by Robert Wiener
NJJN Staff Writer

March 06, 2008

On a tour of Kibbutz Erez near the Gaza border last December, Deborah Shedlin and her husband, Gary, came to understand the vulnerability of Israelis under the threat of attack.

Yahel Ben Aris, kibbutz director, told them what would happen if one of the missile attacks that have plagued the western Negev should hit close to home.

“He explained to us, ‘You have 20 seconds to get to a safe room after the alarm sounds,’” explained Deborah Shedlin in a recent telephone interview from her home in Short Hills. “And as we toured, he would say, ‘Hurry up. We’re not close enough to a safe room. Let’s move it along.’”

Although no alerts went off on the day the Shedlins were at the kibbutz, it became clear that the community had an insufficient number of the reinforced safe spaces.

Back home in New Jersey, the couple told friends about their visit to Erez and its needs. Their response, according to Shedlin, was immediate: “We should send them a check so they could build another safe room.”

So the Shedlins and three sets of friends — Gayle and Larry Wieseneck of West Orange and Jeffrey and Hope Halpert and David and Sue Wishnow, all of Short Hills — together gave a $27,000 gift for the kibbutz to build another safe room.

The 20-person shelter is near an office complex at the kibbutz, which is a sister community of United Jewish Communities of MetroWest NJ under the Jewish Agency for Israel’s Partnership 2000 program.

UJC MetroWest is already helping to build new shelters and renovate older ones at Kibbutz Erez, which has some 500 residents, and “our friends were totally into the idea when we told them about it,” said Shedlin.

All new buildings in Israel are required to have safe rooms with thick concrete walls and roofs, explained Amir Shacham, director of Israel operations for UJC MetroWest.

“The older buildings can add such rooms to their original structures. The rooms are clearly needed,” he said. “People only have 10 to 15 seconds to find shelter after red alerts are sounded.”

The NJ couples contacted Susan Solomon Appel, a development officer at UJC MetroWest, who promised the room would be erected in short order.

“We told her we didn’t want a lot of red tape, and she said she would make it happen quickly,” Shedlin said. “Then we e-mailed the leader of the kibbutz, he told us what he needed, and we did it. It is now under construction.”

In an e-mail, Ben Aris expressed gratitude for the timely gift.

“The last couple of weeks in our region were quite intensive,” he wrote. “The number of rockets and alarms are going up every day. We still don’t know what the future will bring. But thanks to our many friends in MetroWest, I can sleep a bit better knowing that every kibbutz member can find a protected space within 15 seconds. Toda.”

But even the few Moishe House requirements are beginning to take their toll on Grudnikov, a third-year medical student, who has time for little beyond his studies. He said he plans to move back to his parents’ Elizabeth home, but will continue to hang out when he can at Moishe House.

Einstein and the third apartment mate, David Rosen, the Conservative Jew, already have a candidate to fill the slot. Mark Fiedler, a bartender at a restaurant, said he didn’t grow up with Judaism and wants to spend some time exploring his Jewish identity.

And what happens when these 20-somethings age out of Moishe House?

“Our hope is that existing programs and institutions will pick them up,” said Cygielman. “There are many organizations focusing on Jews in high school and college, as well as in their 30s and families. Moishe House is focused on the gap years in between.”

In the meantime, there are conversations to be had about what it means to be Jewish, which movies to watch, and what to fill the hookahs with.

As Einstein pulled the burgers out of the oven, the group shifted from the television to the counter, and the cigar smoke continued to waft around the room.

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