Israeli teenagers love to party, don't understand why their American peers have curfews and struggle with the concept of Jews living as a tiny minority amid an overwhelmingly Christian nation.
Those were some of the insights gained from a 90-minute forum March 26 at Temple Emanu-El involving 10 11th-graders from the Federation partnership region of Yokneam-Meggido and some 100 Atlanta ninth- and 10th-graders and their families from the Center for Jewish Education and Experiences' Tichon program.
Cheri Levitan, the president of CJEe, moderated the discussion, which ranged from music and clothes to what it is like to know you're going into the army instead of college at age 18.
"What we're doing here tonight ... is to create an opportunity for you to connect with one another and with your Israeli counterparts because we believe that connection is critical to the Jewish community," Federation CEO Steve Rakitt told the Atlanta teens.
Federation sponsored the two-week visit by the teens and their chaperone, Or Shalev, under the auspices of the Kesher Committee, whose mission is to build bridges between Atlanta and the partnership region in Israel.
"I think it's been a great experience," said Steven Friedman, who co-chaired the event with Selma Shapiro. "Our 11th-graders have been challenged to think a little bit differently than they're used to thinking, and I hope you have been challenged to think differently."
Israeli Deputy Consul General Oren Rozenblat said the 10 visiting teens, who were nearing the end of a Federation-sponsored two-week visit to Atlanta, were ambassadors for Israel, and he called on the Atlantans to serve as ambassadors of the local Jewish community to Israel.
They had the chance to play that role toward the end of the forum, when the Israelis asked the Americans a few questions.
Even after two weeks here, the Israelis seemed fascinated by the idea of so few Jews living among so many Christians.
Shaked Raanan asked about Holocaust education in the schools here and was told that it varied greatly, not only between day schools and public schools, but among the public schools.
Svetlana Fyodorova asked a series of related questions:
• "How is it for you guys to be Jewish in the United States?"
She was told that it's hard because Georgia "is really, really Christian." The Atlantans told of widespread ignorance of Judaism among their classmates, pressure to be the source of knowledge about all Jewish topics, anti-Semitic attitudes among teachers, and jokes and comments playing on Jewish stereotypes even from friends who mean no harm.
• "Do you guys have Christian friends?"
• "The most are Christians in this country, right? So they are treating you bad? You have friends who are Christian, so?"
Those questions reflected confusion after the answers to her first question. All of the teens in the crowd said they have Christian friends, but they generally avoid talking about religion with them. Noting the ignorance and crude comments from some friends, one audience member said you just have to maintain a sense of humor about things.
That sense of humor came through when Shira Varsulker asked the final question: Who wants to live in Israel, and why?
One teen jumped to his feet to answer: "I'd like to live in Israel because apparently you guys have better parties, and I'm kind of into that."
Regardless of the reason, that response represented success for the evening, based on the goal Rabbi Julie Schwartz set at the start. She said the forum was a wonderful opportunity for the teens from both countries to meet, and the Americans should leave hoping to "make your first visit to Israel or your second visit to Israel or your fifth visit to Israel - that's what should come out of any dialogue like this."
Below are excerpts from the questions asked of the Israeli teens.
Cheri Levitan: What impact has this trip had on you personally and Jewishly?
Noa Greenbaum: Jewishly, it is the first time that I really observed Shabbat. And in the Reform form, so it's really very new for me. Personally, I was very happy to see the Jewish people in Atlanta are very connected to their Jewish side and obviously very nice people, and I have a lot of friends here now.
Hila Tzur: From the Jewish side, I think the same as Noa. It's the first time to go to temple and pray; I'm not religious or traditional. And for me as a person, right now after a week and a half here, I have much more appreciation for Israel, and I realize how much Israel is my home.
Levitan: Now that you've been here, what is your impression of American Jewish identity now as opposed to before you came?
Amotz Levy: I didn't know how it was to be Jewish in the United States because in Israel we have religious people and secular people. ... We don't have like Orthodox, Conservative, Reform people, so for me it was something really new to see people who consider themselves Jews but pray with man and woman together. This is something that is really important for my Jewish identity. It's different. It's good.
Noa: I really didn't know anything about the Jews here, but to be honest, I didn't think they were very connected to their Jewish identity and I thought, well, they probably don't eat kosher and they don't care and stuff like that. ... I realize that it's nothing like I thought. People here are much more religious than I am. People here are praying. They go to prayer, and I don't. And I consider myself Jewish.
Levitan: Why do you think it's important to have a partnership with the Jewish community in America?
Amotz: I think it's really important to create this connection between Jewish people all around the world, especially the United States and Israel. This is the two main places that the Jewish people live in. ... Israel gets the main support economically from the United States. Therefore it will be helpful to create the connection.
