Omaha Jewish Teens Meet with Syrian Muslim

Tonight was a memorable Teens 4 Israel meeting.

For those who don't know, Teens 4 Israel is the only Nebraska Jewish youth group whose sole mission  is Israel advocacy.  Teens 4 Israel builds relationships with our Congressmen and other elected officials, partners with national Israel advocacy groups, and meets once a month to learn about the issues facing Israel, how to defend Israel against her detractors, and what Omaha teens can do to support the US Israel relationship.

Our next event will be to attend the AIPAC policy conference in Washington DC.

Tonight we had a regular scheduled meeting at Starbucks.  The planned agenda was to discuss logistics for the upcoming trip to DC,  discuss the Israeli elections, and read a piece from our text book, The Case for Israel by Alan Dershowitz.

About half way through the meeting, a young man approached our table at Starbucks and said, "Shalom.  Atem Midabrim Ivrit?"  (Hello, do you speak Hebrew?)

"Keyn"  we said.  And we asked him his name and where he was from.

The young man told us that his name was Ieyad and he is a Muslim from Syria.  He is 20 years old.  His family is originally from a place in North Western Syria called Idlib but he was born and raised in Damascus.  He still has some family in Idlib.  His parents are divorced.  His father is a dentist living in Saudi Arabia and he moved here with his mother 2 years ago. His grandparents also live in Omaha. He is currently studying biology at the University of Nebraska at Omaha and he is studying Hebrew with a Jewish friend.

We asked him if he would join us.  "With pleasure!" he said.  We introduced ourselves and played some Jewish (and Muslim) geography.  Some of the kids have friends in common with Ieyad from school.

We asked him if he could tell us about the terrible situation that is going on in Syria right now.

Below is a synopsis of what he told us followed by some Q & A.  Everything below is what we heard from Ieyad.  The kids were encouraged to research the issue on their own, but it was very interesting to hear about the conflict from his perspective.

He told us about how the Baathist party, a socialist regime, took control of Syria in 1963 and has been in power ever since.  In his words, they are not exactly a dictatorship, rather the government is what he would call a cleptocracy.  They control the economy and loot from the people.

According to him the government represents only 9% of the population, yet they control the military.  Recently the people started to rebel.  The rebels were armed by the governments of Saudi Arabia and Qatar.  They did so because the current Syrian government is a proxy of Iran.  Saudi Arabia hopes that by toppling of the Syrian regime Iran will lose a foothold in the region.

But the Syrian government is much stronger and they are crushing the rebels.  The death toll of rebels and civilians killed by the government has reached 80,000!!!

Ieyad's father's cousin,  a civilian, was among the victims.  He was killed by a sniper.  He was a young man of 34 with a family.

The following are some questions the Teens 4 Israel asked.

What has the American government done to help the rebels?

He answered that the American government has indirectly helped the Syrian government by preventing weapons from reaching the Rebels from Turkey.  He said that the US fears that if the Rebels are successful an extremist government will arise in Syria, as has happened in Afghanistan, Egypt, and other places.  In his opinion, America's primary concern is stability in the region.

Do you fear that Iran will get nuclear weapons?

He answered that he believes that Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has exaggerated the threat of Iran so that he can get reelected.  Not to say that he thinks Iran is not a danger, but he feels that the threat has been very overstated.

What is your opinion and attitude towards Israel in general?

He thought for a minute and answered that he does not believe that it is a war against the Jewish people.  He perceives the enemy to be the "Zionists" specifically the government.  He believes that the Israeli as well as the Arab governments are at fault and the people are just pawns caught in the crossfire.

Are you a practicing Muslim?

He said that his grandparents are very religious.  His grandmother covers her hair at all times and observes all Muslim customs.  His mother used to cover her hair but now in America she has stopped doing so.  Ieyad himself is not very religious at all.  He does not attend a mosque.  But he does abstain from eating pork and drinking wine.

The teens noted the similarity in his story and the classic trends of assimilation in the American Jewish community since the fist generation of immigrants.

Why are you learning Hebrew?

