Marlboro family observes Israeli life — up close and personal

by Jill Huber
NJJN Bureau Chief/Monmouth

When Stephanie and Wayne Ackerman and their two children visited Israel this summer, they expected to experience an emotional journey. What the Marlboro family did not expect was to find themselves in the midst of an Israeli-Hizbullah conflict that threatened their safety and that of their friends in the country’s northern region.

The trip, which took place from June 27 to July 30, was Stephanie Ackerman’s 15th visit to Israel (she first visited the country in 1985). It was her husband’s third visit, and the second for both children, Sam, 12, and Talya, eight.

Stephanie Ackerman has been involved in Jewish causes from a young age. Now one of three 2006-07 campaign chairs for the Jewish Federation of Greater Monmouth County, she previously served as assistant director of national young leadership for UJA and campaign and executive director of the Jewish Federation of Ocean County. She made numerous visits to Israel on the philanthropies’ behalf.

But this trip — despite her Monmouth federation role — was strictly a family venture. It turned out to be probably the most intense of all her Israeli journeys, she said.

The first stop on their itinerary was a visit to friends at Kibbutz Ein Gedi near the Dead Sea. Ackerman and her children also visited an Ethiopian absorption center in Arad. The family brought a suitcase full of treats from home to distribute to the center’s children, and Sam and Talya handed out crayons, tattoo appliques, and puppets to their new friends. Supplies ran out quickly.

“My husband was due to join us in Israel in several days later,” Ackerman said. “Sam said we needed to call him immediately and tell him to bring another suitcase full of things for the kids at the center, and that’s exactly what we did.”

By July 11, the whole family was vacationing on a beach in Hof Dor, about 15 miles south of Haifa. On the following day, Israeli warplanes and helicopters began flying overhead and gunboats took up positions in the Mediterranean. Late that night, the family woke to a deafening cacophony.

“I thought it was thunder,” recalled Talya. “But later, my dad told me what it really was — noise from rockets and bombs.”

Stephanie Ackerman’s level of concern rapidly increased. As fighter jets streaked toward Lebanon and more Israeli naval warships entered the harbor, she monitored the news and learned that the Israel Defense Force had expanded its circle of protection in the region.

“It was such a strange experience,” she said. “All this was going on, but it was a beautiful, sunny day, and a nice breeze was blowing off the coast. It was hard to comprehend that there was a war two hours away. Gaza was a world away, but the northern border was just up the coast.”

Soon, Hizbullah bombs were falling on Haifa and Nahariya, the home of several of the Ackermans’ friends. It was decision time.

“We left Hof Dor; the danger was just too close for comfort,” Ackerman said. “We moved to Shoresh, a kibbutz hotel in the Judean hills. We were pretty shaken up, although we had confidence in the IDF. But we were already worried about the response of the international community.

“I was more frightened than on any previous trip,” she continued. “I was here during the first Intifada and I was on the border in 1987 when the Lebanese prime minister was killed. But this time it was different; maybe it was because this was happening on both fronts or maybe it was because Hizbullah had greater support than before — but I was very nervous.”

The family decided to return to Ein Gedi. As they headed south, they passed caravans of army trucks traveling north. They saw hundreds of Israeli soldiers at bus stops who were trying to return to their military bases. While en route, they learned that a soldier who had attended high school at Ein Gedi had been killed near Haifa and that one of the kidnapped soldiers was from a nearby community.

By July 15, the family was safe at Ein Gedi.

“It was very peaceful there, and it felt like home,” Ackerman said. “It seemed so far removed from the situation up north.”

But things changed rapidly. Empty dormitories on the kibbutz, which houses students during the school year, quickly filled up with more than 100 Israelis from the northern region who brought their concerns and stories of life amidst violence with them.

“The woman in charge of the dorms had called IDF officials and told them rooms were available if people needed them,” Ackerman recalled. “In no time, families from the North had arrived and moved in. Many had been very close to the destruction in Haifa, in Nahariya, in Safed, in Tiberias, and in other places, and you could see that some were still in shock. The daughter of one family was standing about 20 feet away from where a rocket fell. Now, they all had a safe haven.”

Ackerman marveled at the Israeli spirit. Despite what the new arrivals had endured, there was laughter among them, a sense of camaraderie, and a strong showing of faith in the Israeli government and its military forces, she said.

“Bombs were falling on their neighborhoods, but they were alive and safe,” she said. “At Ein Gedi, they sang, danced, and played musical instruments; they were celebrating life.”

On July 30, Wayne and Sam Ackerman headed back to the United States, since Sam was scheduled to attend summer camp. Stephanie and Talya Ackerman decided to spend a few days in Paris before going home.

“That was an eye-opening experience,” Stephanie Ackerman said. “Talya and I were in a Paris café where a television news program broadcast some film of Hizbullah bombs falling on Israeli sites. And the people in the cafe cheered. How do you explain that to your children?”

But Talya wants to go back to Israel, and the sooner, the better.

“I want to go back every day,” she said. “I have friends there. I gave a puppet to one girl — she was about 10 years old — in the Arad absorption center. She didn’t know how to use it, so I showed her. When I went to the center again, before we came home, that girl said, ‘How are you?’ to me, in Hebrew. That felt so good; I can’t really explain it. But now we’re friends, too.”