Hi. My name is Sheri Oz.
I have had a long-standing love-hate relationship with Israel. When I first came for one month in the summer of 1970 I hated it and vowed never to return. However, the love of a man brought me back for 3 months in 1972, during which time I fell in love with Israel and out of love with the man. I vowed to make this land my home after completing my BSc degree at the University of Toronto. He since returned to Canada and I stayed on through thick and thin.
You might not be surprised to learn that in my last two years of high school I was a member of Hashomer Hazair in Toronto. I went because a friend invited me. It gave me the peer group social interaction I craved but had been unable to find before then. I loved the down-to-earthness of the members, the folk dancing, the friendly “we’re better than you” competition between our Toronto club and the Montreal club, the fact that Shomria, our summer camp, won first place overall against all the other Zionist camps in the region. I was not the least interested when they got “serious” and lectured about Israel. I went outside to wait until the folk-dancing music wafted out to invite me back in. All my friends from both Montreal and Toronto who made Aliyah are now back in Canada (I think) and here I am, the one who had no intention of coming here: I live here and love the country.
Part of what got me to come here that first time was antisemitism. Briefly: as I said, I had no intention of living here. I was headed to Africa to be a naturalist. But, when I ventured beyond my insular neighbourhood (we lovingly called it Bathurst Manor Ghetto), the degree of hate I absorbed because of being Jewish made me feel like the world saw me as Jew first and human being a distant second. I wanted to find out what it means to be a Jew and started an exploration of the religion and the culture I had been so willing to abandon until hate brought me back.
I discovered that, as a Jew, I belong to a remarkable ancient people that is very different from the superficial Judaism I grew up in. And I discovered that my ancient people has an indigenous homeland. I wanted to take part in its development.
This website allows expression of my love for my land and my people. I do not return hate toward those who hate me and my motto regarding this is : כבדהו וחשדהו – meaning, respect others but do not trust them too easily.
If you want to submit material to this website, feel free to write to me using the contact page and, if it fits the tone (not necessarily the viewpoint) of this site, I will happily consider adding it in the appropriate section. You do not have to agree with me, but I ask that all submissions and comments are respectful.
In addition, because maintaining a website such as this requires a huge investment of time and work, I take part in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program. This is an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising products and linking to amazon.com. I will only advertise products I deem relevant to my readers here. I also participate in the Zazzle Associate Program, whereby I promote products designed by me or others using Israeli and Jewish themes. Any sales made on either of these sites, after entering the site via products I advertise here, will bring me a sales commission. That is the only way I make any income from the hours of work I commit to researching and writing the articles you find here. Thanks so much for your support.