Svetlana Fyodorova: Israel is the center of the Jews, but I think we need to be concerned with the Jews in the diaspora.
Levitan: Do you see any differences between American teens and Israeli teens?
Adam Hasson: No, no difference. We all want to party.
Hila Arusy: You learn more than us, and we party more than you. But I think the American teenagers are very nice.
Hila Tzur: I think the Israeli teenagers, we get more freedom, more independence to go out at night. No time to go back. We can stay outside till 4 in the morning, stuff like that. I went to a public school. It was weird for me to stay in class all day and not be allowed to go outside at all. In Israel I feel like I have more independence and more freedom.
Amotz: I think one of the biggest differences between Israeli teens and American teens are that we are completing our studies and going into the army. So while you prepare to go to college, we prepare mentally and physically to go into the army. So this is I think the main difference.
Lihay Razon: You Americans are much more polite and kind, and we are much more spontaneous.
Levitan: I was wondering if you could share how it felt and what you experienced living through [the war last summer]?
Noa: It was very scary at first, but afterwards we just deal with it. ... We don't have any traumas. But it was very, very scary while the war was running. It was quite scary. We all the time watched TV to see if there was someone we know who happened to him something. Actually, I know someone who was hurt in the war, but I think, I don't know, it wasn't that bad.
Hila Tzur: For me, it was in the beginning entertaining. The first time I heard the alarm, the siren, it was fun. The whole family got to experience that. I went down to the shelter happy. I went out. In the evening, the second time, again, a few hours later, again we went down to the bomb shelter, and that time was scary because while I still wasn't in the bomb shelter, I heard boom, boom, boom. I was outside. I started running really fast, and then it became scary. Even now, when I hear the sound of the siren, I try to figure out where it comes from.
Levitan: Were any of you or your families or your schools or your communities somehow involved in activities to help families?
Moran Ben-Elisha: During the war, I worked in a day camp where there were kids whose homes were destroyed in the war, so they came to Yokneam. At the same time, there weren't any bombs. Then the bombs came to Yokneam, and they were very afraid. They thought that in Yokneam there wouldn't be any bombs, and they would be safe. And then the bombs came, and they were panicked. So we tried to help them and to make them feel more comfortable. Then the war ended, so they went back to their homes.
Levitan: What have you liked the most about being in Atlanta?
Shaked Raanan: They are so nice and kind, and I want to say thank you. And I love the cars, the beautiful cars. And the Waffle House. Everything.
Lihay: I like Philips Arena. It looks like the Coliseum, so it's very, very nice. In Israel we have nothing like it. It's amazing.
Hila Tzur: I just want to say thank you to my host family. They host me and Shaked, and they were the best host family. They made me feel at home. And I like the shopping.
Svetlana: Meteorologically, I really like it here. It's a nice break from the Israeli heat.
Audience question: I'd just like to know about your different backgrounds and how you all get along?
Svetlana: My family is from Russia, and I grew up in Russia. Most of the people who came from Russia, because of all of the revolutions and the communism, are not that connected to their Jewish side. My family is like that. I was happy to have this opportunity to connect to my Jewish side.
Noa: I was born in Israel and so was my mom, but my dad is from Germany. I have lots of friends who are Russian and like from all the cultures because in Israel everyone that you meet is from different cultures. So if you have lots of friends, you probably have friends from lots of cultures.
Shira Varsulker: My father was born in India and my mother in Israel.
Hila Arusy: I'm from the Yemenite culture on the moshav.
Audience question: Is your fashion in Israel like ours here?
Svetlana: I think we wear the same clothes, but we're maybe more affected by the European fashion. But we wear the same companies of clothes.
Adam: I agree with Svetlana, but we don't have all the hip-hop clothes.
Hila Tzur: Generally, I think that here people dress differently. If you come to an Israeli school, like my school, all the students are probably the same. Here, everybody dresses differently. And it's interesting to see that. You also have so much to choose from. I went to the mall, and I was so. ... We have different clothes in our stores too, but not as much.
Audience question: What is the biggest sport in Israel?
Amotz: We have two main sports, soccer and basketball, although the soccer is much more developed. We have one great basketball team, Maccabi Tel Aviv.
Audience question: What do you think of the current government, and are any of you politically active?
Noa: I must say that since I'm in a foreign country, I won't say anything bad about my government. But I must say it's not the best, though I won't say anything bad.
Amotz: I think now in Israel in our government we have one big problem. We don't have any leaders. ... Most people in Israel don't see a person that can do the job.
