This posting was contributed by Pamela Ingram of St. Paul, MN, who is in Israel for a Solidarity Mission to southern Israel with other alumni and members of the National Young Leadership Cabinet and members of NYL's Ben-Gurion Society (read more about BGS). This posting came from her own blog about her travels.

Four days ago I came to Israel not sure how any one could live like this, constantly worrying about missiles and suicide bombings. I felt bad for the people living here, but as we were told in Sderot, you can’t get it til you are here.

My trip is about to end almost exactly as it started, overlooking the gorgeous blue of the Mediterranean from my hotel room. I am still seeing the mosque and the dolphinarium, the picture is the same but the view is completely different. I am different. I see the world through new filters. What seemed important, like a big deal 48 hours ago now seems so unimportant. Problems we have at home seem so small comparably. This trip has changed me.

As much as being here has shown me how hard this life is, I also feel like I have come one small step closer to understanding how people can live like this on a daily basis and thrive. When we started out on Monday morning many of us were kind of chilled by the security briefing and emergency drill we went through to prepare for the day. While I had had no hesitation at all in coming to Israel, I have to admit the severity with which our leaders warned us did give me pause. I wondered for a moment what I had gotten into, was the risk greater than I had given value to and was this a mistake. They gave us an out after the briefing, the chance to change our minds, I am so glad I didn’t take it.

Visiting an Ethiopian National Project site. Photo: Pamela Ingram

Noises have also changed. I hear a plane overhead and wait for the artillery fire, its going to take me a while to remember that sometimes a plane is just a plane. A cell phone ringing or a public announcement and I tense. There is no need to scan faces anymore, like I learned to in Sderot and Ashkelon, to try and decipher what our security guard Odet was hearing on the phone. If we needed to prime for action. It’s going to take some time to relax.

It is also going to take some time to learn to be alone again. It seems strange to not be around those I have shared this experience with. On January 31st many of the 20 of us were strangers, UJC is a large organization and it is hard to know more than a few people well, but by February 3rd we were family. We had shared moments and experiences that only we can understand. Dr. Katz at the trauma center in Sderot had a great term for it, “shared reality”.

That is what we have, a shared reality. We have parts of the story that no one else has heard, we have seen things no one else has seen, and that common bond forever unites us (as well as does Facebook *smile*).

-- Pamela Ingram

This posting was written by Richard Friedman, Executive Director of the Birmingham Jewish Federation, who is blogging from southern Israel during a solidarity mission for UJC National Young Leadership Cabinet members and alumni and members of NYL's Ben-Gurion Society (read more about BGS).

ASHKELON, ISRAEL -- Tuesday was a morning of questions. Some old, some new. Questions dealing with Arab grievances from 1948, what the future holds for people evicted from Gaza three years ago, who's going to lead Israel after the Feb. 10th elections, and what is he or she going to do about Iran. These and other questions hung in the in the crisp morning air as Israelis who spoke to us grappled with these questions and more.

It would be so easy to say Israel's at a crossroads. Israel's always at a crossroads, it seems. But now these crossroads lead to places like Ashkelon and Sderot, and other cities and towns in the south and the north that up until a few years ago Israelis thought were safe.

"What is, is," our guide told us, though not in those exact words. His observation came on the heels of our United Jewish Communities mission again being reminded of what to do in case of a rocket attack -- this was a particularly relevant reminder as we left Tel Aviv and headed south to Ashkelon.

What fascinates me most about Israel, especially after being here during some pretty tough times over the years, is Israel's ability not to just hang in there, but to affirm life. And affirming life, against the backdrop of rocket attacks, was what our visit to Ashkelon Tuesday was all about.

We, UJC/Federations,  affirm life by "being there" for Israel. Ashkelon and the other cities in the south are still under attack as this is being written, despite the "cease-fire." A brutal reminder of that cold, hard fact was given to us moments after entering Ashkelon.

Our bus stopped for a minute on the street next to Ashkelon's central bus station. Our guide began speaking over the bus microphone. On our right was an open field where, he told us, a Grad rocket had landed three hours earlier. The ground was still charred. Had it hit the bus station, which was on our left, there likely would've been casualties.

FEDERATIONS PROVIDE IMMEDIATE AID

One way UJC/Federations affirm life is through the Fund for the Victims of Terror. Run by the Jewish Agency, with funds raised by UJC/Federations, it provides immediate financial assistance to people whose homes or businesses have been hit.

