A Jewish Journey of Identity and Courage

even proud to be Jewish. Where else can you find women like Hannah Szenes?” Emma sat up straighter in her chair. “What about you?” “I’m just Jewish. I can’t change that. My grandfather fled Hungary and always told me terrible stories about what he went through as a child—the way Christian kids treated him. He got beaten up a lot. And despite all the years that have passed, last year a boy at our school was attacked just for being Jewish. So what has really changed?” Emma fell silent, and I did too. Fortunately, Shelly called us back together to wrap up the session. She asked us to think about what the State of Israel means to us and how we see our connection to it as American Jews. She explained that next time, we’d discuss the teens who left their families and comfortable lives to help establish a Jewish state in the Land of Israel. I wondered if I would have had the courage to do that in their place. But I had no answer.

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