The randomness life of immigrants
There is something that every Israeli debates between himself and his spouse, with his fellow Israeli friends, when experiencing culture differences - when am I leaving and going back to Israel.
I’m not Zionist neither was I ever politically involved in any movement in my life. We don’t have Israeli TV at home, no Israeli newspaper (although I have to admit that a weekend newspaper is a habit that I miss).when we came 3 years ago we only brought baby stuff, clothes, handful of music cd’s and some books.
It took almost two years for me to bring books and music from Israel. Stuff I would never listen to while living there suddenly gets new meaning.
I think that Israel is the only country in the world that expects her "sons and daughters" to someday come home.
Things have change in the 58 years that this small, making a lot of noise in the world country, exists. The world is a global place and you can find people from different nationality far away from their main land, in key positions or just making a better present and future for themselves, but for a lot of Israelis there is no place like Israel.
There is something in living outside your known surroundings that makes you appreciate (or depreciate) where you are coming from.
Being an Israeli here in America brings a lot of issues that I never thought I’m going to face in a way that is has become a daily activity.
Should I send my kid to a Jewish school? (not)
Or an Israeli (not)
How do I explain to her that we are Jewish?
What does it mean?
Does it really matter?
How to deal with the lack of spontaneity and the fact that I have to call and coordinate a week in advance for a play date?
Why there is no leisure time during the week when every Israeli that I know came to make money and there is no social life?
How do you explain to your kid that the fact that everybody around us slowly leaves to their own country is not sad but gives us another place to visit in the world, but in the meantime she lost another friend?
The fact that I grow up in a stable. More or less the same people since kinder garden and she not even 4 doesn’t know the people around her?
There are a lot of small things, from food through music and TV and define our dad to day inner being, and self that makes me pay attention to every little detail in my kids life and I have to say that sometimes it’s really really tiring and make me want to come back.
But not just yet, I think that in the long run it will contribute a lot to their life, in spite of all the above, living in some where else then the Israeli “Ghetto” (automatically it associates in my Jewish mind with the Holocaust- Scary)
פורסם בתאריך 18 בOctober 2006 ע"י
תחת נושאים: Being Israeli, Family
You know, I've never been to Israel, but I've always wanted to go. One day.
On the community thing, I think you have to find your nitch. Join a temple or putting your kids in activities or maybe a jewish preschool, will be how you'll help them meet friends. I have had the smae friends since kindergarten and preschool, but that’s because our parents were friends too. And now my friends and I are always together and so are our kids. But outside of that, not so much. I can see how it’s be hard to move, especially to another country. I couldn't do it to be honest. I don't know that I'd even know how to make new friends.
I completely understand your desire to return home to Israel. There is a feeling there that you cannot find anywhere else in the world. There’s a sense of belonging, of oneness that just can't happen in the USA. For us, finding a community was almost impossible. I did send my kids to a Jewish school and they did meet plenty of Israeli families, but the school wasn't great.
There are enclaves where lots of Israelis live. I don't know where you are, but maybe if you moved someplace where there are a lot of israeli families, you might feel more comfortable?