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May 24, 2002
Virtually visiting Israel
Victorians send money when friends visit Holy Land.
KYLE BERGER REPORTER
Anytime a congregant of Temple Emanu-El in Victoria is visiting
Israel, spending their money at the local merchants, it is as if
another member of the congregation is virtually right there with
them.
At least that's the message the congregation is trying to deliver
to their friends in Israel with their new Virtual Tourist fund-raising
concept.
Before Dvora Levin recently visited Israel, the members of the congregation
raised approximately $1,700 that they sent with her.
The idea was that every time Levin sat down for lunch in an Israeli
bistro, she would pay at least double the amount of her own bill
on behalf of her congregation. Or, if she was going to buy herself
something like an Israeli flag with her own money, she would purchase
a second one with the money from her friends back home, while letting
the merchants know that they had friends in the Pacific Northwest.
"After getting the bill, I asked to speak to the manager,"
Levin said, describing one of her opportunities to send her congregation's
message while eating in Ein Kerem. "I told the manager that
I would be paying three times the amount of the bill. I explained
that, as a visitor coming to visit family and friends during these
terrible times, I had brought virtual tourists with me."
Levin said the manager and her waiter were very moved, saying, "We
in Israel feel that we are all alone in the world. But this is amazing
that there are others so far away who actually care about us here."
After several other waitresses approached Levin to hear about the
Virtual Tourist idea, the manager presented her with a Hebrew book
about the history of Ein Kerem, inscribed by the staff with a warm
note of appreciation for bringing a smile to their day.
Levin also paid 100 shekels for a 25 shekel meal at a pizza joint,
located in the centre of Jerusalem, that had just re-opened after
the bombing of a café up the street.
She had to negotiate with the man working at the shop in order for
him to eventually accept the money.
Her final purchase was for 15 pita sandwiches that she bought for
the Israel Defence Force's negotiating team that was dealing with
the standoff at the Church of the Nativity. One of her Israeli friends
was on his way there for reserve duty with that group.
"It's not big dollars, it's simply a show of support from people
in Victoria who are concerned about the Israeli economy," explained
Temple Emanu-El's director, Michael Goldberg. "We felt sort
of helpless here like we couldn't do very much to help and this
was an avenue that was open to people who didn't have a great deal
of money but could contribute $25."
The Virtual Tourist idea, Goldberg explained, was inspired by the
sermons of their new rabbi, Harry Brechner, and progressed through
e-mails sent among the congregants for several days leading up to
Levin's departure.
Levin said she had so many members of the congregation bringing
donations to her before she left that she had to suggest they give
them to the next local person to visit Israel so that she could
get some sleep before her trip.
On May 13, Louis Sutger went to Israel and took some Virtual Tourist
money with him as well.
"My fervent hope," Levin added, "is that others going
to Israel will take along their own virtual tourists who will leave
their footprints on the shores of the now-so-turbulent sea of our
homeland. And Israelis will know they are not alone, for we are
with them."
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