Israel has become part of the identity of at least one Philadelphia-born young man after he spent the last eight months learning in Israel.
"It's the most amazing thing I have ever done in my life,”said Asher Dayanim, a student in Tel Aviv University’s International Program. “I'm going to have Israel as part of my identity now. It's really life changing.”
Dayanim has spent the last 8-month's living in Israel and working toward a degree in Middle Eastern Studies as part of the TAU-Columbia University Dual Degree Program, which allows students to earn a double-major in two distinct academic fields of their choice - eventually earning one degree from each university.
Dayanim spoke with The Jerusalem Post about his experiences over the last several months in the TAU program - including what it was like to attend school abroad during the coronavirus pandemic, living through Operation Guardian of the Walls, and exploring Middle East studies while living in the Middle East.
"I never really expected to study Middle Eastern studies but the department here is amazing,” Dayanim said. “All the teachers are really experts and they really do research and they are leading within the field.
"So, I came here and just started taking classes and just fell in love with... the nuanced perspective they have at Tel Aviv University."
He said that the dichotomy of the Arab-Israeli conflict goes much deeper than he previously thought, after learning both about the history of Judaism and Islam, and interacting with both Israeli and Arab Israeli students.
The reality of the conflict became much more vivid during the recent 11-day escalation between Israel and Hamas when some 4,300 rockets were shot from Gaza into Israel.
Dayanim said that he could feel the "division" on campus, following the strife between Israel and Gaza, as well as the civil unrest that plagued the country simultaneously.
"People that were friends yesterday stopped talking to each other," Dayanim said. "There are a bunch of Arabs and Israelis, and they were coexisting within the university setting," and following the escalation "you could see the society starting to crumble a bit."
But he said that quickly it all went back to “normal” - something unique about Israel and the Middle East.
Dayanim said that he was most impressed with Israel's ability to manage the coronavirus crisis, to get students back to studying in the brick and mortar environment months before any other country. He was vaccinated in February.
“I got out of [lockdown] months before anyone else," Dayanim said. "I was back and in person, and it felt like education was working again.
"My professors were really amazing in that they jumped right back into lecturing,” he continued. “They made connections really fast even though we didn't have the entire semester, it felt like one of the best semesters and I learned so much from them."