JERUSALEM OF GOLD AND OF SOCIAL CHANGE

            Many of us are aware of issues in Jerusalem surrounding the Women of the Wall.  For American Jews after the arrest of Anat Hoffman the executive director of the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) as well as chairwoman of Women of the Wall and of Rabbi Elyse Frishman (no relation to Alan and Ronny) the issue became a huge rallying cry. Here in Israel there is not a clear position on the issue of equal access to the Western Wall in the Reform movement.  In a discussion of our group of rabbis with rabbis from MARAM, the Israeli Reform rabbis’ organization, we heard different points of views from both sides.  While many see the access to the Wall as an important issue, others feel that there is no big deal about the Wall.  The government has already given Reform and Conservative Jews permission to use an area of the same wall on the other side of the ramp leading up to the Temple Mount at the Mughrabi Gate near Robinson’s Arch.  Another point some are making is that we are making too big a deal over something that is neither sacred nor important.  Many express the idea that too many American Jews (and some Israelis too) have made the wall into an idol or totem.  Many see this issue as one of religious freedom and equality.  Others do not.  It was fascinating to see how intense this conversation was among a group of Reform rabbis. 

            After the get together I had dinner with David Leichman and Rabbi Miri Gold, my dear friends frm Kibbutz Gezer and Kehilat (Congregation) Birkat Shalom

            The second issue we learned more about was gender equality and the segregated bus lines where women are forced to sit in the back of the bus.  It is now against the law for this to be done through harassment or coercion.  Any bus driver who does not protect the woman being harassed is violating the law and can be sued and arrested.  IRAC has organized Freedom Bus rides on public bus lines where this segregation is still occurring.  After Noa Sattath, director of IRAC gave us a brief update on IRAC itself we headed up to the Ramat Shlomo neighborhood in Jerusalem to take part in a freedom ride.  This is an ultra-Orthodox, Haredi, neighborhood.  It even has one building which was given permission not to be made out of Jerusalem stone.  It is a brick building replica that one can see also at 770 Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn or in Kfar Chabad.

            As we divided into two groups and waited for busses,  a man came up and asked our guide Uri if he was the madrich (guide). He took him aside and began talking to him.  To our surprise he thought our group looked like “shomrei hatevah” guardians of nature, and wanted us to protest the plans that were about to lead to the destruction of some olive trees in the area to make way for a road.   This was very fitting as that night we were about to celebrate Tu B’Shevat.

            On the bus a few of the women from our group sat in the front in one part of double seat.  The men sat a little back towards the middle.  We got on at the first stop.   As others started to enter it was fascinating to see how some women walked quickly to the rear.  One or two others tentatively sat next to our women.  Some men carefully glanced at what was happening.  One man actually asked one of our women to move, not to the back but just across the aisle so he could sit.  Of course he could not sit next to a woman but did not protest her forward location.  On the other bus a couple of men seemed to glare and point out members of our contingent but did nothing but mumble a few words.  The ride was over in a few minutes and happily there were no incidents.

            Our next stop of the day was to the Nachlaot neighborhood, not far from Machaneh Yehuda to meet Rabbi Aaron Leibovitz. 

He runs Yeshivat Sulam Yaakov (named for his father) in a small Sephardi synagogue.  He is the founder of a movement to remove kashrut licensing from the Rabbanut (the office of the “Chief” Rabbi).  He claims that the link between money, corruption and doubt of true supervision makes much of the places certified as kosher  at best in doubt and at worst fraudulent.  His attempt s to build trust between owners and kashrut inspectors, who will not be paid by the owners, will eliminate one path of possible corruption.  He is willing to fight this difficult upstream battle.

            Our next stop was in another part of the Nachlaot neighborhood which has not yet begun to gentrify.  There we met with Eli-Asaf Ish Shalom at the Salon Shabazi.  Eli-Asaf is a social activist who founded this café/restaurant/meeting place to encourage discourse and initiatives for social justice.  On the porch of the café besides the tables where people were sitting and talking on this beautiful sunny day was also a radio broadcasting set up which is connected to public broadcasts.

  There was also a washer and drier in the basement where locals are able to do their laundry.  There were works of local artists and on the porch was a man selling homemade, small production, fruit liquors.  He spoke of their activities and how they have had an effect in the neighborhood.

