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January 8, 2009
One thing people are doing in response to the conflict in Gaza is refusing to change their plans to visit Israel.
Martha Moritz of Morristown, a member of the Mount Freedom Jewish Center, is scheduled to travel to Israel in two weeks. She’s going with her sister to visit her niece in Jerusalem. They hadn’t even considered canceling the trip until a reporter posed the question.
“Should I not go?” Moritz asked.
Although she expressed some concern and may change details of the trip once in Israel, she is taking a fatalistic approach. “If it’s my time, it’s my time. If it happens in Israel, it happens. If it happens in Morristown crossing a street, it happens.”
Her son, 15, just returned from a trip to Israel. She never worried about his safety, she said, although he was in Israel when the action against Gaza began. “I think I was the only mother who didn’t call,” Moritz said.
Schools are not canceling trips either — at least not yet. At the Nathan Bohrer-Abraham Kaufman Hebrew Academy of Morris County in Randolph, organizers continue with the day school’s plans to take students to Israel after Pesach, from April 19 through May 4. “The trip is part of the HAMC curriculum, and if it is safe to travel, the students will go,” said Naomi Bacharach, director of marketing and development. “We are proceeding as if the trip will take place.”
Still, she acknowledged, they are consulting with two other schools they plan to travel with to discuss options for purchasing tickets and how long they can wait to buy them.
At Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in West Orange, the senior class is scheduled to take its traditional “Neshama” trip to Israel in March. Students are scheduled to depart for Eastern Europe March 1, arrive in Israel March 9, and return May 31. “We have not made any decisions yet regarding our Neshama Israel program,” said director of marketing and communications Donna Oshri. “We always put the safety of our students first. We follow the guidelines of the Jewish Agency and make changes to our programs when necessary.”
Tenth-graders at the Rae Kushner Yeshiva High School in Livingston have the opportunity each year to spend a few weeks in Israel on the “Mifgashim” trip, this year scheduled for April 19 through May 10. Head of school Rabbi Eliezer Rubin has no plans to cancel the trip. “Unless we are instructed otherwise by security experts, we are committed to the trip. Planning the trip at this time sends a strong educational message about our commitment to Israel and our values.”
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