Tom Silberberg, 18, from Kfar Sava As part of a gap-year program she begins later this month, 18-year-old Tom Silberberg was supposed to have spent the summer doing volunteer work in one of the disadvantaged communities down south most heavily targeted by Hamas rockets. To her great disappointment, her plans were called off because of safety concerns. The recent high-school graduate from Kfar Sava, who sings, writes music and plays the guitar, did enjoy a trip oversees this summer with her family, but that too was overshadowed by the war. “We took a family roots trip to Hungary and Slovakia, but we spent a lot of time worrying there about what was going on back here. Somehow, when you’re in the country, it’s easier to deal with because you know exactly what’s going on,” Tom explains. There were some difficult discussions on the trip about the goings-on in Gaza, she says, noting that “even though my family tends to the left in their politics, it was hard to hold a conversation about what needs to be done so that things can be better here.” Tom says she hopes to work on a Jewish-Arab coexistence project during her gap-year program, “but who knows if I’ll be able to recruit anyone now.” For the past few years, she’s been struggling with the question of whether to join the IDF because she considers herself a pacifist. “The war this summer made my dilemma even stronger,” she acknowledges.
Posted on: Tue, 19 Aug 2014 02:55:12 +0000
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