1st Report

Zachary Trent
Ambassadorial Scholar, Israel
December, 3, 2010

My first three months in Israel have been full of learning, activity, and cultural exchange. My
studies began in October. I am taking Hebrew classes four days a week from 8:30 to 10:00 AM,
followed by my M.A. in Crisis and Trauma Studies courses until 2:00 or 4:00 PM, depending on the
day. Hebrew class is wonderful- My wife and I go together and we are excited about our language
progress so far. After only three weeks of full class we can read and write basic words, and last night I
had a very rudimentary conversation with someone on the phone who could not speak English.
In preparing to come to Israel I read up on the current events, state of the conflict, and
attractions in Israel. I also had a very dear friend here who helped me to prepare to live here and even
helped me to locate an apartment. Now we are neighbors in Jaffa and we get together often to celebrate
Jewish holidays and to travel, and I am also volunteering for a program that she directs called Kids 4
Peace.
My M.A coursework is very engaging. So far I am looking into the origins and effects of
domestic violence in families and learning about appropriate interventions for victims of trauma. I am
taking 6 classes on trauma and crisis; all of my instructors are very experienced and have prepared very
engaging courses. I am in class with people from all over the world, including Israel, the U.K.,
Switzerland, and Australia. Two very interesting points in our M.A degree is that we have monthly site
visits to organizations working with victims of trauma, and we are required to find an internship as part
of our coursework. The site visits will take us all over Israel, and so far they have been very
illuminating. Each site has a different focus on population and intervention, but all sites are working
with people who have experienced some sort of traumatic event.
We have visited sites that deal with domestic violence, immigration and refugee trauma,
prisoners returning to the community, as well as teenagers who are in very bad living conditions.
Visiting these sites gives me the opportunity to know what challenges are unique to Israel and common
to the U.S., but more importantly I am learning from the experience of others of how to intervene and
make a difference in the lives of those who have lived through trauma.
I had already arranged an internship prior to coming to Israel, and luckily it met all of the
criteria for my graduate studies, so I am continuing the internship with Aikido Without Borders that I
started back in September.
Aikido Without Borders (AWB) is a non-profit registered with Israel. They are utilizing the non-
violent martial art of aikido to bring young Israeli and Palestinians together for joint training and
discussions about the greater conflict. The three pillars of programming are training in the martial art,
leadership training, and community building. I have several responsibilities in both capacity building
and direct service for AWB. I work on program design, publicity and internet marketing, and fund-
raising. I have done quite a lot of work in the area of fund raising, over the last three months I have, in
conjunction with the other staff, created a grant proposal to begin our project, identified several
foundations that will likely be interested in our project, and condensed the grant proposal into a short
letter of inquiry. I have also submitted the letter to a few foundations.
Also, I have worked closely with the executive director to build program goals for the new
Young Leaders program. The next step is to create a monitoring and evaluation plan so that we can
measure our progress and program outcomes. As a volunteer teacher for AWB I have been traveling out
of Tel Aviv to teach aikido to at risk Arab youth in Lod, Israel. I am working with teenage girls that
come from poverty and broken homes to teach them confidence and increased body awareness through
the martial arts. My work with AWB has been very exciting and I feel very privileged to be involved
with this project during its infancy. We have developed a very innovative program model that
empowers Israelis and Palestinians on the grass roots level to take initiative in the peace process.
I have given four official presentations as a Rotary Scholar, and I have attended four local
Rotary meetings, with a fifth coming up in Haifa Israel on December 12th. I am also in discussion with
the Rotary clubs of Lod, Haifa, and Jaffa to give a presentation at their Rotary meetings.
In my first month I gave a presentation to the Tel-Aviv/Jaffa Rotary club describing my family,
a bit about the state of Oklahoma, and my reasons for choosing to study in Israel. My second
presentation was given during a trip to Egypt. I gave a presentation to Israelis and Egyptians about the
significance of poker in the U.S., complete with a tutorial on how to play the game and a few friendly
rounds. My third presentation was given at an Aikido dojo in Israel where I spoke about the
transmission of Aikido from Japan to the United States and how it is being used today in the U.S. to
work with at-risk youth. My fourth presentation was just two weeks ago at the annual Israeli
conference- I spoke about my course work and my volunteer work with AWB, and I was able to give a
portion of my presentation in Hebrew.
I am also planning on screening a movie about rural poverty and the significance of Southern
country music in the U.S. and speak about my own family and experience as someone who grew up in
rural poverty. Beyond these formal presentations I have had many opportunities to share with folks I
encounter from day to day that I am here studying as a Rotarian Ambassadorial scholar- many people I
share with have not heard much about Rotary and are interested to learn more about the clubs and the
foundation.
I have to say that culturally Israel is incredibly diverse. While it has been said that living in Tel
Aviv is like living in a “bubble”, I can still see many different ways of life. In Jaffa, where I live we
have many Arab neighbors and shopkeepers, but once you travel 3 or 4 minutes into Tel Aviv proper
you see fewer and fewer Arab shopkeepers. It was really neat in September to see all of the Ramadan
lights out in peoples windows, and now in December you can see as many Chanukiot (or Manoras) out
now. As well you see Jewish people from the whole spectrum of Judaism- from the obviously orthodox
men and women to the obviously Buddhist. I was surprised to see so many mosques and Muslims in
Israel. I live next door to a muezzin (prayer caller) so I get to hear the call to prayer 5 times a day.
Adding to this incredible diversity is the influx of Ethiopian refugees and immigrants in the last 10
years.
Perhaps the most interesting cultural revelation I had came as I began to experience
aggressiveness or rudeness. In Israel people will cut in front of you, they will tell you to move, they
will bump into you if you are in their way. There is very little please or thank you, and sometimes you
have to go and find your waiter or waitress in order to be served or to get the bill. Having been here for
about four months I am beginning to see it isn't aggressive and it isn't necessarily rude, it is being
assertive. My Hebrew teacher Hava helped me to see exactly what was going on in class one day. A
student asked “How do you say I am sorry”. Hava responded, “In Israel we don't say this so much. We
are not all the time saying I'm sorry I'm sorry, or excuse me. We decided that as we developed our
society that we would not be so polite as we were in Europe, and that we would not be pushed around
any more. So we are assertive, and we watch out for ourselves.” This is to say, that Israelis may seem a
bit gruff or pushy, but at the same time they are saying “I won't be subjugated any longer- I won't be a
victim.”
Given that one of the major impetuses for the creation of Israel by the United Nations was the
persecution of Jews in Poland, Germany, and Italy (among other nations) during the holocaust, it
follows that your newly created society would include assertive and outwardly strong behaviors. This
also explains the saying I have heard a few times “In Israel you have to watch out for yourself.”
Overall my wife and I are adjusting very well and really admire Israel. My wife is a writer and
she is plugged in with an English speaking writing group- this allows her to meet many interesting
writers and thinkers in Israel. As well, one of my good friends has been inviting us to regular Shabot
meals where we get to meet with wonderful Israelis and share some amazing food. We have visited
Jerusalem, Lod, and quite a bit of Tel Aviv/Jaffa.
Of course, since we live in Jaffa we know this area pretty well so far and are beginning to
become acquainted with the challenges that this mixed population poses. Still, even with some minor
challenges and set-backs we are both very happy with our time in Israel and are very grateful for the
Rotary Ambassadorial fellowship!