Orit Arfa

Now those feelings of enthrallment I felt as a new Israeli have come back for Berlin.

Und jetzt, da der Terror auch Dich betrifft, trifft es mich so viel stärker als bei jedem anderen europäischen Land, das vom Terror heimgesucht wird. Wenn ich höre, wie Freunde sagen, dass Du es verdient hast.

And I have learned the wrong lesson from our common history. “Never again war” is the wrong lesson. “Never again lack of freedom” would be the right lesson.

And now, when a terror attack hits you, I feel more pain for you than for any other European country victimized by terror, even as I hear friends say Germany deserves it, that it got what’s coming, especially for indiscriminately opening its borders to scores of migrants from antisemitic Muslim countries. But I feel your pain, and I want to fight for you, almost as much as I want to fight for Israel.

Just recently, he translated my “Love Letter to Germany, from the Granddaughter of Holocaust Survivors”. The comments I have received from Germans are very heartwarming, indicating that the seeds of a true Israel-German friendship and partnership exist, and that the two nations could fight darkness together. On his pages, the letter has received over 1500 shares and likes.

One of the advantages of living in Berlin, at least for the summer, is the fact that you walk a lot. Even though public transportation is excellent and you don’t need a car, walking on the wide sidewalks is so pleasant in the mild weather. With my iPhone’s “Health” app tracking my steps, I was able to compare how much walking I do in Berlin versus Tel Aviv and Los Angeles (where I drive). Here is a weekly average: (Based on a random sample – we’ll see how this changes now that I got a bike!)

Just that day Yehoshua was denied the opportunity to testify at a Nazi war criminal trial against a former Nazi SS guard. The judge’s refusal, citing lack of necessity for the testimony, was an emotional and physical slap. Yehoshua had hurt his knee a few weeks earlier but decided he must travel to Germany to seek justice. He had prepared his words, how he had lugged dead bodies out of Auschwitz gas chambers, pulling them apart as they stuck together during their murder.

And the number one answer is….

A new refugee is storming your shores.
She is known to be extremely dangerous. Some people call her a radical. In some countries, she has a price on her head. She is a woman with a vengeance, a defender of her people. She’s sometimes armed – with biting humor, a sharp tongue, and irony.

“An Israeli refugee in Berlin” is a blog in the Jewish Journal of Los Angeles, chronicling the life of Orit Arfa in Berlin in the Summer of 2016, as she delves into city life, German-Israeli relations, the refugee crisis, and the Tel Aviv-Berlin connection.