He answered that it is close to Arabic so it is easy for him.  Also, he has a Jewish friend who was very interested in learning Arabic so they get together and teach each other.
We pulled out a chumash and Ieyad wowed us by reading from this week's parshah.  The teens noted that he read better than most of the Jewish kids in Omaha!  (Obviously not Beth Israel kids!)

You mentioned that you oppose the US government's foreign policy regarding Syria.  Are you currently involved in any activism to affect that policy?

He said that there is some activism in New York, but his family and friends here are not involved.  They also do not support the rebels financially.  But they pray everyday that the Rebels will be successful.

We said our goodbyes to Ieyad and friended him on Facebook.

After he left the teens stayed to discuss everything they had just learned.

One pointed out how easy it is for people on two sides of an issue to get together for a reasonable discussion.  Another argued that it is easy for us to talk here in Omaha.  If we were in Israel or Syria where the issues would have a direct impact on our daily lives then it would not be so simple.

They also noted the importance of teens 4 Israel.  It is wonderful that Ieyad and his family pray for the rebels, but the Jewish teens would not feel satisfied if their only support of Isarel was in the form of prayer.  They are glad that the Jewish community offers them more concrete ways to advocate on behalf of Israel.  They suddenly had a great appreciation for Teens 4 Israel, AIPAC, and all of the Israel advocacy that takes place in the Jewish community.

This was a great experience for the kids and for me.  Everyone is really excited about attending AIPAC in March.  We decided we want to sign up for a session about the situation in Syria and see if the perspective offered differs from what we learned from Ieyad.

Travel blog #3 - Teens 4 Israel advocacy mission to NYC

For our Teens 4 Israel advocacy mission, I chose Teaneck for Shabbat.  The Teens were amazed at the Jewish activity that goes on their for Shabbat.  Even our Israeli Shelicha was impressed as she had never experienced a community with so many active Jewish people outside of Israel.Friday night we davened at congregation Keter Torah.  Physically, Keter Torah may be the most beautiful shul in North America anywhere outside of Omaha. 

Friday night dinner and the following program were incredible.  We had dinner at the home of Rabbi Steven Weil.  Rabbi Weil is the executive vice president of the Orthodox Union.  under his leadership, the Orthodox Union brought almost 1,000 people to the last AIPAC convention, and it was OU synagogues and Rabbis that brought the largest synagogue delegations in the country.  I am proud to say that Beth Israel, the OU synagogue in Nebraska, along with its dynamic young Rabbi, this past year lead the largest ever delegation of Nebraska Jews to the AIPAC policy conference.  I hope that next year we are even bigger.

After dinner, Rabbi Weil's home filled up with about 50 Teens from the neighborhood.  They were introduced to our Omaha Teens 4 Israel group.  We heard from a local Teaneck resident named Mort Fridman.  Mort has been an active AIPAC lobbyist for almost 15 years and has developed strong relationships with Congressman and Senators all over the country.  In fact, Senator Ben Nelson was brought to Teaneck, NJ by Mort Fridman and had a parlor meeting about the US / Israel relationship in Rabbi Weil's dining room.

Mort first spoke about what AIPAC does to strengthen the US ? Israel relationship.  He asked the kids a few questions about what they know and I was very proud that Teens 4 Israel founder and president Kevin Adler's hand went up to answer every question. 

Mort told us some of his own experiences.  He says that he divides Congressmen and Senators into two groups, friends of Israel and potential friends of Israel.  Recently, he told us, in preparation for an upcoming vote on Iran sanctions he arranged a parlor meeting in Teaneck for a Congressman from Indiana, Dick Lugar, who was likely to vote against the sanctions.  Mort picked him up from the airport and had him as a captive audience in his car for the hour drive to Rabbi Weil's home.  Mort asked the congressman about how his family came form the country, knowing that the congressman had an interesting family history.  Then the Congressman asked Mort the same.  Mort told him how his father's family was wiped out in Europe during the Shoah.  He segued into a conversation about Iran and how the Jewish people have learned that when someone threatens to wipe out the Jews - we take them seriously.  The parlor meeting was a success and Rep Lugar ended up voting for the sanctions and bringing along 3 or 4 other votes as well.  The vote passed 100 - 0.  Without those rep Lugar the sanctions would probably have passed 96 - 4, but because the Senate voted unanimously, something very uncommon, the sanctions made front page news and brought more awareness to the need to stop Iran from developing nuclear weapons. 

