Noga+Mark

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=Rational:=

In my project, I would like to take a deep look into the Israeli childhood. As a teenager myself, I see no point in choosing a subject of history, or something that Has nothing to do with me, there for I chose a subject that reflects my life. In my project, I will go over the levels of the Israeli childhood-from our birth-by interviewing the midwife Chana Divon-to a research about what society we are growing to.

During the project, I'm hoping to learn more about Israel-my country. I hope to learn new things about different ages in Israel, from Chana Divon. I hope to learn more about the next generation by researching genetics. In the project, ill go back to my own roots in Haifa- the city I was born in, And were I was most of my childhood.

Enjoy!

=Profile: Chana Divon= I chose to interview Mrs. Chana Divon. Chana is a midwife in the hospital of "Sha'arey Tzedek". As of 2009, Chana has been a midwife for 50 years (!). Today, she lives in Jerusalem. She is happily married, with 5 married children and many grandchildren (one of them even learns in Neve Chana). In her free time, Chana volunteers in the "Ezer Metzion" organization-which helps to people who has cancer. Chana helps to collect samples of bone marrow and blood from potential downers. Chana was born in Herlbershtat, Germany, in the year of 1938. Her father was the rabbi of the Jewish community in Herlbershtat. Before the Second World War, Chana's father understood what was coming, and was ready to leave Germany and make aliah, but first he want to convince his community to do the same. He was too late. The community was expelled from the city during the crystalnacht. He was taken to a concentration camp, but managed to get out because he had a visa to Palestine. Then, he took his family, and made aliah. Although he was a teacher in Palestine, Chana's father refused to accept payment for his work as a rabbi. In Palestine, the family's financial state was bad. Chana's family had four kids, and they all had to share one egg for dinner, and to pass clothes form one to the second. New clothes were luxuries, and the question "what am going to wear tomorrow?" was useless-they all had one pair of clothing for Shabbat, one for the rest of the days, and one in the laundry. Chana remembers that she was suppose to get a new dress for her "bat mitzvah", but than they got a new package of clothing from the U.S.A, and after all, she didn’t got a new dress…. Despite all the difficulties, Chana remembers a good childhood-she was very naughty, and there for got a lot of punishments…. Chana tells that she wasn’t such a good student. Her Hebrew was bad (because she spoke German at home) and she had a lot of spelling mistakes. She kept getting notes to her parents-not to speak German. Every summer, all the kids went to a working camp in Kibbutz Sha'albim, instead of a summer camp. They worked in removing rocks from fields, and collecting fruits from the trees. She used to go to "Ezra" although their building was far from her house. When Chana was 10 years old, the war of independence broke out. Chana remembers how they used to hide in shelters. In one of the breaks of the attack, they kids were taken out of the shelter to get refreshed. All of a sudden they heard a plane coming by, and her mother protected them with her body. Chana remembers that one of the attacks in Tel Aviv caused the death of one of her class members. When she graduated, it was time to find a job. Chana was debating whether to be a sports teacher or a sturdiest, but her father forbade her from doing both from religious matters. There for, Chana decided to go and study in "Sha'arey Tzedek". When she first saw a real birth in the delivery room, she decided to be a midwife-she always loved babies. From that day on, after the school, day she went to help in the delivery room. Chana can't remember her first delivery, but she remembers very well one of  the first ones: she was very young, and a young woman came to the delivery room to give birth. When Chana offered to deliver her baby, the woman looked at her, and said she will wait to one of the older midwives. After watching Chana leaving the delivery room twice with two babies in her arms, she agreed Chana will deliver her baby…..they were friends for years afterwards Today, Chana has delivered some 30 to 40 thousand babies (including one of my own sisters….) || || Every shift, Chana delivers 2 or 3 babies. After every birth, the midwives bring hot tea to the new mother, and some water to wash hands. The baby is taken to the babies' room, after spending a few minutes with his mom .Chana loves her job in the hospital. She loves to meet people; she loves the stories, and the people who work with her. Most of all, she loves the feeling of being needed-for helping people. Through her job, Chana meets all kinds of Israelis- religious, not religious, ultra orthodox and more. As Chana says, near the delivery room they are all humans - They are all worried, some nice and some less nice. Some of them thank the midwives and some don’t. Everyone has their own way to deal with the stress. Chana gives a lot to Israel by delivering the next generation to the world, and expanding the nation. Lately, Chana was selected as "Yakirat Yerushalim"! She wishes Israel peace and security.

