On the Ground in Israel A personal view of our efforts in Israel from Amir Shacham, UJC MetroWest Director of Israel Operations

February 13, 2008

Adom:
Red, or Adom in Hebrew, brings many associations to our minds: on one hand, alert, blood, ambulances. On the other hand, blooming flowers, nature at its best, and colorful authentic dishes. This weekend in the Negev, we have experienced all of the above in a typical Israeli impossible mix.

Tzeva Adom – Red Color
Tzeva adom is what the loud speakers of Sderot and Sha’ar Hanegev region shout every time a Kassam rocket is launched at their direction from Gaza. After thousands of launches, the sound of the alert by itself becomes a source of trauma and fear. The need to run into a shelter within a maximum of 20 seconds makes it a nightmare. The explosion of the rocket falling and the damage it creates is just the closing of this continuing, unimaginable, impossible life. Last weekend was one of the worst: more than 40 Kassams fell on Sderot and the Sha’ar Hanegev region causing an entire community to run back and forth to their shelters. Three of the rockets were more destructive than others: The one that fell near by a children’s playground in Kibbutz Be’eri wounded a few kids. The one that fell directly on the Peretz family’s dining room while they were having their Shabbat dinner, miraculously caused only property damage and trauma. Then came the most destructive rocket of this round: the one that fell in Sderot Saturday night and hit the Twito brothers, who were on their way to buy a gift for their father’s birthday. Osher (happiness in Hebrew) Twito (8) lost one leg, and the doctors are fighting to save his other one. As I write this to you, I got a call from Nir Lahav, director of JAFI’s Youth Future program. Nir tells me that he is on his way to the hospital to see how he can help, because Osher is one of the participants of the Youth Future program of Sderot.

Darom Adom – Red South
Darom Adom is the name of the Negev winter festival. Four regional councils in the northern Negev, including Sha’ar Hanegev and Merchavim, UJC MetroWest’s partner regions, joined forces to help bring local tourism to their premises. The festival got its name from one of the most amazing nature phenomena in Israel: the huge red carpets of blooming anemone flowers during this time of the year. One of the first events of the festival was “an open house” at our partner, Kibbutz Erez. I felt that I needed to go down there to show solidarity, because in such an intense security weekend, no one probably would show up. On the way, I even picked up my father, so at least there would be the two of us as guests. I was totally surprised: In spite of five “red color” alerts only that morning, the Kibbutz was full of people. Five hundred guests visited during the day. It was heartwarming to see so many Israelis visiting Erez. The Kibbutz members went out of their way to give a good time to their guests, mainly families with kids, and provided plenty of traditional and innovative Kibbutz attractions. The Gaza observation point and the renovated bomb shelters were not part of the tour this time, and no one spoke about the Kassam threat. It was a normal, happy, and fun day of happenings, and that’s the way it should be. However, being an experienced tour guide of the Kibbutz yard and having my own old man to take care of, I asked our friend Yahel, the young Kibbutz director, “what happens if there is a 'red color' alert during the event? What do you do with all these people?” His answer was typical: “There will not be one, we prayed hard last night for this. However, if there is an alert, thanks to you we now have plenty of safe rooms and shelters all over the Kibbutz. People will run to wherever they see a UJC MetroWest plaque.” Fortunately, the Kibbutznik’s prayers worked: there was no need to look for our plaques, although the next Kassam attack happened only few hours after the event.

Pilpel Adom Memula – Stuffed Red Peppers
Pilpel Adom Memula is one of the most delicious, attractive, and requested dishes of the “women’s ethnic empowerment group” of Ofakim/Merchavim. The dish of stuffed peppers filled with rice and meat represents the traditional Kurdish kitchen, which was brought here with the big wave of aliyah in the 1950s. In the last two years, the MetroWest-Ofakim/Merchavim Partnership 2000 recruited 30 women from the region, and they are now working to preserve and present their ethnic traditions through food, music, customs, stories, and more. As part of the “Darom Adom” festival, last weekend and during the next five Fridays, our ethnic empowerment group cooks, sells their dishes, and presents their culture in the Patish old fortress at the Ofakim Park. Hundreds of people from all over the country, many of them first timers in town, were there to taste, smell, and buy the products. The stuffed peppers were all sold out early on. If anyone is looking for a good Kurdish, Moroccan, or Yemenite Shabbat meal, this is the place to be.

No Red Line
Alon Schuster, our friend and mayor of the Sha’ar Hanegev regional council, wrote last Friday in his personal column about the Darom Adom festival: “Some will come because of the Kassams, some will come in spite of the Kassams, and some will not come because of the same reasons.” I didn’t survey the Israelis, but I know for sure that the MetroWest community is there at all times with Erez, Sha’ar Hanegev, and Ofakim/Merchavim, in times of crisis and in routine times. We visit our partner communities on a regular basis, and it is highly appreciated by them. The solidarity, friendships, partnership, and the “living bridge” connections that we have made are all part of the same concept: When it comes to Klal Yisrael, Jewish solidarity, there are no red lines.

Drishat Shalom – regards, from the UJC MetroWest Israel Office

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