2
The Jewish Voice & Herald
ISRAEL
February 15, 2013
www.jvhri.org
Alliance Mission to Israel
Visual impairment doesn’t stop intrepid traveler from ‘seeing’ Israel Alan Temkin makes his first visit to the Holy Land By Nancy Kirsch
nkirsch@shalomri.org PROVIDENCE – Blindness didn’t stop Alan Temkin, 60, from fully savoring the rich array of sensory offerings during his first trip to Israel late last month.
“I could see from my other senses – smell, touch and hearing.” He, along with 30 other individuals (including this reporter), most of whom live in the greater Rhode Island Jewish community, participated in the Jewish Alliance of Greater Rhode Island’s first mission to Israel. Although the Jewish Federation of Rhode Island (the Fed-
eration, the Bureau of Jewish Education and the Jewish Community Center of Rhode Island became the Alliance in January 2011) had led past missions, this was the first mission under the Alliance umbrella. What makes Temkin and his trip to Israel newsworthy? Legally blind since his 20s, he needs a cane to help him navigate when he’s outside his apartment; sometimes that cane is put to use even within the familiar surroundings of his apartment, he said. Although he says he can only see shadows and light, Temkin savored the action-packed days of the mission. Why travel to a distant country without the benefit of sight? “It was helpful to hear other people’s descriptions [of what the group was seeing],” said Temkin. “I could see from my other senses – smell, touch and hearing.” Not only did Temkin thoroughly enjoy his first trip to Israel, he was an intrepid traveler and kept up with everyone as we navigated claustrophobiainducing (for those who have a fear of confined spaces) underground tunnels, maneuvered
Nancy Kirsch
Richard Wimberly, left, and Alan Temkin in Israel; Beatrice and Howard Stone are behind them. along slippery, uneven stone paths, endured jouncing jeep rides and climbed endless steps. His vision loss arose from de-
generation of his retinas, said Temkin, who earned an undergraduate degree from Rhode Island College in 1983 and, in
2000, a M.Ed. in counseling psychology from Cambridge College in Cambridge, Mass. Like others in this difficult Rhode Island economy, Temkin is looking for work. Before this trip, Temkin, from Providence, hadn’t ventured too far afield, other than a trip he took – alone – to California not long ago. When his physician, the late Dr. Alden Blackman, visited Israel many years ago and gave Temkin a tallit from Israel, he became intrigued with the idea of visiting the Holy Land. The gift, coupled with encouragement from his friends Marc and Janice Adler – mission participants and frequent travelers to Israel – motivated Temkin to join the group. “I wanted to experience for myself what it was like in Israel,” said Temkin, who especially enjoyed walking through the tunnels underneath the Western Wall. “The caves,” he said, “… were like walking through a haunted house. We didn’t know what was next.” Temkin said that his other senses, highly attuned to com-
RELISHING | 11