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By Ilene Rosenblum
On Monday at 2 p.m. I will be flying to Israel on a plane chartered by Nefesh B' Nefesh, an organization that helps people like me make aliyah (in Hebrew this literally means "go up" because the Land of Israel is considered holy). Every person on the plane will be doing the same thing -- leaving the comforts of the United States to fulfill the dream of living in the Jewish homeland as a full-fledged Israeli citizen. I will be joining hundreds of thousands of olim (people who have made aliyah) from all over the world, following in the footsteps of Abraham, who was commanded: "Go for yourself from your land, from your relatives, and from your father's house to the land that I will show you" (Genesis 12:1).
I am in part a religious pilgrim. I believe that every Jew who is willing and able, belongs in Israel. It is nothing short of a miracle that a people displaced for more than 2000 years were able to survive and can return to their land, and it cannot be ignored. It is also a place where a Jew can perform the most mitzvot (biblical commandments), and in fact, according to some Jewish authorities, the only place where they can be performed with merit.
I am also part opportunist. I have traveled to Israel two times as an adult, each time feeling as if I had landed not in a foreign country but in my home. When aliyah has never been easier and the American economy has not in my lifetime been any worse, the time seems ripe. At 25, I am at a crossroads in life where I am free to choose my destiny, with relatively few implications for my immediate family or my career. I am making the choice to move closest to the place where I feel a part of a community.
I also understand that aliyah is not for everyone. U.S. citizens like myself (a citizenship I am not renouncing) enjoy generations of family together, many material comforts and the familiarities and folkways of home. Still, I am wary when the going gets too good. The world is still not rid of anti-Semitism. During my studies at Northwestern University, swastikas were scrawled on students' doors. The symbols followed me to Chile, where I saw them spray-painted in graffiti on the streets and scrawled in chalk in a classroom I visited. In recent years the threats have escalated to physical danger to Jews in many parts of the world. Jews held prominent positions in 15th Century Spain and in Nazi Germany, much like they do today in the United States. It seems like an exaggeration to assume that anti-Semitism could arise the same way it did in the past, but history has a funny way of repeating itself.
Israel is not without its problems either. There are considerable political dilemmas and frequent deadly attacks against Jews. The world is more than aware of that, and I brace myself every time I tell someone in the United States where I am moving, because I'm not sure what kind of response I'm going to get. Much like you stick to and make sacrifices for a loved one, so I love Israel, despite the mistakes it has made. And just like love for a human being, it defies logic.
During the few weeks I've been in the United States I watched two movies. Without realizing it, they were a perfect fit. The classic "Fiddler on the Roof" is about the Jewish shtetl in Russia, maintaining traditions despite the changing times, young women leaving home, and all Jews being forced out of what they consider home. The 2009 film "Crossing Over" is composed of several stories of immigrants making tremendous sacrifices to become United States citizens.
My grandparents and great-grandparents fled the shtetl life for the opportunities in the United States. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been to try to start over halfway across the world, and for immigrants today, I know that it remains a tremendous challenge. There were some cultural divides I don't think the first generation Americans in my family ever crossed. I doubt I will ever be able to fully integrate into a new society either, but I hope that my past is an asset rather than a liability. Israel has a lot to learn from the United States.
Apparently, at the bottom of the New York Harbor lie thousands of pairs of tefillin (phylacteries) thrown overboard, because the thinking was that these "Old World" ritual objects had no place in the new life that awaited immigrants in the new country. Though there was considerable discrimination against Jewish immigrants of the 1920s and 1930s, it was possible to cast off the shackles of religion and assimilate. The State of Israel is a land with a lot of potential. On one hand, there is nowhere else where Jews can live more freely. As Tevye would say, on the other hand, because they can live so freely, most Israeli Jews feel no need to connect to the religion in a ritual way, because the whole culture has a Jewish vibe. Under the Israeli flag, you need not actively distinguish yourself in any way to feel Jewish.
