Israel's Role In My Life

Today, Aaron asked the class what role Israel will play in our lives after we go back home to America. My first thought was that Israel will always play a huge part in my life because it is my home. It is where I was born and I feel the most connected to the culture and more importantly I feel like I can be myself. 

When I come home, Israeli culture will still play a huge part in my life because that is how I grew up. My house is full of Israeli culture, but at the same time, my family has integrated into the American society to a certain extent. I would love to live in Israel and for the culture to play a part in my life all the time. I have learned to love everything about Israel and nothing about America feels special enough to me that I feel like I have a duty to it. Israel is a whole different story. I have felt for a long time that it is my responsibility to go to the Israeli army and fight for the country's right to exist. I feel a strong personal tie to the country because it is my home.

One of 66 Israeli Women You Should Know

Women in the Israeli army generally don't get positions that require them to fight on the front line. This summer, Oshrat Bachar will become the first woman to lead an Israeli Defense Force combat battalion. She has been put in charge of the Field Intelligence Battalion 727, or Eitam. She will lead this battalion to the border of Israel and Egypt to protect against terrorist activity that began two years ago when the battalion was founded. 
This is a great thing to hear about considering that women are not able to fight on the battle fronts. Not only is a woman on the front line, but she is the leader of the battalion. This is a huge achievement and can possibly lead to many more women being accepted to fight for Israel. 

Patriotism

Israel. I have never seen a more patriotic country. This week we celebrated two very important holidays, Yom Hazikaron and Yom Ha'atzmaut. Yom Hazikaron is the Israeli memorial day for all the fallen soldiers. This includes every soldier that ever died, no matter whether it was during a war or not. There is a huge difference between Memorial Day in America and in Israel. In Israel everyone goes to the army so every single person in Israel knows someone who died in the army or at least someone who knows someone who died. On this day, we are all brought together as one to remember our friends and family that died fighting for this country.
On the night ending Yom Hazikaron, Yom Ha'atzmaut or Independence Day begins. The atmosphere turns from the saddest day of the year to the happiest day of the year in an instant. Everything becomes a party. Everyone is out on the streets partying, hitting each other with inflatable hammers, and spraying foam and silly string all over each other. 
It was amazing to experience the fact that one day we were very sad and remembering all those that died to protect the people and the land of Israel, but immediately after we celebrate their accomplishments and how they were successful in their mission to protect Israel's right to be an independent Jewish state. 

Israeli Humor

Wednesday night, all of EIE went to a Cobi Oz concert in Jerusalem. He is a famous Israeli singer that sing a variety of songs ranging from classic Ashkenazi style music to classic Mizrachi style music. In between each song, he would provide some explanation as to what he was about to sing and what the significance of the song was to him. He liked to make these explanations humorous, but one time stood out above the rest. Cobi made a joke referencing the Holocaust. All of the new American arrivals were so taken aback by this, while all the EIE students who had been in Israel for months were rolling on the floor laughing. 
Until then I had forgotten that Israeli humor is so different from American Jewish humor. In Israel it is part of the culture to make jokes about the Holocaust, but to Americans who take the Holocaust very seriously, this can be a very hard thing to get used to. 
I was amazed at how only a few months can make such a difference in a person's culture. It may not affect the person's values that come from their original culture, but it certainly affects how they interact with people. 
Now that I think about it, this part of Israeli culture began to affect the students of EIE even before now. When we were in Poland, everyone was making jokes about the Holocaust at the sites of the mass murder of the Jews. Even while we were at Auschwitz, you could always hear a joke being made. Despite the darkness in Israeli humor, it is always coming from a place of happiness and relief.