Portland Jews give for Israel

By Paul Haist

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An estimated 500 people gathered at Temple Beth Israel Aug. 15 to offer their support for Israel in its current time of crisis.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Portland organized the event after its Board of Governors agreed to launch a second fund-raising campaign, in addition to its regular annual campaign, specifically to help Israel cope with the great cost of its war with Hezbollah.
Approximately $210,000 was raised at the meeting. Coupled with $160,000 that had been donated prior to the meeting and additional funds that have come in since the meeting, Portland Jews have contributed almost $400,000 since the fighting broke out on July 12.
The Portland campaign is part of a larger campaign mounted by United Jewish Communities, the umbrella organization for Jewish federations in North America.
The UJC has said that $50 million are needed each month now for immediate relief and that $250 million a month will be needed after the conflict to rebuild Israel's north.

Israeli Consul General for the Pacific Northwest David Akov came from the consulate in San Francisco to address the Portland audience. When the fighting in the north erupted, he had just gone home to Israel for a brief vacation.
"Since July 12, 4,000 missiles have fallen on northern Israel," said Akov. "They were aimed as weapons of terror?just to kill people in the most indiscriminate ways."
As evidence of Hezbollah's indiscriminate targeting of innocents, Akov noted that about 40 percent of the dead and wounded among Israeli civilians are Arabs.
"The trauma and scars will be difficult for the long run," he said. "Probably tens or hundreds of thousands have been exposed to the falling of the Katyushas."
He said Israel suffered severe damage to its physical infrastructure.
"The first thing you see is all the homes that were damaged, probably thousands," said Akov.
Besides private housing, public institutions also were severely damaged.
"Schools got hit, just before the opening of the school year. So we will need a major, major effort to rebuild," said Akov. Bridges, hospitals and the electrical grid also were severely damaged, he added.
"Israel has gone through a major crisis. It's still not over?We don't know where things are going to go," said the consul.
"What we do know is we are starting a major effort of rebuilding. I want to ask each one of you to do what you can to help Israel," he concluded.
Portlander Steve Bloom also addressed the meeting. He was in Israel visiting his three daughters during the fighting and volunteered to help distribute aid in the embattled north.
"I could not stand aside," he said. "I had to find a way to volunteer."
He helped deliver aid to Kiryat Shimona and also to a Druze village.
"The sound of the rockets falling was unlike anything I ever heard," said Bloom, who was in the targeted area only a few days. "I can't imagine being there for a month," he said.
He said that he was surprised by the number of people who stayed in the targeted zones with children and babies.
"Most of the people were very grateful they hadn't been forgotten," he said.
Bloom told the Portlanders that Israelis want to ensure their security.
"There was a pervasive sentiment that Israel must succeed in disabling Hezbollah, or it will just happen again in the future."
Alan Blank is a member of the JFGP Governing Board who also addressed the Beth Israel gathering. He had just returned from a solidarity mission to Israel during the fighting.
"Many of the people we visited were Ethiopians and Russians who had been in Israel only a few days or weeks," he said. "They had been staying in cramped (bomb) shelters. It was appalling."
But he added, "The people we met were all proud of Israel."
While he said it was clear that Israel remained "strong and determined," he said also "how unprepared Israel was for a war based on missile attacks on civilians."
"We saw firsthand how the war displaced a million people in the north," said Blank.
JFGP Annual Campaign Co-chairs Jeff Nudelman and Sharon Weil also addressed the gathering.
Nudelman strove to help Portlanders understand the harsh reality of war in Israel by imagining out loud how it would be here if Portlanders faced barrages of missiles and rockets.
Weil, who early during Israel's conflict with Hezbollah led efforts to motivate Jews here to help Israel, thanked Temple Beth Israel and JFGP staff for their efforts on behalf of Israel, while assuring those present she would be back in touch during the federation's regular Annual Campaign.