{"id":449077,"date":"2010-03-19T15:32:08","date_gmt":"2010-03-19T19:32:08","guid":{"rendered":"tag:blogs.rj.org,2010:\/rac\/\/2.2596"},"modified":"2010-03-19T15:44:02","modified_gmt":"2010-03-19T19:44:02","slug":"my-homeland-my-self-part-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/449077","title":{"rendered":"My Homeland, My Self, part 4"},"content":{"rendered":"

In this blog series, based on the Focus story “Israel by Israelis,”<\/a> in the Spring 2010 edition of Reform Judaism<\/em> Magazine<\/a>,
\nyou will discover what it’s really like to live as a Reform Jew in
\nIsrael from the personal stories of 18 Jews who champion our Movement
\nin the Jewish state.<\/p>\n

Israeli Reform Jews–some born in Israel, some via aliyah<\/em>–share their stories about the agony and the ecstasy of living in this still young and struggling Jewish state.<\/p>\n

Today, participants will respond to two questions, listed below.<\/p>\n

****<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Are there aspects of Jewish life in your former country you
\nwish you had now in Israel, as well as aspects of Jewish life in Israel
\nyou wish your former country would emulate?<\/i>
<\/b>
Rich Kirschen:<\/b> I miss the Jewish New York scene, good
\ndeli, public speaking in English. Sometimes, after giving a speech in
\nHebrew, I wonder if I didn’t sound a little like Latka from Taxi<\/em>. <\/p>\n

If North American Jews could learn something from Israelis, it
\nwould be having a sense of peoplehood. I am concerned that, in the U.S.
\nand Canada, Jews are turning Judaism into a religion and losing the
\nidea that we are also in fact a nation. <\/p>\n

David Forman:<\/b> I do not miss very much about Jewish life
\nin North America, except the greater tolerance of different Jewish
\nlifestyles and the exciting creative experimentation in religious
\nservices and at our Union camps. Still, none of these can compare with
\nthe 24-hour-a-day Jewish lifestyle that defines life in Israel. <\/p>\n

Levi Weiman-Kelman:<\/b> I miss separation of religion and
\nstate, decent Chinese and Mexican restaurants, and going to the
\nsupermarket without getting into a heated political discussion. <\/p>\n

Miri Gold:<\/b> I miss the American system of democracy. In
\nIsrael, while serving as “mayor” of my kibbutz during elections for
\nregional council head, I invited both the incumbent and the challenger
\nto speak in our dining room. The other kibbutz “mayors” from our
\nregion, who supported the incumbent, berated me for having given the
\nrival candidate a chance to speak. When I protested, “It’s a
\ndemocracy,” they shot back, “Oh, that’s your American democracy!” Well,
\nI’m proud of that American democracy. In the Israeli parliamentary
\nsystem, Orthodox parties have disproportional clout because the party
\nforming the coalition must bow to their partisan demands to remain in
\npower. <\/p>\n

Tamara Schagas:<\/b> I’ve found that Diaspora Jews feel a
\ndeeper interconnection with Jews in the rest of the world than do
\nIsraelis: They visit other Jewish communities, express interest in
\ntheir history, and learn about them. Israeli Jews, on the other hand,
\nare aware that Jews live in other countries, but don’t necessarily feel
\nas connected to them. Jewish identity in the Diaspora is built around
\nreligion; in Israel, it’s built around national identity. I wish we
\nwould learn from each other. <\/p>\n

Michael Marmur:<\/b> I miss cricket, crossword puzzles, and
\nthe more mature political culture of Britain, home of “the mother of
\nParliaments.” In Israel we sorely need a culture of free and informed
\ndiscourse without the shouting and screaming.
<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n


What do you like most and\/or least about living in Israel?<\/i> <\/b>\n<\/p>\n

Rich Kirschen:<\/b> I love the connection to Hebrew. Even the Coca Cola bottles say “Hag Sameach<\/em>” (Happy Holiday) on Rosh Hashanah. I hate the fact that Israelis always think they’re right.\n<\/p>\n

Hannah Yakin:<\/b> I like when total strangers smile and say,
\n“Shabbat Shalom” on the way to and from synagogue. Also, I appreciate
\nthe way people meddle in one another’s business because they feel
\nresponsible for each other’s well-being: the men and women in the
\nstreet who advise me to cover my head against the sun, or tell me to
\npick up my grandson if he is crying in his stroller. <\/p>\n

Going home after a routine eye examination, I was blinded by
\nthe bright Jerusalem sunlight. As I stood helpless on the sidewalk, a
\nwoman offered to help. I explained my problem and asked if she could
\ntake me to my bus stop. Not only did she lead me by the hand as if she
\nwere my nursemaid, she gave me her sunglasses, waited with me until my
\nbus came, asked another woman to help me get off the bus at the right
\nstop, and refused to take back her sunglasses when we parted. <\/p>\n

Dalya Levy:<\/b> I love that people care deeply about their
\ncountry and want to make it the best place possible. When an Israeli
\ndoes something noteworthy, the whole country stands a centimeter
\ntaller; when an Israeli does something awful, the whole country bears
\nthe shame and feels that it reflects badly on us all. We spend lots of
\ntime worrying about why, with all our brains, determination, and
\nincredibly talented young people, we aren’t the number one country in
\neverything–education, sports, culture, art, cuisine, etc. Striving to
\nbe the best gives us a vitality that I never found in the States. <\/p>\n

Stacey Blank:<\/b> Israel is a family-friendly country and a
\ngreat place to raise kids. Children are welcome almost anywhere–at most
\nrestaurants you see people out with their kids, and summer street
\nfestivals are always a family affair, with free events like music
\nconcerts and puppet theater for kids. When I walk down the street with
\nour two-year-old son, even macho Israeli guys smile at him. <\/p>\n

