Path to Israel Advocacy (Atara Kahn, University of Maryland, Hasbara Fellow)
For me, my connection and love for Israel was never a question of why, instead, it was a question of how. How could I truly love a land I never walked on, connect to a language I never spoke, or call a country 6,000 miles away, my home. For me, my whole life had been about understanding the nation I was a part of. I spent half of my school day learning Hebrew subjects and being tested on my knowledge of the Bible, Navi, and Talmud. I attended a synagogue every Shabbat with my family, I kept kosher and was surrounded by a community that was just like me. I knew I was Jewish and through my Judaic education I knew the biblical connection of Israel for the Jewish people. What I was missing though, was a physical and personal connection to Israel.
The first time I visited Israel was the summer before high school for a camp called Dror. The camp was based in the Golan Heights, and took us on trips around the north but did not take us to visit the Kotel. I felt I didn’t have the chance to experience any of the spiritual parts of Israel. The second time I came to Israel was with my entire high school during my sophomore year on a two week trip called the Mission. During this trip, I finally got to explore other important places in Israel and connect if only a little, spiritually.
It was only really towards the middle of my gap year that I finally started to understand what it meant to connect and truly love Israel. For my gap year, I attended a Midrasha called Midreshet Harova which is known for pushing its students to want to make Aliya rather than to take on extreme religious adherence. Before I left for the year, I remember being adamant that I would never take on the religious extremes or want to move to Israel. This did not end up being my reality. But the change wasn’t so sudden. It really happened over time with many months of teachers sneaking lots of “make Aliya” remarks into our lesson plans and trips, telling us that it was a prophecy that we needed to carry out and that if we really wanted to live a Jewish life to the fullest level we needed to move to Israel because many of the Mitzvot could only be completed there.
However, it really started accumulating after I attended the Harova seminary trip which was a Zionist based seminar that took us around Israel on a historical trip visiting key sites that showed us how historically Israel became a nation. I remember for the first time on that trip feeling like the land that I had been living in the whole year and had learned about my whole life, was actually something that my relatives and friends had fought for and that I was a part of it. Being someone who loves history, this trip was really able to inspire me and give me the personal love and connection I hadn’t had before. After the trip, for the next few months of my gap year, I remember slowly starting to notice more and more of the spiritual aspects and significance of everything around me. I fell in love with the land and did not want to leave. I remember calling my parents and begging them to help me figure out a plan of how I could make this yearning and passion I felt for Israel into a reality. Even after many phone calls and tantrums, my parents were adamant that I come home and try a year of college before I make such a big change in my life that they weren’t truly sure it was something I wanted. So I came home and I completed my freshman year of college.
Throughout that first year, I saw myself changing my educational goals and plans to be in line with my love for Israel. I started to realize that my goal of becoming a family lawyer would not play out so well in an Israeli law system. So I took on another major, public policy, in addition to communication, and started looking into a lobbying career that would allow me to somehow represent America in Israel which led me to start becoming involved in AIPAC and the pro-Israel organization on campus. It also led me to come back to Israel during this past summer on a program called Summer in Jerusalem, where I got to intern during the day at a political think tank and come back at night and have the ability to learn or explore the country. At the end of this summer, I remember feeling like I was losing a part of myself when it was time to go home. It was as if each time I had to leave it got harder and harder. My heart could not rest thinking I did not know the next time I would be returning back to Israel. When I got the email from Hasbara Fellowships offering me a spot on their Israel Training Program that would build me to be a stronger advocate for Israel by exploring the conflict first hand, I jumped at the opportunity. I had both interviews the same day and anxiously waited to hear back and secure my winter break plans.
After returning from Hasbara Fellowships Israel Training Program, I can honestly say my question of how has been answered. Aside from strengthening my physical and personal connection to Israel, Hasbara Fellowships provided me with another way of approaching how. It provided me with an understanding of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and gave me a tool belt for fighting antisemitism and anti-Israel Israel claims on Maryland’s campus. It trained me to be a “soldier” for Israel, in the way I can, until I can make my dream of making Aliya a reality.
