Last January, Drs. Yaacov Farbstein and Mohanna Khatib, general director and chief of ICU, respectively, at Poriya Government Hospital near Tiberias, proudly showed 10 visiting Milwaukeeans the hospital’s new state-of-the-art neonatal unit. Having developed the hospital into what they called “a symbol of collaboration,” Farbstein, an Israeli Jew, and Khatib, an Israeli Arab, stressed that the hospital’s multi-cultural staff had banded together to serve those wounded during demonstrations last fall by Israeli Arabs in Nazareth and by Jews there and in Tiberias. And they had great hopes for the hospital’s $20 million plans to bring modern ICU, emergency, radiology, cancer and cardiac care to the region.
Now, almost a year after the second, or “Al-Aksa,” intifada began and acts of terror have spread throughout Israel, the hospital’s leaders have to concern themselves with more immediate needs — ensuring that the emergency department, which has only 11 beds and two trauma beds, is large enough and trained enough to treat the casualties that could result from a terrorist act in the region. Like many other areas in Israel being helped through the United Jewish Communities’ and Jewish Agency for Israel’s Partnership 2000 program, they have turned to Milwaukee, one of their sister P2K cities, for help.
As it has done throughout its 100-year history, the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and the community that supports it, will answer their need. The federation announced late last week a special Israel NOW campaign to immediately raise $500,000 for Milwaukee’s P2K region of Sovev Kinneret, which encompasses Tiberias, the Jordan Valley, the Lower Galilee and five smaller communities surrounding the Sea of Galilee. In addition to expanding emergency care facilities at Poriya, the funds will be used to provide intensified security for schoolchildren, especially kindergartners, and to train volunteers to recognize and respond to emergency situations.
“In the last year,” said Allen L. Samson, MJF president, “we’ve participated as a community on Israel solidarity missions. We’ve held special solidarity gatherings, and we have advocated on Israel’s behalf. But many people have asked if there is something more direct and tangible that they can do. The Israel NOW special fund-raising effort is based on this desire to do more.”
“This campaign is to deal with real security needs in our region,” explained Jerry Benjamin, head of MJF’s Israel and Overseas Needs Committee. “In simplest terms, this means helping make the schools secure and providing Poriya with the necessary means to handle, G-d forbid, casualties.”
Although funds from the federation’s annual community campaign also go to Israel, the past year’s violence has strained Israel’s military, security and social service systems and increased financial needs. For example, the three areas of need to be supported by the special campaign represent only some of the challenges facing Milwaukee’s P2K region.
Just two months after the violence started last September, visiting Tiberias mayor Benyamin Kiryati told The Chronicle that 41 percent of Tiberians were receiving welfare assistance from the city. With 70 percent of the city’s economy founded on tourism, Kiryati said the “frightening [welfare] figure” directly results from the drop in foreign tourism to the area. Because fear of terrorism has also led many Israelis to curtail their movements throughout the country, near-term improvement for Tiberias’ vacation and recreation sites remains unlikely. And yet, the city continues to absorb new immigrants, especially Ethiopians, helping them to integrate into Israeli society.
“Israel NOW is crucial because the situation in Israel demands an immediate and definitive response from us,” said Jody Kaufman Loewenstein, MJF community campaign 2002 chair. “This is not about a crisis centered in Israel, but rather an assault on the life and survival of the Jewish people.
“Now more than ever, Milwaukee must stand shoulder to shoulder with our partners in Israel. Our financial support is just the beginning of our efforts. By supporting this special Israel NOW campaign, in addition to raising the bar on our general community campaign, we once again link our community here in Milwaukee with our brothers and sisters in Israel, strengthening ourselves as we strengthen others, and ensuring the life and survival of the People of Israel, regardless of where they live.”
As we enter this High Holiday season of teshuvah (literally, turning to G-d), with the hope for repentance that it offers us individually and collectively, let us all consider the many ways we can continue to support Israel at this time of need.
We can offer our prayers. We can visit. We can volunteer our time for advocacy and education. We can participate in the community-wide rally scheduled for Sept. 23. And we can give money, through this and many other laudable initiatives throughout town, such as Israel Bonds High Holiday campaign, which offers an opportunity to support Israel’s long-term investment and infrastructure needs.
The opportunities are endless. May our will be also. Shanah tovah tikateva.
(For more information on the Israel NOW fund-raising campaign, call the federation at 390-5700 or visit its website, www.milwaukeejewish.org.)
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