In order to fully comprehend my seven months abroad, I have decided to break my experience down into four parts: The Foreigner in Israel, The Foreigner in Paris, The Foreigner in America, Three Homes of One. After a few months of contemplating, I believe each episode in my time abroad successfully flows into one another creating a connected series of events that has left an undeniable impression on my growth as an individual.
The first piece to the puzzle in comprehending my experience as the 'foreigner' fits in the Land of Israel. During the three months I lived and interned in Israel (to be more exact, Jerusalem), I was among my own people and treated with absolute compassion. Even so, I was still a 'foreigner' in my handling of situations and overall thought process. To put it simply, Israel is a complex state.
The most appetizing way to view the breakdown of Israel's general population is to imagine Salat Aravi/Salat Israeli (Arab Salad/Israeli Salad). Though each small salad dish has a right to belong on the dinner table, the components within the salad that affect its visual display and most importantly, taste, are extremely different (my cousin Uri, the chef, would love the reference). When separating the State upon religious affiliation, you will find Jews, Shias Muslims, Lubavitchers, Chabadniks, Catholics, Sunni Muslims, Protestants of all kinds, Greek, Russian, Armenian, and Ethiopian Orthodox, Ba'hai, etc. Most of these religions can be broken down even further into smaller sects or states of religiosity. For G-d's sakes, we are talking about any form of religious devotion that dates itself back to Abraham! We should also not forget those who do not follow religion.
Just as the general population can be broken down by religious devotions, it can also be broken down into an individual's origin. For starters, Jews from all over the world have relocated in Israel within the past 150 years in response to differing forms of religious persecution present in most countries and a desire to fulfill religious means. In one location, a passerby could easily come across Jews from Russia, Iraq, Morocco, Ethiopia, France, England, Colombia, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Turkey, Syria, America, Argentina, Ukraine, etc. An experienced passerby might even be able to hear the differences in the pronunciation of their Hebrew speaking. Of course, this trend of different ancestries also applies to Muslims and Christians who live in Israel too. From those who hold their ancestry in Palestine and the Philippines to those granted asylum in Israel in response to the conflict in Sudan and to those same Darfurians who were granted the status of 'illegal immigrants'. We should not forget that a population is also divided upon socio-economic lines, age, gender, etc. As my lovely Doda (Aunt) Esti menacingly jokes, "This country is for the birds".
In the end, how can one government even hope to please and establish progress in a nation composed of every grain of sand? How did this shape me as a 'foreigner' in Israel? I became one of them as well; a grain of sand in the most colorful and yet, inhospitable of deserts. In saying this, it is not the people who are hostile in principle, but rather their desire to live in the Land of Israel drives a certain hostile behavior. Deceit and fear are widespread, as untrustworthiness and greed sit around the corner. For many, sharing land, ideas, and religious freedom bears no priority in their existence with others. Even before Israel's existence and within its making, these characteristics were not whispers. Read Benny Morris's book, Righteous Victims, and you will understand what I mean.
Despite this reality, we forget the one beautiful aspect to it all. The soil of a desert has the capability to create a lushness of great stature when irrigated correctly. If each person, or grain of sand, irrigated his or her love of 'the Land' towards a peaceful existence, our desert would bloom as if it was always spring with the dew shining in the morning light. Kudos to Mr./Mrs./Ms. unknown,
" Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble, or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart. "
My three month stay in Israel proved its cause once the time arrived for me to start my study abroad experience in Paris, France. I was weary of the troubles I discovered in 'the Land', such as the lack of credibility, the half-truths spread to American youth by Taglit, the actions of 'unforgiveable' people such as Samir Kuntar, the unconceivable stubbornness of the religious, and lack of sanity at times. In face of this uneasy feeling that continued with my exiting of the country, I still missed Israel and found that I catered my actions in Paris in ways that related back to Israel. From my obsessive hobby of listening to Israeli radio throughout the day to my persistent search for a synagogue in Paris of my liking, I reached out to those, Jews and Arabs alike, who reminded me of my Israeli home. Those stories though are left for the next episode.