=Background research: Genetically engineered babys.= **// …On the other hand, I was born for a very specific purpose. I wasn't the result of a cheap bottle of wine or a full moon or the heat of the moment. I was born because a scientist managed to hook up my mother's eggs and my father's sperm to create a specific combination of precious genetic material. In fact, when Jesse told me how babies get made and I, the great disbeliever, decided to ask my parents the truth, I got more than I bargained for. They sat me down and told me all the usual stuff, of course — but they also explained that they chose little embryonic me, specifically, because I could save my sister, Kate. "We loved you even more," my mother made sure to say, "Because we knew what exactly we were getting." ( //** "My sister's keeper", Jodi Picoult) I took this quote from the novel "keeper of my sister". The main character in the book-Anna, a 13 year old, is a genetically engineered baby. She was engineered so that she will be able to save her sister's Kate life. Kate is sick in a very rare leukemia; Anna was engineered to be a perfect downer. In the story, Anna keep wandering what would've happened if her sister wouldn’t be sick.  In the profile part of my project, I've interviewed Mrs. Chana Divon, who is a midwife. Chana delivers the generation of today- and so I'm curious to know- how will the future generation look? Thanks to the technology today, we can already decide how the new generation will look. Sick or healthy? This can already be engineered today. Pretty or ugly? Active or lazy? It's only a matter of time until we will find the way to fix this too. Robert Lee Hotz, a Pulitzer Prize winning author said-" “… (Genetic engineering) will change our understanding of human personality and identity.” Was he right? I guess that only the future can tell.  In the beginning of the research, the scientists used plants, and injected in them outsiders genes, with different kind of properties-like producing insulin from other animals for diabetes sick and such. The results were amazing- barley that can resist viruses, a tomato with a delay in its ripening, rice that can resist herbicide and so many other amazing results. The next step was, of course, using this technology on humans.  Gene therapy in humans was first tested in 1990, on people that have severe combined immunodeficiency. Only 10 years later, in 2000, the first success was achieved, when some of the patients developed a functional immune system. Despite the success, the trials were stopped, because 4 out 10 patients developed leukemia, as a result of injecting the genes too close to the oncogene (a cell that can change a regular cell into a cancer cell). Today, the scientists are working on correcting the gene without triggering the oncogene. Today, the scientists are using the technology of somatic genetic engineering, to help parents that have defective genes, and don’t want to pass them on to their children. Improved genes are being inserted to the defective genes (in the parents' body), and the baby inherits good and improved genes. The trouble with somatic engineering is the genes will not pass to the next generation. The child that was engineered not to be sick will deliver children that will probably inherit his parent's genetic defects. There for today we are using the 'Germline' engineering- the improved genes are being inserted into the sperm or the egg, also using a different sperm or egg to help to the damaged cell. Although the child can have more than two biological parents, the fixed genes will pass to the next generation, and further. The genetic engineering brings up a lot of ethics problems. Its also brings up the religious question- why can't we accept what g-d gave us in the first place? Psychologists explain, that we want so badly to avoid the later, what makes us engineering the future. The theory says that if the scientists will find the right genes for fixing our character and our appearance, maybe they will be able to create a new perfect race of human beings. In my opinion, I rather leave that to g-d himself.

=Literary Connection: "The Evergreen Mountain"\Yoram Taharlev=

The Hebrew version: פקחתי את עיני, היה אז חודש שבט, ראיתי מעלי ציפור קטנה אחת ותכלת השמיים וענן יחיד וראיתי - את ההר הירוק תמיד.
 * I've opened my eyes. **
 * It was the month of Shvat. **
 * Above me I saw a little bird. **
 * The sky were pale blue with one cloud, **
 * And I saw above me the evergreen mountain. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year, **
 * I still dream and ask, **
 * To breathe your winds as the first time, **
 * To lay in your shade, Carmel.  **
 * In the games of the childhood, that made us lightly drunk, **
 * We chased butterflies and slid on the slope. **
 * And when I looked for a hiding place for an innocent heart, **
 * So I ran to the evergreen mountain. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **
 * In the years of youth, in the years of love, **
 * We climbed its roads her hand in mine. **
 * We gazed to the distance toward the future, **
 * And we dreamed about the evergreen mountain. **
 * I've opened my eyes.  **
 * It was the month of Shvat. **
 * Above me I saw a little bird. **
 * The sky were pale blue with one cloud, **
 * And I saw above me the evergreen mountain. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year, **
 * I still dream and ask, **
 * To breathe your winds as the first time, **
 * To lay in your shade, Carmel.  **
 * In the games of the childhood, that made us lightly drunk, **
 * We chased butterflies and slid on the slope. **
 * And when I looked for a hiding place for an innocent heart, **
 * So I ran to the evergreen mountain. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **
 * In the years of youth, in the years of love, **
 * We climbed its roads her hand in mine. **
 * We gazed to the distance toward the future, **
 * nd we dreamed about the evergreen mountain. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **
 * We went to the army, grownup and bashful. **
 * From the wars we returned as band of brothers.  **
 * On our hands we carried friends and mates **
 * And we separated in front of the evergreen mountain. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **
 * Out kids today are already young people. **
 * Our parent's hair turned white from all their days. **
 * But we will be young every morning when we will  **
 * Look at our brother-the evergreen mountain **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **
 * We went to the army, grownup and bashful. **
 * From the wars we returned as band of brothers.  **
 * On our hands we carried friends and mates **
 * And we separated in front of the evergreen mountain. **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **
 * Out kids today are already young people. **
 * Our parent's hair turned white from all their days. **
 * But we will be young every morning when we will  **
 * Look at our brother-the evergreen mountain **
 * The evergreen mountain all the days of the year….. **

ההר הירוק כל ימות השנה, אני עוד חולם ושואל לנשום רוחותיך כבראשונה, לשכב בצילך כרמל.

