. Hard as it can be to envision from far away, life in Israel goes on; the
abnormal sense of normalcy continues.
Because USCJ sits on the
Conference of Major American Jewish Organizations, which organized this
mission, we have had tremendous access to military and government officials.
We’ve heard them speak about the moral dilemma they face in fighting an enemy which
hides its weapons and fighters in homes, schools, and mosques. They struggle
with the imperative to defend themselves while trying to avoid civilian casualties.
They know that when they warn civilians in Gaza about an imminent airstrike they
are also giving Hamas commanders a chance to flee. They know this, but they are willing to pay
that price if they can prevent civilian deaths.
Now Israel must decide
what comes next. The leaders we spoke with, including Ami Dror, the country’s
former National Security Advisor, said there are only a few options; each of
course comes with a price. Allow a cease-fire to end the attacks, but then
Israel could face the prospect of a barrage of Hamas rockets every few years.
Perhaps Iron Dome works well enough that this is acceptable. Or go into Gaza in
a limited way, and take out more rockets and bases, along with the offensive
tunnels built to let Hamas operatives get into Israel and cause trouble. Or
finally, re-take Gaza, end the rocket attacks, but face a high cost militarily,
economically, and diplomatically.
Israeli leaders will make
that decision themselves. What can we do? Donate to the Stop the Sirens
campaign, which is helping support Israelis in the line of fire. Take a moment
to thank your political leaders in the U.S. for funding Iron Dome. If you’re
Canadian, thank Prime Minister Harper for speaking out about Israel’s right to
defend itself. Israelis told us repeated how grateful they are to both the U.S.
and Canada for their support.
They are grateful to us, as well, for coming
here and standing with them, letting them know they’re not alone.
No comments:
Post a Comment