KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Despite an eight-hour time difference, a Jewish educator from Kansas City is sharing perspective from Jerusalem.
Alan Edelman told KSHB 41's Alyssa Jackson Thursday afternoon that he's been to Israel 38 times.
He arrived in Jerusalem on June 6 and is currently staying in an Airbnb, a short walk away from a 24-hour market and bomb shelter.
"Thanks to technology, Israel knows when the missiles are launched from Iran, and they track them. I'll get a very scary sound...it's bound to wake you up. Then, you go to the shelter."
Edelman is on the Kansas City Advisory Council for Avodah.
He also serves on the board of MeltonKC, an adult Jewish learning school.
The school is co-sponsored by the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, so every other year, they make a trip for board meetings.
He has a 50-year career as a Jewish educator and has been involved with setting up Leawood and KCMO as Jerusalem's sister cities.
"There’s just so much going on in the Middle East," Edelman said. "Israel is fighting this war not only on behalf of itself, which has been threatened, but so many other countries Iran has threatened."
Edelman planned to leave the country on June 18th. However, the airstrikes lengthened his stay because it's not safe to fly in the airspace.
"War is ugly. Every war has been ugly. This war is particularly ugly because it’s really the first war in history where the enemy is underground. They’re under schools, hospitals, community centers," Edelman said.
Every visit, he sees the same behavior from people not shaken by the two countries continuing a decades-long fight.
He said, "It's a combination of fear and resilience and fortitude all wrapped together because that's the way Israelis are built."
As communities in the war-torn countries brace for a threat at any moment, Edelman believes morality is one of the missing elements in a complicated history.
"The sad reality is all of our faiths regard everyone created in the image of God to love your neighbor as yourself, yet so many of these same faiths have extremist elements and for whatever reason forgot that part of their Holy books."
President Trump is mulling a decision on whether the United States military will get involved. That could impact when Edelman can return home.
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KSHB 41 reporter Alyssa Jackson covers portions of Johnson County, including Overland Park, Prairie Village and Leawood. Share your story idea with Alyssa.
