Pittsburgh students navigate Israeli internships amid missile attacks
'Realistically, there is a war going on, and you can't take life for granted'
University of Pittsburgh student Yael Habari has made more than a dozen trips to Israel. Last week was the first time she heard a siren.
Habari, 20, is in Israel completing a real estate internship through the Birthright Israel Onward program. Speaking to the Chronicle by phone, she said that although she hoped this trip would be as uneventful as prior excursions, recent experiences proved otherwise.
On June 7, Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel. The Israeli army retaliated by striking Beirut. Fighting escalated, according to the Institute for the Study of War, a Washington D.C.-based think tank, when Iran fired multiple ballistic missiles at Israel.
Habari arrived in the Jewish state several weeks before the recent skirmishes.
“Part of me hoped that the three months that I’d be here, maybe I would just get lucky again and not have to experience a siren,” she said. When chatter began regarding potential missile fire, “I kind of did start to get anxious, because it was going to be a new experience for me — hearing the sirens and going into the bomb shelter.”
Before the June 7 rocket fire, Habari said, program organizers offered ample instructions, including directions to the nearest bomb shelter.
After an alarm on her phone indicated rockets were en route to Tel Aviv, Habari followed the directions and made her way to the shelter. Once rocket fire ended, and Habari and others were told they could return to their hostel, a new sense of awareness arrived, she said. Work on June 8 was canceled. People spent the day hanging out near bomb shelters. On June 9, “we went back to work like normal, and it wasn’t like it never happened — because people are cautious, people are aware that it could happen, you’re never out of the uncertainty — but at the same
time, it’s very much a part of life here, everyone’s aware, and everyone’s prepared.”
Like Habari, fellow University of Pittsburgh student and active Hillel JUC member Noa Solomon arrived in Israel nearly a month ago as part of the Birthright Israel Onward program.
Solomon, 20, said by phone she’s visited Israel before and hoped this summer she would be able to spend time with relatives as well as explore professional opportunities in the Jewish state.
The Pitt student began her marketing internship on June 7. That evening rumors swelled that “there’s a chance that there would be an attack from Iran,” Solomon said. “We were already pretty much on edge.”
As rocket fire lasted into the early hours of June 8, Solomon said she and several peers made their way between the bomb shelter and the hostel, hung out, listened to music and updated parents about the situation.
Solomon’s marketing internship was canceled on June 8. When she returned to the office on June 9, some individuals asked about her experience; most people, however, “kind of moved on,” she said. “It wasn’t the biggest thing for them here, obviously; it was just one morning for four hours.”
The mindset, Solomon explained, was, “That’s it, you just go on about your day, you have work, and the next day we just kept going.”
David, a Carnegie Mellon University student who asked that his last name be withheld, is also participating in the Birthright Israel Onward program. Speaking by phone, David said that before participating in the program and interning at a tech startup, he’d never visited Israel. In the weeks since he’s arrived in the Jewish state, he’s experienced “every emotion at once.”
“I don’t know if every single aspect of it is as amazing or fairy tale as I thought it would be, but it really feels like I’m living like an authentic Jewish Israeli summer,” he said. “You go from going to the Nova festival [site] to partying in Tel Aviv on the same day. You go from living your best Tel Aviv tech startup Onward internship life to running to a shelter a few hours later.”
David said he’s become “more grounded in the situation” since first heading to a bomb shelter.
“You realize it’s true what they say about most of the injuries coming from people running and panicking. You realize you have a lot more time than you think you do.”
At first, it’s scary to think that a shelter is a three-minute walk away and rockets may arrive four minutes later, he said. All these thoughts run through one’s mind: “What if this, what if that? The concept of a missile is so scary, but I think once you realize the reality, you’re a lot calmer about walking there, and that actually saves lives.”
Solomon said her Israeli summer has already delivered much of what she desired: a chance to visit family and gain perspective on living abroad.
“I think the biggest thing is that the media makes it seem much scarier in the United States than it really is for people here,” she said. “While people are fearful, it’s not constant anxiety … We all go to our internships, we all go out at night, we all go to the gym and whatever normal-life things that you do anywhere.”
There is a stark difference, though, between life in Israel and life in Pittsburgh, Habari said. “Realistically, there is a war going on, and you can’t take life for granted.”
The reality of constant battle deeply impacts the “quality of life here,” she said. People are “losing friends to the war, so they want to make the most of their lives now, and have a good time, and live their life, and be happy and experience good things,” Habari continued. “People have more to live for here.”
Back in Pittsburgh, Dan Marcus, Hillel JUC’s executive director and CEO told the Chronicle, “Birthright Israel Onward continues to be one of the most vital immersive experiences for the Hillel JUC Jewish student community. This program allows students to live and work in a meaningful and authentic way.” PJC
Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.
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