Identity Week: Glimpse of Community Week Impact (Hanna Unger)

Blog Author: Hanna Unger

What does it mean to have an identity?
That's the question that surfs in the waves of my mind as I commence to write this blog post. I am not talking about your religion, or your culture. Not your gender or your future job. I'm talking about YOU.

We speak our minds, but rarely know why we individually think a certain way. It's not the way we were raised, or the education we received as children and teenagers. It's us ultimately.

This week, we spent our days with our favourite and most amazing group in whole wide world: the Eilat - Eilot Diller Teen Fellows. Just like in the North American seminar, we connected in a blink of an eye. And I found my identity at the same speed, too.

You see, I moved to Canada 9 years ago from the wonderful city of Ashdod. And every since that day, I continued to be a proud "zaberit". I ate my falafels and hummus (but I still had my fair share of my maple syrup). My Hebrew continued to exit my lips. In fact, knowing Hebrew and Russian was probably one of the most significant things that stayed with me throughout the years, because if you don't speak one or two of those languages at my school, you would probably be missing out on many conversations.

I found myself this week with the Israelis. I laughed with them in Israeli humour, and I bonded with them in a way that was so rare to me. I was with the people who share my common ground, and part of my identity. I shared my deepest secrets to my closest Israeli friend, who to me is like a sister I have always wanted, and when the whole group sat today for the final "ma'agal", we all shared our love for everyone in this group. We connected as one.

Looking around the "ma'agal", I knew right away what my identity was: indescribable, because your identity cannot be described. It is not the fact that I'm israeli, or that I like to write. It is not the fact that I would rather wear high heel boots than any other shoe. It was just me. Hanna Unger, and I need to respect that.

So when I was asked by an Israeli "how do you speak Hebrew at home if you moved 9 years ago from Israel?", I answered "because your identity does not change once you move a country... It never does". Yes you could change your name, or get a new passport, but who you are will never change. It is you, breathing every second, and every day.
I will always be me. I am the 4 year old girl who ran around in the streets of Ashdod. I am the 6 year old girl who only found I was moving to Toronto. I am the 12 year old girl who realized what reality really is. And I am that 15 year old girl who is going into grade 11. I am the same girl, only older. I will carry my background with me my whole life. I am a proud maple syrup dripping Canadian, and a hummus loving Israeli born girl. I will be Jewish, and forever a zabarit. I will love Israel as much as I adore the incredible country of Canads. Those facts are the flowers around my identity that I have grown throughout this week.

As we say farewell today to our Eilat-Eilot families, we will feel a massive thrust in our hearts, because we will feel like a part of us will be left here in Eilat. We may not come back ever, or come visit ever couple of years. Yet, what we must never forget that the flowers around are identity will continue to blossom and bloom even when we leave. The memories that we made here in Eilat will never leave us. They are now part of our identity, and no matter what; the places you go, the people you meet, the things you learn; your identity will always be there. It will hold your hand and never leave. You are you.