U.S. Maccabiah Athletes Touch Down in Israel by Aaron Kaplowitz

The American delegation arrived this week for the 17th Maccabiah, which will take place from July 10-21. Lindsey Durlacher, 29, who won the U.S. national championship in Greco-Roman wrestling two weeks ago, had the honor to carry the flag off of the plane. "It was really cool," he said, minutes after descending to the tarmac. "It was quite an honor to be the first one off your plane and the team honors you with... carrying the flag and leading the delegation off into the great State of Israel."

More than 400 athletes, managers and coaches disembarked from the plane dressed in blue and red T-shirts and were each greeted with flowers and cheers. Like many of the athletes, Seth Hauben, a basketball player on the men's open team, was experiencing Israel for the first time. "Stepping off the plane and being greeted like this is just unbelievable," the recent University of Rochester graduate said. "It feels great. Long flight, long day, but a lot of energy. I'm really excited."

His teammate, Jeff Horowitz, a junior at the University of North Carolina-Wilmington is returning to Israel for the first time since his bar mitzva. "It's wonderful, I love coming back here," he said. The 750-strong US delegation, the largest ever, arrived in three planes and will spend this week practicing and touring the country. The opening ceremonies for the 17th Maccabiah are July 11 at Ramat Gan's National Stadium. (Jerusalem Post)

Sharon Congratulates U.S. on July 4th

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was a guest at the residence of US Ambassador to Israel Daniel Kurtzer Monday night on the occasion of the US Day of Independence. "I congratulate the American people and am happy that we share common values. The US is the leading, and most important, democracy in the world; it constitutes a model and an example and works to disseminate democratic values around the world, including in the Middle East," he said.

Sharon added, "We very much appreciate the friendship that exists with the US administration and I am proud of the personal friendship between US President George Bush and myself." (Jerusalem Post)

Camp Profile: Pinemere in Pennsylvania's Pocono Mountains by Michele Abramson, Yael Doron, Alexis Kaufman, Jennifer Ruckenstein, and Danielle Simhon

There is a strong connection between Pinemere Camp and Israel this summer thanks to a large delegation of Israeli staff including two Israeli scouts, Sagui and Yael (pictured). Sagui is from the south of Israel near Beer-Sheva and Yael lives near Tel-Aviv. They described the people around them in Israel as very diverse. Although many are born in Israel, there are also many Ethiopians, Russians and people from Arabic countries.

They explained that their purpose at camp is to show Israel in a different light, to experience American culture, and to make a connection with younger, open-minded people who would be interested in Israeli culture.

They stated that the main connection between the USA and Israel is the religious background of people from both countries, and that a willingness to be a part of Jewish culture was also important.

Lastly, when asked whether they were happy to be here the answer was an emphatic "Yes!" (Camp Pinemere)

More than 140 Students Arrive in Israel for Internships
by Elana Brownstein

More than 140 students and recent graduates from 32 different universities in North America and Great Britain arrived in Jerusalem this week to begin internships in various fields. They are taking part in the Summer Internship Program (SIP), a six-week program that organizes student internships in and around Jerusalem.

SIP is run through Yavneh Olami, a Jerusalem based religious Zionist student organization.

Kyra Bernstein, a pre-med sophomore student at the University of Maryland is interning at Shaare Zedek Hospital in Jerusalem, where she will spend time doing research, as well as observation. Bernstein is strongly considering aliya and hopes to use this experience as way to orient herself in the medical field in Israel, she said.

Meira Levinson, a senior in English and environmental studies at the University of Pennsylvania is participating in the program for her second time. She is interning at the Shalem Center, a Jerusalem-based think tank and research institute. (Jerusalem Post)

Football Great Reggie White Studied Hebrew and the Torah
by Mark Kram

In December 2004, football great Reggie White died suddenly of a heart attack. He was far too young - just 43. In the years that followed his football career, he found himself with more time to reflect and study. NFL Films producer Ray Didinger interviewed White for a piece called "Football and Religion" that aired on the NFL Network just 4 days before he died. Didinger said about White: "What happened is he just said to himself, 'I should know more than I do,' and he got into it deeper than he ever had before." White stopped preaching in order to do just that. He tackled Hebrew and began delving into the Torah. He and Sara twice toured the Holy Land with groups, but White went again without her in October 2003, when he became acquainted with Hebrew scholar Nehemia Gordon. When Gordon arranged for him to visit the Shrine of the Book at the Israel Museum to view the original Hebrew texts, he says in an e-mail that White choked up with emotion.

"This is the best day of my life," White said.

"Reggie, you won a Super Bowl," Gordon said. "Do you really mean that?"

White looked at him with a tear in his eye and said, "It was an answer to a prayer."

Working with Gordon via the telephone or during his visits from Jerusalem, White pored over the Hebrew texts from 8 to 10 hours a day back in North Carolina, not an especially easy task for someone who admitted he had always struggled with reading. According to Gordon, "Learning Hebrew enabled him to get the original word of the creator in its original language." The Whites stopped celebrating Christmas and Easter. (Black Athlete)

Miri Ben-Ari: How Do You Get from Carnegie Hall by Deborah Kolben

This can't be what violin virtuoso Isaac Stern had in mind. It's a warm rainy night, and inside a midtown Manhattan nightclub Israeli-born violinist Miri Ben-Ari is tuning her instrument. Carnegie Hall this is not - though Ben-Ari's been there too. This is the NFL draft party.