Rabbi Weil then spoke about some other incredible AIPAC stories.  He spoke about a trip to Israel for Congressmen that included Senator Ben "Night Horse" Campbell from Colorado.  In addition to being a native American Chief, Sen. Campbell got the name "night Horse" because of his passion for riding Harley Davidson motorcycles. 
AIPAC made some preparations before his arrival, and when he stepped off the plane in tel Aviv he was greeted by the Israel Harley Davidson society, a group of American ex pats who brought their leather jackets and Harley Davidsons with them on Aliya.  At 4:00 am they took Sen Night Horse for the most spiritual ride of his life around the walls of the old city of Jerusalem.

Rabbi Weil then focused on the power of an individual.  He told a number of stories about how one person was able to make a difference, and ended with the story of Eddie Jacobson, the Jewish business man who had the connection with Harry Truman that may have influenced his decision to vote in favor of the Jewish state.  Rabbi Weil was passionate and engaging and all the kids, and the few adults, present came away inspired. 

After the event our teens got to stay out late socializing with the teens from Teaneck.

The next day we davened at the Keter Torah Teen Minyan - a minyan run completely by teens.  They do all the davening, all the leining, they give the sermon, they even organize the kiddush and other details necessary to run a shul.  Omaha's own Aaron Kurtzman was asked to lead Shacharit.  And our own Kevin Adler gave a short dvar Torah, thanked the Teaneck teens for hosting them, and invited all the Teaneck teens to come to Omaha to experience a real Beth Israel Shabbaton.  I think I may have been the proudest Rabbi ever.

We were invited to lunch at the home of Rabbi Baum, the Rabbi of Keter Torah.  In conjunction with some other Rabbis in Teaneck he lead one of the largest synagogue delegations of any place in the US to the AIPAC policy conference.  I think it was interesting for the kids to see the differences and similarities of being a Rabbi in Teaneck verses being a Rabbi in Omaha.

Seudat Shlishit was an amazing event!!!  We ate at the home of Rabbi Steve Burg, international director of NCSY and managing director of the Orthodox Union. 
Our guest speaker was Dr. Sharon Goldman, AIPAC's Northeast Region Political Director.
Dr. Goldman further educated the teens on the impact they can have through involvement with AIPAC. 
She told us an amazing story.  After the last election there were 89 new republic congressman, most if not all were in some way associated with the Tea Party movement.  Leading up to the freshman caucus, AIPAC's executive director, Howard Kohr, got a phone call from republican party leader John Boehner.  Boehner said that he feared that the freshman congressmen were going to draft a proposal to make major budget cuts, including cutting foreign aid to Israel. 
AIPAC's response was two fold.  First, Howard Kohr made it clear that the pro Israel community expected that the republican leadership would stand up to the freshman congressman and let them know that the republic leadership stands united in its commitment to foreign aid to Israel and demands that the freshmen do the same.  On a different front, it was Sharon Goldman job, along with the 7 other regional political coordinators around the country, to work on the freshmen. 
AIPAC begins building relationships with up and coming politicians long before they are elected to congress.  By the time a congressman is elected there is at least one AIPAC supporter who has been there for that congressman earlier in his career, whether it was helping to raise money, arrange parlor meetings, or just to help make connections and give good advice.  Often the relationships are so strong that these AIPAC supporters can call at any time of day and they will get the congressman on their personal phone.  And that is exactly what they did. 
The next morning at the breakfast served before the caucus, unofficially every congressman was talking about, "that phone call" that they got the night before from their friend in the pro Israel community.  When they put forth their proposal to the republicans, they had recommended cuts across the board - except on foreign aid to Israel. 

