Tripping through Israeli history:
A journey through history and self-discovery
By Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS
What a difference a year makes, or does it? Last year, on October 7, 2023, I was in my home in Montreal, Canada, hearing about the atrocious Hamas attack on Israel, the worst since the Holocaust. This year I am in Israel, and as my former editor at the History News Network, Rick Shenkman put it, I am living through history. The past week in Israel has been filled with ups and downs. On Tuesday, October 1, 2024, a missile and rocket attack from Iran pummeled 181 projectiles toward all areas of Israel. The Rosh Hashana holiday was from Wednesday night through Friday, with the country still closed down through Shabbat. On Saturday, we commemorated 365 days since the attack, and on Monday, we marked the 7th anniversary of the attack. We held memorial events throughout the week leading up to Yom Kippur on Saturday, October 12, 2024. In a matter of 10 days, I feel I lived more than in a lifetime. Life in Israel feels like tripping through history, and one must stop and breathe to experience it.
Despite the numerous differences between Israel and the Diaspora, my experience living here over the past few months has led me to realize that the Diaspora does not fully comprehend the daily challenges and joys of Israel. Israelis are unable to fully comprehend the extent to which antisemitism affects Jews living in the Diaspora. Threats from hostile Arab terrorist organizations and countries appear distinct from the firebombings and shootings that Montrealers faced in the past year. I can’t recall ever feeling as scared as I did on Tuesday, October 1, when the sirens began to blare in Jerusalem. I had just finished walking from the Hadar Mall area in Talbiyot to the German Colony, and I was preparing to head back out to get some groceries before Rosh Hashanah on Emek Refaim.
When the first siren started, the alert indicated North Jerusalem. In case of attacks, my basement apartment in a historic 100-year-old home serves as my safe room. In fear, I called my landlord, who assured me it was the safest place in Jerusalem. I chose to hide in the small hallway in the back of the apartment, the only place without windows. I was sitting on the floor as the second siren went off, also for North Jerusalem. A few minutes later, a third siren sounded for South Jerusalem, where I was located. Just as the sirens were wailing, you could hear through the thick stone walls the sounds of missiles booming in the close distance. The four sirens, especially the two in South Jerusalem, frightened me more than anything else in my life. For me, it was a novel and frightening experience, but for most Israelis, it is an everyday occurrence. In my fright, I must have called almost everyone I knew and coped by posting videos of the sirens on Facebook.
At the sound of the third siren, I reached out to my former editor and mentor, Rick Shenkman, who resides in Seattle. Rick is a legend, and I am grateful for the nearly hour he spent calming down as well as for the perspective he gave me about the frightening moment. As a historian, journalist, and political analyst, Rick reminded me that I was living through history, and he suggested that I should use this moment to inspire my writing now. Surprisingly, viewing the event through a political lens, considering its potential impact on the American presidential elections and the politics of campus antisemitism and anti-Zionism, was unexpectedly calming. Taking a little distance and putting the historic event I was living through into context makes it all the more meaningful and less frightening.
I have spent time in Israel, mostly Jerusalem, trying to live the daily rather than tourist life. Hamas killed over 1200 Israelis on October 7, marking the worst terrorist attack on Israel and the worst catastrophe for Jews since the Holocaust. The surprise attack paralyzed the government and the military in the first few hours, making an organized defense impossible. This year is a historic time for Israelis and world Jewry, with the war in Gaza and unprecedented high rates of antisemitic attacks in the Diaspora and in Canada, where I am from. In essence, the past few months I have been living through one historical event after another, but unlike antisemitic events in Montreal, which are discussed in the aftermath, in Israel I was experiencing these events in real time.
I wrote in an earlier article that I felt I was Forrest Gumping through history. I’m alluding to the 1994 movie, in which the main character, Tom Hank’s Forrest Gump, possessing an IQ that borders on normal, unexpectedly finds himself immersed in pivotal moments of American history during the thrilling and transformative period from the 1950s to the early 1980s. I too feel that I am by accident experiencing these events in modern Israeli history. It’s either the historian’s dream or nightmare, as the rush of events can be all-consuming.
Despite this living real-world experience, I have not nearly written as much as I used to in Montreal. However, when I was writing about history or antisemitism in Montreal, I experienced a significant amount of loss, particularly with the sudden death of my mother two years ago and the early death of my father when I was just 16 years old. My life revolved primarily around loss; my mother’s prolonged illness, trips, and travels became secondary to survival. Despite this, I enjoyed immersing myself in history, exploring the lives and thrilling experiences of historical figures. In my area of American Jewish history, I have focused on the everyday lives of historic and sometimes forgotten figures that led extraordinary lives in challenging times. Writing about the Revolutionary and Civil War Eras, I have come across numerous lives whose stories are not only worth telling but also raise important questions about how one becomes part of history.
However, this past summer I went on my journey of self-discovery — I call it my version of Eat, Pray, Love — that took me from Princeton, New Jersey, to Philadelphia, back up to the backcountry of upper New York State, and finally to Jerusalem. However, my life now resembles Emily in Paris, albeit with a touch less glamour, and I too am a naive North American lost in a Eurocentric city steeped in thousands of years of history. I am navigating a different language, culture, relationships, and fashion, experiencing ups and downs as I attempt to adapt to a new country.
