This is the story of one family, moving from the Soviet Union to Israel in the 1980’s. It starkly tells of the struggles inherent in uprooting oneself from his native cultural milieu and implanting oneself in a new homeland. As the family experiences contact, connection and sometimes confrontation with Israeli society, they reflect on their own identities and experiences, as seen through the eyes of their new neighbors. Is their fate to be alienation or acceptance? This question proves to be a challenging one.
Meanwhile, the world around them continues to change at a rapid pace, as the Soviet Union crumbles and Israeli society reacts to the new political and historical reality of the post-Cold War era.
While they face many difficulties and hardships, the family finds as they acclimate that there are still many bright spots in their new lives, enlightened and enlivened by courage, friendship, empathy, love and compassion.
The author is a Jerusalem-born teacher who has spent decades teaching Hebrew to immigrants from all backgrounds, including to new soldiers as an officer in the Israeli army. Her mission to Canada to establish the Ulpan system of intensive Hebrew study became a nine-year odyssey. Upon her return to Israel with her husband and her three children, she experienced with them the joys and challenges of emigration to Israel. Since then, she has continued to encourage the study of Hebrew not only by directing and teaching in Ulpan schools, but by opening her home to new immigrants.
Readers write:
“Through your book I was introduced into a new ‘world’ which I was not acquainted with. I became aware of some historical facts about changes in the USSR during the years of 1985 to 1995, and the difficulties of being an immigrant in a new country.”
“I was thrilled to read your book because it gave me a closer connection to my own roots.”
“You have done a lot of research and have captured the immigrant experience so well. I loved the way you introduced the Hebrew vocabulary with an explanation.”