We visited a home that was hit by a rocket a few weeks ago. "Welcome to Israel," the owner said with a sad and ironic shrug. His house is now empty, still in disarray. Neither he nor his wife were home when the rocket hit, but his three children were. The children survived physically though the shock and horror linger. "I must be strong for my family," he told us. "But it's like Hollywood. I am acting." Why does he stay in Ashkelon? "I am a Jew. It's my place."

Dreaming and believing, for those who can, are two ways to combat the rocket attacks. That was made clear to us as we visited a program funded by UJC/Federations to help Israeli teens whose families have come from Ethiopia. We were there for a briefing and for some fun activities to help us get to know these young people better.

Dancing, singing and painting were among the things planned as we meet with them at their activities center. I wound up in the painting group along with several other trip participants and six of the teens. An adult supervisor gave us our assignment. It was to decorate one of the walls in the center. We all huddled around him for our instructions, eyeing one another. "Together, think about what you want to paint," he told us.

There was then a split second of silence, but it gave me enough time to study most of the young faces as they pondered the assignment. The first to answer was Avi, a lanky 18-year-old, with a warm smile. "Peace," said Avi, "I want us to paint peace."

- Richard Friedman

Give to UJC's Israel Solidarity Drive Now.

This posting was contributed by Pamela Ingram of St. Paul, MN, who is in Israel for a Solidarity Mission to southern Israel with other alumni and members of the National Young Leadership Cabinet and members of NYL's Ben-Gurion Society (read more about BGS). This posting came from her own blog about her travels.

Monday ended with Tzeva Adom warnings in Sderot and at the Sha'ar Hanegev Regional Council and Tuesday started with a grad rocket landing in Ashkelon. In between, heavy artillery impacts can be felt periodically and numerous F-16’s are heard overhead. Life in the southern regions of Israel is hard and unpredictable.

The newspapers report that there were no casualties or injuries resulting from the rocket this morning because no blood was shed, but the reality is that everyone here is a casuality. The psyche of every resident is injured over and over again. You can’t be here without it impacting you. We have only been here two days and we jump at the ringing of a cell phone, we look to the sky with every plane wondering if the alarms will sound. How long until the next rocket or mortar?

This is a very hard place to live. I thought two days ago I would love to move to Israel, now I am not so sure. I am not sure I could be this strong.

I stand in the home of a man whose home took a direct hit two weeks ago from a grad missile. It looks so much like my own, it takes my breath away.

At the time of the attack, Yosi’s three children were home alone. He arrived home to the scene of firefighters and police trying to rescue his family. His neighbors' homes still bear the scars of the shrapnel. His home is surrounded by scaffolding and draped in plastic, but in two weeks, through the help of JAFI and the Israeli government, Yosi’s home will look as if the attack never happened. It is important to the people here that the area not look like a war zone; repairs are started within moments of an attack. His home will be completely healed, but what about his heart? What about his children’s minds? It’s a hard place to live, but Yosi scoffs when we ask him why he stays. Our question confuses him as much as his staying does us. Leaving is not something he considers. He and his neighbors don’t have a second thought about their lives here; leaving is not an option or a thought for them. This is their home, they will not be driven out, they are committed to their lives, their communities and their country. They don’t care that it is hard, leaving would be harder.

- Pamela Ingram

Give to UJC's Israel Solidarity Drive Now.

This posting was contributed by Pamela Ingram of St. Paul, MN, who is in Israel for a Solidarity Mission to southern Israel with other alumni and members of the National Young Leadership Cabinet and members of NYL's Ben-Gurion Society (read more about BGS). This posting came from her own blog about her travels.

Learning to tie your shoes, writing your name, wondering what dessert you will have at dinner. These should be the concerns of a five-year-old. Childhood should not involve carrying the worries of life and death, but for 5-year-olds living in the southern regions of Israel they have already lived through dodging 10,000 rocket attacks. In the last two weeks alone (during which a cease fire was supposedly in place) 12 rockets have fallen from the sky, 7 today alone.

For these children, the experts no longer speak of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). PTSD requires that you have been traumatized and then begun to live after the trauma. For these children, the trauma is a way of life and they live with continuing traumatic stress, their childhoods robbed from them. They sleep at night in underground bunkers, they watch the sky for the next attack. Whether Jewish or Arab, their only crimes were being born to the Israeli families of the region. Some of these children have already relocated at least once, when Israel pulled its settlements out of Gaza, and yet they still live with bombings and gun battles as the normal background of their lives. These children are the reason we have come this week.

