Hello Everyone! Welcome to my blog. I’m Ethan Habecker, an 18 year-old Santa Barbara guy who will be representing Congregation B’nai B’rith in Haifa. I will be volunteering with the Leo Baeck Education Center. Right now it's Thursday and I am still in Santa Barbara and as of now still on track to leave for Israel on Sunday. Like all of you I am monitoring the situation over there very closely. I am following almost every news outlet that exists, including the direct statements of the IDF. I must admit, from afar, the situation looks very scary. When you turn on the TV and see Wolf Blitzer "Live from Jerusalem" talking about a constant barrage of missiles from Gaza and videos of Israelis running for their lives at the sound of yet another siren, it paints a pretty bleak picture. However, as I learned today, not a very accurate one. This morning my dad and I had the opportunity to Skype with a friend of mine in Israel and his dad to get a better sense of what was actually happening over there. What they described was nothing like what you hear from the media. They reported no rockets, no sirens, and really no change at all. Their lives are continuing on as normal. I got the same story when I met with the two teens from the Leo Baeck Center in Haifa who will be working at Camp Haverim these next few weeks. They reassured me that I would be safe as ever in Israel and that I should not be worried. So after today, I am going to do my best to stop watching the sensationalized media coverage of the situation and instead talk with those who are actually living it. I encourage all of you to do the same. Turn off Wolf Blitzer or Shepard Smith or whoever you watch, and call up that old friend who lives in Israel. Their perspective will give you a much better understanding of what is actually taking place.
Thats all for now. My next update will hopefully be from Israel on Monday!
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