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Miranda Jones is entering her last year at the University of Virginia majoring in Middle East Studies.
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By Miranda Jones
August 3, 2008
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I am an undergraduate student at the University of Virginia majoring in Middle East Studies and am entering my last year. I intend making aliyah thereafter. Once integrated in Israel I will likely continue on to post graduate studies in Middle East Studies at Ben Gurion University. I am currently an intern at JCPA.
My mother was born in Brooklyn and was brought up a practicing Jew. She was thoroughly Americanized because she was third generation. She received her BA in Humanities from the University of Chicago. When she was 30 years old she joined the Air Force which was quite unusual for a woman, let alone a Jewish woman. She worked in various locations throughout D.C. During her career she was appointed as Air Attache to Israel.
After a long career she retired having achieved the rank of Colonel.
My father is from Chicago and is the son of a mixed marriage. His mother is African American and his father is a mix of Black Native American and some Irish. His black grandmother believed herself descendant of Hebrews, however. My father has always told me that his grandmother had Jewish qualities/attributes about her, and spoke of his Hebrew roots. To fully understand these roots, I recommend you read The Lost Tribes of Israel in Africa.
My father is very educated in the sciences. He served in the Air Force for over 20 years. When he retired from the Air Force, he went on to work as a rocket scientist and engineer.
He always felt a deep connection to the Jewish people and was looking to marry a Jewish woman. My mother was looking for a spiritual man. They found each other in the Air Force. You might say, it was bishert.
I grew up in the D.C. metropolitan area, always attending good public schools. I never had an official Jewish education. I went to synagogue, celebrated Hanukkah and the High Holidays and always identified myself as Jewish.
I have one sister, Ariele (16 months older than myself), who just made aliyah a month ago after graduating university.
Being the product of a mixed marriage has always been strange. I felt that I was never viewed as black. My father was removed from typical American black culture preferring motorcycles and classical music, etc. I have always spoken "like a white person" rather than using Ebonics or classic African-American lingo. At family reunions on my father's side, my sister and I stuck out like sore thumbs because we were strangers to African American culture.
Obama also comes from a mixed marriage. -- To be frank: I think he acts like a typical politician in terms of what he says about his diversity, embracing all sides when necessary, etc. His anti-white comments are to appease Blacks and pump up pride. His "siding with Muslims" quote may be slightly out of context but for the same goal: to remind the Muslim world that eh won?t abandon their interests completely (like Bush who seemed to stick a label on the Muslim world as anti-modernity) when it comes to his foreign policy. Anyway, I try not to give him too much undeserved attention....
The area in which I grew up was very diverse (Hispanics, Chinese some black, white, etc.) Generally, I was well-received; I was always a part of the crowd. I was also pretty comfortable in a WASP environment. My best girlfriends were white, Protestant and blonde. I hardly thought of my ethnicity. I felt like I was not seen as a black person but simply as Jewish. I was the "Jew friend". This was always a positive thing.
Boyfriend-wise, my high school boyfriend happened to be Jewish. In college, I dated mostly Jewish guys and have never been in a real relationship with a black guy.
My parents were committed Zionists. The first time I came to Israel was in 1998, as a family trip. We stayed for the month of August, rented a car and traveled the country. I didn't know at this time but my parents were keeping an eye on property in Israel. I was getting ready for my Bat Mitzvah at the time for which I had to learn to read Hebrew.
I did not like Israel, mainly because of the foreign food, the smells, the language I didn?t understand and the heat.
Thereafter, Israel was barely in my mind. My parents always would tell me about Israel (current events, etc.) but I didn't care much. My friends who saw me as Jewish never inquired about Israel, nothing. When I was 18, I entered college. I needed a foreign language and, at my mother's suggestion, chose Hebrew. Why? "Because it'd be good to know", she said.
I met an Israeli who was studying at my school. She also came from a military family. We became fast friends and she burned a CD of Israeli music for me. Since I was learning Hebrew this helped me practice and I loved the music. She was a Zionist and planned to return to Israel after graduation. Her love for Israel was contagious.
From that point on my interest in the Jewish homeland was rapidly growing. I was going to Hoos for Israel events and staying active in Jewish life on grounds. I signed up for Taglit/Birthright Israel for that first summer. The trip was amazing. I had one other good friend on the trip who was as serious about Israel as I was. Meeting the soldiers and speaking with them in Hebrew was a major highlight. I learned a lot and saw the same sites I had seen eight years prior in a completely different light than before. It was no longer foreign to me.
Rather than return with my group to the States I extended my trip. I lived on an absorption center in Kfar Saba until the middle of August. While there, I worked in Tel Aviv at a PR firm. It was a wonderful summer. I made connections, practiced Hebrew and met Jews from all over the world who'd come to Israel for a variety of reasons.
For me the decision to make aliyah was a natural progression of events. I declared my major in Mid East Studies as I am fascinated by the entire region: the anthropology, language, and history and the peoples there. I continued to study Hebrew and began to learn Arabic.
This summer I have been living in Jerusalem, interning with Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs (JCPA). I work with eight others interns from all over the world conducting research for articles to be written on public policy. The Jerusalem Center has been a great match for me.
Israelis rarely mistake me for being Ethiopian, but they do ask me about my origins. I feel everyone views me as Jewish and not black. In Israel, Jews come in all colors shapes and sizes.
So I don't feel in any way unusual or abnormal.
I am soon returning to the States to complete my last year of undergraduate education. Then I will make aliyah. I feel like I will be coming home.
< i>Miranda's essay originally appeared in Israpundit (www.israpundit.com).
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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