Shalom,

I have attached some photos which my brother-in-law Ben Ami took this week, in his village, from walking distance from his home, which is near my home Haifa. You can see he's a good photographer.

Israelis seem to prefer to send out pictures documenting destruction, although I do feel that images of people are more moving ( but less modest in terms of preserving privacy). Thus, there is no blood in any of the photos.

As you can see from the photos, Israel will need a lot of rebuilding- of the streets cars and homes... as well as of the people- who are already in need of a lot of repairs, only some of which can be done now, and some of which will involve very long processes.

I continue to see patients- those who need medical care and are willing to leave their homes to get it, in all of my various jobs in Haifa and in Nahariya. In Nahariya the gastro unit with all of my equipment has been moved to a safer basement rather than my third-floor room which has a view but is less protected. The hospital itself has been bombed. I worry a little about driving there, driving, but not about being there- what better place could there be to sit in during a war than a hospital? (Especially when I'm thankfully healthy). I'm glad to have something positive and helpful to do, unlike many who are stuck at home for nearly a month and feeling unable to be productively influential.

Last week I took two nights and three days of vacation in Jerusalem with Noga. There, life continues almost normally. There are somewhat fewer tourists from abroad, but this is made up for by the tens or hundreds of thousands of people who left the North for shorter or longer periods of restoration of sanity. In our stay, we visited the Tower of David museum and exhibit, and the Israel museum. We went to the Western Wall where there was a mega-demonstration of Jewish people who used to live in the Gaza strip and were claiming that they want to move back there.

Most interesting was a two-hour visit with Rabbi Richard Hirsch who was founding president of the World Union for Progressive Judaism, making him an equivalent of George Washington in my book. He is now head resuscitator of the World Zionist Congress working at the Jewish Agency. Rabbi Hirsch is an inspiring example and leader in the building of a modern Jewish Israel through having been personally involved in putting up a wide variety of the many buildings which house the institutions needed to preserve Judaism and move Jews and Judaism in Israel and the world into having a brighter and better and Jewish future. I also briefly met Rabbi Uri Regev, the current (professional) President of the World Union, who is also an inspiring role model.

I haven't been too active myself in building buildings. Though my synagogue has been offered adjacent land from the city, and wants to build on it, until someone comes along who wants to put up a million dollars, the building project is lagging ( although we did raise nearly $200,000 so far- so the project is not stalling). If you know such a millionaire- you can connect between us.

I also met with the professional head and deputy of the national Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, in which I now have a vounteer position as deputy chairperson of the national committee. They helped me get more of a national view on what is happening in the Jewish world. Because of the current conflict/war there is focussing of their efforts for now on hosting people from the North. In the long-range, efforts are varied, all aiming to continue with the encouraging expansion of moderate and progressive modern Judaism.

I feel I'm getting involved in the creation of an Israel which has the optimal blend of democracy and Judaism, of preservation of what is dear while also progressing so that we maintain relevance and meaning. Of course, all my volunteer time, while inspiring, doesn't help me in my efforts to get funding to continue and to expand my research projects (mostly in cancer prevention), but I try to distribute my efforts in a balanced way.

In our little family we're blessedly unscathed by the current conflict. The navy SEALS suffered injured and casualty late last night. They mounted a daring and overall successful infiltratration and raid to destroy the missile launchers (people and equipment) which shot missiles which went over Haifa and Southwards into Hadera yesterday evening. The mission was in the Lebanese city of Tyre. The numbers of dead (67) and wounded (hundreds) from the current regional conflict are growing, each case breaks our hearts again and again. Of course I'm glad my son finished his long service a month ago. He did his part valiantly and most honorably. I look forward to when my daughter will finish her service in another region which has seen much active firing and battling; just getting to her base requires guts- she generally travels by armored bus to get there. My nephew Erez was called up emergently for military reserve duty service in the tank corps. Our young people, our kids, are growing up with some hard formative experiences, but that is life.

Thank you for staying in touch. Please forward or web-post my letters anywhere or everywhere you think they'll do any good, edited in any way you or anyone you trust chooses.