Backed by thumping electronic hip-hop rhythms, Ben-Ari blends fast Bach-type harmonies and jazz. Known as the "hip-hop violinist," she has become the genre's newest novelty act. Likening herself to Carlos Santana - the Mexican-born guitarist who fuses Latin music with rock - the classically trained violinist also sees herself as a pioneer.

Her accented English is peppered with hip-hop slang, and for a white Israeli violinist, she blends more than might be expected into the almost totally black musical world she now inhabits. With kinky hair and pouty lips, this daughter of Polish and Russian immigrants could pass for Puerto Rican.

"I don't have any identity issues," she snaps, when asked about what it's like being a white Jewish woman in a black hip-hop world. "I played at all kinds of clubs - I would be the only white person and they would have nothing but love for me." Raised in middle-class Ramat Gan, outside Tel Aviv, Ben-Ari was given her first violin at the age of 5. Barely a teenager, Miri met violinist Isaac Stern, who gave her a violin.

When the young Israeli came to New York in her teens on a music scholarship she fell in love with the city. But Ben-Ari returned to Israel for her two years of service in the army. There she learned to shoot a gun and was then made a member of the prestigious IDF String Quartet. The former is noted in almost every interview - adding a layer of "street credibility" to the image of sassy violin virtuoso.

She is the first Israeli to win a Grammy for non-classical music, a fact she boasts of proudly. "I want to bring respect to Israel," she says. (Jerusalem Report)

On Campus, the Line Between Anti-Israel Sentiments and Anti-Semitism Is Blurring by Noah Cohen-Cline

Many Jews are sensitive to anti-Israel politics because those who espouse such views are often either motivated by anti-Semitic bigotry, or allow anti-semitic sentiment to sneak into their established political views. Or, as in the cases of many of my peers, people adopt the anti-Israel rhetoric that bombards them at their universities and elsewhere, not realizing that much of it is fueled by anti-Semitic bias. (UC - Berkeley Daily Californian)

The plan calls for the withdrawal in mid-August of all Israeli civilians and soldiers from the Gaza Strip and from northern Samaria and the granting of these areas to the Palestinian Authority. Israeli residents would be relocated and compensated. The plan, presented by Prime Minister Sharon and approved by the Government and the Knesset, has been challenged by vocal and active protests, acts of civil disobedience, and even soldiers refusing to carry out evacuation orders. Orange ribbons, distributed by opponents of the Disengagement Plan, now fly on thousands of cars or adorn teens’ clothes and bags.

Prime Minister Sharon explained his plan in December 2003: "Like all Israeli citizens, I yearn for peace. I attach supreme importance to taking all steps which will enable progress toward resolution of the conflict with the Palestinians.....However, in light of the other challenges we are faced with, if the Palestinians do not make a similar effort toward a solution of the conflict, I do not intend to wait for them indefinitely... The Disengagement Plan ... is a step Israel will take in the absence of any other option, in order to improve its security."

According to Sharon, the plan will increase Israel's long-term security; reduce friction between Israelis and Palestinian Arabs; absolve Israel of legal responsibility for Gaza; and improve both the Palestinian and Israeli economies. He has also expressed the belief that the withdrawal from some territories will strengthen Israel’s hold on others, including east Jerusalem.

The U.S. Government has expressed its strong support for Prime Minister Sharon and his Disengagement Plan. "Prime Minister Sharon is showing strong visionary leadership by taking difficult steps to improve the lives of people across the Middle East," President George Bush declared in April. "I strongly support his courageous initiative to disengage from Gaza and part of the West Bank. The Prime Minister is willing to coordinate the implementation of the disengagement plan with the Palestinians. I urge the Palestinian leadership to accept his offer. By working together, Israelis and Palestinians can lay the groundwork for a peaceful transition."

Opponents to the Disengagement Plan charge that the Israeli concessions have not been met by any Palestinian confidence-building measures, such as a clamp-down on terrorist groups. Some opponents reject the surrender of any part of biblical Eretz Yisrael. [Even Jewish cemeteries will be relocated.] Other anti-disengagement protestors charge that Sharon ignored the advice of senior security and army officials when he presented the plan.

The opponents vow to continue to protest the pending evacuation of Jewish settlements. Extremist fringe groups have already shown they are ready to resort to violence, and their actions have been condemned by all sides of the political spectrum, including the most prominent opposition groups. But the danger of extremist violence – even at the hands of one individual or a small group – has Israel’s security forces on alert.

More than ever, Israel requires - at home and from friends abroad - compassion for the thousands of evacuees, condemnation of acts of violence, and support for Israel's democratic principles.

In the meantime, Palestinian terrorist groups such as Hamas and Islamic Jihad continue to carry out acts of terror in their effort to show the Arab world that they "forced Israel to retreat under fire." Almost daily the terrorists fire mortars and rockets at Israeli communities inside the Gaza Strip and nearby within Israel’s pre-1967 borders. (Israel HighWay)

Click here to read the Disengagement Plan.
Click here to view a chart of political parties and groups supporting and opposing the plan.
Click here to view Engaging Disengagement, Special Educational Program from the Jewish Agency for Israel.
Click here for Disengagement resources compiled by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations.
Click here to read the views of an opponent to the Disengagement Plan.

Points for Discussion

Israeli teens are often at the forefront of anti-Disengagement protests. They are conducting home visits around the country to argue their case one-on-one. They distribute orange ribbons to motorists. Some are spending their summer vacation in Gaza in order to make the evacuation more difficult. Groups of teens have blocked major intersections, and scores have gone to jail.

Should their acts be praised or condemned? What age is too young for such involvement?

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