11/25/2024
We Are Our Children’s Iron Dome
Picture this.
I am in Tel Aviv when the sirens sound to alert of rockets being fired upon us by one of Iran’s terrorist proxy organizations. I make my way with the others to the nearest safe room – which happens to be a hotel stairwell. For the next 10 minutes, we catch up on our families and look at pictures of new grandchildren as we listen to Israel’s “Iron Dome” intercepting the rockets over central Israel.
At that very moment, you’d think I’d be focused solely on the trauma and potential harm this latest round of terrorist rockets could cause the people of Israel. And yet I also found myself thinking about Jewish students on American college campuses.
Do our Jewish students feel safe when Neo-Nazi groups are parading outside their dorms or pro-Hamas students clog major campus arteries as they scream “globalize the intifada”?
What is the Iron Shield equivalent in their lives that protects them from those hailing Hamas as resistance fighters or arguing that Hitler was right? What is protecting our college kids from being shunned on campus because they are Jewish? What is protecting them from those who want to erase our Jewish history and identity?
We are. For our college kids – and kids of all ages – we are their Iron Dome.
It is you, me, and our families. It’s our Jewish Federation, JFC Security LLC, Hillels, and Chabads. It is our synagogues. It is our Mandel JCC. It’s our day camps, Camp Wise, Camp Stone, Camp Ramah and all the other Jewish overnight camps. It’s our Jewish Education Center and our schools – Gross Schechter Day School, Mandel JDS, Fuchs Mizrachi School, Hebrew Academy, Yeshiva Derech HaTorah, and Chaviva High School – as well as other educational programs like @akiva and jHUB’s B-Mitzvah Experience. It is our Maltz Museum. And it is Jewish Family Service Association and Bellefaire who are providing the back stop needed with mental health services.
Through this network that layers, educates, and engages our diverse community, we help our kids develop pride in their Jewish identity and the tools to navigate life’s challenges.
This Thanksgiving, I am incredibly thankful for all the ways Jewish Cleveland provides protection for our kids. I am also thankful for the college administrators and heads of schools, politicians and community leaders, and individuals who have held onto their moral clarity whether it is popular to do so or not.
I am thankful for those who continue to care about each other, despite differing views. And I am thankful for all those in the United States, in Israel, and throughout the world who aspire for a better future for all – even when they are anxious about what tomorrow may bring.
Thank you … for what you have done in the past, but even more so, what you will help us do together for our future.
Wishing you and your family a healthy and happy Thanksgiving.
Am Yisrael Chai,
Erika B. Rudin-Luria
President
p.s.: I’d be remiss if I didn’t also express a special thank you to all the donors to the Campaign for Jewish Needs. Because of you, our community is able to help protect and care for our kids – and so many others here and around the world. If you haven’t had the opportunity to donate to this year’s Campaign, you can do so here.
