Visitors to Israel see a people not beaten by terrorists

By Timothy Pratt (contact)

Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2002 | 9:25 a.m.

Israelis have a lesson for Las Vegans and the rest of America when it comes to responding to terrorism, Steven Doctors has found.

One of a large group of conservative Jews visiting Israel this week, Doctors said he remembers how hard Las Vegas -- and the nation -- were hit by last year's attacks.

Speaking from Jerusalem, he said he was seeing a different answer to terrorism.

"9-11 was one big tragedy and it took us forever to get back to normal," he said.

"But here this happens every other day, and people are determined to move on ... It's as if they say, 'Bring it on, bomb our hotels and we'll rebuild.' "

The group was lending its support -- symbolically and literally -- to the Israeli economy, which has suffered as terrorism has taken a toll on religious tours. Tourism has dropped 50 percent in the past two years because of violence.

Doctors was one of 10 tourists from two Las Vegas-area synagogues on the four-day visit to Israel, part of the largest such mission to go to the troubled country in recent years, the tour organizer said.

Nearly 150 people from 20 states, including 40 rabbis, took the trip.

"This is the largest religious mission from the U.S. in the last two years," tour organizer Nancy Gilbert said.

Members of the tour have interviewed Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and sat in on the Israeli parliament, which is currently divided over Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's budget.

In a visit to the foreign ministry, the two local rabbis and eight congregation members were recognized as hailing from the fastest-growing Jewish population outside of Israel, Gilbert said.

The Las Vegas-area Jewish community numbers about 75,000, up from 50,000 a decade ago, according to the Jewish Federation.

Speaking from outside the Knesset, or parliament, several area residents on the trip said they were impressed with how people they met in the streets of Jerusalem maintained their daily lives, despite economic hardship and the constant threat of violence.

"Walking around areas where bombs have gone off, people are going about their business and smiling," Rabbi Felipe Goodman of Temple Beth Shalom in Las Vegas said.

"I expected people to be depressed and beaten back," he said.

Bob Dubin, an accountant and a member of Goodman's congregation, said he was also struck by how Israeli citizens met ongoing conflict.

"I had assumed, from watching TV and reading the papers, that everything had ground to a halt. But the country is active, it's growing," he said.

Doctors, the director of sales and marketing for Penn & Teller, said the group's presence as tourists was important to the country.

He said a member of the tour bought some jewelry for his wife and was thanked for feeding the salesman's family for a week.

"There are only a few of us, but I feel like we're making an impact by being here," he said.