Second generation of immigrants from German speaking countries ("Yekkes")

Rachel Paz grew up in kibbutz Netzer Sereni. She served in the air force and from 1973 to 1977 she worked as assistant of the Israeli military attaché in Bonn. After 1977 she worked at the Ministry of Defense in Tel Aviv for four years. Later she worked in the coal industry in Tel Aviv and another five years for a company producing solar technology in Jerusalem. In Jerusalem she became orthodox, her marriage was arranged by her rabbi. She has 4 children. ; RP tells about her four children. She talks about the possible reasons for her interest in orthodox religion after her mother's death. She always felt a certain emptiness in her life before she became religious. She was always interested in the stories of concentration camp survivors. Her husband's ancestors came from Uzbekistan, he lived in a kibbutz for a long time before he became religious. Their son now attends a Yeshiva, it is very important to RP and her husband to pass on their religion to their children. She describes her sisters' attitude towards Judaism, she is praying for their religious conversion. ; RP attended German classes when she worked at the Israeli embassy in Germany. Her parents spoke German only sometimes with each other, but they spoke Hebrew with their children. She understands everything in German, but it has become difficult for her to express herself in German. While she worked in Germany she hardly had German acquaintances, she deliberately kept a distance. She tells about a visit of her parents in Bonn, and how happy they were when she took them with her Volkswagen on a tour through Germany. She tells how she got her father a translator's job for the Israeli embassy in Bonn and later for a ministry in Israel. ; In RP's opinion, her parents continued their “bourgeois” life from Germany after their immigration to Israel. Her mother always read German books, she was very bad at writing Hebrew. RP accuses her parents that they did not give their children the opportunity to know what Judaism is. She condemns the idealization of living in a kibbutz and says the Thorah does not speak about living in a kibbutz. She gives some details about the (bad) relationship between the Yekkes in Netzer Sereni and the Polish group there. RP talks about her husband's work as a graphologist. They don't have much contact with his family. RP has just finished a computer course and is looking for a new employment. Her eldest daughter is writing a paper on her ancestors. RP is not trying to pass on the German/Yekkish traditions, it would make her feel strange. ; RP and AB discuss religious settlements. It's hard for RP to meet relatives who are not very religious, because she wants to maintain religious precepts and traditions. She describes the different religious groups who live in Beit Shemesh. She thinks the Holocaust was possible because the Jews, after the ”emancipation”, were alienated from their religion. Her father did not appreciate that she turned towards orthodox Judaism. RP considers the lack of faith as one reason for the Intifada. According to her it is a problem that not all of the Jewish Israelis consider Palestine as the promised land.