            Our next stop before Shabbat preparation was to the large market area of Machaneh Yehuda.  A few of us ate at a wonderful Iraqi restaurant, Azura, where I dined on an eggplant stuffed with chopped beef, with pine nuts and cinnamon in a piquant sauce.  It was delicious but did a number on my stomach.

            One additional opportunity not on the schedule occurred before Shabbat preparations.  A small group of us walked to the King David Hotel and met the American ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro.  He grew up in the URJ Olin-Sang Ruby camp and is friends with one of our colleagues in the group.  He shared some off the record remarks and insights.  He did say that a lot of the described animosity between President Obama and PM Netanyahu is exaggeration and perhaps even fabrication by the press.  We heard that perspective knowing that he is an Obama appointee.

ISRAELI ARABS

          We boarded the bus to head up to an area known as the little triangle to visit the Israeli Arab town of Tira.  We met up with Avivit Hai who is the director of the Interagency Task Force on Israeli Arab Issues.  This is a coalition of 100 American Jewish Organizations that is non-partisan and educates on mainstream issues.  It neither funds projects nor advocates.  Both the URJ and the CCAR are supporting members.  A few years ago I travelled with Avivit to the Negev to learn some of the issues facing the Israeli Bedouin population. This day she was bringing us to meet with different people who are concerned with Israeli Arab issues.

Our first stop was at the Appleseeds Center in the Tira Employment Center.  A panel presented on different aspects of the achievements, opportunities and challenges in regards to employment in the Arab sector of Israel.  To begin we were presented with the accepted reality that there is existing inequality that is not incidental which is bad for Israel both morally and economically.  At the  same time there are both governmental agencies as well as NGO’s that are working to combat these problems.  Our first speaker was Mariam Kabha, an Arab attorney who is the Commissioner of the Northern District of Israel’s Equal Opportunity in Employment Commission.    She told us that the good news is that Arab employment is on the public agenda in both the private and public sectors.  She described much of the present inequalities and some of the steps being taken to improve the situation.  There have been numerous successful suits against discrimination but also other tactics still exist to continue such discrimination.  For example: an employment requirement that employees have had military service, which Arabs do not have, was successfully changed.

          The goal she describes for the country is to have the diversity in the civil sector to reflect the diversity of the population.  She also hopes that the EEOC will become an independent body with authority in the entire labor market. The reason for this is because now they are precluded from suits against government agencies. 

          Our second speaker on the panel was Yael Kahan Sharon the Director of NGO Kav Mashve (the Equator).  “Kav Mashve’s vision is to promote a business environment that is open and provides equal opportunity to Arab university graduates.”  Another goal is to establish a bridge between the Israeli Arabs and the business sector.  They work with the young guiding high school and university students on a course to choosing careers.  Some of this is to be done by more training in the field of technology.  There is also a need to break down geographical barriers.  Training needs to be done among Arabs to learn English which is an essential tool in today’s world of business.  Contacts need to be made and both the interviewers and those seeking employment need to  understand cultural differences that may hinder job acquisition, such as body language and an Arab man not looking directly into women’s eyes.  “Kav Mashve believes that increasing Arab presence in places of employment is a win-win situation for Jews and Arabs alike.”

          The third panelist was Avi Fleischman (??) from the JDC Israel (Joint Distribution Committee.)  They are trying to work to get more Arabs and Ultra-Orthodox into the work force.  They are doing this by creating employment centers in the Arab community.  They now have 7 but hope to increase that number to 20.

          The final speaker of the morning session was Ranin Khateeb Fadila, the director of the Appleseeds Center.    

 Ranin loved studying Hebrew in High School.  She went to Bar Ilan University to study and her special interest was in S.Y. Agnon, Israel’s Noble laureate.  Her abilities allowed her to keep progressing in her employment.  During that time she exhibited a strong aptitude for technology.  She began to teach Arab women about computer skills at the Appleseed Center, which is an NGO helping to overcome some of the technology gaps in Israeli society.  She continues to train many women, especially high school girls.  She had to convince their parents they weren’t coming to the center to Facebook and computer games.  She started another project of training kids to fix computers and go out into the local community and do this for reasonable inexpensive costs.  She told us her motto is “Technology is the door to life.”  They are now working on a project with Intel and the Ministry of Education to bring more computers and tablets into the schools.  Raneen was a very positive individual.  Her siblings also achieved higher education but left Tira.  They were not happy that Raneen returned but she did so to enrich the lives of others.

