Every Jew has a story of their own . It was fascinating to read Your life . Baruch HaShem. I have experienced very different because my ancestors lived under Romanov’s Empire with many pogroms but found to live in Northern Europe. After the WWII we were very quiet because in reality, my ancestors worked on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem during the First Temple period . In matters of fact my father got angry with other Jews( he has a wife and another woman simultaneously) , so they quit synagogue saying to me that we can have much easier life in church . That was quite crazy for myself because at school all teased me for my Jewish ancestors and it was very catastrophic period in my life. When Jews started to make Aliyah to Yisrael from Soviet Union thru us , because there were not any direct flights to Israel from Soviet Union in those days. So was very active helping those Russian Jews to make Aliyah thru us . So I started to guide Aliyah Jews sightseeing our town and also including visit to the Synagogue . Once I was there again and the manager( those days there were No Rabbi in our country) , he asked, who I am in reality??So I started to think about, because we tried to hide our history. All in all , during three years I visited synagogue many hundred times with Aliyah Jews and I started to read also deeply about Judaism. Three months before the Russian Aliyah started here , I had been in Eretz Yisrael for some weeks travelling around the country. Of course Jerusalem made very big impressions inside my soul and heart. It is the fact that my ancestors have been and worked on Mount Moriah about 3000 years ago, so I am surprised to find I have constantly yearning for Mount Moriah and the Third Temple in Jerusalem. It is my constant prayers for Jerusalem and all those promises in Torah and Kabbalah. I am a poor pauper now at moment, writing for Jerusalem in every aspect, they have blocked my post in Instagram and Facebook. I have no money to give but I pray and pray constantly for Jerusalem and Mount Moriah and the Third Temple and Davidic Dynasty.
Thank HaShem for Birthright. I wish all young people would have the opportunity to experience Israel through the Birthright lens. I remember my first trip to Israel, during the second Intifada: soldiers with machine guns on every corner and I realized that rather than feeling afraid, my shoulders had released what felt like three inches, and I knew I was “home”
I really enjoyed reading your story. I have always loved Judaism and the Jewish people - it started with my eighth grade teacher, Judith Shapiro who would tell me stories. I went home and told my mom I wanted to be Jewish. I am so pleased that you have come back to your beautiful faith.
This is something that really amazes me about American Jews - pick and choose relationships with Judaism. Some of my students told me once that being Jewish means doing whatever one chooses including celebrating Christmas. It was quite revealing for them to be in my intro to Judaism class - some were simply shocked.
So many of the younger generation have had similar experiences which explains the growing alienation from their Jewish identity and Israel. You were one of the lucky ones in finding the light and letting it grow.
Just to share a word from studying the Parashah on Shabbos…it seems you have experienced the fruit of what Jacob found when he entered the Land and found a place to rest. The word was explained by Commentary as “encountered”. Something more than just happening to walk into Israel.
I dream of moving to Israel. But I can’t leave my siblings and my mother. I saw Fiddler on the Roof in Deal, NJ today and the scene at the end, where they are forced to part from one another, made me cry so hard. Has there ever been a generation of unbroken, Jewish families? 😔 And if not, what has this done to our collective psyche?
Just beautiful, Joshua. Being Jewish does carry quite a responsibility. but with an inordinate amount of pride, and it is worth every moment as you so aptly described.
You’ve put words to feelings of generations. At 19, I took a year off from college to serve in a program called Sherut La’am (service to the nation). Patterned after the Peace Corps, it sent me to Israel for a year. First there was 3 months in a kibbutz Ulpan (an immersive Hebrew language training) interspersed with picking grapefruit and milking sheep at an absurd hour of the early morning (city girl 🤷🏻♀️). Then we were sent out to all parts of the country to teach, mostly English.
I landed in Ashdod, then a fairly new immigrant city populated with Jews from North Africa who had been expelled from their countries where Jews were no longer welcome. I taught music and dance - Hebrew folk songs and Israeli dances I had learned in America. My Israel experience was completed by the Six Day War which I spent back on what I now referred to (and still do!) as “my kibbutz”, Mishmar Haemek. No, my Jewish mother (let alone the whole family) was not thrilled either when I refused to come home as the inevitable war approached. Several months later, I boarded the plane back to the States to finish school and returned for another 12 years as an assistant professor of English as a Second Language at the Hebrew University. When politics and family obligations sent me back to the U.S., I left. I left knowing I was changed, no longer a diaspora Jew - something else, someone whose cultural roots were now an embodied experience.
I am fully aware that had there not been the State of Israel, I would be feeling very differently today. Like any “marriage”, I realize that our fates are inextricably intertwined, for better or for worse. The only thing I can hope for at this time is for just and wise leadership to eventually prevail, in Israel and elsewhere, and for a renewed and continuing existence of the place I and my ancestors call home.
