 |
Avram Hein is a graduate student at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He is a
former research assistant at the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise and he
sits on the board of directors of MERCAZ USA: The Zionist Organization of the
Conservative Movement.
|
|
|
|
By Avram Hein
October 14, 2004
Three months ago, I landed at Ben-Gurion Airport. I had been there several times before, but this time was different. This time, I landed as an Israeli citizen. This time, I came with a planeload of American and Canadian Jews who chose to throw their lot in with the Jewish state and the Jewish nation, and become citizens of Israel. This time, I was greeted by former Prime Minister and current Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who chose to welcome us as the future of Israel.
Despite the tumultuous security and economic matzav (situation), the finance minister and the prime minister chose to take time out of their busy schedule to welcome hundreds of North American Jews who chose to leave the comfort and freedom of prosperous North America for the uncertainty of the Middle East.
In Hebrew, Jewish immigration to Israel is called aliyah, which literally means "going up". We, members of the Jewish nation, of varying degrees of ritual observance, all chose to fulfill the ultimate Jewish and Zionist commandment -- that of moving to Israel. Despite 2,000 years of exile, we came home.
In our immigration, we each declared "Ani Tzioni" -- "I am a Zionist." We, university-educated, raised on Western values, and as firm believers in democracy and human rights, did this because there was no other option. We had to come home.
We love America and, in many ways, will always remain Americans. We are American, even though most of our parents or grandparents immigrated to America from Europe. Personally, I shed as many tears of joy hearing that Washington, DC was getting a baseball team as I did over Hatikva - Israel's national anthem - calling for Jews to return to Israel after millennia of absence. In fact, some of us even made our move precisely because of a commitment to America, as Israel and America fight the same fight against terrorism and share the same values of democracy and freedom.
For all of us, we care about the direction Israel is heading as she faces an increasingly hostile world, less than 60 years after one-third of the Jewish population was murdered by enlightened and educated Europe. As Dr. David Breakstone notes, Aliyah "allows for the most direct involvement in shifting Jewish values from the realm of theory into the practice of statehood." Aliyah is nation-building at its best, and we knew that if we were concerned about the direction Israel was heading - as she tries to shed off a long history of socialism and as she pursues peace, a path that Israel has been taking since before being re-constituted as a nation state - then aliyah was the only choice we could make. If we truly cared about peace and if we truly cared about Israel, then aliyah was the only way.
So, three months ago, I left the comforts of America (and believe me, you don't appreciate the gifts and comforts of American living until you've left it) for the chaos of the Middle East. Believe me, it has been the hardest three months of my life. I went from the diplomatic and capitalistic America to a forthright and socialist Israel (but thankfully, things are beginning to reform here). Despite having visited Israel several times and staying here for a year recently, living here is different. Difficult. A challenge. Where other people have their extreme sports to challenge and strengthen them, I have aliyah. Except for one difference: in the end, the mountain biker puts away their mountain bike, the rock climber climbs down the mountain, and the surfer gets out of the ocean. But not me. Israel is real. My escape is to walk up the stairs to my Jerusalem apartment, cheap by American standards, but posh for Israel.
Three months ago, over 1,500 well-educated North American Jews immigrated to Israel. I was one of them. Despite fear, uncertainty and hardship, I am home. Why aliyah? Simple. There is no other place I belong as much as I belong in the land that my people have been pining for since our exile.
I came home. What about you?
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
|
|
|
|
Click on the blue headline to read a Talkback comment and respond to it. Click on the  icon to send a private email to the talkback writer. The icon appears only if the writer has decided to be contacted. If no popup window appears, please make sure your popup blocker allows israelinsider.com.
|
|
| |
|
|
