The letter came from Nils Skudra of Albany, a fourth-grader at Kehilla Community Synagogue in Berkeley, who was one of a number of Bay Area youth to offer their support to Israeli soldiers recently.
“It’s been very heartwarming,” said Riva Gambert, director of the Israel task force of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay. “There’s a great desire to stand with Israel at this time.”
Gambert received an e-mail from the Department for Jewish Zionist Education of the Jewish Agency for Israel suggesting the project as a way for religious school children to show solidarity with the Jewish state. And then she forwarded the message to religious school principals of East Bay congregations.
But the project was not limited to the East Bay, and was not limited to religious schools.
At Lafayette’s Contra Costa Jewish Day School, which has students from kindergarten through third grade, all 25 students participated, said Miri Pilosof, director of Hebrew and Jewish studies.
Taking printed cards that read “Spread over us your shelter of peace…we are with you,” kindergartners decorated the cards for the soldiers while the older students wrote short messages.
Palo Alto’s Mid-Peninsula Jewish Community Day School’s middle-schoolers wrote to soldiers and did a number of related projects, said director of Jewish studies, Melanie Berman.
The rabbinical students at Machon Schechter, the Conservative movement’s seminary in Jerusalem, put out the word that they are collecting cards and posters from Jews around the world. They received more than 250 from Mid-Peninsula’s elementary school, with messages of support in Hebrew and English.
The rabbinical students are putting the posters around Jerusalem on storefronts and bus stops.
And at Brandeis Hillel Day School in Marin, middle-schoolers wrote letters as part of a larger lesson on Israel, which covered learning about the early Zionists and “why Israel and why Jerusalem from a Jewish perspective,” said Rabbi Henry Shreibman, head of school.
“Waz Up?” begins a letter from Philip Hansen of Reform Congregation Beth Emek in Livermore. “I would like to thank you for serving in the army. I knew it is mandatory in your country to serve, but it is still nice for you to serve. If I had to serve in the army instead of going to college, I would throw a hissy-fit. I would do that because I really want to go to college. “I am proud of you having the courage to risk your life every day to defend Isreal. It’s a tough job and someone has to do it. I would be proud if I were you. I hope your parents are proud too. Isreal is safe because of people like you. I am proud of you.”
Irene Resnikoff, a fourth-grade teacher at Congregation Rodef Shalom in San Rafael, gave her students a choice: They could write to a soldier, a child or a mother with young children. Resnikoff has friends in Israel with children in the army, so the letters to soldiers will go to those with whom she has a personal connection. The synagogue’s high-schoolers also wrote letters, either to soldiers or other high school students.
“Dear soldier,” wrote fourth-grader Jared Brier of Mill Valley. “We know how difficult it is to leave your family and loved ones to protect Israel from terrorists. I hope that your country will find peace soon.”
Sandi Phillips is one of several teachers at Livermore’s Beth Emek, where the religious-school students wrote to soldiers.
“It’s a tough year,” said Phillips, noting that the class has been studying the Holocaust. “I didn’t want to teach anymore death and dying after Sept. 11, but it’s important they understand this is why Israel is here and why it’s important.”
At the same time, as seventh-graders, “they all read the papers and see the news. They have questions and I try to answer as best as I know how.”
In introducing the letter-writing project, Phillips said they had an intense discussion about what the soldiers are doing.
“I told them to try to write neatly, because [the soldiers’] first language is not English, and maybe not even Hebrew,” said Phillips. “Other than that, I didn’t give them any instructions or anything. They were extremely serious and conscientious about what they were doing.”
Phillips did tell the students that when soldiers are serving in the army, they are away from their families during holidays and for other long periods of time. They also discussed the fact that “the soldiers are protecting Israel for everybody, for all of us, too, who don’t live there.
“Some of them have been to Israel and had insights into that, because they see soldiers everywhere,” said Phillips.
Another of Phillips’ students, Rebekah Holtz, wrote: “Dear Soldier, I want to thank you for protecting the land of Israel. It is great that you do this and help the country in a time of need. Spending time away from your family is always hard so I am writing you to know that I care. I don’t think that I would be able to do the job that takes a lot of dedication to do. So once again thank you for protecting Israel so that it will be a state of freedom for generations to come.”
When Elizheva Hurvich, principal of the religious school at Kehilla, discussed the project with the teachers, they decided to include another group of soldiers whom they felt needed support.
So far, during this second intifada, 435 reservists have refused to serve in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. According to the support group for such soldiers, Yesh Gvul, at least 40 have been put into military prison because of their decision.
At Kehilla, Hurvich decided to give students a chance to support the soldiers who were resisting as well. In a letter to parents signed by Hurvich and David J. Cooper, acting rabbi of Kehilla, they wrote: “We at Kehilla feel that soldiers who have taken a conscientious decision to not participate in military actions in the territories also need our support. Some of these men are in prison now for their principled position and they also need to hear words of support, and these may not be as forthcoming from the organized Jewish community. We are planning to give students and families the opportunity to support both the brave men and women who are fighting and the brave men who are resisting, whomever our students wish to support, hopefully both.”
Rachel Krow-Boniske of Berkeley, a Kehilla student wrote to one of the soldiers who refused to serve in the territories. He works in a bakery.
“Dear Omri Tzalmona, I’m very sad about what is happening in Israel, but I admire your corage to stand up to the people and not fighting. It’s way too bad that you have to serve 35 days in prison. I bake challah every week. Did you bake challah? I’m getting ready to have my bat mitzvah. Did you have a bar mitzvah? Thanks for taking the time to read this letter, and standing up for what you believe in!”
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Plummeting popularity: Israel again isolated