1993-1994 Rothberg Yearbook

Local News
The One Tear Program:
Mata** Tennis A Christian’s Perspective
I'm socially handicapped, and it
has nothing to do with the slight
kink in my nose. Tou see, I never
went to Camp Ramah. I therefore
did not have the prior knowledge of
twenty percent of the people on the
One Year Program. And when
homesickness would come tapping
on my window shade, I had no aunt
in Haifa to provide me with a
home-cooked meal. In addition, I
never learned Hebrew in Synagogue
as a kid, 80 it was in a blue and
white Israeli airline jet, somewhere
over the Mediterranean, that I was
told Hebrew is read from right to
left. Even if I did have an aunt in
Haifa, I would have been too busy
wrestling with my Aleph class to go
and see her. By now you’ve
guessed that I count myself among
the Goyim.
Having never been to Israel, I was
caught off guard by the whole notion
of Shabbat. I had heard that
Jerusalem "shuts down" on Saturdays,
but holy moly! And this
wasn’t the only Biblically-inspired
policy of this town that I wasn't
ready for. The idea of not eating
my milk and meat together has
been difficult for me to stomach
and I can guarantee that corn pizza
will never find its way onto my
pepperoni-pleasured palate.
Fortunately, my fellow OYPers
were sympathetic to my situation.
Most of them being American Jews,
they themselves knew what it was
like to be in the minority. They
were happy to humor me when
they were invited to my Shabbat
dinner at Givat Ram. And when I
blew out the candles by accident,
they were as forgiving as disconeerted
Jews can be. My adaptation
process wasn’t too brutal.
But generally,people seemed con -
vinced that my being In a m inority
religious group, coupled with the
absence of Christmas, would cause
me to get the ‘minority perspective".
Of course, Christmas was a
time when I missed my family and
friends more than usual, but at no
time this year did I ever feel alienated
because I was Christian and
everyone else was Jewish. I surely
would have been to a greater extent
had I been Immersed in Israeli
society. However, being im m ersed
In OYP society, I feel that in most
wayB, I simply left one secular
group of people and joined another
when I came to Hebrew University.
But on the other hand, I have a
deep respect for scripture and the
Tattach is an essential element of
my spirituality. This being the
case with a precious few of my
acquaintances back home, I felt a
special connection with a few peopie
on our program. At home, I
have very little common ground
with the ‘Christian majority," and
it has been a mutual belief and respect
for scripture that has made
me feel close to some Jews here. It
is a closeness that I'd rarely felt in
the United States.
My experience as a Christian in
the Jewish homeland was different
from what people seem to think it
would have been. Truthfully, the
fact that this was 'my turn to be
the minority," did not open my eyes
to anything new concerning Jewish
life in North America, that I couldn’t
have learned by simply talking
to them. Thanks to the tolerance
and acceptance of the students on
our program, I've had an incredible
experience. I made wonderful
friends and developed a special
attachment to the land of Israel.
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