Dennis Prager

“Jews who live in affluence without any threat of suicide bombers should be visiting Israel in droves.”

-Dennis Prager-

Come September, my son David will embark on a year of Torah study in Israel, before he begins his college career in the States. This would not be worthy of an article were it not for the fact that his decision to go to Israel at this time, and his parents’ decision to encourage him, is not an easy one. This is not a particularly safe time to be in Israel, and next year may see increased violence. The situation has, according to Israeli tourism data, convinced many Jews not to visit Israel, let alone send their children there for a year.

The truth is that I am worried. Surely America has a violent crime problem, though if David stayed in the States, I would not worry about his safety. But there are many people in and around Israel who would love to kill any Jew in that country.

Why, then am I encouraging him to go to Israel? And why does he agree? Because as a Jew, an American, and a man—my three primary identities—I believe there is more to life than living in safety. For life to be worth living, one has to take risks for the preservation of one’s most cherished values.

When I was in my third year of college in England in 1969, I was approached by an Israeli group that sent Jews into the then-Soviet Union to smuggle Jewish items and to smuggle out names of Soviet Jews who wanted to leave for Israel. Because I spoke Russian and Hebrew, I was sent for a month to Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), and Baku, Azerbaijan. The trip’s organizers made it clear that the operation would neither be easy nor safe since the Soviets did not like foreigners doing such things, and the American embassy could do little to help me if I was caught and prosecuted.

I called my parents back in the United States to tell them that I would not be coming home from England as scheduled, but a month later—and not from London but from Moscow. More precisely, I told this to my father because my mother would have been too frightened if she knew the truth. So my father made up an excuse as to why I was coming home a month late.

It was my father’s reaction to my trip that I will never forget, and that I feel I am now living out with my own son. “Dennis,” he said, “I fought for America and for freedom in the Navy in World War II. Now you go and fight for the Jews and freedom.”

With all his worries, there was no question in his mind about my going. He took risks for the right fight as a young man; I should do the same.

Now it is my son’s turn.

Of course, I do not believe that studying in Israel this year carries the same risk as fighting the Japanese in the Pacific—at least I certainly pray it will not. But it is a risk, and it is a risk that we as a family are taking because it is something that being a Jew at this time demands.

As a Jew, I am embarrassed when I read the number of Jews visiting Israel has declined since the latest Palestinian violence began. An Israeli recently told me that more Christians are visiting Israel than Jews (one of many negative effects of the relative lack of deep religious faith in Jewish life), and that while more than a few Jewish tour groups had canceled their tours, few if any Christian groups had. The implicit American Jewish belief here seems to be that only Israeli Jews should suffer for Israel’s survival—through terrorism and a worsening economy. This is terribly wrong. We Jews who live in affluence and without any threat of suicide bombers dismembering us or our children should be visiting Israel now in unprecedented numbers.

Next year, every time I hear or read of another act of Arab terrorism in Israel, I will shudder. But when, God willing, David returns to America, he will return a better Jew, a better American, and a better man—just as my father did 60 years ago, and as I did 30 years ago.

Author of four books and a nationally syndicated radio talk show host, Dennis Prager has lectured in more than a thousand Jewish communities. He may be contacted through his website @ www.dennisprager.com.