As I'm looking over a mile-long, crowded Tel Aviv beach at the end of another whirlwind visit to Israel, the word that comes to my mind to describe this wonderful country is "complicated." In just three days, I've traveled from Jerusalem to Akko in the North to Sderot in the Negev.

In Haifa, I visited with Yaacov Broder, the director of the Hadar Community Center. Hadar is a community with more than 40,000 people, many of them immigrants from the former Soviet Union. This is an area that was abandoned to drug dealers and thieves as more prosperous citizens moved to the top of Mount Carmel. Yaacov's first task was to take back the local park from the drug dealers. He worked closely with the police, but no members of the community would dare return. So he organized nightly concerts for three months. At first, only one or two people came, but after a few days people grew curious. Within a few weeks the concerts were crowded. I observed a grass-covered park with kids playing and mothers walking their babies in total security.

To realize his dream of creating a Greenwich Village-style neighborhood, Yaacov has undertaken two projects. One of them, which United Jewish Communities of MetroWest New Jersey is helping to fund, is a student village with 100 Haifa University students living in the area who will donate 12 hours per week of their time to community activities. A second initiative is to bring in a new urban kibbutz with 80 young educators who will help kids with learning disabilities and social problems. As the neighborhood gets filled with young people, the plan is to attract shops and restaurants to cater to this community. At the end of our conversation, I learned that Yaacov's father was one of the people on Schindler's list and his mother was a survivor of a death march. His father never stops talking about his pride in the country that he helped create.

The next morning I learned a new word, "Hamastan," which many Israelis are now calling Gaza. It was truly surreal to realize, as we drove south to visit our sister community, Kibbutz Erez, on the border with Gaza, that within a few miles people were fighting an all-out war. At Erez, we took a look at the new control center that's being built to locate and coordinate the kibbutz members in the event of an attack, another project that UJC MetroWest is helping to finance. We visited the babies and small children who are always either under concrete roofs or within no more than 10 seconds from safety. We also saw the new exercise facility that's being constructed for soldiers who live in the kibbutz, also funded by our community. The walk down to the underground bomb shelter was eerie. You would not want to spend much time there, even with its new coat of paint.

We went to the local elementary school, which had a Kassam missile fall in a courtyard just six hours earlier. I had heard that if one didn't fall nearby, you were relatively safe. Looking at the broken windows, indentations in a metal wall, and shrapnel damage to a palm tree, it was clear that if you were within 25 yards of the spot it hit, you were in serious trouble. By the afternoon, the hole was covered up and people were going about their business.

We met with the mayor of the region, Alon Schuster, and delivered emergency funds from UJC MetroWest. These funds will be used for improved alternate communication systems since the cell phone system can't handle the overwhelming traffic when the Kassams hit. He told us about their daily communication with the army's Home Command for the region, when they decide whether the kids will be allowed outside on the following day. Nonetheless, walking around the campus you would never know that every day, two to three missiles fall in the area with only 15 seconds notice.

Perhaps it's the routine of the bombs that keeps these facts out of American newspapers. I doubt many Americans, Jews or otherwise, have any idea what life is like in this region. Parents must make a daily decision whether to send their kids to school. It's just an hour's drive from Tel Aviv but a world apart. Can you imagine missiles falling on Morristown every day? We need to talk about what's happening in Israel. Hamas has taken over Gaza. They have stated their intentions very clearly: the elimination of Israel. And let's not forget Iran, whose potential arsenal is a far greater threat. Now, more than ever, we need to strengthen our support for Israel!

Back in Tel Aviv later that afternoon, we met with wounded soldiers from the war in Lebanon last summer and learned about an inspirational program, Etgarim. By using sporting activities from sailing to rappelling down mountain cliffs, this program teaches wounded soldiers, people harmed by terrorist attacks, and children born with physical disabilities that they can achieve anything they can dream of.

Finally, no one should visit Israel without visiting one or more of the companies involved in the technology revolution that's taking place. I visited Topspin, a company making tiny magnetic resonance imaging probes that go inside coronary arteries and can determine the type of plaque that is causing a blockage. They're also working on an MRI coil that will be used to locate the exact site of prostate cancer. There are hundreds of leading-edge technology companies here.

Israel is one complex place. The politics are crazy. War is on its doorstep. Some residents spend each day dodging missiles. But throughout it all, life goes on. People take care of those most in need. Business goes on with innovation proceeding at a rapid rate. Construction can be seen everywhere. The beach in Tel Aviv is full of people 24 hours a day. This country is alive with energy.

Yaacov's father has every right to be proud of what he and his generation began almost 60 years ago.