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Some of the Good News We Missed During the War
by Israel HighWay Staff

The recent summer was one that few will forget. Israel's battles in Lebanon and Gaza garnered most of the headlines. Then there were the reports of damage and casualties.

However, behind the headlines positive things were also happening.

Long remembered will be the national solidarity with Israel's soldiers and beleaguered north. The Israeli public beyond the range of Hizballah's rockets opened their homes to northerners. Solidarity missions from the Jewish Diaspora were morale-boosters. Jewish organizations and communities contributed millions of dollars in aid for the citizens of the north.

The gratitude and benefits were mutual. In the words of one mission participant, "Yesterday, a day I will never forget. The source of Israel's strength is so evident. We visited wounded soldiers at Rambam Hospital. Young men who put their lives on the line to defend Israel. Their appreciation of our presence was evident and their thanks for letters from Canada an emotional experience. They knowing that there are others outside of Israel, supporting Israel, was reassuring."

Issue of the Week is continued below

Jewish Groups to Rally for Israel

U.S. Jewish groups are trying to enlist thousands of Jews and non-Jews to greet members of the U.N. General Assembly with a message of solidarity with Israel. They also want to show Iran's president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, that his anti-Israel, anti-Semitic and anti-Western policies will not be tolerated.

The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Jewish Community Relations Council of New York, United Jewish Communities and the UJA-Federation of New York will hold a "Stand with Israel" rally in New York on Sept. 20, the first day of the General Assembly, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents, Malcolm Hoenlein, said last week. (JTA News)

Listen to an audio blog about the rally.

Bush: "We Stand with Democracies" by Katie Couric

President Bush said last week in an interview: "We stand with democracies and our friend Israel. If the United States ever says, 'Oh, my goodness, I don't want to defend democracy because somebody might harm us,' we will have lost our soul." (CBS News)

Israeli Teens Bolster Emergency Frontlines by Jennie Matthew

In Israel, where life is regulated by security alerts and years of conflict, thousands of teenagers spend their evenings and weekends working in the ambulance corps, fire service and police. While their peers in western Europe and the United States laze around at their parents' expense, or work to drink and shop, many Israeli youths volunteer in the emergency services coping with the most grueling of circumstances. "You see dead people, blood. You see a lot of scary things," admits Yulia Tskhay (pictured), 17, fresh from a shift riding ambulances as a fully trained medic in her hometown of Tiberias on the shores of the Sea of Galilee. (Yahoo News/AFP)

Football Tailback at War by Mike Gross

Paul Fix is a senior at Franklin & Marshall. He's a tailback for the Diplomats. Paul has spent the last three years fighting terrorism. Fighting it in an upclose and very untheoretical way. Fix was a member of a special operations unit of the Israeli army, fighting Hizballah, the Shia Islamic terrorist group. This was after three years of college. One year away from graduation, Fix not only put his life on hold but risked it. He'd do it again. "Just an amazing kid," John Troxell, F&M's first-year football coach, said. "They don't come any better." (Lancaster Online)

Allies in the Middle East by Bella English

Aida Sadr and Zoe Jick are close friends. They were born two days apart. They both moved from Brookline to Newton at age 16. They car pooled to Milton Academy and graduated in June. They're each taking a gap year before heading to college: Aida to Columbia University, Zoe to Wesleyan. That's where the similarities end. Aida, who was born in Iran, will spend several months in her native land, while Zoe, whose roots in Israel run deep, will live in Jerusalem. Aida speaks Farsi, Zoe Hebrew. They both leave in mid-September. (Boston Globe)

Teens Plan Ways to Incorporate Lessons of Six-Week Leadership Tour in Israel by Debra Rubin

As adults from throughout Middlesex County were preparing to gather in support of Israel [see rally notice], a group of teens who had recently returned from there were planning their own strategy.

