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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