ISRAEL AT 70
WHY I AM MAKING ALIYAH SOUVENIR MAGAZINE
short of a week — as The Six-Day Phwoar.
But of course Israel’s achievement goes far beyond the physical and the fiscal — in proportion to its population, it has the largest number of startup companies in the world. It is a beacon of enlightened light in a frankly wretched region which has a real problem with such outrageous concepts as equal rights for women and homosexuals. I believe that Islamofascism is the biggest threat to progress and pleasure since the Nazis stalked the earth and Israel fights it on the frontline for all of us. And regrettably, as antisemitism — “fresh’n’funky antisemitism” as I once called the new Leftwing, right-on brand — rises in Europe, Israel will be needed more than ever by the diaspora.
In fact, there’s only one thing wrong with Israel — it’s not big enough. Never mind — next year in Samaria.
Julie Burchill is an author and journalist
HANNAH WEISFELD Growing up, Israel was always central to my Jewish identity — a source of culture, history and heritage. Rarely did a Friday night dinner take place in the Weisfeld household without Israel being a topic of conversation. It is the place I had some of my most formative experiences as a young person.
There is much to celebrate in Israel’s accomplishments. Yet when I look to the future I worry. Israel won’t be able to survive as a Jewish and democratic state without a resolution to the conflict and it means my daughter, who was born the same month of the 50th anniversary of the Six Day War, will not be able to have the relationship with Israel that I had as a young person.
As it celebrates its 70th birthday, I hope this will be the year that real strides are made towards resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Hannah Weisfeld is director of Yachad, which works to mobilise British Jews in support of a political resolution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
JOSH HOLT “Israel is my people’s homeland. Imperfect but necessary, and a part of my community’s daily life. It is the realisation of an ideal and is a melting pot of culture, religious practice, and intellectual though. It is a place I love, that brings me great pride and also great anguish. Israel is a place I can see both good and bad in, but above all it is something worthwhile, worth fighting for, and worth using my voice actively to engage with and to help shape its future.
Josh Holt is the president of the Union of Jewish Students.
ELLA SHARRON Thankfully I have such Zionist parents that I knew Israel was never just a holiday destination, but rather a future homeland. Aged 16, after completing my GCSEs at Immanuel College in Bushey, Hertfordshire, I made the choice to make aliyah alone. Just a few short weeks later, I was on a plane to my dream home.
Israel is knowing I’ll always be safe being a Jew, in a land of our own. It’s a country that its citizens love and fight for, serving in the army to protect the land that provided so much for them. Granted service is mandatory, but from the amount of Israeli citizen volunteers the army has, it’s a clear choice that these people want to give back
Israel is a place I know I want to raise a family, secure that they will have the advantage of growing up surrounded by their own history. Living and and breathing the culture. Proud to know that they themselves are Israelis.
Israel, like all countries, has its flaws, but to me it’s perfect.
Ella Sharron is 20, and serving in the IDF.
JENNIFER JANKEL
Israel for me is a land of beautiful family memories.
In my early married life I discovered kibbutz life through the eyes of my late husband Robert’s beloved family who were founder members of Kibbutz Ma’ayan Tzvi. They told me stories that stretched my imagination, about the murder of close Jankel relatives as with so many survivor families. One cousin, Shulamit Kugelman, became a mitzvah heroine in my life. I treasure those visits — her wisdom, her tough approach to life. It is a joy to continue to love and care for her family down the next three generations — l’dor va dor.
And then there is the music of Israel, so beautiful, so varied, reflecting so many strands of identity, that I’d need hundreds of words to sum it up!
Jennifer Jankel chairs the Jewish Music Institute
TODAY is my last day at the JC. Next week I fly to Israel to embark on a new life. At 21, I am achieving my dream of making aliyah.
Where did that dream come from? My parents are proud Jews and Zionists, I attended Jewish schools and was an active member of FZY. Loving Israel has always been part of my life.
My first time in Israel was with my school tour at 14. I fell in love from my first glimpse. A teacher said to me: “When I leave Israel, there is always a piece of me missing and whenever I return, I find it” — words which have stuck with me ever since. Since then I have spent holidays there and, with FZY, a tour, then leading a summer camp and eventually a gap year, volunteering, touring and experiencing Israeli life.
After my gap year I settled back into English life, eventually getting my job in customer service at the JC. I was also checking Israeli news channels, watching Israeli TV shows, listening to Israeli music, chatting to my Israeli friends, eating Israeli food and booking my next holiday back to Israel.
I always felt guilty when I thought about making aliyah. I didn’t want to do that to my parents. I didn’t know how I would tell them and, besides, was I brave enough to leave them and everything else I had here for a new country? I thought I should get on with my life in England where I was secure.
Then one day I was driving to work, day-dreaming, and thought: “What am I doing here?”. I pulled over and dialled Nefesh B’Nefesh and told them I wanted to look into the aliyah process. The kind gentleman on the telephone asked some questions and we arranged to meet. As I am only 21, there was the question of eligibility to be drafted into the Israeli army. I contacted the organisation which supports Lone Soldiers and also the Jewish Agency to get the process going.
My parents still didn’t know about any of this. I confessed to them a day or two later, with a lot of tears.
My Ivrit wasn’t good enough for the Lone Soldier programme. I was relieved but also devastated. I thought my dream was over.
I hadn’t realised that there were other options available. Then my aliyah adviser told me about a live-in Ulpan programme based near Tel Aviv, which will be a way to improve my Ivrit, have somewhere to live and meet new olim. I applied and was accepted.
I’m going to miss my family and friends. I’m looking forward to joining the Israeli ‘family’, that sense of being connected to a land and its people, which I haven’t felt in Britain for ages.
When we were discussing the dates, I kept on saying that I wanted to make aliyah before Israel’s 70th birthday. The celebrations start the day I arrive.
I worry Israel won’t survive as a Jewish state