The teens were among 34 who received up to $600 each through two endowed federation programs to travel to Israel earlier this summer. They teens met in the back of the East Brunswick Jewish Center on Aug. 24. While munching on kosher pizza and veggies, the group held the first meeting of the Israel Youth Task Force, whose goal is to "keep the Israel experience going" by creating camaraderie with each other and with those back in Israel and to promote public awareness of and advocacy for Israel." (New Jersey Jewish News)

Yeshiva in Israel: Perspectives from a Son and his Mother

Moving On. Off to a Yeshiva in Israel
A Son Speaks by Moshe Genet

As the seconds add up to minutes and the minutes fade into hours I see my reign as an innocent teenager disappear before my eyes. In just one day and 12 hours I will be boarding a plane to New York and then to Israel, where I will be spending a year away from the life I have grown accustomed to. I start anew as a man who holds responsibilities for his actions and sets the tone. Goodbye to my school, my shul, my house and my brothers. Sayonara to my trendy gadgets, personal space and my dog Simba. It is now Shalom to a new existence as one of over 100 students in Reishit. Reishit, also known as the "Hilton" of the yeshivot due to its comfortable accommodations, rests in Bet Shemesh. Bet Shemesh is located 35 minutes away from Jerusalem, close enough that it's doable to go at night but also is an annoying schlep of a ride.

The writer is a graduate from the Weinbaum Yeshiva High School in Boca Raton, FL.

Read the rest of the article and a Mom's perspective by clicking here

Everything You Know About the Recent Mideast War Is Wrong
by Emanuele Ottolenghi

Each war brings Israel a new challenge. Each time, it takes Israel time to absorb the blow, understand its nature and mechanisms, and then make elaborate corrections and improvements to its combat doctrine. In the past, Israel has learned from its mistakes and it improved its fighting capabilities the next time around. In this recent war with Hizballah, Israel's performance was no different from that in past wars. At a heavy price, it inflicted a severe, but not decisive, blow to Hizballah. It will now learn how to fight better next time around. (National Review)

Proxy Terrorism from Iran by Natan Sharansky

This summer, Hizballah launched an unprovoked attack on Israel. It is clear that Hizballah is a proxy of Iran. It is public knowledge that Hizballah receives more than $100 million a year from the Iranian regime, as well as sophisticated weapons and training. Yet the international community's weak response dealt the global war on terror a severe blow. Iran has paid no price for its proxy's actions. No military strikes on Iranian targets, no sanctions, no threat whatsoever to Iranian interests. On the contrary, in the wake of the war, there have been renewed calls in the democratic world to "engage" Iran.

Symptomatic of the moral myopia in the West is a farce worthy of Orwell: Former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, under whom students were tortured after a 1999 crackdown at Tehran University and whose rule was marked by the continued stifling of dissent, spoke Sunday at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government on "Ethics of Tolerance in the Age of Violence." (Los Angeles Times)

Versatile Israeli Violinist Gains 'Dream' Hip-Hop Hit
by Loolwa Khazzoom

Perusing the hot R & B/Rap Billboard charts, one does not expect to see a red-headed Israeli artist - replete with a classic "Jewfro" mop of curls - represented by the No. 3 song. Then again, one does not expect that spot to be filled by a violin-dominated musical number with no singing, rapping or music sampling whatsoever. For Israeli violinist Miri Ben-Ari, however, doing the unexpected is standard fodder; so it should come as no surprise that her new single, "Symphony of Brotherhood" (featuring the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech weaving in and out of an extended string solo) topped the charts just one month after its radio release. (Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles)

Hizballah Rockets Slow But Won't Stop Israeli Hockey
by Stan Fischler

Because Hizballah rockets bombarded – and therefore closed – their home rink in Metulla, Israel's Junior Hockey Club was unable to practice throughout August. Nonetheless, the Israeli stickhandlers open a North American tour on October 9th in Chicago's Glacier Arena. That tilt will be followed by others in New York (Oct. 12), Montreal (Oct. 14), Ottawa (Oct. 16) and Toronto (Oct. 19 and 21). (New England Hockey Journal