To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to wake up every morning and hold my breath, as the Israeli news web page loads, praying I won’t read about any IDF soldier, killed while I was asleep.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to start the day off with tears in my eyes after reading that Israeli soldiers lost their lives while I slept. How could I have gone to sleep?
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to feel guilty that I am here, safe, and not with my family and friends in Israel during such difficult times. How could I have left my country?
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to have constant communication over Skype, Whatsapp and Facebook, just to make sure people are answering me at home.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to have daily phone calls with Israeli friends who live here, and share stories to make sure we are fully updated with every single thing happening in Israel. In Hebrew, of course – because that is our connection.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to know someone who knows someone who was killed in Operation Protective Edge and hoping that the two degrees of separation doesn’t become a one degree of separation.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to not understand how it is possible that members of the Jewish community are not thinking about Israel 100% of their time.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to swell with pride when I see over 1,000 members of the community come together to show their support at a solidarity gathering for Israel.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to feel guilty that my friends have kids heading into the army (or in the army), and my son is looking at colleges here, in the US. My father, of course, insists that the IDF is losing a good pilot. Have I turned my back?
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to hope that the next Friday when I say Shabbat Shalom, it will indeed be a Shabbat with Shalom.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to be horrified at the growing anti-Israel feelings all around, even here in Minnesota. How is this possible? Why aren’t more people speaking up here?
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to be thankful that I can witness, first hand, how Jews in the Diaspora love Israel so much, even if they have never been there.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to be confused of where home actually is. The heart and mind are not always in sync.
To be an Israeli in Minnesota is to not know how to thank the Jewish community enough for all of the support you are able to provide, especially during dark days.
Thank you.
From the bottom of my Israeli heart.
Eilat Harel is the Director of the Israel Center of the Minneapolis Jewish Federation. Although Israeli (but born in Australia), she feels she has learned the most of what it means to be Jewish from the Minneapolis Jewish community to which she joined in 2000.
