August10

The StandWithUs tour, which couldn't have been more
relevant and timely, ended yesterday in Tel Aviv. This
organization, by the way, provides excellent resources
and carefully researched information which can be used
to counteract some of the blatantly dishonest media
coverage of this war—check out www.standwithus.com
Whatever you do, please don't believe everything you
see on CNN, or worse, BBC. You might as well just
watch al-Jazeera.

Tel Aviv is a booming tourist town, and it was full of,
as one man put it, "all of French Jewry." The women
were very chic and all aglitter, the men were smoking
up a storm in the bar and lobby, everyone seemed to be
celebrating weddings and throwing parties and meeting
friends and laughing and yelling at their kids—all at the
same time like one enormous family. It was really fun to
see. In fact, I heard more French than Hebrew spoken
at the Tel Aviv Hilton. Because I decided not to go with
some of the group to Haifa, which had sustained more
than 100 casualties and several deaths due to Katushya
rockets the day we were to arrive (the original plan was
to give gifts to the children in the bomb shelters), I
stayed at the hotel and enjoyed the festivities. Our last
night, we attended a huge rally of the World Zionist
Organization, which had brought people from all over
the world to raise money to help the refugees in the
North—as I write this 20% of Israel's population is
either in bomb shelters or has been evacuated. The
rally's entertainment was provided by a pop music
group made of IDF soldiers—in uniform. They were
actually very good and, needless to say, brought the
house down.

During our time in Tel Aviv, we went to a party at the
Tel HaShomer rehab center. We'd been there once
before to visit wounded soldiers, but we returned to
honor a couple of these patients' birthdays. The
occasion provided an excuse for everyone—patients,
their families and friends, and our group—to celebrate
during a very gloomy time. One young man, who
looked about 20 years old, had lost a leg in the
Lebanon war. His whole family was there and had
brought his dog to visit him. Someone told him I was a
Christian, not a Jew. He frowned and then remembered
that he'd met a "Christian Zionist" while he was in the
Rambam Hospital (where many of the casualties are
taken for emergency treatment). Yes, I said, I guess that
term more or less describes me as well. "But why are
you a Zionist if you are a Christian?" he asked me,
clearly puzzled by what, for him, was an oxymoron. I
tried to explain that many Christians who believe the
Bible also believe that the Jews' return to the Land and
the founding of the Nation of Israel are the greatest
miracles of our time. "I never knew such people
existed," he said, shaking his head and thanking me for
coming. What could I say to this handsome, bright
young man—younger than my own sons—who will live
the rest of his life disabled. Meanwhile, one of the men
in our group presented brand new laptop computers to
the two soldiers who were celebrating their birthdays—
and the two young men, both of whom are severely
wounded, were simply speechless at the man's
generosity. Actually, we all were.

Dark days, but there have been wonderful moments of
light in the midst of the darkness.