I am just a visitor to Israel from Chicago. Even though I had heard how bad things were economically here before I came, seeing it with my own eyes is a real shocker and heartbreak. I was here eight months ago and things were bad - but some of the restaurants we ate at eight months ago are no longer here. The hotels are empty - with the lights in the lobby on dim. The dining rooms in some of the hotels are closed. Every store has a sale, and the end of winter sales are already in progress, even though it hasn't been cold here until today. HaMashbir department store on King George Street in Jerusalem is going out of business. In Tel-Aviv, it is gone.
I am writing this, dear reader, to tell you that if you think you are a Zionist, then now is the time to do something about it. We all sit glued to the news and our email, and complain about and discuss the situation with each other in our cozy homes. If we are really ambitious, then we write the letters they are always asking us to write to our government officials asking them to support Israel. Maybe we buy as many Israeli products as possible in the stores and through the internet, but it can't stop there.
Last night, in the mall, I met someone who had made aliyah two-and-a-half years ago. She put it very well: "The Arab boycott is understandable and bad, but the Jewish boycott is much more devastating. The streets of Jerusalem should be full of tour buses." Where are the Jewish people when Israel needs them? Is it too dangerous for us to take risks ourselves, when the people who live here have to get on the bus 300+ days a year and have to send their children off to school every day? The Israelis each take their turn sending their children, husbands, and other family members into the army for three years and every year after that. And of top of all that worry, they are now losing their livelihoods, because this country lives on tourism and we aren't there for them. Deep in our hearts, we all know that it is all in G-d's hands anyway.
We just came back from Machaneh Yehuda market and the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall with tears in our eyes for the man sitting alone in his store, loaded with merchandise, who is asking us to say Psalm 20. He believes that's the answer. We talked with a storekeeper, who says that even when the tourists come, either the tour guides frighten them or they themselves are too afraid, but they just don't come onto Ben Yehuda. She begged us to "tell everyone they must come, that it's not so dangerous here. That this is the most beautiful place."
How many of us have been cringing at the uprising of anti-Semitism where we live? We thought it could never happen in our lifetime - didn't we? Never again - right? Well our "safe haven" is in danger and this time it is in our hands to save it. If we don't help Israel - Israel won't be able to help us.
Usually, we have to sit home and feel bad - what can we do, how can we help? The answer is crystal clear and the time is now. If you really want to help - if you think you are a Zionist - it is time to show it where it counts. Come for a visit and show our people that we are one. It is the best way to help.
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Fran Levitansky is from Chicago.
I am writing this, dear reader, to tell you that if you think you are a Zionist, then now is the time to do something about it. We all sit glued to the news and our email, and complain about and discuss the situation with each other in our cozy homes. If we are really ambitious, then we write the letters they are always asking us to write to our government officials asking them to support Israel. Maybe we buy as many Israeli products as possible in the stores and through the internet, but it can't stop there.
Last night, in the mall, I met someone who had made aliyah two-and-a-half years ago. She put it very well: "The Arab boycott is understandable and bad, but the Jewish boycott is much more devastating. The streets of Jerusalem should be full of tour buses." Where are the Jewish people when Israel needs them? Is it too dangerous for us to take risks ourselves, when the people who live here have to get on the bus 300+ days a year and have to send their children off to school every day? The Israelis each take their turn sending their children, husbands, and other family members into the army for three years and every year after that. And of top of all that worry, they are now losing their livelihoods, because this country lives on tourism and we aren't there for them. Deep in our hearts, we all know that it is all in G-d's hands anyway.
We just came back from Machaneh Yehuda market and the Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall with tears in our eyes for the man sitting alone in his store, loaded with merchandise, who is asking us to say Psalm 20. He believes that's the answer. We talked with a storekeeper, who says that even when the tourists come, either the tour guides frighten them or they themselves are too afraid, but they just don't come onto Ben Yehuda. She begged us to "tell everyone they must come, that it's not so dangerous here. That this is the most beautiful place."
How many of us have been cringing at the uprising of anti-Semitism where we live? We thought it could never happen in our lifetime - didn't we? Never again - right? Well our "safe haven" is in danger and this time it is in our hands to save it. If we don't help Israel - Israel won't be able to help us.
Usually, we have to sit home and feel bad - what can we do, how can we help? The answer is crystal clear and the time is now. If you really want to help - if you think you are a Zionist - it is time to show it where it counts. Come for a visit and show our people that we are one. It is the best way to help.
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Fran Levitansky is from Chicago.