I initially arrived in Jerusalem for a two-week program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, but I had already begun the Aliyah process months prior. Highlights included the awe-inspiring visits to the Kotel on Tisha B’Av and Seferadic Schlihot services, which drew thousands of people filling up the entire square; a trip to Eliyahu Ha-Navi’s cave in Haifa; various arts and crafts fairs; concerts; and the opportunity to hear Natan Sharansky, a legend, speak in person at a gala event at a historic venue, the Khan Theater for the Michael Levin Base. When I wrote last year about Sharansky attending the Washington rally supporting Israel, I never imagined that, barely a year later, I would see this legend on the streets of Jerusalem, going grocery shopping like the rest of us, and hear him speak in person. I am still hoping to meet him personally, as he talked at the gala about campus anti-Zionism, something I painfully experienced and navigated alone this past academic year at McGill University.
The Michael Levin Base supports lone soldiers like Montrealer David Pereque, who graduated from my alma mater Herzliah High School in Montreal and died in combat in Gaza in August. Even though I didn’t know David, who graduated a few years after me, the loss of a Montrealer in Israel resonates with us all, and I believe my donation played a small role in supporting the organization. Just this past week, I attended a book launch at the Menachem Begin Center, where I had the opportunity to meet and hear Seth Frantzman, an editor from the Jerusalem Post, speak about his new book, “The October 7 War: Israel’s Battle for Security in Gaza,” which is one of the only English books published on the attack. At the time, I also had the opportunity to meet a journalism legend, Greer Fay Cashman.
Among the lows was hearing of the tragic loss of six of the hostages, including Hersh Goldberg-Polin, and attending his funeral and shiva inspired me to volunteer with two organizations that support the hostages and their memories: the Hostages and Missing Families Forum and Jamie Rosen’s fundraising campaign, You Be the Light, which sells Shabbat and Memorial candles. For the Hostage Forum, I am assisting in the sale of their merchandise at their tent base near Paris Square, which is located in front of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s official residence. I am also assisting in the setup and attendance of their protests, which include two heartwrenching memorial events marking the October 7 anniversary this past week. I am also attempting to sell candles for “You Be the Light” during events and on the streets. On their website, Rosen describes the initiative: “With these candles, we are not just pushing away the darkness, but igniting the divine spark that is within them and all of us.”
I am also experiencing the simple everyday joys of living in Jerusalem: walking in the evenings in the cool breezes, the beauty of the sunrises, walking through historic Yemin Moshe in the stillness of a Shabbat afternoon, the quiet streets on Yom Kippur filled only with people strolling and kids and families biking. However, I have also discovered an incredibly welcoming community in Shira Hadasha, a vibrant Orthodox egalitarian congregation, where I have made new friends. I have navigated my way around and managed to steer clear of the diverse dating scene, which often consists of either a flurry of three-day marriage proposals or an invitation to simply have fun, wink, wink, and find the perfect place to call home. While the Diaspora dwells on the lows in Israel, I find its beauty and weather to be almost paradise.
For once in my life, I experienced daily adventures that provided ample inspiration for writing op-eds, a task that had always been challenging due to the scarcity of noteworthy events in my life. However, as a newcomer to Israel, life can be overwhelming, with so much to experience that writing often becomes a secondary focus. While we emphasize the importance of academic experience in earning degrees, I have learned more about Israel in the last few months than I have in my lifetime of education, which began in kindergarten at a Montreal Jewish Day School and continued through graduate school. Although I still often feel lost, this past year has not only been historic for Israel and world Jewry but also for me, as it has allowed me to not only write about history but also experience it firsthand. I hope that this year will be filled with adventure, writing, and experiencing history, but also with peace rather than tragedy, a sentiment that both Israelis and the Diaspora can agree upon.
Bonnie K. Goodman, BA, MLIS, is a historian, librarian, journalist, and artist. She is pursuing an MA in Jewish Education at the Melton Centre of Jewish Education at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is the author of the recently released “On This Day in History…: Significant Events in the American Year,” and “A Constant Battle: McGill University’s Complicated History of Antisemitism and Now anti-Zionism.” She has a BA in History and Art History and a Masters in Library and Information Studies from McGill University. She has done graduate work in Jewish history at Concordia University as part of the MA in Judaic Studies, where she focused Medieval and Modern Judaism. Her research area is North American Jewish history, and her thesis was entitled “Unconditional Loyalty to the Cause: Southern Whiteness, Jewish Women, and Antisemitism, 1860–1913.” Ms. Goodman has been researching and writing about antisemitism in North American Jewish History, and she has reported on the current antisemitic climate and anti-Zionism on campus for over fifteen years.
She is also the author of among others, “Silver Boom! The Rise and Decline of Leadville, Colorado as the United States Silver Capital, 1860–1896” (2008), “On This Day in the History… Of American Independence Significant Events in the Revolutionary Era, 1754–1812” (2020), and “We Used to be Friends? The Long Complicated History of Jews, Blacks, and Antisemitism” (2020). She contributed the overviews and chronologies to the “History of American Presidential Elections, 1789–2008,” edited by Gil Troy, Arthur M. Schlesinger, and Fred L. Israel (2012). She is the former Features Editor at the History News Network and reporter at Examiner.com, where she covered politics, universities, religion, and news. She currently blogs at Medium, where she was a top writer in history, and regularly writes an “On This Day in History (#OTD in #History)” Feature. Her scholarly articles can be found on Academia.edu.
