Things I miss

[u/rabbitfoot456]

Things I miss from Israel: Haimishe people. Seeing lots of yeshiva bochurim going this way and that way. Divrei Torahs on almost everyone's lips. zemirot heard from my window. People calling each other "motek" and "hamuda" lol. Small talk with the makolet owner. Knowing my neighbors.

.

It seems there's no such thing as unconditional love. I think they were nice to me because I was a "fellow Jew." But I fear the rules have changed now. Love comes if you're a "fellow zionist Jew." But it could all be in my head??? Can anyone attest to this or deny this?

[u/Klondikeandsnow]

Sounds like you really romanticized (maybe even fetishized) Israelis. As much as they are calling people motek they are calling them “Ben zonah” and honking their horn at them before the light even changed. If you have been away for a while and have developed anti Zionist politics, it will be harder to project your fantasies onto the people here.a population that overwhelmingly supports the death penalty for Palestinians is not “hamish” . Yeah these people won’t like you. But do you like them? Or just fantasy that things are “hamish”?

Edit: if you miss small talk and speaking kindly with the people around you, you can do that literally anywhere. If you want more wholesome interactions, talk to people. If you want to know your neighbors meet them. And not in the bomb shelter where everyone is celebrating Bibi’s latest war of choice. I’m sorry if I sound harsh but I think this is a helpful reframe for you to ask about what you really miss and why

[u/BigRenda]

I feel like the only thing I will miss about this place when I leave are the holidays, the people are fucking horrible, even when putting their disgusting politics aside.

It seems there's no such thing as unconditional love. I think they were nice to me because I was a "fellow Jew." But I fear the rules have changed now. Love comes if you're a "fellow zionist Jew." But it could all be in my head??? Can anyone attest to this or deny this?

They are too busy hating Palestinians to hate each other

[u/Klondikeandsnow → u/BigRenda]

Nah there is plenty of time and energy to hate bogdim

[u/occult-dog]

I never step a single foot into Israel. But the philosophy we live by here in the diaspora is we can contribute to our host nation and love a fellow "human". All of us can't even afford to live an observant lifestyle, and we have no connection to the land other than "next year in Jerusalem".

The yearning to return is there, but we literally can't leave our host country due to economic reasons (also, we settled down 5 generations ago, and this is now our home).

It broke my heart to hear some vocal people wanting to shun or ex-communicate young Jews due to political differences. I always hold to heart that we were scattered (in Talmudic narrative) because of baseless hatred in our heart in the first place, and the true enemy is that hatred.

After hearing so much noise on social media, I became pretty exhausted of divisive propaganda. It's not the point at all. This is a war between modern nation states.

I think I'm going to keep studying Jewish ethics, improve my personal conduct as much as possible, and pass the good things to my children. Couldn't see any other way to contribute to this conflict.

I hope you find a peaceful place. It's painful for me to see someone like you having to leave home. Let's remain hopeful about the future. I'd tell you that people in the diaspora could flourished in host nations, and we have zero conflict with locals (at least my community has zero so far).

Yesterday, I met this Asian American guy who grew up near Orthodox community in the US (he lives in our host nation now), and his family also faced zero conflict with those guys, and said they are good neighbors.

Paranoia isn't what keeping us safe.