(This article, reprinted with permission, featuring Edie Solomon Ilan, class of 1972, appeared in The Columbus Dispatch on July 25, 2002)

By INA HORWITZ-WHITMORE
This Week Staff Writer

The Ilan family: (from front to back) Edie, Cegal, 13, and Tomer, 15. The Ilans are former Bexley residents who currently live in Israel.

Edie Ilan, a Bexley High graduate and former Eastmoor resident, spent five weeks in Ohio recently, traveling from Israel to be with family and friends.

She and her family moved to Israel in 1994.

An Israeli citizen with dual American citizenship, Ilan, 48, also spent her time in the U.S. teaching a class at Lehigh University in Pennsylvania, addressing a Holocaust conference in Chicago and speaking to a group at the Leo Yassenoff Jewish Community Center — all about her life in Israel today.

"That was an important reason I came this summer," Ilan said. "I hoped that I could help some Americans understand the commonality both countries face after 9/11. How Israel is portrayed in the media can lead to people being so misinformed. This is the danger for all of us who wait to promote democracy."

Ilan brought her two children, Tomer, 15, and Cegal, 13. Her husband, Mordechai, a native Israeli and an architect, remained home in Raanana, a bedroom community of Tel Aviv with a population of about 70,000. Israel’s total population is 6-million.

Ilan visited here with her father, Herb Solomon, and her brother in Cincinnati. The last leg of the trip will be visiting Ilan’s brother in Las Vegas.

In the early I 980s, Ilan started a professional career in Columbus as an assistant regional director of the Anti-Defamation League.

About that time, she received a masters degree from The Ohio State University, where she and her husband met. He was there to complete his education.

Ilan worked in the Columbia Gas of Ohio’s Consumer Affairs Department. She worked at the Columbus Jewish Federation and as director of Resettlement Services at Jewish Family Services. In her latter position, she started a Family Ties Program that assisted in integrating recent Russian immigrants to American life.

While she lived in Eastmoor, Ilan began her own business as a communication consultant—a career she has continued in Israel. She said her decision to move was fortified by her historical roots to the land of Israel.

"Although I led a very modern, pluralistic life in Columbus, I wanted to do it in Israel," she said. "I remain a very proud American. I have taken on the identity of an Israeli, and l am proud of that."

When the family first settled in Israel, Ilan and her husband were true believers that the country was really on the road to peace with its Palestinian neighbors.

For their first six years in Israel, there were occasional terrorist attacks, but they were sporadic, Ilan said.

She said she had positive feelings about peace with Jordan and Egypt. "Though somewhat a cool peace, we are not at war," Ilan said. "Many Israelis have visited those countries. Two years ago, we felt the whole region was well on its way to becoming more peaceful, and overall, the atmosphere appeared as if we were moving forward."

The Ilans said they have been asked frequently if they want to come back to the United States, where they all hold American citizenry.

Tomer feels more comfortable in Israel. "If people were to move somewhere else, there would no longer be the faith and hope in Israel," he said. Ilan said that some Americans who have moved were pressured by family in the U.S.

Said Ilan, "When times are hard, it is easy to think of a way out. For me personally, staying in Israel means continuing to have the courage and commitment to where I want to be — to where I want my children to grow up. I have the hope and belief that things will get better. I pray that the Palestinian people will find new leadership who will be interested in changing minds not to hate Israel. In Jewish history, we have survived much. We will survive this, too."

On the Sept. 11 attacks, she said, "What those terrorists did is to take away any illusion of invincibility.

After 9/11, my perspective changed both as an American and as an Israeli. As a westerner, we are threatened by extremists in the world. Whether we live in Tel Aviv or in Bexley, we try to continue our lives normally, but more cautiously."

She noted that 9/11 brought out more patriotism in Americans. "Israel has always been that way," she said. "That is a reason Israel will remain strong."

She said that Israelis are focused more on raising their children and making something of their lives than on hate.

Cegal wrote a poem that was e­mailed to family and friends here. Called "Never give Up," the piece expresses her beliefs in the continuation of Israel to be strong. "If we were to give up, we would be giving into those people who’d liked to see Israel not exist."

In speaking about Israel to public groups on her recent visit, Ilan pointed to a lesson of the Holocaust. "We cannot be silent," she said. "We can’t continue to live life and not speak out. This is my own little way of speaking out and making a difference. People who hate should not have their voices heard louder than the rest of us."

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