Israel: The Fiery Passion That Forever Burns (Jeremy Doblin, Hasbara Fellow-Appalachian State University)
Growing up Jewish, I always saw Israel as the home of the Jewish people and never really thought about the importance of the state. I learned about Israel from attending Hebrew school and its biblical connection to the Jewish people. When I was 8, I went to Israel with my family to see the classic sites and for my sister to have her Bat Mitzvah on Masada. I thought the trip was great but to me at the time, Israel was just another country I visited.
Fast forward to high school, I wanted to dive more into Judaism and my roots. I had moved to the South when I was in middle school and I was completely surrounded by Christians. There were maybe two other Jewish students that went to my high school and I felt a bit alone. I wanted to regain my Jewish roots and find community and with college approaching, I immediately went on my birthright trip right after graduation of high school.
My Birthright trip was like many, life changing. I learned so much about my faith with a mature look on life and was ready to be more involved in my religion. However, what stuck with me when I got back on my trip was this hate and distaste against Israel. I still had a naive outlook on Israel like I did when I was 8 and so I began to research Israel and educate myself on this sort of anti-Zionism.
I was blown away by both the BDS movement and the geopolitics of the area. I had just started college when I began to look into all of this and I immediately wanted to focus all my time dedicated to Israel. I switched my political science major to international politics, added a history a major so I could study middle eastern history, and even found a way to add a minor in Judaic, Holocaust, and Peace Studies with the intention of applying it to the conflict in Israel.
This sort of passion was fueling an enormous fire inside of me and yet I needed more fuel to keep the fire great. While there were Jewish clubs on my campus there wasn’t any sort of direction or advocacy on Israel and so with this itch of passion, I founded Students Supporting Israel on my campus.
Of course studying the conflict and creating a club is great and all but I realized I needed tools to explain the conflict and effectively advocate for Israel on my campus. Fortunately, I stumbled into Hasbara Fellowships in perfect timing while I was at AIPAC. They recommended I apply for the fellowship and jump to this past winter, I was flying on a plane to Israel with Hasbara Fellowships.
This 16 day trip filled me to the brim with love and dedication for Israel. It felt like I was finally at home and it felt right traversing through the old city streets of Jerusalem. The Israel Training Program by Hasbara Fellowships was extremely beneficial to me on a personal level.
By being on this trip I was finally able to pick up and understand the tools and resources relating to Israel advocacy. I experienced first hand the need for the Jewish state as well as how to undertake the problems that Israel has. This trip gave me exactly what I needed to bring to my campus to show others why they should in fact care for Israel.
On top of that, I also better understood my route for academics. Going to Israel with Hasbara Fellowships solidified to me that I want to dedicate my career to the advocacy of Israel. It really gave me a solid reason that my majors were the right choice.
Hasbara Fellowships Israel Training Program allowed me to formulate my love and devotion to Israel into effective means to not only bring onto my campus but also to give me better reasoning for my career post college. When I got back to Israel many of my friends asked me how it was and I told them how important it is that they also go on this trip. I hope that others follow suit and can truly learn about Israel and the complexities behind it.
