Loving Israel Every Day

Alumni Profile: Sara Miriam Liben ’05

Sara Miriam Liben ’05 got hooked on Israel early in her life, and it quickly became apparent that making aliyah was her destiny. Sara Miriam had traveled to Israel numerous times, including on her eighth-grade trip with Schechter, by the time she reached college. But it took a moment near the beginning of her senior year, when she was studying in Israel, to make her move inevitable.

“I realized that I knew so much about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and I had never met a Palestinian,” she says. “I realized I knew everything about Israel, how to talk about Israel and how much I loved it, and I didn’t understand the complicated nature of running a country that doesn’t have separation of religion and state. To have such a robust education and to understand just how little I knew—I actually think this is one of the best and most humbling realizations that any young adult can have.”

It was then that Sara Miriam knew she needed to return to Israel following her college graduation to ask more questions.

After graduating from Schechter, Sara Miriam headed first to the Maimonides School and then to the dual bachelor’s degree program with Columbia University and the Jewish Theological Seminary. Following her college graduation, she was on a fellowship in Israel when a war broke out. In the midst of rockets in Jerusalem and friends fighting in the Israel Defense Forces, she found that the interim space of being an “American in Israel” challenged the way her voice was being heard.

“That summer, my friends in America were like, ‘whether you’re right or left, you don’t really matter because you’re not Israeli.’ And my friends in Israel said, ‘you’re just here for a year and a half, what do you really know?’” she remembers. “And it was that summer that I said [to myself] I have a voice, I have a I have a voice, I have a vision for what this country should look like. I want to be part of Israeli society to make an impact here.

Sara Miriam currently serves as the director of the Nativ College Leadership gap-year program, leading its day-to-day operations and managing a staff of six. Even the English meaning of Nativ fits Sara Miriam’s life: “path.”

“Every day brings questions of what it means to foster a vibrant Jewish-egalitarian community in Israel and how we have complex conversations about Israel, Jewish identity, and fostering personal growth with smart young adults. We’re talking about so many things like LGBTQ spaces, our relationships with Israel, how our politics affects our community and more,” she says. “My goal is not that the students make aliyah; my goal is that they go back to college campuses, and they’re able to speak about Israel and advocate for Israel because they had a transformative experience, met really diverse people here and really have a lot to say and give. Ultimately, they return to their Jewish communities with a strong relationship with Israel as well as an appetite to ask curious questions about the world around them.”

Nativ is split into two sections. The first semester focuses on academics, during which students can study in Ulpan at Hebrew University, the Conservative Yeshiva or participate in a coding bootcamp. Participants spend the rest of the year volunteering in Israel’s periphery and participating in specialized seminars.

“The best thing we can do is give young adults an authentic experience here,” she says. “I’m working on our leadership development, I’m working on how we talk about Israel. I think everybody has a lot to learn about doing Israel education better and differently. I certainly don’t think that I know how to do Israel education perfectly, but it’s a huge zhut [honor] to be able to work with our young adults in this sphere.”

Sara Miriam’s ties to Schechter remain strong. Two of her two closest friends are from her Kindergarten class, David Offit and Talia Klein, and the trio gets together often. She also is the youngest of five siblings, all of whom graduated from the school: Micah ’95, Noah ’96, Talia ’98 and Jonah ’02.

Schechter not only launched Sara Miriam’s love of Israel, but also her life-long quest for knowledge.

“Don’t be afraid to ask questions. It’s not just that no question is a stupid question, it’s that only [in] asking questions do we begin to uncover things that we didn’t even realize that we didn’t know,” she says. “That’s huge, and if it can be instilled in every child, that’s a really, really big thing to leave with.”

Sara Miriam also appreciated the teachers at Schechter and their dedication to each student.

“Schechter never really gave up on any student,” she recalls. “It was always about you as an individual and how you can grow, which is an exemplary way to approach education.”

Sara Miriam currently lives in Jerusalem with her husband, Adam, whom she married in March 2021. Her brother, Jonah, lives in Tel Aviv.

“Don’t be afraid to let your children ask questions and answer them truthfully. I think we’re seeing that with all social issues these days,” she says. “I find that sometimes, especially with kids, we pretend that some of the challenges aren’t there because of Ahavat Yisrael [love of Israel]. Ahavat Yisrael—for the country and Jewish peoplehood—is a big part of my identity. Instead of shying away from challenges, I believe we should be confronting them with love and curiosity. Ultimately, I believe it will strengthen our relationship with Israel. Just like anything else going on in the world, it’s really important that we care about a country from a place of love, curiosity and knowledge.”

Spring/Summer 2022 | Schechter Stories