Hila Arusy: I don't really want to say anything about the government, but I want to say that it's very hard to generate an opinion in Israel because the situation is so complicated. We have so many points of view for each situation. We have so many situations. So it's so hard to decide. But I must say that things in reality are so different from what people see on the TV. It's all about what the media wants you to think. It's much more complicated for us.
Audience question: If I came to your town and you hosted me for that one day, where would you take me?
Svetlana: In Yokneam, we don't have much to do, but I think I would take you to the sea.
Adam: You like Six Flags? So we will take you to Lunar Park and Superland.
Noa: Since in Yokneam we have lots of parks, so I would take you there.
Amotz: In Yokneam and Meggido there are lots of beautiful hills and forests. We could take you hiking or running.
Hila Tzur: I would show you what is a kibbutz.
Steven Friedman: About two-thirds of the room has never been to Israel. Take two minutes and tell us why the best thing that they could do, the most fun that they could have, would be to come visit you in Israel?
Shaked: It's a beautiful place. I think you have to see it. It's interesting.
Hila Arusy: First of all, the food is much better. I'm sorry, it is. ... If you will spend time with Israeli teenagers, I'm sure you will have a great time. No structure, no curfew.
Svetlana: In Israel you have the north that is green, and the south is desert. So you have all kinds of views you can see. And the teenagers are great; they are fun. ... You must see Jerusalem. You must go to Eilat. Eilat is so much fun. All day beach, all day party, it's fun.
Noa: We have lots of different views in not many hours of driving. So it's fun. We also have the beach which is quite close. We also have parties and shopping. We have everything that you would want to have. Obviously the food. I think it's really a fun country, and the teenagers are fun.
Hila Tzur: Beautiful places, nice people, good food. ... I can promise you in 99 percent that you'll feel safe in Israel. You won't feel it's dangerous.
Svetlana: I agree with Hila. I feel in Israel much safer than here. Like if you go out, here you are not allowed to go out alone because it is scary. You have curfews because I don't know why. But in Israel you can go in the street until 5 in the morning and feel so safe.
Steve Rakitt: All of you will be going into the army in another year or two years. Can you share with us what your feelings about that are?
Moran: I think that most of us are very excited to go to the army. It's fun. You can't wait to go to the army. First of all, this is two years that you do for yourself, for your country, for everyone. When you are there, you do what you want to do. You can choose whatever you want to do. You can study. You can fight in the army. You can do secretary. Whatever you want, you choose.
Amotz: It's starting in 11th grade. When every kid reaches the age of 16 1/2, something like that, you get the first call from the army. Then you go to the place where they decide what is your healthy profile, what is the computer test. Then some certain units call you because of your skills. So you have one year and half to go through that process. ... Teenagers who don't know what they want have time to think about it.
Noa: Today I got my first call from the army. In two months from now I have to go for the psychotechnical test and the healthy profile test. ... I would go to the army even if it wasn't the law because if I really think that if I will not protect my country, my family, then no one else will. I cannot expect someone else to protect my family if I will not go to do it. So we are sending ourselves. It's very important. It's not like here, like the war in Iraq, where you are not defending yourselves. Here, we are defending. I defend me. I defend my brother and my sister and everybody. I think it's very important, and I would really like to contribute. Even if I won't be a fighter, I would like to contribute in this way to my country, to my people.
Rabbi Paul Kerbel: Have you thought about something you'd like to work on after the army to make Israel better, some cause?
Hila Arusy: I think I would get involved with the car accident because I think it's terrible. [More people have died in car accidents than in conflict in Israel's history.] Right before we flew here, there was an accident when the driver passed the red line, and he killed his passenger and five more people in the other car. ... I think it's terrible just wasting life.
Hila Tzur: This is what I want to say. I guess same name, same mind.
Svetlana: I want to make more connections with Jews in the diaspora.
Adam: I think as a teenager, I want to be a double agent to fight the drug thing because I think it's more important than the car accidents and lots of things. It destroys the teenagers in Israel, and I think it's the most important thing to do.
Noa: After the army, I would like to learn international relations, and I would like to be a diplomat and help Israel in this way, in making it look better in the eyes of other people all around the world.
Sheila Riegel: How has this trip made you feel closer to Israel?
Hila Tzur: After almost two weeks, I miss the warmth and the people. The fact that I can just decide to do something and do it. I don't know why. It's my first time to go out from Israel, and only now I realize there's no place like Israel for me.
Noa: After I came back from the trip to Poland - we went to concentration camps and ghettos and stuff like that for almost a week - and after being here for two weeks, I really realize and come to the decision that I would never leave Israel. It's my place. It's my home. And I really think it's the best place for me to live in. I love my country, really, even though we have issues, and we have our problems and everything. It's true, but every country has its problems, and I really, really love Israel.
