The Pioneer Spirit By Leora Eren Frucht Jerusalem Post (June 20) - Though one American Jewish family's decision to make aliya at this time has puzzled friends and relatives, the Millmans tell Leora Eren Frucht why they haven't let the situation here deter them from fulfilling their Zionist dream. Ira Millman is angry at the American Reform movement for canceling its youth trips to Israel. Millman, a secular Jew from Long Island, New York, just sent his kids to Israel - not for a summer, but for a lifetime. Millman, his wife, Patty, and their two daughters, Jessica, nine and Dani,12, left what he calls "an idyllic life" in the US to make aliya in February - five months into the Palestinian uprising. "Are their children's lives more precious than ours?" he asks of the Reform movement. "It's one thing for an individual to decide not to come to Israel now - that is a personal choice. But for a Jewish organization to make such a decision is totally playing into the hands of terrorism. These terror organizations now know that because of what they've done, tens of thousands of Jewish youth are not coming to Israel. What a victory for them!" The Millmans are aware that their own decision to move to Israel has puzzled friends and relatives. Until recently, the couple lived in Greenport, Long Island - a picturesque coastal town they describe as "one of the safest places in America." Their children went to top schools; they had a thriving leather goods business and they spent their free time sailing. They were, in a sense, living the American dream. Four months ago, they traded that life for an uncertain future in Israel. "Our friends and family looked at us like we were three-headed creatures or something," recalls Ira, a 41-year-old native New Yorker with an easy smile and a deceptively baby face. "We felt we were really going against the tide, especially among secular Jews," adds Patty, 38, a petite, striking native of Colombia. But the Millmans' dream had always been to settle in Israel, and they didn't see why the current situation should stop them. "It's not that we didn't have second thoughts," explains Patty. "As the time for our departure approached, we had many discussions. We asked ourselves: why put our family in danger - especially when we're so comfortable where we are? We have a good life in the States. We have everything - are we making a mistake?" IRA CAME on a preliminary visit in November, not long after the brutal lynching of two IDF soldiers in Ramallah, and around the start of what has become almost routine shooting in the Jerusalem neighborhood of Gilo. But he returned with a positive report. "Once you're in Israel, you see there is a whole other dimension to life than what you see on the nightly news," he said. Today, the Millmans, who live in Modi'in - a new city halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv - say they have no regrets. "The reality is very different than it looks on the news," says Patty. "People outside of Israel just can't imagine that we are living a good life here." What makes life good is, ironically enough, the sense of freedom," says Ira, noting that his children walk to school, to their friends' homes, and to the park. "In most parts of the United States, you wouldn't feel secure enough to do that," he says. "We did in Greenport. But then Greenport is a town of 2000; here we enjoy the same sense of freedom in a city of over 30,000," he says, referring to Modi'in. In fact, the couple felt so safe that when they went on a four-day business trip to Europe recently they left their two young daughters alone - with only the neighbors to look in on them. (That is also a testament to the relationships they have forged with their neighbors, notes Patty, calling this "another plus" of life in Israel.) While many Israelis have begun to avoid shopping malls because they may be targeted by terrorists, the Millmans recently took their youngest daughter, Jessica, to a large mall in Rishon Lezion to celebrate her birthday. "It's not that we don't think about the risk. But we believe it is relatively small, and we don't want to let that stop us," says Ira. The arrival of a family who had everything in America prompts mixed reactions from Israelis. "Some say welcome or kol hakavod and wish us success. Others - and this is one of the hardest things for us - say: 'Are you crazy?' or 'What's wrong with you?'" "Sometimes," continues Ira, "after we explain why we're here, they understand. They realize that we're not some goofy, naive Americans, and they accept us." "I think a lot of them make these comments, but don't mean what they say deep down inside," says Patty. "It's as though they're looking for someone to remind them of the reason why they're here." The reason the Millmans are here can be traced back to Ira's lifelong - and in the eyes of some, inexplicable - passion for Israel. "I remember during the Six Day War, when I was seven, I heard