Israel. The very name of this country evokes a variety of feelings and opinions in many people, particularly in the United States. Even in its 72nd year as a country, its legitimacy still comes into question by people across the political spectrum. As with any country, it is important to separate a nation's government from its people. Unfortunately, they often do not work in conjunction with each other's values.
For those who are less acquainted with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, the gist is that it is akin to a religious turf war. Diasporic Jewish people have sought after a home for generations due to the rampant anti-Semitism that has existed throughout history. The location for this home was chosen because of the archeological evidence of Jews living in that area eons ago. Christians and Muslims from surrounding regions settled there centuries after the Jews were forced out, but have not had much autonomy as a nation due to imperial rule by the Romans, Byzantines, Ottomans, and British. Both Jews and modern-day Palestinians claim ownership of the land, and neither wants to give it up completely to the other. Compromises have been attempted, but they have mostly failed.
I grew up attending a Jewish school in which Israel was regarded as our holy land and rightful cultural home. As a result, I cannot be unbiased in my opinions on Israel. I have visited multiple times, I have family that lives there on opposite ends of the religious spectrum, and I generally feel a kinship toward the country. I fervently believe that Israel has a right to exist. Do I stand with every political decision that the Israeli government has made? Absolutely not. The same can be said for my thoughts on the US and Russian government seeing as I am a Russian-American. Regardless, I will never stop supporting the legitimacy of Israel as a Jew.
Now that the stage has been set, I'd like to return to the core of this blog's mission: connection. The summer after my junior year of college, I applied to an organization that was offering two-month internships to Jewish college students in Haifa and Jerusalem. There would be a guide to lead us through the program to familiarize us with the city, newly renovated housing provided, and a stipend. I recognized the privilege of this opportunity and saw it as a way to not only develop useful skills in my area of study, but also improve my Hebrew which I hadn't spoken for 7 years at that point, and see relatives that I rarely or never met in person.
Each participant in the program was placed in a setting that most closely resembled their desired workplace. At the time, I was considering speech pathology as my profession, so I was placed in the Ofakim School for Special Education, which serves about 90 children and young adults with neurological and physical disabilities such as cerebral palsy. I shadowed the speech therapist in that setting and served as an assistant counselor during their summer camp session. Additionally, I worked at an after school program for students with intellectual disabilities such as Down's syndrome.
I witnessed the more relaxed culture of school personnel compared to my experiences in the US and the much more forward way that teachers communicated with students. They never talked down to the children and young adults, and they showed them a great deal of respect. I also learned how vast the possibilities are for communication. Body language became crucial in understanding and supporting students.
On the weekends, which stretch from Thursday night to Saturday as opposed to Friday night to Sunday due to the Jewish tradition of keeping Shabbat on Friday nights and Saturdays, our group leader took us on various field trips around the country. Part of the purpose of these kinds of trips was to see the vast and natural beauty of the country and to encourage us to one day make aliyah. For those who don't know, making aliyah means immigrating to Israel, which is also known as returning to the Jewish homeland.
As a group, we connected strongly with our group leader and continued to keep in touch in various ways after returning home. For some time, we also kept in touch with members of the group with whom we had developed closer bonds. Many of us remained in Massachusetts, the location of our respective colleges and universities. Even though it has been years, the memories from that trip have continued to empower me in my role as an educator.
Stay tuned to learn about my connection with a friend in the program as well as our guide in future posts.
