Imagine Israel Podcast Episode #5: Celebrating 50 Years of Diversity in Jerusalem

Imagine Israel Podcast Episode #5: Celebrating 50 Years of Diversity in Jerusalem

This episode of Federation’s Imagine Israel Podcast marks 50 years of a reunified Jerusalem. In keeping with the theme of uniting diverse faiths to live together in peace, we speak with a few Israelis who represent the unity and division, in terms of life and death in Israel’s capital city. Join us as we hear from three medical professionals at the forefront of the developing field of emergency medicine, bringing change through medicine at Jerusalem’s emergency clinics.

We dedicate this episode to the memory of Rabbi Dr. David Applebaum who revolutionized the field of emergency care in Israel. In 1990 Dr. Applebaum opened Israel’s first private emergency care clinic, which today sees over 150,000 patients  a year. Emergency medicine in Israel is a new specialty, recognized for the first time in 1999. Dr. Applebaum was tragically murdered in a terrorist attack alongside his daughter, the day before her wedding. As we hear from his former colleagues, it is apparent that Dr. Applebaum’s memory lives on.

In this episode…

It’s an interesting mix taking care of somebody who’s been injured from a terrorist attack when laying in the bed next to them is the terrorist. Just to make it a little bit more interesting, you have staff who are Jewish. We have staff who have personally suffered, or who have family who has suffered from a terrorist attack. You also have people on the medical staff in the hospital who have first degree relatives who have perpetrated terrorist attacks.”
– Dr. Todd Zelut, Director of Emergency Medicine at Shaarei Tzedek medical Center, and was a close friend and colleague of Dr. Appelbaum as he set up Terem Clinics.

“We feel the problem between Arabic and Jewish people. But not at work. At work we are like a family. About 50% of the staff is Arabic and the other 50% is Jewish. So we got used to working together, we got used not to talk about politics. We got used to being a family.”
-Dialeh Dana is an Arab nurse who works at the first Jerusalem Terem Clinic Dr. Appelbaum established.

When a violent terror attack injured a group of Israeli soldiers, doctors from Terem Emergency Clinic rushed to the scene. In the aftermath at the hospital, after the victims were treated, one Arab doctor approached the three Jewish doctors on the shift.“This day he came up to each of us individually shook our hands, and apologized with empathy in his voice, saying, ‘I’m so sorry this happened. This is crazy. It’s got to stop.’ It was reassuring to know that this voice for moderation exists even in a neighborhood that has been such a hotbed for much of the violence in the last year and a half. I felt honored that I was one of the people who was able to hear it firsthand.”
-Dr. Dov Goldstein tells of his experience working at Terem, and of Jewish/Arab relations at the time of a terrorist attack.

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PODCAST DISCUSSION GUIDE

Delve even deeper into these social issues with Federation’s Imagine Israel Podcast Discussion GuideUse the guide as a reference to spark conversation and explore social issues in Israel and at home through interactive discussion and activities.