By Sarah Katularu
SAN DIEGO — Like most college freshmen, I spent my weekends going to themed parties and sleeping in all day. But as the year progressed and my friends were finding their callings on campus, I was still stuck trying to figure out who I was and where I belonged. Then one day, my mom got one of those emails from Hillel about Birthright. My parents had moved to the States before I was even born, and I hadn’t been to Israel since I was in elementary school. I always thought of my Israeli identity as being something that was tucked away, out of sight of the general public.
I felt bold, and signed up. I took my chances because I had nothing to lose, really. As part of the interview process for the trip, I had to meet with the Israel fellow at our school at the time. When I told her about my Israeli background, she immediately jumped at the opportunity to advertise IAC Mishelanu to me. I was confused. There were other students at San Diego State like me? I started to feel like I had a place here and immediately joined what was the beginning of IAC Mishelanu at SDSU.
I went to the first meeting, which we combined with UCSD, and was shocked to see how many Hebrew-speaking people were in one room. As an out-of-state student, anything that felt like home made me less scared to be 2,000 miles away from family. My involvement in IAC Mishelanu grew and I found myself in Israel again exactly one year after Birthright – but this time, in an apartment full of my friends from IAC Mishelanu as part of the program’s Onward Israel trip.
IAC Mishelanu gave me my “home away from home.” They made me realize that I am more than a child of Israeli parents. They helped me understand my own identity. For so many years I could not explain the feeling of not feeling American enough yet not being Israeli enough. I never served in the IDF but my friends always looked at me funny for swearing by powdered coffee and having peanut butter Cheetos in my lunch box at school. My family never wore cheesy red, white, and blue outfits while grilling hotdogs in the backyard on July 4th, yet I still carry two passports when I travel to Israel. It’s hard to explain to other people, but IAC Mishelanu brought me close to hundreds of other students who don’t need an explanation, because they feel the same way.
Today, three years, many Mishelanu retreats and an IAC Mishelanu conference later, I can confidently say that my closest friends are the ones I made through Mishelanu. I wake up each morning to hundreds of WhatsApp messages from my Mishelanu group chat. Usually I’d be annoyed by this many texts, but it’s nice to finally have a message in Hebrew that isn’t from my Mom.
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The Israeli American Council’s Mishelanu program (IAC Mishelanu) provides a unique venue for Israeli-American students to explore their distinct identity and build community among others with the same background. To learn more about IAC Mishelanu please visit www.IACMishelanu.org. To learn more about the IAC, please visit http://www.israeliamerican.org.
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Katularu is a senior at San Diego State University