The center itself is a centerpiece of education and socialservices in the city

Fesler said the Leo Baeck center iscommitted to continue the outreach throughout the war. It also reflects the effects that the war is having onsectors of Israeli society 100 miles from the shelling. Since the war began, itsown students have displayed a re-occurrence of the trauma which they livedthrough during the missile attacks on Haifa. News of a graduate of Leo Baeckbeing critically wounded and the death of a brother of one of its students hascompounded their emotional turmoil. In addition to focusing on children, Leo Baeck also has reached out to theelderly, bringing groups of senior citizens to its campus.

The center and itsstudents also have sent more than 1,500 "care packages" to soldiers on the frontlines. At the same time that the center has been putting its energy into these outreachefforts, it is continuing its work to build avenues of communication andcooperation among the Jewish and Arab residents in Haifa. There has been nodisruption of the activities of its Jewish-Arab neighborhood center. And, Arab and Druze children continue to study at thecenter's elementary and junior high schools, Fesler noted.

"Even during a crisis like the one that we findourselves, now, these goals cannot be forgotten", he said Fesler emphasized that peace in Israel is not beyond reach. "In Haifa our cooperation and relationships among the several denominations ofthe city have been outstanding. In addition to Jews, we have Christian, Muslim,Druze and Bahai faiths working together and in harmony. It is our hope that ourcity will be an example of what can happen when every segment of the communitycommits itself to working for peaceful solutions, eschewing the terrorism thatcontinues to rend the fabric of our society and creates an atmosphere that canonly divide one people from another." The Leo Baeck Education Center Foundation supports the work of the Leo BaeckEducation Center. The center, itself, is a centerpiece of education and socialservices in the city.