‘Pursuing passion’: U.S. women in Israel share how they make things happen

Dig a little into the lives of ordinary women and you can unearth some extraordinary stories.

Just ask author Anita Jacobs. Two years ago, she did just that while interviewing American women who had made aliyah for a book she was writing about the lives they'd carved out for themselves in Israel.

The idea was to illustrate how 21 pioneering women were leading pioneering lives by pursuing work they were passionate about. In the process of talking with one of them, Jacobs also got a personal and poignant lesson on the power of individuals to inspire one another.

While on a yearlong fellowship in Jerusalem, Jacobs met Joan Shrensky, a New Jersey woman who had moved to Israel with her family in 1981 and went on to create a school in Jerusalem that integrates youngsters into a program for students with special needs.

Shrensky told Jacobs that her family's move to Israel was motivated in part by her husband's college roommate. An ardent Zionist, that roommate had died in an auto accident at the age of 27 before ever visiting the Jewish homeland.

The roommate turned out to be Jacobs' brother, Louis Isaacson.

While discussing a possible move to Israel two decades ago, Shrensky's husband said, "Yes. In this guy's honor, I really want to go."

Jacobs describes that flash of realization as a "chilling moment and eye-opening moment.

"Never did it hit home so thoroughly about the effect one person can have on another," said the 55-year-old writer and professional speaker whose profiles of Shrensky and 20 other Americans are presented in "Portraits in Passion: Vision and Values of American-Israeli Women."

A New Jersey resident, Jacobs will describe that moment and her book when she comes to San Ramon on Monday to address the annual "Choices" event, sponsored by the Women's Philanthropy Division of the Jewish Community Federation of the Greater East Bay.

Inspirational stories will be a theme in her talk.

A former training director for the United Jewish Appeal's national campaign, Jacobs said her book grew out of the year she spent in 2000-01 on a Melton Senior Educator Fellowship at Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Her stay coincided with the flare-up of the intifada and a time when Israel often felt like a lonely place, according to Jacobs.

Hoping to underscore the links between American and Israeli Jews, Jacobs decided to write a book about everyday people who had become local heroes by pursuing their passions. The resulting work includes educators, activists, musicians, therapists, legal-aid directors.

"I didn't want really famous people," said Jacobs. "I wanted people who were like you and me."

"My main goal was to find a new way to restate the realities — that Americans and Israelis are culturally similar," with common views, for instance, on democracy and compassion.

A second aim was "to help people find their passion," she said.

Jacobs decided to focus specifically on women and then, for purely practical reasons — namely a less-than-fluent grasp of Hebrew — narrowed her scope to Americans living in Israel.

"I feel many people have a vision, a passion to do something special with their lives," Jacobs said. She hoped the book, written in the womens' own voices, could show readers how they might take action "to make things happen."

Coming up with the subjects was no problem. Jacobs located most of them by word of mouth.

Among the characteristics displayed by the women profiled in the book are hard work, tenacity, motivation, faith, leadership — and guts, said Jacobs.

A lesson she learned from her interviews was "to open yourself to life's purpose. To listen to your inner voice and decide what kind of person you want to be."

In her prologue, Jacobs invites readers to "Draw a parallel, make comparisons and gain inspiration — I certainly have."

"Portraits in Passion: Vision and Values of American-Israeli Women" by Anita I. Jacobs with Miriam K. Landau (155 pages, 1st Books Library, $15.50 paperback).