JDS At Junction 

War looms; some cut short Israel trip 

by Paula Amann, News Editor, Washington Jewish Week

As violence heated up in Israel, many families at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School found themselves at a crossroads. For some, the way pointed home.

Two weeks ago, the parents of students in the Rockville school's Senior Educational Experience (SEE), which places seniors in Israel for hands-on learning during their final semester of school, received an urgent e-mail.

Sent by SEE's field coordinators in the Jewish state, Alan Goldman and Joe Freedman, the letter offered families the option of sending their kids home the week of April 7, nearly two months early. At press time, at least eight seniors out of the 40 from the school had either left or were arranging to leave Israel. A group of those is excepted to arrive home on April 11.

CES-JDS is closed this week for Pesach break, and administrators could not be reached to confirm these figures at press time.

Given heightened security concerns, Goldman and Freedman of the Ramah Programs in Israel conferred with CES-JDS administrators and retooled their plans. Those students remaining will skip travel planned in the North, Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv area and will move directly to their kibbutz stays in parts of the country considered safer.

Faced with these decisions, local families made a variety of choices. The Pickars of Rockville honored an agreement made before their son, Jason, 17, set foot on Israeli soil. "The decision was his and he very much wants to stay," said his father, Elliott, noting that having watched two older siblings enjoy their experience in the Jewish state, "Jason's been looking forward to this for a long time."

Pickar and his wife, Marsha, had chosen the school, he said, so their children could choose their level of Jewish involvement out of knowledge, rather than ignorance.

"Going to Israel and being in Israel is another way of exposing yourself to your religion and heritage and connecting with that," Pickar said.

Bethesda's Dweck family chose differently.

Mark, 17, arrived home ahead of most of his returning peers on Monday of this week. His father, Ron, cited "the randomness of terror" as a factor in the family's "very personal, very emotional" decision to cut short the program.

Mark Dweck was celebrating Passover in Netanya the night a suicide bomber struck another seder in the coastal town, and he stood with other CES-JDS students at the Western Wall within earshot of an explosion.

"It was the best and worst moment because we were at the Kotel and we heard a bomb," said the youth, whose mother, Nava, is Israeli.

Despite his family's decision, Dweck the elder made a point of praising the SEE staff in Israel. "The Ramah program has been terrific in keeping in touch with parents, providing for their [the teens'] safety," he said.

For the time being, the Chaifetz and Jacobovits families have opted to keep their young people in the program.

"My son's not coming home; he's happy there," said Silver Spring's Ruth Chaifetz, who said her son, Carl, 18, would return early only "if the [U.S.] government says so."

(On Tuesday, the U.S. State Department issued a voluntary evacuation of families of diplomats.)

Meyer Jacobovits of Rockville said he speaks to his daughter, Orly, also 18, once or twice a day by cellular phone, and she wishes to stay in the program.

He said he trusted that the SEE staff in Israel "would err on the side of safety." Jacobovits continues to find value in the program, despite the unrest there.

"They studied Hebrew; now [they] can practice it," he explained. "They get to see the places they've studied about -- the Kotel, the places they read about in the Bible and Jewish history."

Overall, parents interviewed voiced a great deal of faith in those running the SEE program this year. Pickar cited the outstanding "communication and sensitivity" of Ramah staff.

"It's not unusual to get three e-mails a day: We hear about bombings before CNN," he said. "I have confidence that they're going to keep our children out of harm's way."

From the Washington Jewish Week April 4, 2002