          Our panel did not sugarcoat the situation in regards to employment in the Arab communities in Israel.  They spoke of the tremendous gap between the Arabs and the Jewish Israelis as well as the discrimination.  What all of them are doing is working to correct these problems in their own ways.  While they may be having some success there is no Pollyanna attitude.

          We split up for lunch in the center of the town enjoying the schwarma, hummus and other common street food.  Some of us had some kanafeh (a sweet melted cheese pastry soaked in sweet syrup) for dessert.

          After lunch we proceeded on a walk led by a teenager to our next destination.  We were unable to visit Al Qassemi College because we were in Tira on the birthday celebration of Muhammed. Many places, especially schools were closed.   Instead we met Dr. Dalia Fadila at her other job as director and founder of “Q Schools.”  Dr Fadila is the Vice President at the college which in the past was known as the Sharia (Islamic law) College.  She has held several positions at the college, beginning with being the first woman on the faculty and the head of the English department but since she has been informed that she will not be appointed president, as they are not ready to have a woman in that position, she will be devoting her time mainly to her Q Schools.

          She received all of her degrees at bar Ilan University and concentrated on minority literature in the United States focusing in the end on Arab writers. Her aim in the schools is to give Arabs positive feelings towards their identity and to recreate the culture.  For her, education is hope and one must put aside their marginalization to create a vision of how things could be.  Education needs to go beyond the simple memorization that is a common pratice.  Her description of the fragmentation of the identity of Israeli (Palestinian) Arabs comes from three issues.  First is the crisis of how they see who they are.  Second is how they relate to Israel.  And third is seeing themselves as a minority, which only began in 1948 when their majority became a minority.  Many act as if they are the majority as if the Abbas Empire is in their backyard, which is an illusion.  On the other side the Israelis Jews, who are the majority live like they are a minority.

          The Q stands for quality and the word schools is plural because Dr. f

Fadilia from the start dreamt and built at other locations.  Beyond identityquetions of the students at Q Schools and surrounded by the teaching of English she is also dealing with culture, human rights, leadership, quality of life, education, women’s issues, institutions structures and resources.  She has created some wonderful texts which deal with many of these while the student is learning English.  In her texts Arab parents provide other models, such as the father in the kitchen preparing lunch and the mother being in a professional career.

          Dr. Fadila said her own perspectives were changed at Br Ilan where she began as an 18 year old student who felt inferior.  With wonderful mentors she learned how to turn weakness into strength and threat into opportunity.  Since 2008 over 2000 kids have gone through her schools.

          She stated that she believes most parents want change and development.  Yet there remains a strong pull towards traditional values.  Very carefully she seemed to be saying that opposite values to those taught in her school are being taught by traditional preachers in the mosque.  While she answered a question by stating that she is not optimistic about seeing Israel treat all its citizens with equality she still believes that she and others must continue to make small changes.

          Unfortunately I need to conclude this posting on a more negative note.  Even with these good and talented people doing what they do, many in Israel still hold deep prejudices such as not wanting an Arab neighbor.  The problem even if there is an eventual two state reality if not rectified will remain as a black mark on Israeli society.

ONE TAKE ON THE ELECTIONS

          Two mornings after the eLection we had the privilege of starting the day with a lecture from Reuven Hazan in regards to the results.  His presentation was not only clear, but even to a group of fairly sophisticated and knowledgeable American rabbis he presented insights that brought some light to an unclear and murky political system and in regards to the most recent results.  The first thing he emphasized was that just as there are so many other differences between Israeli and American society that is also the case in the political realm.  Our presidential system emphasizes the individual even more than the party.  In Israel, even when they try to sell the leading figure in a party, it is still the party platform as a whole that matters most to the voters. Israel in reality does not base its elections on individuals.  It is also not a pure winner and loser situation.  A vote for a smaller party that doesn’t earn a majority (in fact no party earns a majority) even if they come in 2^nd, 5th or 7^th place, still gets someone elected and allows them a voice in running the country.  He asked us which is more democratic, winner take all or shared representation based on percentages of voters.  In the US a one vote differential can give 100% power to only one candidate.  In Israel parties with 10 to 20% of the vote can have a significant amount of status in the government.