While I intellectually knew this fact, it wasn’t until Rebecca Caspi of UJC reminded us tonight that the thought truly sunk in. Israel has never fought a war that wasn’t on her homeland and probably never will. I have a hard time trying to translate that concept into my daily life. In the US we are used to wars that are far away. We send our soldiers off to fight the battles and we live safely an ocean away. We do not watch our neighbors die, or our schools leveled. We do not awake in the night to sirens and screams. Even during WW II where great sacrifices were made at home during the war, the sacrifice of our daily safety was never closer than one day at Pearl Harbor. What would it mean to not be able to go anywhere in your homeland and not know you were at risk? Could I do it? I would love to say I could, but I am doubtful.

The inability to escape the constant stress of war is one of the primary issues Israel and its American partners, such as UJC, JDC and JAFI, are trying to address for the children in the southern regions. At the start of the current incursion 5 weeks ago, the Israeli Ministries of Education and Defense not only braced for war, but also for the impact on those living in the region. They developed a plan to give over 30,000 children in the area (both Arab and Jewish) a break from the fighting. They turned to children-friendly industries in other parts of the country, such as zoos and safaris, and asked for their help. They asked to bring to bring the children for a day… one day of childhood. Israel did what Israel always does when family is hurting and welcomed them with open arms -- all admissions were waived. But this still left logistics that couldn’t be managed and which the government had no way of funding. How to transport the children, how to feed them during the events. Here the Israelis turned to the US and United Jewish Communities and UJC was there to answer the call.

There are many misconceptions about giving money to UJC and where that money goes, so let me clear one up. I have sat at many Federation meetings hearing how the needs at home are too great, that we cannot take sides. That our money shouldn’t be used for war costs. But what is the cost of war? War costs are more than bullets and bombs. Wars have human costs, like sandwiches and buses. Like the recent '120 Strong' program that made sure that the 25,000 elderly and sick in the south had their medicines and were safe during the fighting. UJC and our partners, like JDC and JAFI, do not provide money for the military, but yes we support the Israeli costs of war, without care whether those in need are Jewish or Arab. And as long as wars must be fought on the playgrounds of five-year-olds and in the backyards of 80-year-olds, near the bedsides of the sick and infirm, we must all be willing to donate to help pay those costs. If each of us give just a small amount, the cost of a sandwich and a seat on a bus, lives that are otherwise bleak can be changed!

- Pamela Ingram

Give to UJC's Israel Solidarity Drive Now.

This posting was written by Richard Friedman, Executive Director of the Birmingham Jewish Federation, who is blogging from southern Israel during a solidarity mission for UJC National Young Leadership Cabinet members and alumni and members of NYL's Ben-Gurion Society (read more about BGS).

SDEROT -- There are places in the world, where a city's name has become synonymous with something larger than itself: Munich, New Orleans, Chernobyl. So, too, is the case with Sderot, a modest city in southern Israel about two miles from the Gaza Strip.

Sadly though, for all that has happened to the residents, there are many who've not heard Sderot's story. It's a story that involves eight years of lives lived around and despite more than 10,000 rocket attacks. Lives where 15 seconds -- the time you have to get to a shelter -- can be the difference between survival or death.

Monday, I, along with 13 others on a United Jewish Communities solidarity mission, experienced one day of life in Sderot.

***

Traveling to Sderot from Tel Aviv, I find myself thinking about my last visit to Sderot. The barrage of rockets was already taking its toll on the residents in 2005, particularly the children, and here I am again and the suffering continues.

I find myself wondering what life had been like for these young kids and their families the past three and a half years. I can't fathom it; it is too depressing. The only thing that makes me feel good is the knowledge that over the past few years UJC/Federations has provided millions of dollars to help the people  of Sderot.

As we arrive in Sderot, our guide, with staccato rapidity, begins saying "there's one" over and over. I quickly realize he is talking about bombshelters that have been constructed throughout the city. Every bus stop is fortified, schools are reinforced. Life centers around how far from the nearest shelter you are at any given time and when the next "Red Color" alert will come.

Our first stop is at a facility known as the "Anxiety Relief Site," supported by UJC/Federation funds. This facility provides the primary treatment for those mentally traumatized by life under constant attack. "After eight years, the population is mentally crippled," a doctor who works there explains. She also reflects on the recent cease-fire and its failure to stop the attacks. The people of Sderot had hoped their nightmare would be ending, but now "everything's coming back -- it's very frustrating."

