Part of my volunteering in Israel consists of talking with junior high students. The idea is that when the students are talking to someone who exclusively talks English, unlike their teachers, they will improve their communication skills. The idea of sitting with students for an hour at a time, just talking, at first seemed like an incredibly daunting task. What will we talk about, after the first introduction? Will we end up just staring at each other for 45 minutes? However, while I was shivering in my boots from anticipation, the students were brewing with excitement. For them, the prospect of  conversation with Americans and Canadians was a unique experience they don’t often receive. While I know a lot about Israel society, culture and politics, I realized that they didn’t know much about Jews in the diaspora. They couldn’t understand the concept of Jews outside of a Jewish land. Therefore, they allow their imaginations and illusions, influenced from Hollywood, to dictate their perceptions. Our lives are all glitter and glam- we are all “gossip girls”. They are enamored by such locations as California and Las Vegas. They want to know about our non-Jewish friends, about our impressions of Israel, about Jews in general. Many want to move to America, they confide to me that they are uninspired by Israel.  America seems to offer them something new, and exciting.  In their eyes, it lacks the obvious war and imminent threat that Israel faces everyday. (Funny enough, considering a headline in yesterday’s New York Times: Senators warned of Terror Attack on U.S. by July) Sometimes when I tell students that I’m considering making Aliyah, they gawk at me, and ask why I would want to leave Canada.
Maybe it’s just my experience, or maybe it’s just the students I talk to, but I find that many lack a real sense of Zionism. They lack an intense love, passion and dedication to a Jewish homeland. I tried to think of reasons for this- perhaps it’s because they have been hammered with Zionist ideals and expectations from older generations. They learn about the Holocaust and they learn about antisemitism, but they have never experienced it living as Jews in a Jewish state. Instead, the hardship of being a Jew is reflected through army service, terrorism and the constant threat (and practice) of war. While the older generations were able to justify the latter because they valued the eventual goal of statehood, self-determination and acceptance; newer generations have always had this. Without the existential threat that the original Zionists had, the latter only become meaningless, and therefore potentially empty tasks for a country they are expected to bleed for, every day of their lives. Further, most of my students are not religious, and therefore religious and biblical themes connected to the land don’t connect with them either. Perhaps this is why many Israeli youths have a fascination with America.  It’s flashy, exciting and does not have the messy strings that Israel does.
(As a side note, there is a nationalism that exists in Israel, that I think is different from Zionism. Younger generations value this land because this is where their families for generations have grown, this is where they grew up and this is where a new Israeli (not Jewish) culture is burgeoning. The idea of it being exclusively Jewish, is connected to this new Israeli culture, but it may not always be essential. By this, I mean to say that someone not Jewish can partake in the Israeli culture. While I don’t think that can happen today, I can see it as growing, as to not necessarily include the Jewish aspect.)
When I lived in Toronto last year, I taught in a Hebrew school, with Jewish youth about the same age as my students here. (13-14 years old) It’s interesting to compare their views on Israel; these students were crazy about Israel. When I reflect on this, I think it has a lot to do with North American Jewish education revolving around the Holocaust. Connecting to their Judaism also means connecting to the Holocaust. Many see Israel as a safe haven and a way to make sure that the Holocaust never happens again. They therefore develop a fiery passion for Israel, it becomes a necessary state to protect Jews from all over the world, including themselves.
The comparison between the two groups of youth is interesting to consider. Perhaps I’m chatting with the wrong Israeli youth- and the rest of Israel is passionately in love with the concept of a Jewish state.  However, I sometimes feel as though I came to Israel seeking Israelis who are equally as passionate and in love with the mere concept of a Jewish state and I have a nagging feeling I have so far been let down. Coming from a diasporic community, I know how it feels to be the minority, and perhaps it is this that fuels my passion. Maybe once Israelis go to America, they too will know how this feels, and perhaps they too can see begin to understand the fiery passion and dedication that is brewing in the Diaspora.
Hailey Dilman is a MASA participant, participating in Oranim’s Community Involvement Program, one of Masa Israel’s 160 programs.
