By Andrew Hackmack
Just two weeks after learning of an opportunity to visit the Jewish homeland, Drayer was meeting everyone from top Israeli officials to citizens who are caught in the middle of the conflict with Hamas.
The Valley Stream resident and Temple Hillel member recently spent four days in the country with Hadassah, a national women's zionist organization.
Drayer went with a group of 30 people from 13 different states. She noted that the citizens were very welcoming of Hadassah. "They're so pleased to see people coming to show their concern," she said. "The point of going during a difficult time is to show support for Israel."
The first stop on the trip was to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office in Jerusalem. The group got a chance to meet him and Drayer said he expressed his appreciation for their visit. Olmert also spoke highly of the Hadassah's two hospitals, which are both located in Jerusalem, Drayer noted. "He told us three of his four children were born at Hadassah," she said.
The group then headed south and visited several communities that have been affected by missile fire from the recent conflict with Hamas. Drayer said one town they visited was Sderot, which is in close proximity to the Gaza strip. In Sderot, she said, 80 percent of children have post-traumatic stress syndrome as a result of the missile attacks on the town.
Drayer recalled the story of a woman named Chava she met in Sderot, who is afraid to go outside, suffers from post-traumatic stress syndrome, has chronic pain and takes several pills every day. Whenever a warning siren goes off, Chava has to be comforted by her 9-year-old son, Drayer explained.
She also met another woman, Maya, whose house in Ashkelon was struck directly by a missile, seconds after she and her husband made it into the safe room.
"It's a very difficult way to live," Drayer said, "and a lot of people have left." But, Drayer said, many people can't afford to move anywhere else. Because of the missile fire, the value of houses there is so low, its makes it nearly impossible for people to sell their homes.
In Sderot, Drayer and the other members of Hadassah got to meet the commander in chief of the Israeli Air Force, Ido Nehoshtan,
who was with his generals and elite pilots. She said later that night, the airforce bombed Hamas tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.
The group had lunch at a market place in Sderot, which had been subject to bombing in the past. Drayer said the point of eating there was to support the economy in a devastated area. They also ate lunch at a mall in Ashkelon, which has also been bombed.
Their guide in Ashkelon, Drayer said, was Marty Davis, a native of Bellmore who decided to move to Israel. The group also met with the city's strategic planner. He talked to the Hadassah members about the Israeli citizen identification cards, which are used to keep track of where everybody is so people can be accounted for in case of an attack.
Drayer also visited a military base and learned about how K-9 units are trained. One part of her trip that stood out was a visit to a playground, where she saw a giant caterpillar that was actually a bunker.
Hadassah, which was formed in 1912, has 300,000 members across the United States and 14,000 in Nassau County. There are also chapters in 35 other countries.
Drayer also visited Israel in 2006 following the Lebanese war. She still remembers that trip. "As our bus pulled into [the city of] Haifa, the alarms went off, so we jumped out of the bus and into a shelter," she said.
Drayer said that this trip was quiet, but the group did learn of an attack on the Israeli army, patrolling its side of the border along the Gaza strip, which happened while they were in Sderot.
The most enlightening of her trip was meeting the "everyday" citizens of Israel and learning how they deal with the constant threat of attacks. She said despite the stress of living in that situation, so many people work to make their communities a better place. "It's an honor," she said, "for them to give us some their time and tell us what they're going through."
Drayer explained that there is a mutual appreciation between the members of Hadassah and the citizens of Israel. "This is our Jewish state," Drayer said, "so we have to do what we can for it."
Comments about this story? AHackmack@liherald.com or (516) 569-4000 ext. 265.
