Hi Batya and Jeff, Jeff, it was nice to see you last week! Here’s what I would like to say… While studying abroad at Tel Aviv University, I heard about Jeff Seidel’s Jewish Student programs. A few friends of mine had been learning about Judaism and I decided to try it out too. I am very glad I decided to do so, as I learned so much more than I expected and experienced Israel a way I otherwise wouldn’t have been able to. I suddenly understood why things are done they way they are in Judaism and I know that even today, if I need to ask a question I know where to turn. I am still in contact with the people who taught my classes and friends I met during them. I have since returned to Israel to live and it is very comforting knowing I have this support system. I am very grateful for Jeff Seidel and his programs!! Shavua tov,
Sydney Anderson – Tel Aviv U 2013
17
Jun
Jun
George Deek is an Arab-Israeli diplomat. In 2018, Deek was appointed Israeli ambassador to Azerbaijan. He is the first Israeli Arab Christian to become an ambassador. Deek grew up in an Eastern Orthodox Christian family in the Ajami neighborhood of Jaffa, in a building where the other tenants included Muslims, Catholics, Jews and a Catholic priest of Jewish ancestry.[2][3] His father, who worked as a tax advisor,[3] was one of the leaders of the Christian community in Jaffa who served as chairman of the Orthodox Association, and was considered a well-known and popular figure in the city until in 2015 a square was inaugurated in his memory in Jaffa in the presence of Mayor Ron Huldai.[4] According to Deek, his grandparents fled to Lebanon for safety when the 1947–1949 Palestine war, having been told that the Jews would slaughter them if they remained in their homes, but expecting to return home once Arab armies defeated the Jews.[3] According to Deek, when the war ended, his grandparents felt that they had been “deceived”, and decided to return illegally to their home in Jaffa rather than remaining in Lebanon as refugees. Since reentering the country was illegal, Deek’s grandfather, an electrician, was arrested and jailed.
