Why Israel?

I haven't mentioned it in awhile but did you guys know I went to Israel?

The trip I went on had an essay contest. Which I didn't win. Shocking, I know. But I'm still pretty proud of my essay. I planned to share it while I was in Israel but concerned friends and family felt that I was too high on the PLO's hit list for that. So I was waiting for a good time to share it and after the uncharacteristically bipartisan House vote yesterday, now seemed as good a time as any. 

Here's a primer on the most recent episode of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:

The BDS (boycott, divestment & sanctions) Movement is attempting to end international support for Israel...I would love to see evidence of this alleged international support. Yesterday the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to condemn the boycott, with only 17 members voting against opposing the Palestinian movement. Minnesota's Ilhan Omar not only voted against condemning BDS, but she also sponsored a resolution in favor of the right to boycott Israel. A resolution which compared Israel's actions of self defense to those of Nazi Germany. Regardless of whether or not you find the two situations comparable (PS...they aren't), you have to admit that this is a poor and insanely offensive choice of analogy.

I would be happy to answer further questions regarding conflict in the Middle East at a later date, but for now, without further ado...

Why I Love Israel and the Jewish People

When I was growing up my grandfather used to say that my cousins and I had a drug problem because we were drug to church whenever the doors were open. But I hardly saw that as a problem. While other kids my age were at the mall or listening to Usher I was going to Bible study and inviting Amy Grant to my birthday party (she never came). My peers remember watching Friends and playing Uno but I remember resonating with Rachel, being enchanted by Esther, journaling about Joseph and praying with Peter.

As I grew older, my early obsession with Arabian Nights and Aladdin became a passion for the Middle East. I devoured any text I could get on Judaism and Islam and went on to minor in Middle Eastern Studies at college. Through that experience I listened to countless professors pontificate on alleged Israeli violence and Jewish aggression. Once we had a debate over the contested ownership of Jerusalem and I shared my point of view that as far as I was concerned, God had given Israel to the Jews and that pretty much settled the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. My classmates laughed at me and I endured 3 more years of being laughed at and considered a crazy Zionist by a university and a generation that had turned their backs on the God of Israel.

A bright spot in my college experience was hearing David Horowitz come speak on the reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Mr. Horowitz was extremely professional, polite and well-spoken and I took pages of notes as he talked about religion, history and war. He had to travel with a bodyguard and mere minutes into his lecture a group of students stood up and walked out as part of a planned protest. It is still mind-blowing to me that people can consider Israelis, members of a nation that has been defending its right to exist since the day it was created, the aggressors and bullies in the Middle East. In a political climate that is constantly seeking justice for the oppressed and voices for the marginalized, why do the Jews continue to be persecuted?

I have been in love with Israel for a long time now but one event in particular brought me even closer to the Jewish community. When I was 17 the world I had created for myself within my church community fell apart. My grandfather had been my pastor for my entire life but he died of leukemia in 2010. As we raced to find a bone marrow donor suitable we had no luck, a scenario unheard of for Caucasians in America. That is how we discovered that my grandfather was a descendent of Melungeons, a tri-racial ethnic group from central Appalachia with Jewish ancestry. The reason my grandfather never found a bone marrow donor in time also became a blessing, uncovering this part of my own ancestry and history gave me a sense of pride. I was so thrilled to be a descendant of Sephardic Jews.

Suddenly my passion for the Middle East wasn’t an obsession, but a calling. My support for Israel had new meaning. My interest in Messianic Judaism had a genetic component. My observance of Jewish holidays was no longer pretentious but reverential. My dark eyes, dark hair and Hebrew name are all traits that I hope to pass on to my children someday.

Recently my adjacent appearance and Hebrew name led to me being called an ethnic slur by a Holocaust denier. Unfortunately, anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial is still a part of the world we live in. But so is hatikvah. Hope. And I am proud to join countless others who hope for a day when the Jewish citizens of Israel do not have to continually fight for what is rightfully theirs.