Opinion
I always felt at home
Sever Plocker
Published: 14.04.08, 15:52
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14 Talkbacks for this article
1. I'm glad you are well adjusted..One question
Al   (04.14.08)
why are you always crying the blues about everything and everyone? Ah..The typical Israeli attitude of crying the blues.... PS Schnorrer day is on Sundays...I quess you never saw "Duddy Kravitz".
2. I awayls felt at home too!
Joe ,   Afula   (04.14.08)
I too have always felt at home. Maybe its because we both did the army that we immediately felt as Israeli as the sabres and immigrants around us. Part of the problem of the Arabs, religous Jews and older immigrants in Israeli society is that they don't do the army and then never understand the dominant Israeli culture which is really a wonderful thing. Right hevre?
3. zionist vs judaism
(04.14.08)
zionism is not JUDAISM! Zionism is secular. you have to go back to the teachings of the Torah!
4. Al ,!#, diaspora Jew from America
Judah ,   Golan Heights,ISRAEL   (04.14.08)
All of your emails concern the same subject . They are always critical of the behaviour of Israelis. Even when this Ynet journalist writes a nice article about his aliyah experience you still find a way of turning the subject to the behaviour of Israelis. Can you Al not find another issue to comment on? And as a former Canadian I can tell you that there are many areas of behaviour in which Israelis are better than Canadians. When I lived in Canada I knew none of my neighbours. In Israel my neighbours are all like long lost relatives. They invite us for Shabbat dinners and to all of their family functions. During the last Lebanon war when I was off on in a reserve unit one of my neighbours watered my fruit trees daily and another neighbour watched my dog. Al, just like any other normal nation Israelis have many good character traits and many bad.
5. Jews and discrimination
DGS ,   Israel   (04.14.08)
I've been just 7 years in the country, and I can tell you that there IS arrogancy and difference and discrimmination in native israelis, they feel that olim hadashim come prepared to take their working places and to lie to them so they (israelies) are paranoid and discriminative, my last name sounds russian although I am South American so I have felt it in my own flesh, just when they finally know where am I from something begins to change, good for you if you didn't feel it 50 years ago but it is not the same Israel today than before, Your Israel is the one I wanted to come to, the one they taught and told me about all my life, and being borned and raised a Zionist I became dellusioned with the reality of today's Israel, not the same thing at all. Maybe some sector of the russian aliyah, people who lied and took advantage (not ALL the russians) have created this reality in the Sabra native Israeli psyche, so yiddisch-feeling-zionist-south-american guys have to "pay" for it in the form of discrimmination, and immigration trauma, which, I'm sorry I disagree with you: DOES EXIST. I don't even want to think about immigration trauma in the ethiopian Sector, we jews are very discriminative, it's a pitty but that's the way it is.
6. It's your parent's opinion the one I want to read
Jonathan ,   Raanana Israel   (04.14.08)
You said it yourself. You arrive as a child, with your parents. What if you had arrived 40 years old, with family to care and protect. Would you still feel the same? OK, 30 years old, single. You still think is the same. Let everybody speak what they feel. If this is the Jewish State, its also their right to complain and express their opinion.
7. Me Too!!!
Sheila ,   Jerusalem Israel   (04.14.08)
I agree and it is high time someone said it. I am a relative newcomer - only 17 years - but I am Israeli in every aspect and every pore of my being. Israel is an amazing country which has absorbed hundreds of cultures into itself with humour, hard work and determination. One only has to watch "Ha Lul" to know for sure!!!!
8. Zionism is not by nature "secular"
Raymond from DC ,   Washington, DC USA   (04.14.08)
To #3: Zionism *can* be secular in nature, as it often was in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, but it need not be. But Zionism as an actualized "ingathering of the exiles" is very much Torah, or more accurately Tanah. Try telling the many Religious Zionists that Zionism is secular; they'll set you straight.
9. Klita
Rachel ,   Israel   (04.14.08)
I made aliyah at the age of 30, made a great effort to learn Hebrew well, and was always well received wherever I went. I feel that people here are much warmer and friendlier than in the States. From the very first day, I felt at home here and still do. It's true that we're like a family, disagreements, arguments, etc. but we're still one family. When you need help,many people are always willing to come forward. I love life here, despite the fact that we do have problems. But, where in the whole world do people not have problems?
10. "Critical Sociologists" are simply Marxists
steven ,   haifa   (04.15.08)
They are uncritical of leftist foolishness
11. #5: Don't blame the victim too much
Oleh ,   Israel, formerly USA   (04.15.08)
It is too bad that your last name causes you problems, but the ex-Soviets have caused 100 times more for the state of Israel. The corrosion of the social fabric here as a result of THEIR arrogance is unmatched.
