bombs, sirens and gaza
TRANSCRIPT
Page 14 Friday, September 5, 2014 The Pelham Weekly
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By Allee ManningThis fall, Alexa Melnick will begin her junior year at
PMHS wearing the clothes her mother picked out for her while she and her fellow campers huddled in a bomb shelter in Jerusalem.
While shopping at LF’s sidewalk sale in Greenwich, CT, Carol Melnick, her mother, had been iMessaging Alexa pho-tos of clothes she might like when the responses abruptly stopped.
“Alexa was writing back and saying, ‘I love it,’ ‘Yes, I want that,’ and then I didn’t hear anything for a while,” she said. “So I just went about my business, paid...and when I got out in the street and I happened to look at my phone, it was her saying, ‘I was just in a bomb shelter and I’m OK, it was scary but I’m OK.’ I literally...leaned against the brick wall of the store because I felt almost faint.”
Having planned on attending the five week trip to Eu-rope and Israel since childhood, Alexa had embarked on the trip with the reform Jewish youth organization NFTY on June 30. There were 520 campers and approximately 80 staff members. As the group spent its first week in Prague and Poland visiting Holocaust museums and concentration camps, tensions were mounting in the Gaza Strip, where the three kidnapped Israeli boys were found dead in the West Bank. By the time the NFTY group arrived in Tel Aviv on July 7, Israel was poised to launch the Operation Protec-tive Edge aerial offensive.
NFTY addressed the potential problems by adjusting its itinerary to avoid high-conflict regions in addition to its practice of having an armed security guard/paramedic ac-company all groups. Under the advisement of an Israeli se-curity agency, NFTY checked travel plans up to three times a day, more frequently than past years. Communication be-tween program staff and parents was also increased from previous years, and campers received detailed briefs specific to their own travels each morning.
“It wasn’t worth putting our kids in potential...or per-ceived potential... harm’s way,” said Laurence Jacobs, NFTY’s coordinator of the organization’s precautions in Is-rael.
While exploring historic landmarks and the country’s varied geography as planned, campers developed a new perspective on what it’s like to live under constantly hos-tile conditions.
“The Israelis live with (war) day to day,” Alexa said. “They were telling us how they learn about it at a young age and in preschool you learn what to do. It’s been a part of their life ever since they were born.”
The first time a siren caused her to take refuge, she was struck by the behavior of an Israeli working at a hotel within the Jerusalem com-munal settlement (called a kibbutz) where she was stay-ing.
“We were all hiding, very scared, obviously, nervous,” she said. “And (the woman) just walks in...she’s reading a magazine while we’re hiding, and we’re just like, ‘What is happening?’ And then she walks out and we (keep) waiting 10 minutes because that’s what they told us to do...It was like natural for her.”
Aside from the two times the sirens rang to warn the populace of potential danger, Alexa felt entirely safe throughout her trip, the culmina-tion to her previous six years at a Jewish sum-mer camp in the U.S. As her family and friends texted their worries, the 16-year-old was sleeping under the stars in the desert, riding camels, hik-ing, making friends, and generally having “one of the best experiences of my life and the best sum-mer of my life.” Using Internet access through her phone to send texts and document the trip on her new Instagram account, “AlexaTravels,” Al-exa was able to quell some degree of her parents’ mounting concern.
“We were talking to her almost every day,” her mother said. “She was sending us pictures. I kept seeing the smiling pictures. So on the news I’m seeing a war zone, but her reality was that she was happy. If she was scared or she was worried, I would have brought her home.”
Sending campers home was always an option for their guardians, and four teens were flown home due to their families’ security-related concerns. While NFTY’s program continued, similar programs such as BBYO and local Jewish commu-nity organizations canceled their upcom-ing trips.
“We believe in giving all the informa-tion to the parents...(and their) right to make their own decisions,” said Mr. Ja-cobs, noting that NFTY handled all nec-essary change-in-travel arrangements for the campers who did leave. “Five-hundred-sixteen kids (staying) is not just a testament to the Israel experience but how different our perceptions as Ameri-cans as to what it was like there were from the reality.”
Alexa’s mother considered removing Alexa from the program at points during the “five weeks of holding my breath.” Constantly checking news updates, be-ing advised by neighbors and peers to
bring Alexa back, deliberating with her husband, she eventually decided to let her stay.
“I did trust NFTY and I trusted Israel and the Iron Dome really was stopping 99 percent of the missiles,” she said. “This was really Alexa’s dream from so long ago that I really didn’t want to take it from her...I just could not and would not take that away.”
When Alexa reflects upon her journey, which she deems “enlightening” and one that “connect-ed me to my religion,” some of the most touching memories are directly impacted by the turmoil oc-curring in the region. One of those moments came at Mount Herzl, a cemetery in Jerusalem where fresh graves were being filled with recently de-ceased soldiers.
“This soldier...was visiting his friend who was dead and...I started bawling,” Alexa said. “It was just so sad. And you could just tell he felt defeat-ed...Seeing the soldier there watering the flow-ers... that was actually crazy to see.”
Bombs, Sirens and Gaza Conflict Don’t Stop Alexa Melnick from Special Trip
Alexa Melnick (left) and Emily Gershman (right)
Alexa Melnick