If you have any doubt that Israel is at war, watch my three-year-old niece Tamar. Playing with her Barbie dolls recently in her Jerusalem home, Tamar suddenly knocked them down and screamed “Get down! A suicide bomber!”
All Jews, without exception, are affected by the current war, whether they live in Israel or the diaspora. Thirty thousand Israeli reservists were recently called up to fight the terror — fathers, sons, daughters, friends and neighbors. If an Israeli has not personally attended a funeral or sat shiva recently, a co-worker has. Children fear that their parents’ schedule might take them to an appointment in the city center. Parents ban their children from visiting popular restaurants and nightclubs.
Outside of Israel the hate is growing. Synagogues are burned in France and Belgium. Jews are attacked in the former Soviet Union and Berlin. Bomb threats are made in America.
Israel is at war. What can we do? What should we do?
Since you are reading this, you already are involved. You are keeping informed of the current situation by reading many newspapers, including the Wisconsin Jewish Chronicle. You most likely listen to daily updates on CNN and the radio. You probably pause when you overhear the word “Israel” while passing strangers locked in intense conversation.
Still, you probably feel that you need to do more than read and listen. You want to help to stop the terror and secure a safe and peaceful Israel. Here’s how.
Show those who live in Israel, especially those on the front line, that you support them and empathize with their uncertainty. Write letters and e-mails to Israeli friends and relatives expressing your solidarity. Send cards or small “comfort” packages to soldiers on active duty. (If you need the name and unit of a deserving soldier on active duty, contact me directly.) Organize your book club or your children’s play group to assemble gift packs. Trade 30 minutes of television time for a family project that will produce artwork to hearten a weary, uneasy soldier.
Write your legislators, the White House, the United Nations. (One thoughtfully composed letter can easily be addressed to multiple recipients.) Send donations to the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Israel NOW solidarity fund. Join national solidarity missions that organize safe, security-conscious trips every month to Israel.
Most important, prove to those who wish us harm that Milwaukee is home to an involved, caring Jewish community. Join the hundreds who will attend the community-wide Yom HaZikaron ceremony and Yom HaAtzmaut celebration next week at Congregation Shalom and the Harry & Rose Samson Family Jewish Community Center.
Show the people of Israel that you stand side by side with them on their most solemn and patriotic days. Find time in the coming months to express the life-affirming values that we share as a community and a people.
Tamar needs to know that it is once again safe to play in her room.
Nir Barkin is Israel shaliach and director of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation’s Israel Resource Center. For information about the community-wide events or about an IDF soldier, contact him at 414-390-5705 or nirb@milwaukeejewish.org.
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