The impact on the children is the hardest to heal. It's a hard reality as we are reminded that children eight and under have never known any other situation. The continued stress is manifested in behavioral and developmental issues these children will deal with the rest of their lives. They have lost faith in their parents' ability to protect them; they won't sleep alone; they won't go to the bathroom alone.

To punctuate what we heard at the relief site, we walk a short distance to a pre-kindergarten hit recently by a rocket. I watch a group of young children playing and it makes me realize these are the kids the rockets are meant to kill. The caregivers describe how despite their young ages, the kids know what to do reflexively when given a warning that a rocket is headed their way. "It's almost a Pavlovian response," says an adult at the center. "They raise their hands in the air, anxious for us to take them to a shelter."

INSTRUMENTS OF DEATH

We cross back across the street to our next stop, the Sderot Police Station, where we see a collection of 200 Qassam and Grad rockets that have landed in Sderot the past few weeks. They are hideous-looking instruments of death. Even as we view the rockets, the Israeli army official with us reminds our group that "the only way to understand is to be here during a rocket attack and even then you can't understand."

From the police station we continue on to a local hilltop for a better view of the area. As we climb the hill and face the Gaza Strip, this same army official asks us to turn around. Behind us the city of Sderot is perched below. We're reminded that almost 1,000,000 people throughout southern Israel are within 15- to 60-second range of incoming rockets.

Descending from the hill, everything seems so quiet and normal. Yet, we all know this serenity could be pierced any minute. We are only here one day; in that time it's impossible to even get a hint of what life's really like for our brothers and sisters in Sderot.

STORY OF SDEROT

To truly begin to digest what we're seeing today, faces need to be put to the situation. Those faces become very clear and memorable as we sit in the home of Laura Bialis, an American filmmaker living in Sderot.

As we watch the trailer for her upcoming documentary, "Sderot -- Rock in The Red Zone," we are struck by images of places we've been to, and seeing through Laura's lens, the realities of life in Sderot. The sound of Israeli army artillery fire a few miles away as we watch the clip reminds us that this is not just a movie, Laura's work is the reality of Sderot. (read a posting from Laura on this blog)

Our day culminates after 11 hours, by learning of new attacks in southern Israel shortly after our departure. We had avoided the "Red Color" alert. But how had the people we met today coped with it? We are able to return to our comfortable, safe hotel in Tel Aviv to regroup for Tuesday's visit to Ashkelon, another Israeli city under siege.

The people of Sderot deserve their own safe retreat, and this is where you and I come in. While UJC/Federations cannot stop the rockets, we can make a difference. By supporting the UJC/Federation campaign,  we can provide badly-needed services and facilities, safe schools for children, counseling for  parents and trips away from the conflict zone for these youngsters during the tough times.

(Appreciation is expressed to fellow traveler Pam Ingram, of St. Paul, MN, for her help with this story.)

- Richard Friedman

Give to UJC's Israel Solidarity Drive Now.

This posting was written by Richard Friedman, Executive Director of the Birmingham Jewish Federation, who is blogging from southern Israel during a solidarity mission for UJC National Young Leadership Cabinet members and alumni and members of NYL's Ben-Gurion Society (read more about BGS)

TEL AVIV -- The media, for a variety of reasons, do not always give a fair shake to Israel, which too often diminishes public support for the Jewish state. The Israel Project, known as TIP, is trying to do something about it.
 
A relatively new organization, its founder and president, Jennifer Laszlo Mizrahi, spoke to our group Sunday night at the start of a two-day visit to Israel. The purpose of our trip, organized by UJC, is to give us the chance to learn more about the situation in the southern part of the country, express our solidarity and assess the human needs stemming from the recent war with Hamas.

As we gathered at our Tel Aviv hotel for the start of our program, we focused on problems gripping Israel's image in the world and what we can do about it as members of local communities representing every region of the US. Mizrahi said a cornerstone of TIP's approach is to be accessible 24/7 to journalists, especially as news is breaking. "Jewish organizations go on vacation," she said and sometimes fall behind on big stories that break over a holiday or weekend. Israel's incursion into Gaza, for example, began Saturday, Dec. 27. "You really have to be on top of it."

TIP also focuses on "framing" issues ahead of time, by anticipating events and offering background reports and briefings to journalists. The idea is to prep reporters ahead of time, so that when events break their coverage is fair and has context. Mizrahi also said there is an "extraordinary correlation" between negative reports people read and watch about Israel and Jews and anti-Semitism.