After Dr. Goldman we got to hear from Rabbi Steven Burg.  We happened to be joined by the teen who was elected the national leader of international NCSY.  He is from Cherry Hill NJ and was spending Shabbat with Rabbi Burg.  They spoke to us about different initiatives taht are being done in different NCSY chapters and our teens got some great ideas to implement in Omaha, and made some great contacts to partner with for future ideas and events.

After Shabbat we had an inspiring Havdalah and went bowling with some of the teens that we met over shabbat.  (I bowled a 157 - personal high!)

The next day we had a great surprise.  I had originally planned for us to see an exhibit at the Yeshiva University Museum.  Unfortunately, because the problems with parking a van did not allow for enough time to do it. 
Instead, we went to the discovery Museum at Times square -right near the bus station - and we got to see the famous Dead Sea Scrolls!!!

The Dead Sea Scrolls were found in 1947 in a cave near the dead sea.  They are over 2000 years old.  Text usually disintegrate, but the climate and conditions of the cave preserved these ancient scrolls and have taught us a great deal about how ancient Jews lived in the land of Israel thousands of years ago.  

I arranged for my close friend Sjimon Den Hollander to meet us.  Sjimon is a scholar and somewhat of an expert on the history of the region and of ancient texts.  He was a great tour guide and the teens really got the most our of this monumental exhibit.

It was the perfect way to end the trip.  These teens will never let someone get away with saying that the Jews just came to Israel in the 19th century.  With their own eyes they saw very real proof that Jews have been there from time immemorial. 

Over all the trip was a great success.  In the airport before we boarded our plane to Omaha I asked the the teens what their thoughts were now after the trip. 
One participant told me that before the trip she did not consider Israel advocacy something that was "her thing" but increasingly over the course of the trip she saw its importance and now she knows it is something that she wants to get involved in.
Many thanks to all of the generous donors who made this possible and to all the people who help make this a great experience.
I hope we have a chance to do something like this again, and I can't wait to see what great things these teens bring back to Omaha and to their college campuses in the future.

Travel Blog #2 - Teens 4 Israel New York Trip

I just got back form our unforgettable Teens 4 Israel Advocacy trip to New York city.  The Omaha Teens did so much in such a short time, the biggest challenge was taking it all in.
On Friday morning after breakfast we met in an office on Wall Street for our program with The Committee for Accurate Middle East Reporting in America (CAMERA).  But the teens were not informed as to who we were meeting with.

We sat down in a conference room and I told the teens that i had arranged for an interview with a journalist.  A young woman entered the room and introduced herself as a journalist for the New England Middle East Journal.  She started out by asking the kids where they were from and the purpose of their trip.  after a short time she started challenging them on how they could support Israel despite all of the terrible things that Israel does?  The kids were at first confused, but as the questions became more accusatory the teens began to engage her in a heated discussion that soon escalated into an argument.  After a time that was probably no longer than 15 minutes the woman said, "I think I have enough for my article." and abruptly left the room.  A minute later she returned and introduced herself as Judith Rachel, intern for CAMERA.

I had seen programs like this before, once regarding Christian missionaries, where someone pretends to be the opposition.  But Judith's portrayal of the anti Israel journalist was so convincing that even though I was in on the secret I was ready to punch her in the face.  She through ever bit of classic anti Israel rhetoric at the teens, she brought in her emotions, and she even intimidated them with subtle insults and aggressive body language.  The program was maybe 15 minutes but it felt like 2 hours to me, and several times I had to hold myself back from ending the program in the middle because I thought it was too intense for the teens to handle.

While the Omaha teens were drawn into the clever tricks that Judith wanted to demonstrate, I was incredibly proud of them.  Some kids were drawing from their own arsenal of facts about the conflict that we learned together at Teens 4 Israel programs to debate with her, while others tried to turn the tables on Judith by challenging her premise that Israel's enemies were strictly the victims in the conflict. 