במשחקי ילדות קלי השכרון רדפתי פרפרים, החלקתי במדרון ועת חיפשתי לי מסתור ללב תמים אז ברחתי - אל ההר הירוק תמיד. ההר הירוק כל ימות השנה...

בשנות הנעורים, בשנות האהבה טיפסנו בשביליו, ידי בתוך ידה השקפנו למרחק, לעבר העתיד וחלמנו - על ההר הירוק תמיד.

ההר הירוק כל ימות השנה...

הלכנו לצבא, גדולים ונבוכים, מתוך המלחמות חזרנו כאחים הבאנו על כפיים רע וידיד ונפרדנו - מול ההר הירוק תמיד.

ההר הירוק כל ימות השנה...

וילדינו כבר היום הם עלמים, הורינו - שערם הלבין מרוב ימים. אך צעירים נהיה כל בוקר, עת נביט אל אחינו - אל ההר הירוק תמיד.

ההר הירוק כל ימות השנה...  I chose to include the piece "the Evergreen Mountain", by Yoram Taharlev. The song is about Mount Carmel. It's describes the childhood of all the people who Grow up in the shade of Mount Carmel (kids of Haifa and Kibbutz Yagur). I chose this song, because it connects to my main subject- children and childhood in Israel. I've started in the beginning of every child's way by interviewing Chana, a midwife, and now I'm analyzing the childhood process of the Israeli child. Yoram Teharlev was born in 24. 1. 38 in kibbutz Yagur (in the shade of Mount Carmel….). Since his childhood, Yoram has loved to write songs, and to today he wrote dozens of known and loved Israeli songs that became an important part of the Israeli culture. As a member of Kibbutz Yagur, Taharlev was asked in 1972 to write a special song for the 50th anniversary of Yagur- the evergreen mountain. I think that in the song, the mountain symbolizes the one thing that will always stay for us no matter what, even when we got older. In a way, I think Teharlev tried to say in the song that Mount Carmel is like us, the Jews-evergreen and good, and infinite. The song also shows us the childhood process of most of the Israelis- and most of all the childhood of the kids of Haifa and Kibbutz Yagur- growing happily near the evergreen mountain, playing in its shade, but also growing in the shade of wars. Part of growing like this, means also joining the army, and fight as a band of brothers. The song shows how every Israeli grows-and most of all it shows the structure of the Israeli culture. This specific song means a lot to me, as a child who was born in Haifa and grows there until the age of 9-in the shade of mount. Carmel...

=Creative Connection:=

I choose to create my creative connection by myself. What I've created, symbolize to me the Israeli society. The nowadays society in Israel includes many faces, many ethnic groups and religious sectors. Despite the disagreements and the argues, we are still one nation, and we have to remember that all along the way so that we wont fell apart. I chose to saw people from the fabric, to show that after all-we need to unite as one man, and even if we don’t want to-we are all sawed with the same string….

=Reflaction=

So, I guess that is pretty much it. I sit in front of a finished project, and still can't believe that I've managed to do it. It was a long, hard process, but also interesting, funny and exciting. I've earned a lot of knowledge about many subjects and people. The project opened for me many channels of interests I've never thought of. In the project, I've enjoyed the most from making the background research-I've learned a lot about genetics. I also enjoyed a lot analyzing the song "the evergreen mountain"- I've learned a lot about one of my favorite songs in Hebrew…. As a said, the process was hard and long. Some parts in the project seemed to me useless and burdensome, like the creative connection-which was fun doing, but I had to think really hard how to connect it to the project. I hope I made a good project, which you enjoyed to read! Noga.

=Bibilograph:= Picoult, Jodi. ___My Sister's Keeper___. new york: Atria Books, 2006 Jones Geneva. "Genetically Engineered Babies: Where do we draw th." 8.6.09. . "Genetically Engineered Humans-- Part 2." organic consumers association. 8.6.09. . "h'har hayrok tamid." Yoram Taharlev offical web. 7.5.09. . "hh'har hayarok tamid." shironet. 7.5.09. .
 * __ Background research __****__ : __**
 * __ Literary connection __** :