I just returned from Israel two weeks ago — a trip I had been looking forward to not for weeks or for months, but for years. You see, one of my passions is scuba diving, and I had always wanted to dive in the Red Sea.
In spite of having traveled to Israel three times previously, I had never been to Eilat. Was I afraid to make this trip? No. My only fear was that the U.S. State Department, in response to some new terrorist attack, would declare Israel off limits to Americans.
In Israel, I met up with my wife Jody, who was already there on a United Jewish Communities mission for federation campaign chairs from across the country. Jody recently became certified in scuba and is willing to indulge me in this hobby. In fact, she had to overcome her fear, not of terrorists, but of large fish, to allow this to happen. For this I am proud of her.
This brings me to the issue of fear, covered so brilliantly by Dr. Herzl Spiro in a column in the July 6 issue of the Chronicle, as it relates to why American Jews are staying away from Israel in droves.
Was it depressing to see more than a few empty seats on the El Al flight to Israel, to see the King Solomon Hotel in Jerusalem empty and to be virtually the only Americans in our hotel in Eilat? Yes it was.
But it’s not just because of the devastation to the Israeli economy that I feel so world-weary. It’s because of the feeling creeping in that “they” have already “won” the “war.”
As I rode in the airport shuttle from Ben Gurion airport to meet Jody in Jerusalem, I was struck by how much construction had occurred since my visit four years previously. I also felt I could have been in any modern country in the world, traveling along a smooth, well-lit freeway.
It’s true that as I sat outdoors having dinner in a restaurant around the corner from our hotel, I did think for a split second about the possibility of a suicide bomber pulling up in a car. But as I looked around at the mostly empty restaurant, I thought, “Why would they bother? They’ve already won.”
Like a child’s fear of the bogeyman, our current fear of traveling to Israel, when held up to the light of cold hard logic, can only be found to be irrational.
Yes there is violence almost every day in Israel, and so I would recommend avoiding the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
But since there were more pedestrian deaths than deaths from terrorists while we were in Israel, I would also strongly recommend looking both ways before crossing the street. And I would ask readers to re-read Dr. Spiro’s analysis of why terrorists rely on us to bow to irrational fears, rather than confront them, since he expressed this far more eloquently than I can.
Given our response to our irrational fears, I don’t think it’s difficult to see why the Palestinians have already “won.” Following a news report of a recent suicide bombing, a local radio commentator seemed to admire the bombers’ dedication to their cause, in a strange sort of way. Though he did not agree with their methods, he marveled at their zeal and fervor.
Contrast that with American Jews, who won’t even visit Israel on the remote chance that something might happen to them. I can’t help but wonder what the Israelis must think of us absent American Jews.
Although they are grateful to those of us who come, what will they think when Americans, cowering in the safety of their living rooms behind their remote controls as they view the slanted news on CNN, try to influence Israeli policy regarding anything to do with the territories or the peace process?
What would Rabbi Akiva do in this situation, a man whose flesh was torn from him by the Romans and who was burned to death with the name of G-d on his lips? I dare say that the Inquisition wouldn’t even be an issue in Jewish history had today’s attitude prevailed. “Convert? Where do I sign up?” would have been our response.
The Jewish people have prevailed for over 5,000 years, not because of might or power, but because of faith and belief and courage. Perhaps it is true that a belief worth having is a belief worth dying for. If that is the case, where is our faith and courage as Jews?
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