Not yet a member? Register now.
Username
Password

May 26, 2012 5:52 am PDT

Advertise | Subscribe | Email Newsletter | Archive Search | |

Tribe

April 25, 2011

Israelis R Us

By Dikla Kadosh

3 Comments

Share

I wasn’t always as proud to be Israeli as I am today.

I never hid that I was born in Israel — not that I could, with a name like mine. And I wasn’t embarrassed by my mom’s harsh Israeli accent, because she didn’t have one — she spent the first 10 years of her life in New York. I didn’t have to eat my school lunches surreptitiously. My sandwiches looked like everyone else’s.

When my friends came over, there was no foreign-sounding music playing, no Hebrew books scattered around the apartment. My French stepdad listened to Rod Stewart and Celine Dion, and my mom read Danielle Steel romance novels. 

Coming from our home, where being Israeli was a vague concept, I wasn’t rejecting my identity — I was indifferent to it. 

I moved to Los Angeles when I was 6, and in the 17 years that followed, I only visited Israel twice. It wasn’t until I was 23 and on a Birthright trip, surrounded by a busload of American Jews, that I suddenly felt Israeli.

I spoke Hebrew to the Israeli soldier guarding our group — terrible Hebrew, with a terrible accent — but it felt wrong for me to speak to him in English. When we got to the Roman ruins in Bet Shean, a tiny town in the north, I felt a strong duty to visit my one remaining grandparent — my grandmother — who lived nearby and whom I hadn’t seen in years. I managed to get permission to leave the group, something Birthright hardly ever allows, and the exception served as further proof that I was different from the others. Everyone else was a tourist; I felt like I had hitched a ride home, though I didn’t realize it until I got there.

Being Israeli is not a matter of fact, I came to realize. It’s a matter of feeling. Something about that trip turned a switch on inside me and changed the entire course of my life.

Since then, I’ve been to Israel every year, sometimes twice in one year. I’ve learned to speak Hebrew fluently. I married an Israeli, in Israel. I listen to Israeli music in my car — before my son was born, it was Idan Raichel; now it’s “Ha’oto Shelanu” and other Hebrew nursery rhymes. Most of our friends are Israeli, and like nearly every Israeli living here, I vow that before my child starts first grade, we will move back to Israel.

I recently had coffee with an ex-boyfriend, whom I dated before my Israeli renaissance.

“You pretty much surround yourself with Israelis nowadays, don’t you?” he remarked.

“I’m Israeli,” I said, with pride.

This issue is dedicated to my fellow proud Israelis, here and back home. 

---

Post your comment below!

COMMENTS

We welcome your feedback.

Privacy Policy

Your information will not be shared or sold without your consent. Get all the details.

Dear Dikla, My kids grew up with all those funny foods, and their parents both have a heavy accent; the music, not to worry, we were updated on the American stuff. Remarkably, our kids enjoyed being a bit “distinguished” from the crows. Your focus on your “terrible accent” was misplaced. Israelis love American accent. It’s your heart that counts. It’s great to have you one of us.

Comment by Israeli Dude on 4/28/11 at 7:23 am

Thank you for your warm comment, Israeli Dude. It’s so great to hear that your children were proud of their heritage right from the start. You are clearly doing a beautiful job of raising them with the right values. Kol hakavod. And my accent in Hebrew is much improved now!

Comment by Dikla Kadosh on 5/01/11 at 11:29 pm

Dear Dikla,
Over here we are Israeli Americans. I think more then ever Israelis that immigrated from Israel can feel pride. Today we give back to the local and national community. WE understand better the amazing existing calture of giving back and involvment. Israeli-Americans turn to be a great asset to th ejewish community. If the Jewish-American community will understand it well we will have even better connection.  I was born in Israel and served in the army and I am here with the feel that I have to do my “Milueim” (reserves)for Israel and the jewish community.  Kol Akavod for your open and honest blog.  Eli Tene

Comment by Eli on 5/07/11 at 12:10 pm

Post a Comment

Name:
Email:
URL:

Type the word you see below:

Comment:

Remember my personal information

Notify me of follow-up comments?

Tribe Magazine

Promote Your Page Too

Blogs

	The commencement speech I would deliver ‘The Orphans’ Club’ Opinion: Same-sex marriage campaigns should heed local sentiments Opinion: The philanthropist Opinion: Beinart’s 1% crisis OPINION: Not in my name