2008 Woodie Awards
MTA Seniors Visit Palau
Organize Mission of Solidarity to Israel Supporter
Raffi Rosenzweig
Issue date: 2/15/05 Section: News
- Page 1 of 1
The Northern Pacific country of Palau doesn't usually come to mind as a potential vacation spot for most Orthodox Jews. However, ten students from the Marsha Stern Talmudic Academy spent eight days, in addition to a full day of traveling each way, visiting the islands during their winter break. The boys decided to visit the island of approximately 20,000 people as a solidarity mission in response to Palau's continued support of Israel in the United Nations.
In addition to Palau, two other North Pacific countries, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, also consistently vote in Israel's favor when resolutions condemning Israel are brought up in the UN's General Assembly. The region is strongly Christian and therefore sympathetic to Israel's cause. In addition, when Micronesia and the Marshall Islands gained their independence from the United States in 1986, joined by Palau in 1994, Israel helped the young countries establish diplomatic relations and lobbied for their admission to the UN.
17-year old MTA senior Avram Sand first became interested in the region after reading about the Pacific countries last year. He scheduled a visit from the Micronesian U.S. ambassador to speak at MTA, and interned in his office this past summer. There Sand met Stuart Beck, the ambassador of Palau and coincidentally a New York Jew. Beck and Daniel Schuval, MTA's director of student life, helped organize the boys' trip last month.
Schuval, his wife, and the ten students spent their time meeting with different government officials, speaking to local high school students, and sightseeing. The group was greeted at the airport by the Palauan Minister of Education and met later with the President, Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress, and a local tribal chief. Sand remarked that there were "very few pretensions in government. Everyone was very open and willing to meet with us."
The students also ran programs about Judaism and Israel for seniors at a Christian private school, and made a presentation to almost 800 students from the local public high school. Some of the Palaun students even visited the MSTA group on Shabbat to experience the holy day and to further acquaint themselves with the American teenagers. Interestingly, Palau lies in between the International Date Line and what the Chazon Ish, a 20th century decisor of Jewish law, holds is the halakhic international dateline, so the yeshiva students had to keep Shabbat on what was officially Sunday in Palau.
The MTA students made the front page of the newspaper in Palau and most of the population knew about their visit before the boys had even arrived. Sand was surprised by the friendliness of everyone they met and is still in contact with some of the students from the high school. Shalom Sokolow, also a 17-year old senior at MSTA, found that the Palauan teenagers were "genuinely interested in who we were and where we were coming from. It was remarkable that we could find so much common ground despite the huge distance that had separated us."
Sokolow added that the warm reception they received made them wonder how different history might have been had the Jewish people been exiled to the North Pacific thousands of years ago, instead of Eastern Europe.
In addition to Palau, two other North Pacific countries, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, also consistently vote in Israel's favor when resolutions condemning Israel are brought up in the UN's General Assembly. The region is strongly Christian and therefore sympathetic to Israel's cause. In addition, when Micronesia and the Marshall Islands gained their independence from the United States in 1986, joined by Palau in 1994, Israel helped the young countries establish diplomatic relations and lobbied for their admission to the UN.
17-year old MTA senior Avram Sand first became interested in the region after reading about the Pacific countries last year. He scheduled a visit from the Micronesian U.S. ambassador to speak at MTA, and interned in his office this past summer. There Sand met Stuart Beck, the ambassador of Palau and coincidentally a New York Jew. Beck and Daniel Schuval, MTA's director of student life, helped organize the boys' trip last month.
Schuval, his wife, and the ten students spent their time meeting with different government officials, speaking to local high school students, and sightseeing. The group was greeted at the airport by the Palauan Minister of Education and met later with the President, Supreme Court Justices, members of Congress, and a local tribal chief. Sand remarked that there were "very few pretensions in government. Everyone was very open and willing to meet with us."
The students also ran programs about Judaism and Israel for seniors at a Christian private school, and made a presentation to almost 800 students from the local public high school. Some of the Palaun students even visited the MSTA group on Shabbat to experience the holy day and to further acquaint themselves with the American teenagers. Interestingly, Palau lies in between the International Date Line and what the Chazon Ish, a 20th century decisor of Jewish law, holds is the halakhic international dateline, so the yeshiva students had to keep Shabbat on what was officially Sunday in Palau.
The MTA students made the front page of the newspaper in Palau and most of the population knew about their visit before the boys had even arrived. Sand was surprised by the friendliness of everyone they met and is still in contact with some of the students from the high school. Shalom Sokolow, also a 17-year old senior at MSTA, found that the Palauan teenagers were "genuinely interested in who we were and where we were coming from. It was remarkable that we could find so much common ground despite the huge distance that had separated us."
Sokolow added that the warm reception they received made them wonder how different history might have been had the Jewish people been exiled to the North Pacific thousands of years ago, instead of Eastern Europe.