 Notes from Israel |
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Note: Randi Brenowitz, Silicon Valley ORT member and a WAO National vice
president, is currently on the
Solidarity Mission to Israel.
She is sending emails to folks back home to provide a sense of the state of
affairs there, and has agreed to let us post her thoughts online. Date: April 22, 3:48 am Subject: Greetings from Israel Here in Tel Aviv you would be hard-pressed to know that there was any trouble at all. The only hint was that the outdoor cafes on the beach in Tel Aviv on Friday night were not open. Other than that it looks like business as usual. Of course, the Israelis are not known for being a shy people, so everyone you see (including the taxi drivers) is willing to give you their opinion of the troubles, the effectiveness of the Sharon government, the biased views of CNN, and the actions of the UN. I arrived late on Friday without any trouble and hooked up with Judy Menikoff and Jim Deadwyler, who had arrived earlier that day. Alice Herman is set to arrive later today. On Saturday, I went to spend some time with Israel Goralnik. For those of you who are not ORT people...he is the past Director General of ORT Israel. As many of you know, he was in the hospital having unexpected stomach surgery when his wife Sara passed away after a long illness. Since I did not come to the World ORT Congress in June, I did not get to see him then. My recollections of him, therefore, were of a big, strapping man. This is not the case, and I was quite sad to see a thin, weak, old man. A conversation about current situation He could not get up off of the chair, but he was able to speak with me for about an hour. We talked about the current situation, the state of ORT in many countries, and about our respective families. You will all be pleased to know that his two sons and daughter and their spouses and children all live in the same community, so Israel is surrounded by loved ones. Although he is quite ill, his son tells me that he is quite a fighter and that he has in no way given up. Israel and his family are much less supportive of the Sharon government than my taxi drivers seem to be. They are frustrated that this past summer things seemed so close and have deteriorated so far so fast. They are feeling hopeless for the first time. They believe that this current intafada will go on for a long time and they do not see any clear way out. Of course he could not resist a plug for the work that ORT Israel is doing and how important it still is to the economy and to the stability of the country. He is very concerned that with all of this, that World ORT has not increased the subvention to ORT Israel. He was truly pleased that WAO had sent a delegation to Israel at this time and that I took the time to go and see him. It was a wonderful way to spend Shabbat afternoon. Pervasive sense of hopelessness This morning I spent some time speaking with Rabbi Richard Block. Until last year, he was the Senior Rabbi at Temple Beth Am in Northern California. Currently, he is completing a year as the Executive Director of the World Union for Progressive Judaism. He will be going to Cleveland next month to become the senior rabbi of a congregation there. He agrees with the Goralnik family that there is now a pervasive sense of hopelessness which is new in Israel. We talked about the fact that when security issues are the top priority, things like the women’s movement and the movement toward more progressive Judaism tend to take a back seat. He does believe, however, that the Israeli’s are quite receptive to both movements right now and that the big issue is the lack of resources to appropriately meet their needs. If those who want to see more progressive Judaism accepted do not adequately respond to the needs of these people quickly, he is afraid that the window of opportunity might be lost. Next on the itinerary... This afternoon, I will be spending some time with Joshua Ne’eman. He is a member of the ORT Israel Executive Committee and the Chair of the World ORT Bylaws Committee. I got to know him quite well last year as we were preparing the Bylaws that were presented to the World ORT Congress last June. I am eager to hear his opinions of the current situation. Our official opening dinner is tonight and so our visits to the schools and our official visits with ORT Israel leaders and government officials will begin after that. I am eager to see all of them and to get updated both on our programs here and on the current situation. I already know, however, that coming at this time was most important. People are so touched by our presence here as they are feeling quite isolated. |