TIP was founded in 2002 as Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel were accelerating. TIP describes itself as an "international non-profit organization devoted to educating the press and the public about Israel while promoting security, freedom and peace." The organization, through a variety of strategies, wants to help "hundreds of millions of people around the world see a more positive public face of Israel. This helps protect Israel, reduce anti-Semitism and increase pride in Israel."

Israel needs our help right now and there is plenty we, as individuals, can do. We can support organizations such as TIP, and become media activists by drawing upon its many offerings; we can increase our annual UJC/Federation campaign gifts, if possible; we can work to educate elected officials at every level of government, and we can travel to Israel to express solidarity and gain a better understanding of Israel's current difficulties.

- Richard Friedman

Give to UJC's Israel Solidarity Drive Now.

This posting was written by Richard Friedman, Executive Director of the Birmingham Jewish Federation, who is blogging from southern Israel during a solidarity mission for UJC National Young Leadership Cabinet members and alumni and members of NYL's Ben-Gurion Society (read more about BGS)

TEL AVIV -- It's a dreary Sunday morning here as Israelis begin their work week. I have come to Israel on a UJC solidarity mission along with 13 other people from across the US.
 
As a result of eight years of deadly rocket attacks, and then having to endure an even more intense situation during the recent war with Hamas, many Israelis in the southern part of the country are traumatized. The social service and economic needs are tremendous. Monday, our group will head to Sderot, a city in southern Israel that has been a constant target. Our purpose is to show our support, assess needs and better understand the day-to-day anxieties Israelis in the southern part of the country are still facing.

During the recent conflict, funds raised by UJC/Federations helped provide, among other things, social workers, immediate financial relief to people whose homes were hit by rockets, therapeutic services for those who'd been traumatized, safe days away from the conflict zone for children, help with strengthening bomb shelters, activities to keep youngsters occupied and support for soldiers who have no family in Israel. Additional funding is now needed to help restore normalcy in the region.

It's an important time to be in Israel. In addition to the needs in the south, there's nationwide understanding that the situation with Hamas remains unfinished, deep concerns with Israel's image in the world and a renewed post-war focus on Israel's national elections, which are nine days away. Israel is especially miffed at Turkey and its prime minister, who has been attacking Israel relentlessly over Israel's military response to Hamas. Israeli tourism to Turkey is down significantly as one major indicator of frayed relations between the two countries.

These are uncertain times, not just in Israel but in our country as well. Our challenge at UJC and local Federations is to raise enough money this year to sustain our support for Israel, maintain our support for our local community institutions, address increased human needs and help the international Jewish community fight growing and serious anti-Semitism.  As daunting as the challenges are, I have total confidence we will prevail. Jewish history teaches us that those who have sought to destroy us have ultimately vanished.
 
For many of us who have increased our UJC/Federation pledge this year, the satisfaction of doing so has been tremendous, given the tough economic times we're facing. Increasing one's pledge creates -- yes -- a sense of sacrifice, and there's nothing wrong with that. We need to raise more money, so please think about increasing if you can or if you have not given previously, consider making a first-time gift to the UJC/Federation campaign. Do what may be difficult and know that you will derive deep comfort from knowing you stretched this year to help the Jewish people. As tough as it may be, we have it easy compared to our brothers and sisters on the front lines here in Israel and in other places throughout the world, such as Venezuela.

As I finish writing this, the sun has broken through the clouds, casting a magnificent reflection on the beach and adjacent area, all of which I can see from my hotel room. It's a beautiful view and a reminder that though these may be somewhat dreary times, what has sustained Israel and the Jewish people throughout the ages is our indomitable faith in the future, and belief that we are destined to live in the sunshine.

- Richard

Give to UJC's Israel Solidarity Drive Now.

I have never blogged before, we'll see if this turns out to be a great idea or not. I am not sure why I am doing this. Am I doing it for me, as I regret that I didn't better document my last trip to Israel? Am I doing it for the people I care about, who are worried about this trip and my safety? Am I doing it for a greater reason, in hopes that someone reading this who doesn't "get it" about the situation in the Middle East will read my words and realize that behind the headlines and military attacks there are faces... faces who yearn for nothing more than the safety and calm that we take for granted in the United States. Who knows, but like so many other journeys in my life I take without understanding why, so too goes this blog.