radio reports about the Israeli air force, and I looked up in the sky in New York, expecting to see planes. I felt no distance between myself and Israel." When Millman took his first trip to the country at 17, he was so excited he couldn't sleep for two nights. No one else in his family shared his ardor for Israel. Patty, whom he met at college, had never been to the country. In 1986, the couple spent six months in Israel, volunteering on a kibbutz and studying Hebrew. "I fell in love with the country then," says Patty. "I knew from that moment that we would make our lives here." THE COUPLE returned to the US to make money to pay off student loans and stock up on appliances. "We thought it would take a year - that's how naive we were," recalls Ira. "We started a business, but every few years we would visit Israel to see what we were missing. While our friends were discovering the Caribbean or going skiing in Colorado, we kept coming back to Israel." Afraid that their dream was slipping away, they bought an apartment in Modi'in in 1996. But it took another five years until they were able to move to the country. Today they support themselves through their business in the US, but hope to become more involved in Israeli society once they improve their Hebrew. Their own parents, who remain in Greenport, were upset about their decision. The move came not long after the couple had brought Patty's family from the increasingly dangerous Columbia to a secure life in Greenport. "My mother asked, 'Why are you bringing my grandchildren there [to Israel]? Why are you going to put yourselves in danger?'" recalls Patty. In an effort to allay their fears, the couple invited their parents to spend Pessah with them in Israel. Ira's parents hesitated to get on a plane right up until the last moment. Once they arrived in Israel, they were "too afraid to leave the house at first," he recalls. "But little by little, they began to feel more comfortable, until we went on a trip together and my father drove all the way up north. Within a week, they were looking into the cost of apartments in Modi'in, and weighing the option of moving here some day." Ira believes they were swayed by the sunny climate, the overall feeling of security, and the accessibility of doctors - "you can get an appointment with a doctor the same day and walk to his office." Patty's explanation? "They could see how happy their grandchildren are here." Dani, 12, says children in her new school were quick to welcome her - even though she speaks very little Hebrew. "On the first day, a big crowd formed around me - about as big as this room," she says, pointing to the kitchen. "They introduced themselves and bombarded me with questions. This went on for a week." Some of the children asked her, "Isn't it better in the States?" "I told them I prefer it here. The weather is nice, Israel is beautiful, and there are so many good parks here. Also, the people are really friendly." Both girls keep in touch with their friends in the US not only by e-mail, but through video conferencing. "It's really easy with today's advanced technology," says Dani. "My friends in the States worry a lot about me - more than I worry about myself. I wish they could just see the way it is here." Dani particularly appreciates the chance to go on nature hikes with other children. Within weeks of her arrival, her class visited the Kinneret. "In the few months I've been in Israel, I've had more school trips than I had in a whole year in the States." She and her younger sister Jessica are not unaware of the security situation. "We all watch the news in English every day," says Dani. "It's a tragedy when we miss it." They already understand things that are foreign to most American children - like the need to watch out for suspicious objects. "We talk to them openly about the situation, and they ask us a lot of questions," says Ira. "What's going on here bothers me a lot," says Dani, "but I still want to remain in Israel." Dani let her father know that very clearly recently. "We were walking down the street together in Tel Aviv," recalls Ira. "There had been a terror attack a few days before. Dani turned to me and said: 'If something should happen to me, I just want you to know that I wanted to be here.'" ---------------------------- Israel, here they come Despite the security situation, thousands of American Jewish teenagers are still coming to visit Israel this summer, reports Melissa Radler from New York Despite continued violence and the recent killings of more than 20 young club goers in Tel Aviv, thousands of teenagers are planning to visit Israel this summer on tours sponsored by Orthodox, Conservative and secular Zionist movements in the US. The decision to send teenagers to Israel was given renewed vigor last week following the Reform movement's cancellation of all summer youth trips to Israel, which are run by the National Federation of Temple Youth (NFTY.) Jewish