What Judith demonstrated was that 1.) facts don't always work in an argument because the "journalist" countered with made up "facts" of her own that she was able to put forth with enough confidence that the teens took for granted that they were real.  And 2.) it was impossible to turn the tables on Judith.  Whereas she created an atmosphere where the Jewish teens felt that they had to answer for any policy of the Israeli government as if it were their fault, while she was simply an unbiased third party in the conflict just reporting on the situation.

The program had some other aspects that Judith pointed out in the discussion that ensued.  When we finished, Judith spoke about how she got involved in Israel advocacy.  She was at Brooklyn college, a school with thousands of Jews, but since it was a commuter school there was no pro Israel presence.  She had never been involved in Israel advocacy before, but when an anti Israel group formed on campus she felt that she had to do something and she formed her own pro Israel group.  She is now in graduate school, continuing her Israel advocacy work on campus and interning for CAMERA.

We also met with CAMERA's head curriculum coordinator.  She introduced us to some of the programs that CAMERA does for teens and college students.  We looked at articles that were recently in publications like the New York Times about Israel.  She showed us how headlines, pictures, captions, and even the structure of an article can be deceptive.  Naama, our community Shelicha and the other chaperon on the trip, was so impressed with the program she took samples back and she is going to start running these programs for kids in Omaha.

Then we met with the head of CAMERA's letter writing department.  She gave us an inspirational speech about how we can get involved in Israel advocacy and practical things that the teens could start doing immediately. 

I am so grateful to CAMERA for setting this up for us.  They are an amazing organization and our time with them was the highlight of the trip for many of the teens.

From CAMERA we went to Teaneck, NJ where we were going to spend Shabbat. 

(editors note: we had two speakers on Friday that we had to cut out because of technical difficulties.  I mention them here only so that others who want to replicate this program learn from a logistical error on my part.  I rented a van that was to be our transportation and had budgeted money for parking in the city.  Unfortunately I learned the hard way that parking garages will NOT accept anything larger than a mini van.  Because of this we had to take subways and buses which took large unscheduled chunks out of our days.  Many thanks to Yeshiva University for storing our van during the trip for no charge.)

I was very excited about Shabbat in Teaneck.  For one, Teaneck is an incredibly pro Israel community.  There are over 20 shuls in the area and every week representatives of all types of institutions in Israel come to spend Shabbat at the different shuls to raise money for Israel.  Millions of dollars are raised every year from Teaneck for the Jewish state.  Also, in Teaneck there are so many incredible pro Israel professionals and lay people, many of whom wanted to share their experiences and wisdom with our Teens 4 Israel group.  And finally, I grew up in Teaneck and I was very proud to introduce my Omaha teens to the place where I lived as a teen and to the people and institutions that inspired me to be a proud advocate of Israel and a proud Jew.

Home hospitality was arranged for us by the local NCSY youth group professional.  I have to tell an incident that occurred just to give you an idea of what kind of community Teaneck is. 
An hour before Shabbat, the busiest time of the week, we arrived at what I thought was the home of the family that agreed to host four of our girls.  The girls and I showed up at the house with all their bags and I knocked on the front door.  A Jewish lady answered and I asked, "is this 34 elm street?"  "No."  She replied.  "This is 28."  She looked at the girls and their luggage and then immediately added, "But do you need extra beds?"
The girls and I were absolutely floored.  Here she did not know who we were or why we were here.  She saw some Jews before shabbat with luggage and without hesitation offered us a place to stay if we needed it.  That spirit of welcoming in guests was what I grew up with in my own home and it makes me proud to come from a community that takes that Jewish value so seriously.

Eventually, I got all the teens to the right homes with plenty of time to get ready for a great shabbat.

Travel blog Teens4Israel trip

I am in New York with a group of high school on an Israel advocacy trip.

A few months ago, one of the teens in my shul spoke to me about his concerns about going to college unprepared to confront anti Israel sentiments on campus.  I thought he had a good point and suggested to him that he start an Israel advocacy group for teens.  He took my advice and started Teens 4 Israel. He assembled a group of kids, connected with AIPAC, lobbied congressmen, and now, thanks to a group of generous donors who also felt there was a need for the program, we have our first Israel advocacy mission.