          Although Prime Minister Netanyhu received a much smaller share of the vote than was predicted, he will still be the one to create the coalition for the next government.  His choice will be which parties he will bring into his government.  Will it be strongly right wing Hawks or centrist moderated?  Will he need to include any ultra-religious (Haredi) parties or not?  What was born out of the election results was first the implosion of the Kadima party which in the previous election actually had one more seat than Netanyahu’s Likud.  Second, Likud’s merger with the more hard right Yisrael Beiteinu actually hurt their results. Third, the issue of social problems and Israelis looking for some sort of change was evident.

          He was not making any hard predictions of what the new government will look like or what they might do.  Rather he presented an understanding of the system and the possibilities of how things may proceed.

          At the conclusion of his talk I told Hazan I was from Rochester.  He told me he has enjoyed his visits.  Next time he comes I highly recommend him.

A DAY IN THE NEGEV

          Our day started off in the Tea House on Kibbutz Lotan which was the first solar powered building made of earth and straw.  This kibbutz was founded s the 2^nd Reform Kibbutz after Yahel in the early 1980’s.  There is a strong mission of environmentalism that is lived by the members and taught to those who come to visit or study.  Over the years they have developed different modes of recycling, composting and natural organic farming. We saw a drinking fountain that has four uses of the water that comes from the spout.  One can drink, whatever spills over goes to a bird fountain which then leads to water small tomato plants and finally a larger tree.  The electric meter found on the doorpost of the houses reminds people to limit their use of energy and so they call it an electric mezzuzah.

          The composting of toilet waste into usable loamy soil was explained as was other forms of composting.  In their extensive organic vegetable garden they grow a variety of items together demonstrating how they bring stability to the growth.  From this they teach how variety and diversity in society also is a positive force.   The plants, many varieties of birds and insects interact in a creative manner.

          The kibbutz is also known for the extensive number of bird species that are seen in their migrations in the spring and fall.  Tourists visit specifically to observe the many species.  Many students can come for different environmental courses and a small village of ecologically constructed living quarters serves as their dwelling places during their stay. 

          It was explained that the verse in the Torah that we usually translate that the human was to till and tend the land, l’ovdah ulshomra, could be translated as to serve and to protect the land.  This terminology brings a strong Torah based underpinning to all that they do.  Lotan has created a wonderful setting for people who believe in these important values and has created new ways to protect our gift of the earth.

          Our second stop of the day was Kibbutz Ketura, just down the road from Lotan.  This kibbutz was founded in 1973 by members of Young Judea.  It views itself as traditional religious, egalitarian and pluralistic kibbutz in the mode of Conservative Judaism.  Their big income industries are 3,000 date palm trees, production of algae grown in glass tubes which because of their high antioxidant properties become useful in cosemetics and food supplements, 500 dairy cows and 18,500 solar panels.  The Arava Institute for environmental research is located on the kibbutz.  We were given a detailed explanation of the Arava Institute by Dr. Tariq abu Hamed,

 who was born in East Jerusalem and is a Palestinian Arab.  He studied in Turkey, the Weizman Institute in Rehovot and the University of Minnesota. The Institute’s student population is 1/3 Israeli Jews, 1/3 Arabs (from Israel, the Palestinian territory and Jordan) and 1/3 Internationals. They live and study together working on long term sustainable environmental concerns, waste management and renewable energy.  We saw work on improving the productivity of solar panels, research for hydrogen operated vehicles and self-cleaning solar panels in the dusty desert.  They are connected to masters programs at Ben Gurion University and York University in Canada. The work is impressive and while not its primary goal a step towards building cooperative endeavors which can head towards peace.

          On Ketura there is a date palm tree that has grown from a seed found at Masada and is over 2000 years old. It is an amazing reality and a symbol that Judaism should not be frozen in the past but must think of new adaptations.

          We ate lunch at Yotvata, famous for its dairy products, especially chocolate milk, no longer sold in plastic bags.  We then headed north to the Ramon Crater.  This is a magnificent geological sight and we spent time simply walking around in this overwhelming desert environment.

