Coming from a country rocked by violence, the daily routines of Israeli college students are both surprisingly familiar and extraordinarily different from the lives of their American counterparts.
That was the message voiced by a trio of Israeli students who are winding up a Bay Area visit designed to give young Americans a glimpse into the lives of young Israelis.
“I have a very normal life,” said 26-year-old Dor Shapira, a third-year student in government and diplomacy at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center. “I go out with my friends. I didn’t change my habits.”
Still, there are regular reminders that all is not normal in the Jewish homeland.
The three traveling companions had a similar response when they met at a Jerusalem cafe before coming to the United States.
An ambulance raced past with its siren blaring and “all three of us jumped,” said Ben Baum, a 25-year-old American-born immigrant. “All three of us thought something had happened.”
Added Shapira: “I can understand people who don’t go out. I can understand people who are scared.”
Baum, Shapira and Shapira’s wife of one month, 22-year-old Revital Leizarovitch, have been touring the Bay Area on a privately sponsored program called Israel at Heart. Funded by New York businessman Joey Low, the program brought 42 young Israelis to the United States to share their experiences with young Americans. The 12-day visit that ends tomorrow is intended to counter what organizers feel are unfair media portrayals of Israel.
“By simply telling the stories of their lives, we hope they can begin to change the way people see Israel and its people,” says the group’s Web site at www.israelatheart.com
Assigned to the Bay Area, the three met with college students at several local universities, including U.C. Berkeley, Stanford and San Francisco State. They spoke to youngsters at Jewish day schools and had discussions with religious-school students and young adults at local synagogues. Their visits were arranged with help from the Consulate General of Israel in San Francisco.
“I’m scared. I won’t say I’m not,” said Leizarovitch, also a college student in Herzliya, in a recent interview. “I want to live a normal life. It’s normal, but not normal.”
Leizarovitch noted the utter abnormality of having to print on the invitations to her recent wedding the fact that security would be provided. “It’s not normal on the happiest day of my life [that] you’re feeling uncomfortable.”
She is also alarmed by media coverage that she thinks portrays Israelis as “screaming for war,” attempting to expel Arabs and with soldiers who harm Palestinian children.
“I want peace,” she said.
As for brushes with violence, Baum said he was at Ben-Gurion Airport on July 31, returning from a trip to the United States, when he learned of the bombing attack at Hebrew University, where he is completing his studies. Seven people, including five Americans, were killed in the explosion at the cafeteria where Baum regularly eats lunch.
“That entire day, we sat around, we cried, we thought about our friends,” he said. “It was a very rough day.”
At the same time, Baum stressed the need for Israelis to carry on.
“These things happen to us. We mourn, but we go on with our lives.
“We don’t want the terrorists to win and terrorists win if we’re all scared to go to the cafeteria.”
Baum, who moved to Israel from Chicago when he was 18, admits that his parents are fearful for his safety, particularly when he served as a soldier in Lebanon.
But he added, “At the end of the day, they’ve never said they would want me to come home. We’ve had many talks about it.”
All three performed their military service in the Israel Defense Force. Baum and Shapira now are in the reserves.
Shapira said he and the other visiting students weren’t selected because of any particular viewpoints. Nor were they coached on what to say. Low “wants us to talk from the heart. I can really show them who I am and what I believe.”
The students said they need the support of Americans. “I think the Jewish students are a bit quiet on the campuses,” said Shapira. “Maybe it’s not their fault because they just want to learn.” But he thinks the voices of Jewish students are crucial in countering the loud opposition from Palestinian students.
“This is a conflict and they are our representers,” he said. “They should learn about the conflict.”
Said Baum: “We’re not these faceless people. It’s not random acts of violence to random people. It’s us.”