The Charlotte Jewish News - February 2006 - Page 2
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Federation News
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Local, Global, Eternal
Your Federation Dollars at Work
Israeli Shlicha Teaches What Life is Like
in Israel
By Michal Ra ’anan, Israeli
Shlicha
On September 6, four months
ago, I arrived here in Charlotte.
For those of you who do not know
me yet, allow me to introduce
myself - my name is Michal
Ra‘anan and I am your communi
ty shlicha, or emissary. My role
for the year is to bring Israel to
you through academic, cultural
and educational programming for
youth, adults and families. I came
to Charlotte through the Jewish
Agency’s “Young Volunteer
Emissary” project, and my stay
and work here is sponsored by the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Charlotte.
One of the agencies I work with
is the Consolidated High School
of Jewish Studies, where I teach
the Post Confirmation class.
Along with my co-teacher,
Andrew Bernstein, whom I am
very lucky to be working with, I
talk about Israeli everyday reality
as well as current events in the
Middle East. We are working on
leadership development as well as
promoting the students’ under
standing of the conflict and their
abilities to advocate for Israel.
The latest lesson with my Post
Confirmation class was a personal
one. We decided that both an inter
esting and effective way of teach
ing about Israel would be for me
to tell my own story, simply as a
person who grew up in Israel and
Michal Ra ‘anan
spent most of her life there. The
lesson was a powerful one, both to
the class and to me.
First, I told the students my
grandparents’ stories from the
Holocaust. All four of my grand
parents are Holocaust survivors.
Each of them has a different story,
varying from hiding in a Christian
monastery to surviving Auschwitz
concentration camp. Then, I spoke
of my parents. I talked about why
my father moved from Budapest
to Israel at the age of nine, and
what it was like for my “sabra”
mother growing up in the young
state of Israel. She knew that
something horrible had happened
to her parents in Europe, but did
n’t know exactly what.
I showed pictures of my family
and my street. I showed them
where my hometown, the city of
Ra’anana, is located on the map of
Israel, and how far my quiet, cen
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tral-Israel hometown is
from a Palestinian village
in Samaria. (It’s a fifteen
minute drive. Tel Aviv, by
the way, is twenty five
minutes away.) For every
Israeli, even one like me,
who lives in a center area
of Israel, the conflict is
extremely close to home,
literally.
After that, I told them
about the ten months I
spent at “Nachshon” pre-
army leadership academy.
I described my incredible experi
ences in the program, studying
Judaism, Zionism, Philosophy,
Leadership and Social Studies,
and how my friends and I planned
and carried out our own trips and
social action activities throughout
the year.
I continued with the description
of my IDF (Israeli Defense
Forces) service. I brought an
authentic IDF uniform to the class,
demonstrated proper military
appearance, and shared a few
anecdotes from army life, to give
my students an idea of what it
means to become military proper
ty, specifically IDF, for two to
three years.
Then, I gave a quick review of
a few of my closest friends. I
acquainted them with the daughter
of a former athlete who had
escaped the Munich Massacre by
jumping out of a window; another
friend was the last Jewish baby to
be bom in Wales, Great Britain.
The class also saw a picture of a
CONTENTS
Michal with her family at the beach.
high school ftiend, who was one
of the first female combat soldiers
in the IDF, and another friend who
tells the story of her father, an ex
combat pilot whose plane was
shot down. Her father spent two
years in captivity in Syria, and
today is the founder and owner a
major Hi-Tech company. I con
cluded the presentation with pic
tures of some of my favorite
places back home - the beautiful
Judean desert and the blooming
Galilee.
I am confident that my students
understood the point. They knew I
was showing them all this in order
for them to see that there are many
faces of Israel beyond the conflict,
as there are many faces of Israel
behind it. That Israel is as diverse
Local, Global, Eternal
and fascinating as it is
beautiful, and at the same
time it is a complicated
place whose citizens
make successful efforts
to lead everyday lives,
just as people do in the
U.S.
After the lesson my
co-teacher Andrew asked
me: “Do you know how
many of our students
have a story like yours,
or have friends with stories similar
to those of your friends’?”
“None,” I replied. “Do you
know how many friends with
these kinds of stories I have? All
of them.”
This lesson is the best I can
offer. It is me, bringing Israel to
you. And I sincerely hope you will
bring yourself to visit in Israel.
Michal can be contacted at the
Jewish Federation of Greater
Charlotte at 704-944-6757.
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