The Israelis (part 1)
I arrived in Israel last week. I have been spending my time so far with family before I dive into my work with TAMID. Most of the fellows are in Israel by now, and many have started their internships. On Thursday night, we held our kickoff social event, going to a concert in Jerusalem’s Gan Sakher park featuring Rita, David D’or, the Jerusalem Symphony Orchestra, and Hadag Nachash.
As last week was highlighted with Israeli culture, I thought I’d share some thoughts on just that.
Michael Brooks, Executive Director of the University of Michigan Hillel, sent each Fellow from Michigan a book entited The Israelis by Donna Rosenthal. (If you are a TAMID Fellow from Michigan and you did not receive your copy, don’t worry… I will give it to you shortly.)
It’s a fabulous book, and a really thoughtful gift from Michael. It is a long series of slice-of-life profiles of different Israelis, intermixed with the author’s observations on this culture’s fascinating diversity.
The book’s point is perhaps best described by one of the Israelis interviewed by Rosenthal, 27 year old Ori Heffetz. Heffetz says:
There’s so much new about us, you’d think we’re also a billion people, not six million. We’re all the time on TV and front pages, so people think they know us. Unsmiling soldiers. Screaming settlers. Crying mourners. Bearded guys in black hats. Well, Israelis are much more than those photos. We complain about teachers. Worry about exams. Flirt at parties. Wonder if we look good in our bathing suits. We curse at traffic jams and cut in line at the movies. We’ve got normal fears and dreams. Like young people everywhere, we want to find love and be loved. We’re just normal people trying to live in this abnormal, tiny, beautiful country.”
Early on in the book, Rosenthal writes of an incident in which Ori Heffetz is a young man, enjoying a first intimate encounter with his girlfriend. This moment, which is so universaly human, is interrupted by something that at the time was particularly Israeli–Iraqi scud missiles and the rush to put on a gas mask.
Rosenthal paints dramas, rituals, and dreams that are profoundly relatable for all readers, but heightened with an only-in-Israel flavor.
The TAMID Fellowship is not about tourist-trap camel rides or shlocky t-shirts. Our program is about interacting with the real Israel. For these two months, we are living like Israelis and amongst Israelis. It is a new kind of professional experience, a new kind of cultural experience, and a new kind of Jewish experience. I couldn’t say it better than 2011 Fellow Tammy Ellenhorn who wrote in her blog:
I’m hoping this authentic experience will help me move beyond my idealized view of Israel and form a more informed, concrete and adult connection to a country that already means so much to me.
More thoughts on the book coming later this week.
