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THE SOUTHERN ISRAELITE December 12, 1986 Page 15
■MHMPV'llPBMSiBPI
A new beginning
A practical Zionist realizes his dream
by Edwin Black
JERUSALEM— Some of us
are haunted. We dwell in tight
little rooms. The front wall is our
future, the back wall our past,
and we can barely move about
without touching one of them.
Through the walls, we can always
see a past that could have been, a
future that one day might be.
Being the son of Holocaust sur
vivors, being a practical Zionist,
being a Jew who understands,
places you in this room.
Only some of us dwell in these
rooms, and each of us for a dif
ferent reason. J'here is only one
way out for a true believer: the
great iron door at the front.
Whether you live in Chicago or
Los Angeles or New Y ork, if you
can muster the emotional cour
age to open this door and walk
through, you step into Eretz Yis-
rael, the Jewish homeland.
How many of us have never
understood the word “Zionism”?
How many young, naive Jewish
minds have declared their fervent
support of Israel, and in the next
breath, declare, “But I'm no
Zionist”? Brainwashed by a hos
tile world and their own mental
laziness, many fail to compre
hend the simple two-word defini
tion of the complex concept
known as “Zionism.” The two
words are “Jewish nationalism”
or “Jewish self-determination.”
II you believe that Jews, like
other minority groups, possess
the right of self-determination,
you believe in Zionism. When
you adopt that concept as a bea
con of your own life path, you
become a Zionist.
You can't buy your way in
with bonds, or speeches or aph
orisms. Jews claim victory in
Israel merely by surviving, merely
by being here. Therefore, to be
the most active Zionist, all you
need do is survive here.
For those Jews who are either
oppressed by or who stand in the
clear sight of institutional anti-
Semitism— in Iran, in Austria, in
France, in Argentina, in Rus
sia—the move to Israel is an
ascent to a better present. For
American Jews, coddled and in
sulated, the move to Israel is a
material step down, but a spirit
ual step up toward a better future.
American Jews are everywhere
in Israel. The same ones you
know from home, you meet here.
They are visiting, or they them
selves have moved here. But watch
the way people interact once they
arrive here. Strangers passing on
the street asking for directions
become instant friends. The pre
tense and pressurizing is gone
from their faces. In a word. The
biggest bore in America comes to
Israel and becomes a mensh. The
Shamir defends Israeli role
in U.S.-Iranian arms deal
by Gil Sedan
JERUSALEM (JTA) Prime
Minister Yitzhak Shamir, defend
ing Israel's role in the United
States arms shipments to Iran,
said I uesday that “if there had
not been leaks,” Israeli soldiers
held prisoner in Lebanon would
have been released as part of the
deal.
Shamir, addressing a meeting
of the Likud Knesset faction,
said that because the arms deal
“exploded ” into worldwide at
tention, the soldiers were not
freed. He gave no details but he
may have been referring to two
Israel Defense Force soldiers
captured last February in the
south Lebanon security zone.
They are believed to be in the
hands of Hezbullah, the pro-Iran
Shiite extremist group.
Shamir justified Israel’s assist
ance to the U.S. in its attempts to
trade arms for hostages. “We
could have lived on Olympus,
detached, neutral and indiffer
ent. But we must live in the area,
buy friends, work with friends
and cooperate with them when
it serves the interests of Israel,”
he said.
Israel's conscience is entirely
clear in this matter, Shamir said,
noting that had the soldiers been
released, “everyone would have
praised” the exchange. As it is, he
said, he was not worried about
Israel’s regard in the United
States. He said he has met with
several influential “people who
came from the U.S.” in recent
days and all of them “told us
Israel is not being attacked and
not being accused in this affair.”
Many in the U.S. appreciate Is
rael’s role, Shamir said.
the hills below, I turned the TV
on just in time to hear the always
moving national anthem. “Hatik-
va,” sung by dreamers in Ger
many and Prague in the 1930s
who could not yet come; and by
the desperate in the 1940s, hud
dled in leaking boats secretly sail
ing the high seas for this land.
When I hear Hatikva, I remember
that in Hebrew, it means “hope.”
I think of all the parting words,
and broken hearts, and relin
quished relationships that came
together prior to my departure.
Perhaps I shall remember most
the wish of my uncle—a survivor
who himself has lived in Israel.
Wet-eyed, and speaking in a thick
Yiddish accent, he suddenly ap
peared at my door and wished
me well. Turning away from the
intensity of the farewell, the last
words he said were, “Do it right.
Don't come back.”
« 1986. International Features
(Edwin Black, whose features
appear regularly in TSI, made
aliyah with his wife and daughter
last month.)
Hungarian treasure
The synagogue in Szeged, Hungary, is a national treasure and one of the most beautiful in that
country. JDC helped with the repair of the sy nagogue, which suffered the ravages of time in the
years since it was constructed in 1903.
Edwin Black
country does that to people.
The concomitant thrill, tension
and tranquility of this land is a
great joy to those who are here.
But it can be a great sadness to
those we leave behind. The expe
rience is the same for many young
people who come. Zionism, yes
Zionism, but please for someone
else’s boy. My mother wept: my
father, too. Stronger than Hitler,
but weaker than the moment at
the airport, they both wept. And
I did, too.
Coming here means infants
separated from their grandpar
ents, children from their mothers
and fathers. Families are at once
cleaved apart, and together by
the decision. Moving to Israel
means turning away from all that
you knew, for so much that is
uncertain. Lives and loves you
touched will claim to stay in
touch.
But it is another world. When
America sleeps, the minds of
Israel are abuzz with the new
day's excitement. Only when our
day is done does America begin
to rise, and by that time in Israel
we are ready for reflection and
then sleep. We drift apart from
other existence, and those within
it.
This is understood by all in
volved—often disbelieved, but
intrinsically understood. And so,
at the airports, Jewish people
weep. Herzl said, “Old prisoners
do not willingly leave their cells.”
I add this: “When they do, their
comrades and loved ones mourn
the loss.”
But dispersion and return is
the essence of Jewish history. I
have opened the door, left my
little room and passed over to the
other side. It is a hard life here.
No one knows how long one can
stay. Experience shows that the
great door sw ings both ways, and
people sometimes cannot help
but re-enter.
But the first night I was here,
sitting in my loft at midnight,
looking out the window at the
fantasy of flickering lights among
Everybody’s coming!
BAZAAR
SUNDAY, DEC. 14 NOON TO 9 PM
Sephardic Foods
Gifts .Jewelry
Clothes - Toys
Car Raffle
“White Elephants”
Congregation Or VeShalom
1681 N. Druid Hills Rd.
50C ADMISSION