Immigration spurs new culture series

Graduate student Jennie Woolf immigrated to Israel two years ago. Though born and raised a U.S. citizen, Woolf said she never felt American.\nAfter graduating from the Kelley School of Business, she took a corporate job in Chicago.\n"I hated it," Woolf said. "So, I met with an Israeli adviser in regards to volunteer work I could do there, and when I left her office I had decided to immigrate. It wasn't really a planned thing, but it just felt right."\nTo work on her master's degree, Woolf has now returned to Bloomington and is sharing her experience in Israel with students. \nWoolf has organized a series of four programs, one each month of the spring semester, to expose students to authentic elements of Israeli culture.\n"The whole thing started with my idea to bring an Israeli belly dancer to IU," she said. "It just kind of grew from there."\nWoolf's enthusiasm for sharing Israeli culture is paralleled by her pride in her new citizenship.\n"I immigrated there; that's my new home," Woolf said. \nWoolf hopes to focus the programs on helping students better understand the difference between Israelis and Jews. \n"A lot of people interchange the two. It's a completely secular series," Woolf said. "I am going to keep anything Jewish out of it."\nThe programs will entertain and educate both Americans and Jews alike.\n"The foods we chose to cook are Israeli rather than Jewish, so many American Jews would never have tried them," she said.\nWoolf feels that most people wouldn't normally get a chance to view Israeli culture, so she feels by creating this program she can bring that to them. She also said she feels that some people hold misconceptions about Israel.\n"If you were to ask an average American about what they know about Israel they would ... correlate it with violence or terrorism," Woolf said. "I want to focus on the cultural facets of Israel, which are very rich."\nThe series kicks off Sunday with a program called "Eating Israeli" that will focus on Israeli food. Participants will cook and eat their own authentic Israeli food and then leave with a cookbook of the foods they made. The program has already filled, but three more programs follow.\n"Sounds of Israel" will be held at 8:30 p.m. Feb. 22 in Recital Hall, located in the Jacobs School of Music's Merrill Hall, and will feature four Israeli musicians playing piano, violin, viola and clarinet. The artists will perform contemporary music written by Israeli and Jewish composers. \n"It's not the typical music you would hear in a 'Schindler's List' movie," Woolf said, referring to the 1993 film set during World War II.\nDoctoral music student Yael Manor will play piano during "Sounds of Israel."\n"I think it's a great opportunity for people to hear music they haven't heard before in their life," Manor said.\nOn March 29, Woolf will present "Israel on the Move", a program focusing on Israeli dance, at 8 p.m. in the Willkie Auditorium. The program will feature belly dancers and a singer and serve authentic Israeli food.\nOn April 23, the series will conclude on Israeli Independence Day with "Israel Through Global Eyes" at 7 p.m. in the Willkie Auditorium. This last program will instruct students on how to get accurate information from the media. \n"It's going to be addressing issues like false media," Woolf said. "The international media tends to be biased against Israel."\nShe hopes that by providing accurate places to go for Israeli news, students can get a better perspective on Israeli politics and people. \nAttendance is free for all the programs, however reservations are required. Requests can be sent to Woolf at jrwoolf@indiana.edu.