I come from a Jewish household. Specifically, my mother is pretty involved with our temple but my father simply doesn't have as much on his hands. My mother tries to learn as much on the conflict as possible but being Jewish, she only hears one side of the conflict and strongly defends the Israeli side.
My father cares but does not know much about the conflict. In fact, a few years back I remember being on a family vacation when we came about a crazy Israeli man who had moved to the United States. After talking to him for a while, he shared with us some "inside information" of what really was happening in Jerusalem from a former IDS solider point of view. I clearly remember the man looking at my father and saying, "I am reading your mind right now and am going to be totally honest with you. You hear me cry to you all this to you and you nod your head like you care. As a Jew you hear what is going on and know that there is nothing you can do so you keep nodding your head thinking that will solve all problems." Although this encounter happened about four years ago, it is something that has stood out to me when learning about this conflict in more detail. That man described American Jews perfectly, and unfortunately it is harsh.
As for me, I am Jewish and that was all. I do of what was asked, walked around with pride, but really that was it until last year when I was fortunate enough to go to Israel through Birthright...a life changing experience. I learned more about my background and the current conflict in Jerusalem, but there was one thing that stood in my mind for the three days in Jerusalem. I really did not have much background information about the conflict in Jerusalem but then I saw a wall and heard somebody say, "That is East Jerusalem, stay out of there." For some reason it was one of those moments that I will remember forever.
By taking this class, I plan to learn more about the conflict. I hate to admit it but my knowledge of this conflict will not solve anything. What I hope to take out of this class is the power of word of mouth. The current Jerusalem conflict is one of the most ongoing and dangerous conflicts the world is currently facing. In contrast, there is a great deal of people that remain clueless that any conflict is even happening. By sharing my knowledge with others, I hope the conflict gets more publicity. If I can inform the uninformed about the conflict, I feel that I am doing my job to creating a world closer to peace.
I really liked your post because I was in a similar situation growing up. While my mom supports Israel, she is also scared of it and she never wanted me to go. I went through the motions of being Jewish and taking part in rituals but it wasn't until I also went on Birthright that I understood my Judaism and my Jewish identity was strengthened. I think it's great that we have the opportunity to learn about the conflict in this class and share it with our parents and others around us.
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