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Friday July 19, 2002

Rossmoor residents join Mideast fray on the home front

RONNIE CAPLANE
Bulletin Correspondent

At 88 years old, Jacques Torczyner has every right to take it easy, enjoy the good life as a retiree in Rossmoor and leave the struggles of Israel to the next generation. With 25 years under his belt as an elected member of the World Zionist Congress, he already has done more than his share.

So has Phil Goodman, a retired dentist who did two separate four-month professional volunteer stints in Israel.

The same goes for Moe Richman, a retired school psychologist. Although his firsthand experience in Israel has been that of a tourist, he's logged many hours working for Jewish community centers as a program director.

But these men couldn't stay out of things. It was the news media and what they felt was biased reporting that drew them into the fray. So along with about a half dozen other similarly minded Rossmoor residents, they formed MEICOR -- Middle East Information Council of Rossmoor -- an organization dedicated to educating people about Israel and correcting inaccurate representations about the Jewish state that show up in the media.

"We decided to concentrate on the area where we live," said Goodman of the target group that they want to reach. Besides, Goodman pointed out, there are advantages to keeping things on the home front, like the availability of meeting halls, easy access by the residents and a captive audience.

Although he believes that the Jewish population of Rossmoor -- about 10 percent -- is already knowledgeable and supportive of Israel, there was the other 90 percent to think about. "We live in a community where people are not aware of the seriousness of the situation. We thought we could educate and counteract some of the propaganda from TV and newspapers. We wanted to educate those who are not Jewish."

And little did he suspect just how hungry their target audience was for that education. At their first event on June 2, a talk by retired Israeli Defense Force Col. Moshe El'ad, former member of the military government in Bethlehem and Jenin, 450 people showed up.

"We were astounded by the turnout," said Goodman. "We set up 300 chairs but people kept coming." They grabbed chairs from the adjacent room and even with that, about 30 people had to stand in the back of the room.

Although many Jewish residents attended, Goodman was surprised at the number of non-Jews who came.

"I think many people have been offended by what they read in the newspaper and see on television," he concluded.

Bolstered by the attendance at El'ad's talk, MEICOR is planning to host another event in October and is exploring several possible speakers. They're also gathering names, phone numbers, e-mail and snail-mail addresses in order to communicate with members, keep them informed and when necessary encourage them to take action.

With its establishment, MEICOR raises the number of East Bay Israel Action Committees to eight. Under the auspices of the Jewish Federation of the Greater East Bay, these groups meet regularly to discuss strategy, share information and get support from the Federation.

According to Riva Gambert, director of the Federation's Israel Task Force, MEICOR is mobilizing an influential segment of the population. Rossmoor residents have a high voting rate, are involved in many civic organizations and are active in local politics.

"They could just rest, relax and leave the work to younger people but they're motivated to do something for Israel," she said. "They monitor the newspapers and tell me when they find reports that lack balance."

When they do find bias, they write letters to the offending publication or other media outlet. They've also sent letters to President Bush and Vice President Cheney, senators and other governmental officials. When the news broke locally about the Palestinian poetry course offered at U.C. Berkeley, with the caveat that those unsympathetic to the Palestinian cause should consider another class, they wrote to the chancellor.

"We get letters in the papers regularly," said Richman, MEICOR's current president, adding that the issues they raise go beyond Israel. "One of the letters I wrote expressed concern for the plight of the Palestinians, because their fellow Arabs have left them hanging out there for over 50 years. Syria, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Saudi Arabia have refused to help them."

For Torczyner, the preservation of Israel and its image is, in part, a personal mission. As a young man, he witnessed Hitler's rise to power and the plight of German Jews before immigrating to the United States from Belgium in 1940. He knows the importance of having a Jewish state, a point that has been driven home by the recent rise of anti-Semitism in Europe.

"The only country that accepted Jews was the Dominican Republic," said Torczyner, who recently returned from a meeting of the World Zionist Organization in Jerusalem, where a new department was created to address anti-Semitism. "The only difference between then and now is the existence of a Jewish state and the vindication of Zionism."

But whether the attachment to Israel is personal, political or spiritual, the members of MEICOR are committed to counteracting bias in the press and educating others about the situation in the Middle East.

"We want to be an effective voice in presenting Israel's story," said Goodman. "We have an obligation as concerned Jews."

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