In the past, I have moved away from an opportunity. College ended, so I left Chicago. An internship ended in Israel, and despite my desire to stay, I left for the United States. This move is an ascent toward an opportunity. The United States has been good to me and to my family. I leave not in spite of the tremendous sacrifices my forebearers made to create more opportunities for their children. Rather, I am only able to make this difficult journey because of the strength of the Jewish heritage that was handed down to me. My parents' parents worked hard so that their children could get a quality education. My parents have also sacrificed in a measure that I don't believe I can fully grasp. I believe that the future of the Jewish people is in Israel and that the best spiritual enrichment can be found there.
My hope is that future olim will not be moving from something -- because their home economy is in ruins or because they face discrimination. Rather, they, like me, will move out of volition -- because they are seeking something spiritual and communal that cannot be put into words or digits.
Watch a live video of the landing of Ilene's flight, scheduled for approximately 12:15 a.m. EST on July 7.
Ilene Rosenblum is a freelance writer and former news producer at washingtonpost.com. She completed a yearlong course at Nishmat, an institute of advanced Jewish studies for women in Jerusalem and holds a degree in Journalism from Northwestern University.
By Ilene Rosenblum |
July 3, 2009; 12:53 AM ET
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Posted by: ccnl1 | July 7, 2009 1:05 AM
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There is no "apartheid" in Israel, although there is here, Zebra4, and there is in Egypt, where the Copts are isolated and increasingly imperiled. Egypt is the ONLY COUNTRY in the Middle East, where ARabs are absolutely free to choose their own candidates and elect them.
Apartheid in this country is devastatingly visible on the American INdian Reservations, depicted in the literature as among the poorest of the developing nations.
Jews in the Middle East occupy few apartheid postitions, although some exist, in Tunisia, ofr instance. Why is that, you ask? Could it be pogroms, theft of land and property, deportation of indigenous Jewish inhabitiants, who dwelt in these lands before there was Islam?
Let's take two very interesting cases from two very different nations, Tunisia, where notwithstanding Wikipedia, fewer than 1000 Jews remain, in Apartheid circumstances, and Egypt, where an ancient civilization of Jews has been reduced to somewhere between four and fourteen.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Tunisia
NOW we come to the Christians in Egypt, who desperately need intervention before they are wiped out. They have written to the president for help....
http://voiceofthecopts.org/en/letter_from_the_president/89.html
Posted by: Farnaz1Mansouri1 | July 6, 2009 8:52 PM
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Well, Zebra4, shall I follow your lead, and call you a "scum bag"? Is that what you are looking for?
You will have a long wait, my friend. God bless you, Zebra4, and keep you. I am not your enemy.
Posted by: Farnaz1Mansouri1 | July 6, 2009 8:26 PM
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"God bless you" from a self-proclaimed atheist". AMUSING!
Posted by: zebra4 | July 6, 2009 6:58 PM
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It is amazing how people are not afraid of contradicting themselves. They want us to know what happened to them in Russia, Hungary, Poland or Iran and then turn around do the same things to Palestinians what was done to them by mostly the Europeans.
What happened to "though shall not kill" or "though shall not steal"? Sympathy can not be obtained by simply pleading victimhood.
It can be earned by not victimizing others.
Only then a principle can emerge on those two noble Commandments.
An anti-semite is one who does not support Israeli Apartheid, bulldozing of Palestinian homes and businesses, usurping Palestinian land to build settlements to accomodate people like Ilene, building walls, cutting down olive trees and choking the lives of millions of Palestinians.
The rhetorical intimidation by using the phrase anti-Semitism or Jew hater does not work any more.
Posted by: zebra4 | July 6, 2009 6:44 PM
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Ilene,
If you reread my original posting, then read the one beneath this, the one by Zebra4, you will see the wisdom of what I originally wrote, that is, if any more "insight" into is needed or wanted.
One cannot be a Jew in the Diaspora. Look about in the now Judenrein Middle East, outside of Israel, where we have been cast out, deported, our homes, land stolen. Do the same in Eastern Europe. Cast your gaze wide, Ilene.
Read the words of the antisemites on this blog alone, the words of those who become antisemities because they refuse to do the necessary work, research, etc., all of which would be unnecessary if the culture had not already mangled their souls.
Be well and happy, Ilene--Long life, and God Bless You!