12. Same here
Olah Vatika ,   Israel   (04.16.08)
I came on my own while yet a teenager and I have never looked back. I thought then (over 30 years ago) and still do today, that aliyah is largely what you make it. The best thing that happened was that the Jewish Agency paid for my ulpan, university prep program and BA. I took care of the other two advanced degrees myself but it didn't cost me anything like it would have abroad and I didn't get have to take out any loans. I think my story is a success story too. And I look around my office and see olim from so many different countries - it is like the UN but we all speak Hebrew! Thanks to Sever for his article. Too often the press here feeds on woe when there really are alot of interesting success stories around just like his. We are obviously surviving both the press and the sociologists!
13. Aliyah
JL ,   Israel   (04.16.08)
I made aliyah in my twenties, and am very happy here. From the very first day, I felt great in Israel, a part of a big family. I had a good life in the US, but when I was with non-Jews, even though we were friends, I always felt a little different. And even though both my parents were born there, I didn't feel overly attached to the country. Here I feel a part of everything, and also that this land is my own. I feel something within me that this is where I belong and where I originated----maybe it's somewhere in my genetic memory?! Anyway, I do love living here (despite the problems) and wouldn't think of ever leaving.
14. We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary
Naji   (05.07.08)
We're not celebrating Israel's anniversary In May, Jewish organisations will be celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the state of Israel. This is understandable in the context of centuries of persecution culminating in the Holocaust. Nevertheless, we are Jews who will not be celebrating. Surely it is now time to acknowledge the narrative of the other, the price paid by another people for European anti-semitism and Hitler's genocidal policies. As Edward Said emphasised, what the Holocaust is to the Jews, the Naqba is to the Palestinians. In April 1948, the same month as the infamous massacre at Deir Yassin and the mortar attack on Palestinian civilians in Haifa's market square, Plan Dalet was put into operation. This authorised the destruction of Palestinian villages and the expulsion of the indigenous population outside the borders of the state. We will not be celebrating. In July 1948, 70,000 Palestinians were driven from their homes in Lydda and Ramleh in the heat of the summer with no food or water. Hundreds died. It was known as the Death March. We will not be celebrating. In all, 750,000 Palestinians became refugees. Some 400 villages were wiped off the map. That did not end the ethnic cleansing. Thousands of Palestinians (Israeli citizens) were expelled from the Galilee in 1956. Many thousands more when Israel occupied the West Bank and Gaza. Under international law and sanctioned by UN resolution 194, refugees from war have a right to return or compensation. Israel has never accepted that right. We will not be celebrating. We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state founded on terrorism, massacres and the dispossession of another people from their land. We cannot celebrate the birthday of a state that even now engages in ethnic cleansing, that violates international law, that is inflicting a monstrous collective punishment on the civilian population of Gaza and that continues to deny to Palestinians their human rights and national aspirations. We will celebrate when Arab and Jew live as equals in a peaceful Middle East. Seymour Alexander Ruth Appleton Steve Arloff Rica Bird Jo Bird Cllr Jonathan Bloch Ilse Boas Prof. Haim Bresheeth Tanya Bronstein Sheila Colman Ruth Clark Sylvia Cohen Judith Cravitz Mike Cushman Angela Dale Ivor Dembina Dr. Linda Edmondson Nancy Elan Liz Elkind Pia Feig Colin Fine Deborah Fink Sylvia Finzi Brian Fisher MBE Frank Fisher Bella Freud Catherine Fried Uri Fruchtmann Stephen Fry David Garfinkel Carolyn Gelenter Claire Glasman Tony Greenstein Heinz Grunewald Michael Halpern Abe Hayeem Rosamine Hayeem Anna Hellman Amy Hordes Joan Horrocks Deborah Hyams Selma James Riva Joffe Yael Oren Kahn Michael Kalmanovitz Paul Kaufman Prof. Adah Kay Yehudit Keshet Prof. Eleonore Kofman Rene Krayer Stevie Krayer Berry Kreel Leah Levane Les Levidow Peter Levin Louis Levy Ros Levy Prof. Yosefa Loshitzky Catherine Lyons Deborah Maccoby Daniel Machover Prof. Emeritus Moshe Machover Miriam Margolyes OBE Mike Marqusee Laura Miller Simon Natas Hilda Meers Martine Miel Laura Miller Arthur Neslen Diana Neslen Orna Neumann Harold Pinter Roland Rance Frances Rivkin Sheila Robin Dr. Brian Robinson Neil Rogall Prof. Steven Rose Mike Rosen Prof. Jonathan Rosenhead Leon Rosselson Michael Sackin Sabby Sagall Ian Saville Alexei Sayle Anna Schuman Sidney Schuman Monika Schwartz Amanda Sebestyen Sam Semoff Linda Shampan Sybil Shine Prof. Frances Stewart Inbar Tamari Ruth Tenne Martin Toch Tirza Waisel Stanley Walinets Martin White Ruth Williams Naomi Wimborne-Idrissi Devra Wiseman Gerry Wolff Sherry Yanowitz
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