Ohio mission faces sobering issues on trip through Israel

Saturday, November 07, 1998

By VINDU P. GOEL

[Cleveland] PLAIN DEALER REPORTER

JERUSALEM — From the Holocaust to the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, death has played a critical role in the identity and history of Israel.

Traveling in Israel on a weeklong study trip, a group of 40 Northeast Ohio business, civic and religious leaders spent yesterday seeing firsthand some of the ways that death has shaped this land, which is holy to Jews, Christians and Muslims.

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Guilt over their handling of the Nazi genocide helped persuade the United States and Europe to create a Jewish homeland after the war, and it drove many American Jews to contribute financially and emotionally to the success of the new Jewish state.

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