Tag: reuben31

By reuben31

So, why Israel? In my first blog in this series, written all the way back in the beginning of February, I posed this question to myself. Prior to leaving, many of my friends asked me why I chose to study abroad in Israel. I always felt disingenuous in my answers. I would reply with some cliché about finding my Jewish identity, or experiencing what it really is like to live in Israel, but to be honest, I was not quite sure why exactly I had chosen to study in Israel. At the beginning of the semester, in the first blog I wrote, I hoped that by the end of the semester I might have an answer to this question. So here goes nothing.

As a Jewish person in the US, before my time in Israel, I saw my Jewish identity as a religion. But since being here I figured out that being Jewish is not a religion at all. It’s an identity, it’s a community, it’s an ethnicity, it’s a group of people with common thought and morals and values and language and slang. So, first, I chose Israel because Israel feels like home. As cliché as that may sound, studying here has provided me with a sense of security, even in a place that at times has been insecure. When I have travelled in Europe and felt homesick and alone, I didn’t crave to hear an American accent, I craved to hear Hebrew, or see a yarmulke. My Jewish identity was torn down to its core here in Israel and built up even stronger than it was prior.

Israel is more than what one hears in the news, from either side of the political spectrum. It is more than what lively campus groups from both arenas argue it to be on campus. It is more than the Arab-Israeli conflict, and it is more than just a Jewish homeland. Israel is a diverse, beautiful, vibrant, and unique country. It is a Jewish state, it is a democracy, it is surrounded on all sides by unstable war-torn countries, and yet, through all of this complexity, Israel is thriving. After generations of persecution and massacre, one might expect Israelis to be afraid, but they are simply not. They are strong and they are proud. So second, I chose Israel to sort through these complex issues and find a true understanding of what Israel actually is. I didn’t want to be told by the news or any group what to think of the State, and studying here this semester I have found, for myself, what Israel really is all about. And that connection and understanding that I have created with this place is something that will last with me for a lifetime.

...continue reading "So, why Israel?"

By reuben31

So, why Israel? In my first blog in this series, written all the way back in the beginning of February, I posed this question to myself. Prior to leaving, many of my friends asked me why I chose to study abroad in Israel. I always felt disingenuous in my answers. I would reply with some cliché about finding my Jewish identity, or experiencing what it really is like to live in Israel, but to be honest, I was not quite sure why exactly I had chosen to study in Israel. At the beginning of the semester, in the first blog I wrote, I hoped that by the end of the semester I might have an answer to this question. So here goes nothing.

As a Jewish person in the US, before my time in Israel, I saw my Jewish identity as a religion. But since being here I figured out that being Jewish is not a religion at all. It’s an identity, it’s a community, it’s an ethnicity, it’s a group of people with common thought and morals and values and language and slang. So, first, I chose Israel because Israel feels like home. As cliché as that may sound, studying here has provided me with a sense of security, even in a place that at times has been insecure. When I have travelled in Europe and felt homesick and alone, I didn’t crave to hear an American accent, I craved to hear Hebrew, or see a yarmulke. My Jewish identity was torn down to its core here in Israel and built up even stronger than it was prior.

Israel is more than what one hears in the news, from either side of the political spectrum. It is more than what lively campus groups from both arenas argue it to be on campus. It is more than the Arab-Israeli conflict, and it is more than just a Jewish homeland. Israel is a diverse, beautiful, vibrant, and unique country. It is a Jewish state, it is a democracy, it is surrounded on all sides by unstable war-torn countries, and yet, through all of this complexity, Israel is thriving. After generations of persecution and massacre, one might expect Israelis to be afraid, but they are simply not. They are strong and they are proud. So second, I chose Israel to sort through these complex issues and find a true understanding of what Israel actually is. I didn’t want to be told by the news or any group what to think of the State, and studying here this semester I have found, for myself, what Israel really is all about. And that connection and understanding that I have created with this place is something that will last with me for a lifetime.

...continue reading "So, why Israel?"

By reuben31

Israeli academics, up to this point in the semester, have not been vastly different from academics at GW. Most, if not all, of my professors received their Masters or Doctorate degrees from American universities, so the structure of class tends to be rather familiar: a reading or two to be completed before class, and a PowerPoint lecture that covers material discussed in those readings. As a result, I’ve slipped into a studying routine that’s about the same as it is at GW, and in a foreign country with many new and different experiences, this has been somewhat of a comfort.

However, as the semester is about halfway over and midterms have begun, I have started to notice the Israeli culture and state of mind creeping into my academics in a way that is patently Israeli. At GW, professors may give a written, in-class midterm, and several weeks before the exam provide a study guide to allow students to focus in on what they need to study. This model provides clarity for the students in order to study as well as they can for the midterm.

Israel, however, likes to live constantly on the edge. Whether it’s the brink of extinction the Jewish people faced less than a century ago, or the almost constant threat of war from surrounding groups and countries, Israeli culture is inherently about risk taking and living in the moment – for each day could be ones last. This mentality has undoubtedly found its way into academic culture as well. Across the board, all of my professors have resisted the attempts of American students to pry study guides or exam descriptions out of them. This is not because they want us to just consistently study and be prepared, as my classmates and I initially believed. Rather, the professors explained that giving us these study guides or exam descriptions would hinder our ability to enjoy the moment. Spring has begun, its warm outside, the beach is a short walk away, why would we want study guides for exams with that right outside?

...continue reading "Midterms in Israel: Just Enjoy"

By reuben31

“Why are you studying abroad in Israel?”

This was a question I frequently received prior to departing for my semester at Tel Aviv University, and it was a question that I struggled somewhat to answer. Usually my stock response was, “Because, as a Jew, I feel that it is important to create my own connection with the Jewish State.” While this felt like the right answer to the question, in my first weeks studying in Israel I have found that the answer is far more complex than this.

As almost a month has passed since I landed in Tel Aviv, I am starting to understand how important my immersion into Israeli culture truly is. Starting the first day, I could tell that this experience was going to be different than that of my friends studying abroad in Europe. Aesthetically, politically, geographically, and culturally, Israel is just different. Walking off the plane into Ben-Gurion Airport, beside new friends from across the United States, I could sense in the way people were walking, talking, eating, and interacting that my semester would be eye opening.

My first week in Tel Aviv was a whirlwind of newness and a bit of culture shock. From my 3^rd floor apartment in a building with no elevator, to my kitchen with no oven, to the mesh of Hebrew, Arabic, and English being spoken around the complex, to my roommates from Middle Eastern countries I had barely heard of, I knew that my experience would not just be about Jewish identity.

...continue reading "(Welcome to Israel!)!ברוכים הבאים לישראל"