What I like the least is the narrow-mindedness of many
\nIsraelis, who see the world as either black or white, especially when
\nit comes to religion. Also, sometimes the endless, heated debates get
\ntiresome. The practical American side of me just wants to get to the
\npoint. <\/p>\n

Hanan Cidor:<\/b> I love the Israeli style of arguing about
\neverything, because it signifies how much we truly care about what is
\nhappening to friends, family, and country. Israelis feel strong
\nsolidarity with one another, and no one is ever a stranger here. We
\nlike to treat everyone as family, as if we know them personally, even
\nif this is the first time we’ve ever met. Whatever might happen to me,
\nI feel I’ll never really be alone in Israel. What I like least is
\nconstantly having to explain, to the outside world and, more
\nimportantly, to myself, why I want to live in Israel and what it means
\nto be an Israeli. I doubt that most Americans or Canadians wrestle with
\nsuch questions. <\/p>\n

Matthew Sperber:<\/b> As a parent and grandparent, I like
\nliving in a little country because my children and grandchildren can
\nnever be very far away. Traveling from Israel’s most southern point to
\nnorthern point only takes seven hours. Also, in a small country, one
\nperson, one family, and one community can make a real impact on
\nsociety. <\/p>\n

Evan Cohen:<\/b> Roni, our “specialty vegetable guy” in the
\nMachaneh Yehudah market, noticed that for two weeks in a row I was
\nbuying less than usual. He called me over and said, “Listen, if times
\nare tough, you don’t have to be embarrassed. Get whatever you need;
\nit’s on me. When things get better, which they will, you can pay me
\nback.” When I explained to him that I was buying less because we’d been
\ninvited to friends’ homes for Shabbat two weeks straight, he smiled and
\nsaid, “Welcome to Israel.” <\/p>\n

What drives me crazy is the feeling of entitlement and lack of
\npersonal responsibility among many Israelis who see everything as the
\ngovernment’s responsibility, rather than their own. That explains why
\ngarbage fills our parks, there are many fatalities on our roads and
\nhighways, and other societal ills. <\/p>\n

Miri Gold:<\/b> I don’t like the Israeli bureaucracy. It’s
\nnot uncommon for me to stand in a line for a long time at a government
\noffice, only to discover I’m missing a critical form I didn’t know I
\nneeded. <\/p>\n

Worse, though, is the treatment Reform converts receive at the
\nhands of Israeli officials. One such convert, a Russian woman, was
\nhappily married to an Israeli Jew for seven years. When he died, the
\nInterior Ministry tried to revoke her permanent status and deport her,
\nalong with her children from a previous marriage. The fact that she
\nconverted through the Reform Movement in Israel bore no weight. Our
\nMovement’s Israel Religious Action Center took up her cause. The case
\nis still in the courts, which keeps her from being deported. Happily,
\nher daughter married an Israeli, so she has some protection, although
\nthe authorities check every year for four years to make sure they are
\nreally married. <\/p>\n

I’m also dismayed by the xenophobia, prejudice, and ignorance
\ndisplayed by some government leaders. Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, head of the
\nShas party, asserted that women wearing a tallit<\/em> at the Western Wall should be burned in their tallit<\/em>! Other officials have called for the imprisonment of women who pray and read Torah at the Wall as men do.\n<\/p>\n

Then, because of the fear that foreign, non-Jewish workers and
\ntheir children will dilute the Jewish State, in 2009 the Interior
\nMinistry decided to deport the children of such workers, even though
\nthey were born in Israel, go to Israeli schools, speak Hebrew, and see
\nIsrael as their home. Many Israeli Jews are sensitive to this issue
\nbecause they well remember being stateless refugees and don’t want to
\nsee anyone else treated this way. Public outcry has been loud enough to
\nget the prime minister to postpone implementation of the decision, but
\nit has not been rescinded. <\/p>\n

I especially like how we Israelis acknowledge the sanctity of
\nlife on Memorial Day. Every Israeli knows someone who’s died or lost a
\nloved one. When the two-minute siren goes off at 11:00 a.m., cars,
\nbuses, and trucks stop in the middle of the road. People get out of
\ntheir cars to stand quietly at attention. <\/p>\n

Many people will later visit military cemeteries. Our kibbutz
\ncemetery has a military section where 19 Gezer members and nine
\nsoldiers are buried, all of whom lost their lives on June 10, 1948,
\nduring Israel’s War of Independence. I know some of the widows and
\nchildren of those who died. Each gravestone tells a story: the person’s
\nname, his\/her parents’ first names, the country from which he\/she made
\naliyah. Ours is a true “ingathering of the exiles”: Austria,
\nCzechoslovakia, Germany, Poland, Romania, Syria, Tunisia, Yemen…. <\/p>\n

Michael Marmur:<\/b> I love feeling so at home here. Even
\nwhen I feel alienated, my alienation feels at home here. I also like
\nthe ease of life and the feeling of freedom. And there is a directness
\nand informality here which suits me fine.<\/p>\n

****<\/div>\n
You can click here to learn about the participants<\/a>. This entry concludes our blog series, but for any inquiries or comments about Reform Judaism in Israel, feel free to contact me<\/a>!<\/div>\n

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In this blog series, based on the Focus story “Israel by Israelis,” in the Spring 2010 edition of Reform Judaism Magazine, you will discover what it’s really like to live as a Reform Jew in Israel from the personal stories of 18 Jews who champion our Movement in the Jewish state. Israeli Reform Jews–some born […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4317,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-449077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4317"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=449077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/449077\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=449077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=449077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=449077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}