leaders and Israel's Reform leadership condemned the US Reform movement, which in past years sent 1,500 kids to Israel, and Israeli politicians called on US Jews to make renewed efforts to visit the tourist-strapped state. "This is the time that one's true beliefs come to the fore," says Rabbi Pesach Lerner, whose National Council of Young Israel is sending about 55 12th-graders to Israel for six weeks this summer, down from 94 students last year. "We understand if a parent wants to make a decision for a child, and we respect that. But the organizations should be facilitating and supporting the State of Israel now more than ever," says Lerner. "If you care, now's the time you do the most that you can." For Rabbi Kasriel Shemtov, bringing Jews of all denominations to Israel is his mission. Shemtov, a Chabad rabbi who is the yeshiva director for Mayanot in Jerusalem, is helping to co-ordinate four trips for more than 1,000 young adults to Israel in conjunction with 'birthright israel,' which provides free, 10-day visits. Approximately 98% of participants are non-Orthodox, he said. "The principle is that you don't cancel trips to Israel," says Shemtov, noting that the cancellation rate for his groups is 20-25%, and that 300 students arrived for a tour the week following the Tel Aviv bombing. "To see groups of students from all programs is incredible, just for the morale of the Israelis," he adds, "never mind what it does for the students." Other groups that are committed to sending teens over include the Orthodox Union's National Council of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) which is sending nearly 300 teens to Israel this summer in four to six-week touring and learning groups, down 65% from last year. Young Judea, the Zionist youth movement of Hadassah, is sending 225 people over, down from 1,300 last summer. Birthright is bringing close to 5,000 young adults to Israel this summer, though 1,500 have cancelled. Leaders of the Conservative movement say that United Synagogue Youth trips and Camp Ramah seminars to Israel are going forward, though numbers have decreased by as much as 50% from years past. Among teen tour success stories are Bnei Akiva, a religious Zionist youth movement that is sending 230 11th-grade students over on a six-week tour, compared to 260 last year. At Habonim Dror North America, a secular, leftist Zionist organization, numbers are at 100%, without a single cancellation. Despite being filled to capacity, Habonim Dror national director Jamie Levin says that the group's two Israel programs, which include a summer trip for 100 15-year-olds and a year-long, post high school workshop for 28 people, are subject to change. "In terms of us deciding to cancel or to modify the program, the decision to change is based on whether we can offer a safe program in Israel, and whether we can offer a meaningful program," he says. WHILE safety can be assured by changing the itinerary, Levin said that the group's tradition of visiting Arab villages in Israel, for example, has been cancelled, and that organizers are considering spending some program time in North America. Habonim trips, he notes, have gone forward for the past 58 summers, even during the War of Independence. Many other groups have changed their tour itineraries, with Orthodox groups reporting that tour buses will no longer cross the Green Line to cut from one part of Israel to another, and that free time for participants is being curtailed. The national director for Young Judea, Doron Krakow, says that Jerusalem's Old City has been deleted from the group's formal itinerary, and that visits to populated areas such as Tel Aviv, Netanya and Haifa have been reduced. National Council for Young Israel's director for youth activities, Richard Stareshefsky, says that the group will be operating a voice mail system with up-to-date recordings on the security situation. "Everybody has their own level of comfort about going," comments the president of the Conservative movement's Mercaz USA, Evelyn Seelig, who said she is urging those parents concerned with their children's safety to visit Israel this summer as a family. One parent who is sending his 15-year-old to Israel for the summer is Rabbi David Eliezrie, president of the Rabbinical Council in Orange County, California, whose son plans to attend a program for the children of Chabad emissaries in Beit Shemesh. Though he is concerned for his son's safety, Eliezrie says he and the 40 sets of parents whose children are participating in the program - which is at full capacity - find solace in the words of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. "The Rebbe always instructed us that the safest place for a Jew is Israel," says Eliezrie. "During times of crisis, the Rebbe instructed his hassidim not to leave Israel. He said that this was a place where there is divine protection, so we have this inner confidence for us and our families."