Leaders’ visits dramatize Jewish survival in Israel and Ukraine

by Debra Rubin
NJJN Staff Writer

Sidebar: A sense of sadness

Two leaders of the Jewish Federation of Greater Middlesex County have returned from a mission that took them to Ukraine and Israel — a trip that dramatized the survival of the Jewish people in different ways and places.

Sandy Lenger, president of the federation’s Women’s Division, and Lee Livingston, federation campaign chair, returned home July 16 from a mission sponsored by United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization of North American federations. The trip took them to Odessa, where Judaism is being revitalized after decades of intolerance, and Israel, where the people were once again under fire.

“I learned so much and met such amazing people,” said Lenger. “In Odessa we got to see the needs and how UJC helps to meet the needs. There is still a vibrant Jewish community of elderly and young.”

In Israel, although she did not see any fighting firsthand, she recalled that two 15-year-old girls from Nahariya and Haifa, who had just spent the weekend in bomb shelters, came to address their group of 166.

“The first one spoke about how hot it was, there was nothing to do, no television, and how hard it was just to be in the shelter,” recalled Lenger. “The other girl, who was Ethiopian, started to talk about how she could hear the sound of bombing and feel the vibrations. She said a car was driving around telling everyone to get into shelters, and then she broke down crying and they had to take her off the stage.”

Livingston said Israelis were grateful for the Americans’ presence and understood how important it is to have the support of the American-Jewish community.

“These people have lived with this for many years,” he explained. “They thanked us for being there. At the airport when we were leaving, they asked if we were coming back. My wife and I are going back in a couple of months on the federation mission. Many, many Israelis told me they couldn’t survive without the United States’ help and the help of American Jews. It is absolutely the most vital thing to their survival.”

Despite the fighting, mission participants were able to observe many of Israel’s educational, cultural, and scientific offerings.

Livingston said he met in the Negev with people who are developing “the most wonderful reclamation and solar energy projects.”

“The Israelis have told the Arab states: ‘What we do here we could do in your country too, if we make peace,’” he said.

Lenger’s visits included AMEN Youth Volunteer City, a project of the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, the Ministry of Education, and the Israel Association of Community Centers established in 2003 to strengthen Israel’s volunteer sector. There Lenger met young performers who act as clowns and magicians and stage theater productions in hospitals and for sick children.

The mission was capped by a Shabbat dinner in Jerusalem with entertainment by the IDF soldiers’ choral group, who returned for Havdala the following evening.

“On Saturday I went on a treasure hunt through Jerusalem,” recalled Lenger. “Security was very tight. I was walking through the sites with a young security guard, and I asked if I’m allowed to talk to him. I said, ‘I feel extremely guilty walking here through this beautiful park when people are being bombed in Haifa. When they’re in shelters how can I be enjoying myself?’

He said, ‘You must. Life goes on and we must move forward.’”

‘This is the connection’

Both Livingston and Lenger found the spirit of the Jewish community in Odessa inspiring and were moved by what they witnessed.

“There was a beautiful JCC there with all the programs under one roof, for seniors, day care for children,” recalled Lenger, who saw elderly Jews being taken care of through the JDC’s Hesed program.

Livingston termed the poverty in Odessa “profound” and said the city has no middle class, only the very wealthy and the very poor.

“Eighty percent of their economy is on the black market,” said Livingston, who noted this backdrop makes the services provided by Jewish agencies all the more vital.

At a summer camp, Livingston met Garry, a Jewish boy of 13 whose parents were nonpracticing and who had developed a Jewish identity at the camp and had become bar mitzva several months earlier. As Livingston prepared to depart, the young boy asked him to come to his room because he wanted to give him a present.

“He gave me a miniature siddur,” said Livingston. “I was really touched.”

Livingston added, “We are keeping Jewish people alive and creating Jewish life whether it was [in Odessa] or in Israel. Whenever I go someplace and have these experiences, I tell others about them. This is why they’re asked to make a contribution and this is the connection. We’re so lucky as American Jews and we have such an obligation to Jews around the world.”

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‘A sense of sadness’

RABBI BENNETT MILLER of Anshe Emeth Memorial Temple in New Brunswick was studying for 10 days in Israel at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem when the hostilities erupted in Israel’s north.

He noted the feeling of vulnerability among the city’s residents. He himself had to cancel plans to spend Shabbat in Haifa. He came home July 17.

“People were very concerned and worried about family members in the north, and in the south many people changed their plans,” he said. “I think there was a sense of sadness that this represented a return to warfare and a real understanding that, except for Jordan and Egypt, there is no one else to make peace with. Most Israelis knew that eventually Israel would have to go back into Lebanon and Gaza and clear it out. But they know it’s not a permanent solution.”

Yet, everyone from tourists to Israelis went about their business, which was somewhat easier in Jerusalem, so far out of the range of Hizbullah shells.

“There’s a real sense of vulnerability because you’re dealing with people who don’t play by the rules,” said Miller. “Their only intent is to kill Jews.”

— DEBRA RUBIN