Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
I am Sara Dobner, a volunteer and the Chair of the Israeli Identity Program with the UJA
Israeli Forum in Toronto, and am a committee member of The World Council of Israelis
Abroad Conference. It is a great honour to stand here in the first Council conference
and talk about issues that are most dear to my heart.
I was joking at home during the months prior to the kens that I am lucky to find myself
an audience that will listen to me talk about these topics because my family had
enough. And after all that, my family is here today, to listen to me one more time.
I will talk about my personal journey in search of a modified identity and the lessons
my family and I have learned over the last 24 years, since we left our motherland,
Israel. This is a story of a struggle through identity crisis and the efforts to resolve it. It
is a story about the re-discovery of our Jewish identity while trying to preserve our
Israeli identity.
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don’t relate to it and don’t identify with it; and many times we resent the
Diaspora/Galuti mentality.
Even when we were deciding on the title for this conference, the committee was
struggling to find the right term to describe ourselves. In Hebrew, we struggled with
the words: Gola, Galut, Tefutsot, Nechar, and Pezura. Nothing had a good
connotation, no word sounded appealing. We ended up with the neutral term that does
not smell Diaspora: ‘Israelis Abroad’.
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have a crucial role to play in passing our pride and identity to them, and act as role
models. The experience of raising kids who identify with your heritage and culture,
know where you came from and speak your language, in spite of them being raised in a
country different than yours, is very rewarding.
A Rabbi once argued that a Jew is not someone whose grandfather was Jewish, but
rather a person whose grandchildren will be Jewish.
Guilt
Now that it is more legitimate for Israelis to make choices and live abroad and that
Israel’s approach is more pluralistic and liberal than it used to be, I believe that Israelis
abroad who do not share the same stigma, guilt and shame of past generations, can
focus their energy rather than on dealing with the guilt, and justifying their stay here,
on increasing their involvement in the Jewish community, strengthening their
Jewish/Israeli identity, connection with Israel, and support the development of
Jewish/Israeli values of future generations.
Those who belong to the generation that grew up on the mentality that we are nefolet
shel nemushot, the reality is that many of them still struggle with guilt, the feeling that
we deserted and betrayed the vision of Zionism on which we grew up; many will not
admit it but it is there. Some ways to cope with this guilt is to stay connected, to try
to give back to the community and to Israel.
Now, that we are more accepted by the State of Israel and by Jewish Federations
around the world, it is the time to give more thought to the issue. The integration of
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Israelis into the Jewish community is a win-win situation. Both are going to benefit
immensely. Israelis in the Diaspora are a strategic asset to Israel but can also be a
strategic asset to Jewish communities around the world.
I cannot end without mentioning and thanking a person who had triggered my interest
and soul searching process around the issue of our Israeli/Jewish identity. Close to two
years ago I had received two essays on Israelis in the Diaspora written by Professor
Steven Gold of Michigan State University which articulated for me so many ideas and
thoughts that had been simmering in my mind for many years. These articles triggered
the idea for a conference for Israelis, which later connected with Israel Pupko’s
initiative. Steven is the author of the 2002 book called “The Israeli Diaspora” and
wrote many essays about Israelis in the Diaspora. Unfortunately, Steven was not able
to attend this conference.
And last, something very personal and relevant. I want to dedicate my talk to my
father, Refael Azikri z”l, who passed away 20 years and 2 days ago. My Aba died the
night of January 18, 1991 from a heart attack, minutes after the Iraqi scud missile
attack on Israel started during the Gulf war, and the first scud missile fell on Ramat
Gan. My father was 55 when he died. He was born in Tel Aviv, Palestina at the time,
in 1935. He was a very proud secular Israeli with a strong Jewish identity. This
upbringing and heritage, no doubts, helped me later to strengthen my Jewish identity
in Canada. Aba would have been so proud to see me working for Israel and for the
continuity of the Jewish people.
Thank you.
Toronto
January 20, 2011