Reflections on my time at HU
By Mira Sucharov, Ottawa
I had planned to study at Hebrew University from the time I was fifteen. Sure enough, I followed through on my plan when I was in third year university and went on the one-year program at Rothberg in 1992/93. I took this year away from my studies at McGill, where I was a Middle East Studies major. When I arrived, I visited the computer science office to ask about getting an “electronic mail” account. Email was still in its early stages. Two of us had to share an account back then.
While at Hebrew U, I took a course in Israeli poetry (in Hebrew) from the wonderful poet Yehuda Amichai, a highlight of my year for sure. I spent many weekends on kibbutz — either visiting my aunt and uncle on their kibbutz in the Galilee, or my newly-assigned “kibbutz family” on “my” adoptive kibbutz in the northern Negev.
My year at Hebrew U solidified a lifetime connection to Israel-Palestine and paved the path for me to continue graduate work. Having completed a PhD in Government at Georgetown University in 2001, I took a faculty position at Carleton University in Ottawa, where I still teach. I specialize in Israeli-Palestinian relations, op-ed writing and social media engagement.
Now, my scholarly and professional life — including having written a regular column in Haaretz for several years — is consumed with thinking about new forms of justice for Israelis and Palestinians.
My “kibbutz family” has since visited my husband and I in Vancouver, Ottawa, and Washington DC, and we have visited them in Israel. And I speak only Hebrew to our kids.
- Mira is currently an Associate Professor of Political Science at Carleton University in Ottawa and specializes in Israeli-Palestinian relations, international relations, op-ed writing and social media engagement.