          From there we drove to a village not too far from Beer Sheba called Ashalim.   Housed in this village is one of 14 groupings of students who are part of a program called Ayalim.  These students are modern 21^st century Zionists.  They build their own housing as well as other buildings.  They get full scholarships to universities and colleges.  They work 500 hours a year of community service, helping both urban and non-urban communities, especially children and under privileged.  Many of the graduates have gone on to create new communities in the Negev working to fulfill the vision of David Ben Gurion, the first prime Minister of Israel.  There have been over 6,000 graduates of the program and they affect 25,000 children each year.  They now get governmental support as well as donations from benefactors.  These are idealists who are building a better future for Israel while helping to settle an area of land that presently is 70% of the land with only 8% of the population.   They are non-political although in some ways they seem to be a counter movement to settlers in the territories.  They offer an inspiring picture of what can be done.

          Our meal was prepared by a group known as Women Who Cook.  This is a group developed in the development town of Ofakim and provides employment for women using the basic talents they have used for their own families in the past.  The style of cooking was Moroccan and the food was delicious.

          On to Jerusalem!

Our Day of Solidarity

          To meet people who live in the area surrounding Gaza and to hear the personal stories reinforces the complexity of the situation demonstrated through their real life experiences.  Our mission visited Moshav Netiv HaAsarah, Kibbutz Kfar Aza and the town of Sderot on Election Day.

          This was similar to part of day in November when I visited some of the same sights.  The addition of the excitement of Election Day added to the entire experience.  I believe this was the first time I have ever been in Israel on Election Day.  Our guide almost had to meet up with the group along our journey so he could cast his vote.  He ended up opening is local voting place to be the first one a 6:00 am.  When we arrived to Netiv HaAsarah we were joined by a solidarity mission from the Stephen Wise Free Synagogue in Manhattan with their rabbi, Ami Hirsch, a past executive director of ARZA.  Another colleague Allen Bennett was with this group.

            Raz Shmilovitz, a tour educator and farmer from Netiv HaAsarah spoke of his parents being part of this community when it was established in 1975 in the Sinai. The uprooting of the moshav after the peace treaty with Egypt led to their present location on the northern border of Gaza within the original boundaries of Israel. They chose this locale so that no one would dispute their right to live on that land.  He used an expression based on two Hebrew words which have similar pronunciation but different spelling.  “If you don’t work (eebeyd with an ayin) the land, you will lose (eebeyd with an alef) the land.  He reminded us that they lived so close that at times the bombs exploded before the alarm sounded.

Another member, Roni, spoke of her participation in The Other Voice. She continues to believe that they must dialogue with Gazans.  During Pillar of Defense a friend from Gaza called her to ask how she and her family were doing.  Roni told of her time living in Cairo when her daughter became friendly with a Palestinian girl. It took three years before they could visit each other outside of school due to the distrust of what the other supposedly represented.  Her comment was that if it took 2 families three years to get together how much harder it is for 2 nations. She calls herself a realist and not a dreamer.  According to her the dreamers are those who think they can continue in the present state of affairs.

          At Kfar Aza, Chen Avraham, who works for the IMPJ, came back to the Kibbutz to raise her son in this wonderful environment.  Now her challenge is to keep his perspective to not hate all Arabs.  During the war a rocket landed just outside of her grandmother’s home who was safe with her caretaker in the shelter but found her bed covered with ash and broken glass. When Chen gazes across the border she believes there are Gazans who are looking back at the beautiful setting of the kibbutz hoping they too could enjoy such a life.  From both of these communities we were able to look out across the border, a few hundred yards away, not only viewing Gaza city but even seeing a few Gazans who were chased away from approaching too closely to the security fencing. 

In both communities many of the women and children were evacuated during Pillar of Defense but others remained.  We witnessed people of tremendous resilience as many continue to suffer from traumatic stress disorders.  And yet on this sunny day we saw children and adults seemingly living a normal life.  At Netiv HaAsarah an artist designed a peace mosaic to which we able to add pieces of ceramics. It was a symbol of hope placed on a barrier wall of defense.

          Upon entering Sderot, a town most heavily bombarded in the area we had the opportunity to see a voting center.  In “High Tech” Israel the paper tabs placed in envelopes for ballots was about as low tech as one can get.  It was a new experience to also see the people still campaigning ad the posters for the different parties.

After lunch we met with Noam Bedin of the Sderot Media Center.  His message was to get out the truth on what he called the “rocket reality.” We were taken behind the police station to see the remains of rockets.  Some were painted different colors representing different militant factions such as Hamas, Islamic Jihad, el Aqsa Brigade and el Kuds.

