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Jewish Community News
News: March 2007
My winter break painting bomb shelters
By Rachael Kirk (Rachel grew up in San Jose. Her family
belongs to Shir Hadash.)
After running inside the school to escape from the rain,
I noticed the bomb shelter where we would work—far worse than the
weather outside. I followed six other college students into the shelter;
we unpacked our soaked supplies and looked around to assess the job at
hand. In less than three hours, we decorated the previously white walls
with trees, flowers, butterflies, and other happy, innocent murals in
order to comfort the scared children who could spend hours, even days,
in this shelter, as they did this summer.
I was lucky enough to participate in the “Leading Up North”
Israel trip this winter through the Jewish Community Relations Council
of Silicon Valley. This winter break, 500 representatives of the JCRC,
Hillel, and thirty-one other Israeli advocacy groups from college campuses
all over America went to Israel to demonstrate solidarity with Israel
to prove that we, as Americans, do care.
During this winter break, “Leading Up North” painted bomb
shelters in many towns in the north for Jewish and Arab Israelis. Before
participating in this trip, I did not understand how painting the walls
of a bomb shelter could show Israelis that they aren’t alone and
that Americans care and support them. However, the children at the school
where we volunteered proved to me that our efforts were important.
While we were painting, a group of young boys came down and offered to
help us. They crawled into corners and stood on chairs to make sure that
every inch of the wall was painted, and refused to go back to class since
they felt that painting was more important. One young boy asked us, “Were
you really thinking about us during the war?” We tried to assure
the boy that we were thinking about Israel this past summer and that we
often think of Israel. Hopefully the paintings on the walls will ease
the isolation that Israeli families feel when they spend weeks in these
shelters.
In addition, we helped clear brush and plant trees in the Jewish National
Fund forests because many forest fires start when kitushah rockets land
in those forests. We spent time with the communities in which we volunteered,
making personal connections with the people we helped. I spent hours discussing
current policies, Israeli culture, and the history of the Middle East
with other college students from all over America, which helped me learn
more and sparked my interest in studying the Middle East during my college
career. These interactions also inspired me to become more involved with
pro-Israel groups on my campus, and to work with the JCRC to organize
and facilitate speakers and programs throughout the year.
I hope that the murals I helped paint will never be seen by an Israeli
family forced to spend the summer in a shelter. “Leading Up North”
helped prove to Israelis that Jews all over the world really do care about
Israel, and it helped me to realize how deeply I am connected to this
country, and how much work still needs to be done so that philanthropic
trips can help Israel in times of peace instead of as a response to war.
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