At first we were going to attend the AIPAC policy conference in Washington, but our regional AIPAC director told us that AIPAC no longer allowed teens to come (I was there last week and I saw throngs of teenagers.  I have to figure out how to sign my kids up for next year).  So using some of my own connections, I helped to organize a trip that would be an unforgettable experience for the Omaha teens.

Our first stop today from the airport was my Alma mater Yeshiva University.  YU has the largest and strongest Israel advocacy group of any college in America.  When we arrived at YU we had arranged to have lunch with YUPAC.  The students who run this group are truly remarkable.  They spoke about how YU is unique in that they don't deal with issues that other colleges deal with; for instance combat ting Israel apartheid week.  Therefore they have the advantage of being completely proactive.  They recently had a  lobbying mission to Washington DC with over 200 students.  They brought a diverse group of YU students who originate from all over the US.  Each student was sent to lobby his own congressman.  Even Nebraska was represented by our own Adam Goldberg who is a sophomore at YU.  

The YUPAC representatives explained the importance of Israel advocacy.  They mentioned how they all have their own opinion on specific Israeli issues, but when it comes to advocacy they are unified in their goal of strengthening the US - Israel relationship.  They gave our students advice on how they can find or if necessary start up their own pro Israel groups on whatever college campus they end up going to.  

After meeting YUPAC we were joined by the president of the University, Richard Joel.  The president is a very busy man and only had a few minutes, but he spoke with us about how Yeshiva is proud to be the strongest college campus in the world in its support of Israel and why he feels that as Jews we have an obligation to support Jews where ever they are in the world.  

After our lunch meeting we got a tour of the campus.  The girls went downtown to see Stern college for women and the boys stayed up town to see Yeshiva college for men.  It was very exciting for me to take my teens from Omaha around YU.  I am very proud to have attended Yeshiva.  The years that I spent there were among the most formative years of my life.  Much of my passion for Judaism and for working for the Jewish community was developed there and I feel like showing the kids around YU was a way of showing them the core of my own personal Jewish experience.  

We went to the YU beit midrash and I introduced them to Rabbi Hershel Schacter - one of the preeminent Torah scholars in the world today.  Rav Schacter was deep in study, but when he was told that a group of boys from Omaha was visiting he stood up to greet us and welcomed us warmly.  I hope that one day they have an opportunity to hear him lecture and truly understand what makes Rav Schacter great.

After our respective tours we met up at the Jewish Museum on the upper East Side of Manhattan.  The Museum was hosting an exhibit called The World Stage: Israel - by an artist named Khilnde Wiley.  Wiley is a non-Jewish black artist who has traveled the world doing portraits of random people in what he thinks are interesting places.  His most recent was Israel.  He did a number of giant sized (9 foot) portraits of Ethiopian Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and Israeli Arabs.  To try and describe these magnificent works of art could not do them justice.  Looking at each inspired piece was in itself an experience worth coming for.  After we toured the exhibit we stayed for a conversation with the artist.  He spoke a bit about Israel and how visiting Israel completely changed the perceptions that he had about the country from the American media - in a good way.  He truly admired the diversity that exists there and he thinks that it is this diversity that makes the world obsessed with Israel.

Mostly he spoke about his art.  In the Q and A after his speech he touched on his personal history.  He grew up in a large poor family in South central LA.  His single mother made sure that he and his siblings became cultured and she sought out free learning opportunities for her children.  She enrolled him in a painting class that was offered free because of a Jewish philanthropy and that is how he began his very impressive career in art.  It sounded like he was very grateful to the Jewish people for that.

After the lecture we browsed the museum gift shop and then had dinner at a terrific kosher restaurant on the East Side called 18.  After dinner we headed back to YU.  YU has graciously put us up in the dorms for the evening.  

Tomorrow we have another big day of Israel programming.  I am so grateful to the donors for making this trip possible.  The kids are learning a lot and my hope is that they will bring what they learn back to their peers in Omaha.