"I consider myself very much Israeli. All my memories of my childhood are there. The education in Israel towards patriotism is very strong. We all serve in the army-boys and girls. It makes everyone equal-a high-tech guy serves with a plumber in a base in the south watching a gate. There is a sense of responsibility for one another. We have a strong connection to family-this is the most important thing.
The second most important thing is being a majority. It's my biggest problem with being here in America. I love being here. I am doing what is right for my work and supporting my wife's dream to get her PhD in America. Growing up in Israel everybody was like me. I didn't have to struggle for my opinions. Because there are so many people that celebrate Christmas here, it's difficult not to celebrate Christmas. So we do something superficial and symbolic and that's Hanukkah, which is not a big holiday in Israel. The reason it's so big in America is that Jews needed to have a holiday similar to Christmas so they could give gifts and do lights and not feel so different. Being a minority makes you struggle more.
We hold weapons and protect Israel and while doing that we sometimes do terrible things, terrible things. Two days ago artillery shells fell in Gaza and killed 19 innocent people while they were asleep. It cannot get any more terrible than that. Myself as an Israeli that served in the army, I have a lot of difficulty with incidents like that and in general being so aggressive towards civilians.
I believe American Jews look at Israelis in a way that reflects not being really connected to the culture of Israel. Of course, when it comes down to it Israel is the life insurance of every Jew on earth and everybody understands that. I'm proud to be a part of what created this life insurance but I can also understand being some kind of stepbrother to American Jews. They like me but there is still a distance between us."