Excellent! As an American non-Jew, your description of your journey was truly awe inspiring. Thank You…
Every Jew has a story of their own . It was fascinating to read Your life . Baruch HaShem. I have experienced very different because my ancestors lived under Romanov’s Empire with many pogroms but found to live in Northern Europe. After the WWII we were very quiet because in reality, my ancestors worked on Mount Moriah in Jerusalem during the First Temple period . In matters of fact my father got angry with other Jews( he has a wife and another woman simultaneously) , so they quit synagogue saying to me that we can have much easier life in church . That was quite crazy for myself because at school all teased me for my Jewish ancestors and it was very catastrophic period in my life. When Jews started to make Aliyah to Yisrael from Soviet Union thru us , because there were not any direct flights to Israel from Soviet Union in those days. So was very active helping those Russian Jews to make Aliyah thru us . So I started to guide Aliyah Jews sightseeing our town and also including visit to the Synagogue . Once I was there again and the manager( those days there were No Rabbi in our country) , he asked, who I am in reality??So I started to think about, because we tried to hide our history. All in all , during three years I visited synagogue many hundred times with Aliyah Jews and I started to read also deeply about Judaism. Three months before the Russian Aliyah started here , I had been in Eretz Yisrael for some weeks travelling around the country. Of course Jerusalem made very big impressions inside my soul and heart. It is the fact that my ancestors have been and worked on Mount Moriah about 3000 years ago, so I am surprised to find I have constantly yearning for Mount Moriah and the Third Temple in Jerusalem. It is my constant prayers for Jerusalem and all those promises in Torah and Kabbalah. I am a poor pauper now at moment, writing for Jerusalem in every aspect, they have blocked my post in Instagram and Facebook. I have no money to give but I pray and pray constantly for Jerusalem and Mount Moriah and the Third Temple and Davidic Dynasty.
Thank HaShem for Birthright. I wish all young people would have the opportunity to experience Israel through the Birthright lens. I remember my first trip to Israel, during the second Intifada: soldiers with machine guns on every corner and I realized that rather than feeling afraid, my shoulders had released what felt like three inches, and I knew I was “home”
Thanks for your writing!
I really enjoyed reading your story. I have always loved Judaism and the Jewish people - it started with my eighth grade teacher, Judith Shapiro who would tell me stories. I went home and told my mom I wanted to be Jewish. I am so pleased that you have come back to your beautiful faith.
Awesome article ? The Talmud tells us that the atmosphere of the Land of Israel increases one’s intellectual abilities!
This is something that really amazes me about American Jews - pick and choose relationships with Judaism. Some of my students told me once that being Jewish means doing whatever one chooses including celebrating Christmas. It was quite revealing for them to be in my intro to Judaism class - some were simply shocked.
So many of the younger generation have had similar experiences which explains the growing alienation from their Jewish identity and Israel. You were one of the lucky ones in finding the light and letting it grow.
Just to share a word from studying the Parashah on Shabbos…it seems you have experienced the fruit of what Jacob found when he entered the Land and found a place to rest. The word was explained by Commentary as “encountered”. Something more than just happening to walk into Israel.
Wow. In tears. I know how you feel
I meant “awesome article !”
I dream of moving to Israel. But I can’t leave my siblings and my mother. I saw Fiddler on the Roof in Deal, NJ today and the scene at the end, where they are forced to part from one another, made me cry so hard. Has there ever been a generation of unbroken, Jewish families? 😔 And if not, what has this done to our collective psyche?
Another article of yours I totally relate to. thank you!
Just beautiful, Joshua. Being Jewish does carry quite a responsibility. but with an inordinate amount of pride, and it is worth every moment as you so aptly described.
You’ve put words to feelings of generations. At 19, I took a year off from college to serve in a program called Sherut La’am (service to the nation). Patterned after the Peace Corps, it sent me to Israel for a year. First there was 3 months in a kibbutz Ulpan (an immersive Hebrew language training) interspersed with picking grapefruit and milking sheep at an absurd hour of the early morning (city girl 🤷🏻♀️). Then we were sent out to all parts of the country to teach, mostly English.
I landed in Ashdod, then a fairly new immigrant city populated with Jews from North Africa who had been expelled from their countries where Jews were no longer welcome. I taught music and dance - Hebrew folk songs and Israeli dances I had learned in America. My Israel experience was completed by the Six Day War which I spent back on what I now referred to (and still do!) as “my kibbutz”, Mishmar Haemek. No, my Jewish mother (let alone the whole family) was not thrilled either when I refused to come home as the inevitable war approached. Several months later, I boarded the plane back to the States to finish school and returned for another 12 years as an assistant professor of English as a Second Language at the Hebrew University. When politics and family obligations sent me back to the U.S., I left. I left knowing I was changed, no longer a diaspora Jew - something else, someone whose cultural roots were now an embodied experience.
I am fully aware that had there not been the State of Israel, I would be feeling very differently today. Like any “marriage”, I realize that our fates are inextricably intertwined, for better or for worse. The only thing I can hope for at this time is for just and wise leadership to eventually prevail, in Israel and elsewhere, and for a renewed and continuing existence of the place I and my ancestors call home.
Beautiful essay. All Jewish people in the Diaspora, especially teenagers, should read it!!
Beautiful. Thank you.