Shalom Uv’racha L’Yisrael (Peace and Blessing to Israel)

By Jo Rosen
Assoc. Director, Detroit Chapter

 
The first time I visited Eretz Yisroel was on the occasion of my son's bar mitzvah. We celebrated with busloads of young UJA families from across the country and experienced together the land and its people through activities geared for children.

We tubed down the Jordan River, crawled through caves and dug for antiquities, swam in the Mediterranean Sea, climbed Masada and danced to Israeli folk music. That trip was memorable, though I was distracted somewhat by my duties as a mother of two young teenagers who dressed in IDF T-shirts and longed for excitement on Ben Yuhuda Street. It was July of 1997 and I had never heard of the Technion. Who could have imagined that my life would change so much in a decade and I would be working on behalf of Israel?

Today, because of my position as director of the Detroit Chapter of the American Technion Society, I have traveled to Israel three times since my first visit in '97. I recall one trip as I rode the bus from Ben Gurion Airport to Haifa. May of 2005, a rosy sunset was more than memorable as flames of Lag B'omer campfires lit the seaside way from Tel Aviv to the port of Haifa. The sky gave way to stars as the bus wheeled up the steep slopes of the Carmel Mountains. My eyes sought to absorb the sites of Haifa twinkling in the distance as darkness fell. A hebrew melody, Ya'reach by Shlomo Artzi played on the radio as my journey began and I inhaled each moment, eyes filled with tears, experiencing it and filing it in my memory for future access.

One early morning after one of those endless buffet breakfasts at the Dan Carmel Hotel, we boarded buses to the Technion and held a ceremony at the entrance, acknowledging D. Dan Kahn's support of the "Protective Shield", the security wall designed and built to help keep the Technion safe from terrorism. Dan made a moving and emotional speech and remembered his wife, Betty, of blessed memory, whose passing was less than a year before. Dan's grandson, Jeremy Wolfe joined him for this honor.

We boarded the bus again and drove to campus: to the modest buildings of the Technion Graduate Student Dormitories for the dedication of the Robert and Rhea Brody Children's Playground. "Oseh Shalom, Bim Romav".... I heard the tiny voices sing to us as we walked towards the Children's Preschool center. We were treated to more music from the young children and a beautiful speech from Bob Brody, who remembered his father's important contributions to the Technion in the l950's. The nursery students gave each of us a colorful drawing they made to commemorate our visit. Rhea Brody shook hands with the children and spoke to them in Hebrew. Technion legends, Aviva and Max Gill and Nechama Alpert, the widow of Carl Alpert, came to witness this beautiful celebration of the future students of the Technion.

Snapshots of these children remain in my head. We are mishpuchah. Our lives are entwined as we pray together and support the future of the Technion, the future of Israel. I will never forget the impact this moment had on me, as I watched and listened to Isaac Garaway, a brilliant young graduate student, hold his child in his arms and thank the Brodys and the ATS for all we do on behalf of the Technion. Isaac is one of the stars of the Technion. He visited us twice in the Detroit area and thanked our donors for their support during the recent bombings in Haifa.

Each visit to Israel now is woven with Technion fabric. My threads are joined with Technion supporters and their families to thank the top professors whose research saves the world. I interview the hard working, brilliant students who will one day take their place as faculty members. I tour the biomedical laboratories and defense facilities run by Technion graduates. I listen to government insiders provide us with information on the strength of Israel's economy. I explore the tiny country sustained by the bounty of its produce.

From my seat on the bus, I am satiated and inspired, overwhelmed and exhausted yet eternally hopeful for the future and the impact the Technion makes on Eretz Yisroel. There is no mistake that Gd, the greatest of all engineers, has planted the Technion in Israel.

But it is up to us to make it grow and prosper.