 Not only has the greater area had over 12,000 rockets shot during the past 7 years since the disengagement from Gaza, but we were told that 97% were shot from civilian areas.  He also spoke of the many dilemmas such as the mother who hears the alert while in a car and has to decide which child to pull out first to bring them to a shelter.  Anat, who works with Noam, was evacuated from a community just across the border from Netiv HaAsarah, which now lies entirely in ruins.  She loves the area but spoke of the anxiety and fears that she and others have at such minor things as a clicking sound which reminds them of the tzevah adom (Red Alert) warnings.

          Noam summed up his feeling as we looked at a playground and soccer field surrounded by bomb shelters.  His claim is that those images together are in and of themselves an abomination.

          After visiting a Magen David Adom center and learning of their work we boarded the bus for the almost three hour ride to Kibbutz Lotan.  Lotan was the second Reform Jewish kibbutz founded in the early 1980’s in the Arava north of Eilat.  It is known for its work in environmental pursuits and a great place to view the thousands upon thousands of migrating birds in the Fall and Spring.  More about Lotan tomorrow.

          

Israel:CCAR Social Action and Solidarity Mission

January -February 2013

Sorry Rochester, but my first day in Israel was sunny and in the mid sixties.  I made my way to the David Intercontinental Hotel, checked in and then headed to the Shuk HaCarmel, the open market in Tel Aviv.  Walking through this colorful venue reminds me I am back in Israel.  It is a part of past years before modernization and technology but is not an ancient historical site from Biblical times.  I had time for a cup of café hafuch (latte before Starbucks and others popularized the drink in America) and a chocolate ruggelah.

Upon returning to the hotel the group was just beginning to gather to meet and greet.  It is wonderful to see old friends as well as meet colleagues I had not met before.  We then proceeded to Jaffa where we met with a counselor and a few participants of the Mechina program.

Mechina is a gap year program for high school graduates before they go into the army. Mechina rents most of a small building where they have four apartments and two meeting rooms for the fifty participants.  Although this program is sponsored in part by the Reform movement in Israel (IMPJ – Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism) many of the students who opt to participate do not have previous connections with the movement.  They study various topics, mostly in the morning and in the afternoons do community service.  Their work might be in afternoon school programs, helping the elderly and a few other options.  They mentioned that they serve Jews, Arabs, Druze and refugees.  They are independent from home and do their own shopping and cooking.  The study courses which include Judaism, social economics, Israeli society and moral choices, to name a few areas.  They have a sense that when they enter the IDF they are much stronger better prepared.  

We returned to the hotel and had a meeting with retired Major Miri Eisin who was a political adviser to the Prime Minister and spokesperson to foreign media.  She spoke of tomorrow’s upcoming election and the complexity not only of internal Israeli politics but how Israel will confront the surrounding nations who are in a process of major change.  She also spoke of numerous dilemmas facing Israel including the many illegal immigrants from Africa who walk across the Sinai and now number to possibly as many as 100,000. Due to the terrible crisis in Syria over 450,000 Syrians refugees have entered Jordan, Turkey and Iraq.  Israel also shares a border with Syria.  Israel is in a quandary about Syrians who might be seeking political sanctuary through the shared border.   

She mentioned that today in Israel with a population of about 8 million almost 6 million are eligible to vote.  20% of the population is Muslim Arabs with another 5% of others including Christian Arabs and Druze.  In September of 2012 46% of entering first grade students were either Arab or ultra-Orthodox (Haredim).  The election tomorrow has many unknowns until the final votes are in.

After a lovely dinner where I sat next to a friend of Noam and Jaime’s who is now the marketing and public relations director of the hotel it is time to turn in for the night before we depart tomorrow at 8:00 am.

I have arrived in Israel for my 35th visit.  This journey will begin as a CCAR rabbis' mission dealing with issues of social justice.  There will also be a followup of offering some solidarity to those who were most affected by the bombing before the war in November.
Before I left, at last Friday's Shabbat service at Temple Sinai a man came to me to wish me a safe trip. He then said something to the effect that he thought Israel was a place that was very dangerous to visit.  My response was that I really feel safer in Israel than in many other places in Rochester and the US.  In fact since the cease fire with Gaza back in November there has been a tentative peaceful situation that hopefully will continue.
On Tuesday the elections will be held and for the next two days there will be a limit on political advertising.  I hope being here will provide a deeper perspective into what has occurred.  This should be a very interesting time.