Michelle and Hillary (and yes, I am watching the Democratic National Convention all too intensely and yes--though it is rather late at night--we have been allowing the children to watch with us). Admittedly, the link below has nothing whatsoever to do with Mrs. Obama or Sentor Clinton, but I first wanted to acknowledge them as my inspiration for this post today.
Rachel Papo, a U.S. born Israeli photographer, has a compelling series of photos of young women in the IDF, entitled "Serial No. 3817131" In her description of the photos, she speaks of her her motivation behind this project:
Almost fifteen years after my mandatory military duty ended, I went back...Serial No. 3817131 represents my effort to come to terms with the experiences of being a soldier from the perspective of an adult. My service had been a period of utter loneliness, mixed with apathy and pensiveness, and at the time I was too young to understand it all. Through the camera’s lens, I tried to reconstruct facets of my military life, hopeful to reconcile matters that had been left unresolved.
I find the photos challenging--mostly for their true otherness of experience. As a Jewish woman in North America, I have not faced military service nor had to look ahead to it for my daughter from her first moment of life. The chasm between my life as a Jew here rather than in Israel is real. It makes me need to eschew any notion of using "we" when speaking about Jews here and Jews in Israel.
Yes, "we" do claim each other--we claim history and relationship. But "we"--when speaking about Israel and its citizen soldiers--is claiming something too easily. Until my daughter's life is on the line, I will talk of "here" and "there". I will talk of "Jews" only when I do mean Jews everywhere and reserve "Israelis" for those bearing the peculiar burdens of citizenship there. And I will identify for Noa, my daugther, Israeli women who should inspire her, and there are many...and the American Jewish Woman that I am will hope that she remembers the first time she saw Michelle and Hillary.
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