
DATE: Saturday, July 12, 1997               TAG: 9707110082

SECTION: DAILY BREAK             PAGE: E1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY TONY WHARTON, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:  140 lines

AMERICANS HAVE CONTRADICTORY REACTIONS TO VISITING ISRAEL

CLAIRE MILLER, a Catholic worker from Norfolk, went to Israel last month and saw terrible oppression. She felt tension and fear.

Rabbi Arthur Ruberg of Norfolk has returned to Israel 20 times. He feels at home there, swimming in a sea of ancient history and Hebrew-speaking people.

Rosemarie Morgan, a Virginia Beach Realtor and a Christian, visited the Holy Land in May and saw people of different faiths working together for freedom. She saw nothing to alarm her.

Virginia Beach dentist Dr. Calvin Belkov spent a month working in an Israeli free clinic last fall. He saw teeth.

Back home in Hampton Roads, each of these people adds a piece to the complicated, often contradictory picture of Israel that Americans see. Some, like Miller and Ruberg, speak to congregations in churches and synagogues. Morgan helps an organization that brings Jews out of Russia.

Their experiences reflect the fascination that Israel, the crossroads of three religions, holds for many Americans.

Visitors view that little strip of land at the far end of the Mediterranean through their own lens and distill their personal experiences very differently.

``It is a flash point,'' said Ruberg, of Congregation Beth El, a Conservative temple in Norfolk. ``One wonders sometimes, are we talking religion or politics here? Within the same religion, you have different political stances.''

As the 50th anniversary of Israel's founding approaches next year, more Americans of all faiths undoubtedly will travel there. Often, they will see what they expect to see. Each story is true to the person who tells it.

Miller, 45, has been a ``Catholic worker'' for six years. The decentralized movement emphasizes nonviolent social action and sends its members into violent areas around the world, including Haiti and Bosnia, to either witness what goes on or to actually stage protests.

Lean and intense, Miller reveals little anger in her voice but almost unconsciously bangs the arm of her chair when talking about some of the things she's seen. She feels Americans have idealized Israel.

``You read about people protesting injustices in Central and South America, you don't read about people protesting injustices in Israel,'' she said. ``Yet it's really amazing what the government there has done.''

She visited Arab villages, some quite old, that the Israeli government does not recognize as existing. Young boys escorted her safely through tense marketplaces, and later she saw some of the boys injured by soldiers' rubber bullets.

``The question is, what is behind the clashes?'' she said. ``What's behind it is a high degree of injustice experienced by these people for 30 years.

``It is a highly controlled, very stratified society. Arabs are second-class citizens, they have fewer rights, they have to show ID's all the time.''

As a Christian, Miller enjoyed visiting biblical sites in Israel, but she has little use for ``sites and monuments.'' The role of a Christian, she said, is to work for peace and justice today rather than looking back at yesterday.

No one sees Israel quite the same way as Jews, Ruberg said.

Catholics also have Rome, Muslims have Mecca. But to Jews, there is no other homeland.

``You're going home when you go to Israel,'' he said. ``The United States is a home country as well. But Israel has been the land of Abraham for 4,000 years.

``Jewish groups may have different politics, but they understand that for 4,000 years, Israel has been at the center of Jewish life.''

For Ruberg, different parts of Israel have different meanings. Tel Aviv, he said, is a metropolitan, European city, while Jerusalem and its surroundings are at the heart of the Bible and the Torah.

He sees Israel as an almost magical concentration of Jewish life.

``The Bible is their history textbook,'' he said. ``People walk about the streets speaking Hebrew.''

He's aware of the military aspect of Israeli life and recalls instructors at a Hebrew school suddenly being called away to reserves duty.

``It seems worse when you're in the U.S. watching CNN,'' he said. ``When you go to Israel, you see people walking the streets without fear.

``Yes, when there have been bus bombings you have a twinge of fear. But a few hours later, people are riding the buses and walking the streets again.''

Morgan visits Israel ``On Wings of Eagles.''

That's the name of a Jewish-Christian organization working to move Russian Jews to Israel, one family at a time.

``We feel like there might be a limited window of opportunity and we want to take advantage of that window,'' said Morgan, who attends a Presbyterian church in Virginia Beach. ``And the world needs to know we do work together and have a common interest there.''

Her trip this spring was her fourth, and she has come to love the country because it is important to more than one religion, rather than in spite of that fact.

``I love the idea that Judaism and Christianity are very closely related because of the scriptures we share,'' Morgan said. ``I appreciate the Jewish people for what they have done in preserving scriptures all those years.

``I have a strong feeling of admiration for them.''

She takes great joy in her trips, including visits to biblical sites like the Church of the Holy Sepulcher and the Sea of Galilee, and she has never felt fear.

``People said: `Why are you going to the Middle East? Why aren't you fearful?' '' she said. ``I didn't see anything that would alarm me at all. It's obvious not long after you get there that people are going about their lives in a very normal fashion.''

All peoples, but especially all people's teeth, are alike to Dr. Calvin Belkov.

Belkov, 65, regularly visits Israel as a volunteer, fixing teeth in a free dental clinic in the community of Pardes Katz, supported by the United Jewish Federation in Hampton Roads.

However, Belkov said he's not very religious. He's a dentist.

``It's a foreign country, but they all have the same problems,'' he said. ``Nobody likes a dentist, wherever you go.

``I'm not one who goes out giving speeches. I'm not political, I'm not motivated by politics.''

He lives in an apartment, not a hotel, while he's there. Israel today makes him think of what the United States must have been like in the first part of this century, when people of many nationalities were just arrived and jostling together.

``Politicians just don't seem to get along well over there,'' he said. ``But the everyday person, from what I've seen, they seem to get along well.''

He was in Israel when Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated and when a bus was blown up.

``You feel sad no matter who it was,'' Belkov said. ``It's just as sad as when the federal building was blown up here.

``When an Arab child dies or gets hurt, his blood is not any better or worse than my child's or an Israeli child's.

``Frankly, I couldn't tell the difference between an Israeli or a Palestinian. They look the same to me, they have the same teeth. You know, they all came from Abraham.'' ILLUSTRATION: [Color Photo]

Claire Miller of Norfolk was deeply affected by the struggle of

Israel's Arabs.

BETH BERGMAN / The Virginian-Pilot

Clarie Miller, a Catholic worker from Norfolk, experienced

oppression, tension and fear while visiting Arab villages in Israel.

``It is a highly controlled, very stratified society. Arabs are

second-class citizens,'' she said.

FILE PHOTO

Rabbi Arthur Ruberg of Norfolk feels at home in Israel. KEYWORDS: RELIGION