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Since its establishment in 1948, Israel has created a vibrant country in the
Middle East, taking in Jewish refugees from all over the
world, seeing her population grow by over a factor of ten in a mere sixty years,
all the while fighting over five wars for her survival and several other major
operations to ensure the peace of her citizens. Her robust parliamentary democracy encourages
rich debate among her dozens of political parties. Arabs even enjoy the fruits
of democracy, having more rights than in any Arab country in the region, with
their own political parties and representatives.
Israel has today one of the leading economies of the world, with a robust
high tech research and
development infrastructure that has a worldwide impact on medicine and
technology. Despite the headlines which feed us a diet of catastrophe and doom,
Israel has today a vibrant and dynamic culture.
We encourage our membership to develop a close relationship with Israel-
the Land of Israel, Eretz Yisrael and her people. The local Jewish Federation of North East
Pennsylvania conducts tours to Israel each year, for both the first
time visitors and the seasoned repeat visitor. We are proud to have had many
participants from the ranks of Temple Israel of the Poconos over the last
several years. Please call Barry Tremper at 570-588-6148 for more information on the Federation's Israel Leadership Mission trips in addition to perusing their website.
LOVE OF ISRAEL IN THE COMMUNITY
Many of our members are also members of Hadassah, the national women's Zionist
organization, which actively supports many fine medical and educational
initiatives within Israel, as well as youth groups and summer camps which
foster Zionism and love of
Israel.
Our children are encouraged to enroll in Jewish summer camps such as Camp Ramah as well PineMere Camp, which is located
in our own backyard. Both of these camps have a strong Israel educational
component and include many Israelis on staff. Israel is featured in our Hebrew school curriculum and all of
our students are all taught to read Hebrew fluently. Our adult education program
also features Hebrew language
education and many of our members have recently become fluent readers of
Hebrew.
Today, the majority of the Jewish people is equally balanced between those
living in Israel and those living in the lands of dispersion (the diaspora).
Demographers strongly hint that by the next generation the majority of the
world's Jews will be living in Israel. Hence to be Anti-Zionist is tantamount to
being against the Jewish people's continued existence, all protestations
aside.
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