Farnaz
Posted by: Farnaz1Mansouri1 | July 6, 2009 6:28 PM
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When you go "home" chances are you will be living in a home in a settlement usurped illegally from the Palestinians. Chances are you will have no guilt feelings for living in a "stolen" home or land. We Americans cherish in the private ownership of property.
Chances are that you "sold" your property in America. No one took your property here by force. This, what you should have internalized for living in America--an America that was good to you according to your own statement.
Posted by: zebra4 | July 6, 2009 10:46 AM
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Ilene,
Go home, please, Ilene. My family and I fled from Iran in the middle of the night. I watched, as a child, my family's cherished friend, Ismael, murdered by the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. His blood spattered on my clothes.
As a glance at this blog any time will show you, antisemitism is rampant in this country. Here, in New York, I live with it every day. All Diasporic Jews do.
My mother, before I was born, studied at Columbia. Based on the knowledge she gained there, she knew she would never want to live here. The racism against Jews, nonJewish and Jewish Blacks, everyone, horrified her. She dreamed of Israel.
When we had to leave, when we had to flee Iran, there was no choice. The way to America was open. To have opted for Israel would have taken a few more weeks, and we were out of time.
And so we wound up here. There is no question that this is a great country, but we have our own. As I grew up, I missed Iran and longed for Israel. I applied to college there, was accepted, ready to go and make my life in Israel.
But I was stopped. Crises, illnesses, impending death, financial disabilities, etc., suddenly assaulted my family. Although my parents were set to honor my wishes, I could not abandon them.
And so I have made my life in this great country, and it is a great country, a great antisemitic country. A country in which my daughter's teeth were knocked out by Catholic School thugs.
I dream a Jerusalem dream, and so do my husband and daughter. I miss Iran, yes, but it can never be my home.
Notwithstanding the scandal, A.B. Yehushoa was correct when he said one cannot be a Jew outside of Israel. Whether secular or observant, Jews cannot be, they cannot exist as whole undamaged entities outside of Israel. This is true.
We must wait, though, my husband and I, until our girl graduates from high school. She is nine, was skipped a grade, and has now been skipped another. For us, making Aliyah is no longer a far away dream.
You need not wait, Illene, and I beg of you, do not. You will never reach wholeness in the Diaspora. Next year, Ilene, in Yerushalaem.
God bless you.
Farnaz
Posted by: Farnaz1Mansouri1 | July 4, 2009 9:23 PM
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You have it all wrong; while the Palestinians who are severly persecuted in Israel, may be trying to inflict damage on their opressors, it is Israel that is responsible for the worst form of apartheid since South Africa, the worst oppressor of its minorities in the world, and is killing Palestians by the thousands - thanks to the amunition provided by the united States, including banned chemicals
Posted by: Kingofkings1 | July 4, 2009 5:47 PM
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But the Holy Land is not so holy anymore based on recent studies by many Jewish and Christian exegetes i.e. no Abraham, no Moses, David was not a king but a local leader if that, the walls did not come tumbling down due to Joshua and there was no trial for Jesus and there were no physical resurrection, ascension or assumption.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20E1EFE35540C7A8CDDAA0894DA404482
http://secweb.infidels.org/?kiosk=books&id=766
http://www.infidels.org/library/historical/joseph_mccabe/religious_controversy/chapter_07.html
And from the class notes from a large Catholic university's graduate religion class:
"Heaven is a Spirit state (no physical bodies abide so where is the resurrected, ascended body????)
Christ's and Mary's bodies are therefore not in Heaven. For one thing, Paul in 1 Cor 15 speaks of the body of the dead as transformed into a "spiritual body." No one knows exactly what he meant by this term.
Most believe that it to mean that the personal spiritual self that survives death is in continuity with the self we were while living on earth as an embodied person.
The physical Resurrection (meaning a resuscitated corpse returning to life), Ascension (of Jesus' crucified corpse), and Assumption (Mary's corpse) into heaven did not take place.
The Ascension symbolizes the end of Jesus' earthly ministry and the beginning of the Church.
Only Luke's Gospel records it. The Ascension ties Jesus' mission to Pentecost and missionary activity of Jesus' followers.
The Assumption has multiple layers of symbolism, some are related to Mary's special role as "Christ bearer" (theotokos)."