With the political situation in the Middle East, and the reporting thereof, continuing to cause distress throughout the Jewish world, we present here two accounts of recent trips to Israel which cast a more balanced light on the reception awaiting the tourist.

Administrator's Study Tour, 24th - 28th June 2001

Susan Hayman

United Synagogue Administrators were invited to participate in a study tour of a few UJIA projects so that we could inform our shul members about some of the many dozens of different projects undertaken by the UJIA.

At 8 a.m. on Monday morning we were addressed by David Horovitz, editor of "The Jerusalem Report", who gave us a brief political review explaining that with each successive Prime Minister, politics had swung from left to right, then back again.

After questions we were taken to the office of the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Lau who spoke on various matters and answered our questions. As we were leaving we had a group photo, men to his left and women to his right. "Look", he said, "no mechitza!".

Back at the hotel we were joined by Jonny Ariel, who, although UK born, now lives in Jerusalem with his family. He grew up in Jewish Zionist youth and student movements and has lectured and been an educational consultant around the world and spoke of the importance of Synagogue Administrators in the general scope of Synagogue life. He said that everybody at some time wants to be connected to a Synagogue and mentioned the four main life cycle events when people need a shul, birth, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, wedding and death. It was only the committed few who took part in Synagogal life, supported Services, etc. yet the Synagogue had to be there for everyone when they needed it.

In the afternoon a Major from the Israel Defence Force spoke to us about the security of the country. Boys and girls join the army at 18, men for three years and women for two, and if they want to go on to take part in special duties, e.g. air force, intelligence, they stay for longer. The men do a four week annual refresher course until they are 45 years old and he said that orthodox youngsters do take part in army life. Everybody goes through the ranks.

The Major gave a brief outline of the Oslo agreement which, we were told again and again during our trip was not successful. He told us how Palestinian children as young as 5 and 6 were used as a front wave of stone throwers before the armed men behind. He told us of training camps (called holiday camps) using children as young as 4 and 5 to clean guns and rifles and practice stone throwing and chanting and this was later borne out when we saw a rather harrowing film using Palestinian footage of these precise actions. He was very critical of the BBC reports and we heard this from everyone we spoke to. We saw Israeli TV reports of some of the suicide bombings which left nothing to the imagination.

After dinner Dr. Shimon Felix, an American Rabbi who served as head of the Jewish Agency's Bureau for Cultural Services to Communities in London and as advisor to Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks spoke to us. He was very negative about the London community and most uncomplimentary, and seemed to poke fun at the fact that there was no eruv. Some of the Administrators were annoyed with his comments.

On Tuesday we visited City Hall when we met Mina Fenton, a Jerusalem Councillor with responsibility for the diaspora. She also explained about the Oslo agreement and said it could not work. She said that as well as Jews, there were Arabs, Druse, Muslims and Bedouins in Jerusalem. We then had lunch with some gap year students and paid our respects to Yitzchak Rabin and Golda Meir in Herzl cemetery.

We paid a quick visit to the Old City and were taken on a fascinating tour of the tunnels under the walls parts of which dated back to King Herod. We had a few minutes by the Wall and I was disgusted to see orthodox women sitting by the Wall jabbering on mobile phones. Obviously long distance calls to Heaven must be very cheap!

The next morning we left extremely early to travel to Netanya to have tea and Danish (Carmelli eat your heart out) with Rabbi Edward Jackson (past Minister of Hampstead Garden Suburb) and Rev. Michael Plaskow (past Chazan of Woodside Park) and their wives who had made aliyah. They told us how happy they were. The Jacksons' children and grandchildren live in Israel and the Plaskows' family visited often and both said everyone should visit Israel now to show their solidarity. They spoke about the very biased BBC press comments. Rabbi Jackson is the UJIA's Legacy Representative and he explained some of the projects undertaken using legacies left by Israeli and British Jews.

Sefton Bergson, the UJIA Community Representative on the Confrontation Line joined us and we rode along the electrified wire between Lebanon and Israel and further away on to the Golan Heights. We visited a school built and equipped by the UJIA and watched the children using the computers and saw a clinic built with money from another donor, and then went to the Zfat Absorption Centre for Ethiopian Immigrants funded by the UJIA. The Director explained how the new immigrants were taught to live and fend for themselves so that after a year they can go off and find their own accommodation. They are shown how to manage a bank account, go shopping, etc. The women are told they are equal to their husbands and some of the men find this difficult to grasp. Back in their home villages and towns the man is the boss and he sometimes has to be taught that he cannot physically abuse his wife and children. Some of the younger men took part in various training courses organised by the UJIA. Checks are made in Addis Ababa by the Jewish Agency as to whether the immigrants were halachically Jewish, and we were told that they all arrived knowing about kashrut and Shabbat. We spent a while with some of the children in various classes and then joined them in the front yard for an impromptu dance! After dinner, we were told about the Ethiopian Bar/Bat Mitzvah schemes when the boys are given a siddur, tefillin and tallit and the girls a siddur and candlesticks. The children and their families are taken to Jerusalem for a ceremony at the Hechal Shlomo Synagogue and also at the Kotel and accommodation and celebratory meal are supplied by a hotel. If anyone would like to donate towards this scheme I have the details.

We saw some projects built from legacies left to the UJIA by British Jews which included clinics, schools, ambulances, libraries.

We were told that as Synagogue Administrators we have a duty to tell our members that we are all a family and must help each other. Every Jewish person has to be aware of Israel and that the country and its people has been and still is the focal point of Jewish existence.

After another evening discussion, early on Thursday morning we travelled to the Neve Michael Village, another UJIA project. Some 300 disadvantaged children are housed in family units and taught in the school which is also attended by children from the local town. Some of the children attend for morning or afternoon sessions as it is considered necessary for them not to spend too much time at home. There is also a new crisis centre where 16 children of all ages are looked after. There are resident professional doctors and therapists on hand and the State and municipality often refer children to the centre. The wonderful American born Director explained some of the heart breaking stories and we visited a house, classrooms and a recently built playground the money for which was left to the UJIA as a legacy by a gentleman from Manchester. The previous evening over 300 children and adults had attended a graduation ceremony in the garden. Our group became very quiet when we left this school, saying that OUR children should visit to see what life was like without DVDs, cars, designer clothes, etc.

We discussed how we could inform our members of the work of the UJIA and impress upon them how important it was to support this work. The main fund raising event for the UJIA is, of course, the Kol Nidre Appeal, and apart from the 30% of the amount raised by our Synagogue which goes towards running our Cheder, we have now seen with our own eyes how important it is to support the main UJIA Appeal.

Our Israeli driver, guide and armed guard as well as the UJIA Israel representative looked after us exceptionally well. I personally found the whole experience tiring, exciting, enjoyable, sometimes upsetting, an incredible learning experience. We went to places and saw things about which the ordinary tourist has no idea.

At no time did we feel threatened and I would urge people to spend their holidays and money in Israel. Our people need to know they are not alone and supported by their fellow Jews throughout the diaspora. The UJIA will be only too pleased to help people visiting Israel who want to see some of the remarkable projects undertaken.

It would be so gratifying if our Kol Nidre Appeal was increased this year, thereby not only helping our community, but also helping the United Jewish Israel Appeal do more wonderful work in Israel. Your money is needed now more than ever to support the hospitals and schools, Ethiopian, Russian and East European Jews make new lives for themselves in Israel.