A journalist for 45 years, Sybil Kaplan immigrated to Israel in October 1970. As one of the few female foreign correspondents covering events in the young Jewish state, it was a very exciting time in her life. So, she decided to chronicle it in a new autobiography, “Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Foreign Correspondent in Israel.” The self-published book came out Aug. 2.
Kaplan, who has compiled and edited 10 kosher cookbooks and is a book reviewer as well as a journalist, said she had been thinking about writing this partial autobiography for many years.
“I remember reviewing a couple of books, probably around 2000, that were written by women who had been to Israel and the books were so negative. {mprestriction ids="1,3"}At the time I said, ‘That’s not the Israel I knew or know. I’m going to write about the Israel that I lived in then and still love now,’” she said from her home in Jerusalem.
She wasn’t living in Israel at the time she decided to write the book. She returned to the States in October 1980 with her first husband and had two daughters. Kaplan moved back to her hometown of Kansas City in 1988 and married her current husband, Barry Kaplan, in 1991. Kaplan made her first visit back to Israel when Hadassah had its international convention there in 2001.
“I decided it was time to go back, it had been 19 years since I had visited there. I attended the convention and I also looked up people I had known when I lived in Israel and gathered updated information for the book,” she said.
The book’s introduction includes a summary of her days growing up in Kansas City and becoming a Zionist.
“The actual book begins in October 1970 when I got on the boat to come on aliyah and ends in October 1980 when I left temporarily. Each chapter is a year and the significant events that occurred in Israel are in each year chapter along with what I was doing as a journalist, as an immigrant and as a woman.”
Kaplan devoted a chapter in the 411-page paperback book to the late Milton Firestone, “a former Chronicle editor who was an important mentor for me as a journalist.”
“It contains mention of every group that came to Israel from the Greater Kansas City area, about which I wrote for The Chronicle from 1972 to 1980 — I hope I didn’t leave any groups out! I believe that’s 145 stories.”
Among those at The Chronicle she worked with at the time were Anne Shapiro and Stan Rose, both of whom are mentioned in the book.
“If anyone came to Israel during those years and I interviewed them, chances are they are mentioned in the book. I also have a disclaimer in the book because when I wrote it I didn’t know exactly who was still alive or who had passed away. Four wonderful old friends of mine went over lists of names and told me who passed away so I could indicate this with the z”l.”
Kaplan said it was her husband Barry’s idea to move to Israel in 2008.
“We had a great life in Overland Park, but it was static with no ups and downs. Between 2001 and 2006, I made six trips to Israel and Barry and I made two of those trips together. My youngest daughter, Elissa, had made aliyah and was serving in the army when we chose to move. Barry and I were Zionists deep down, so it seemed logical for him to suggest we move there,” Kaplan explained. Technically, Kaplan was a returning Israeli (because you can’t make aliyah twice) and her husband was an oleh (immigrant).
Kaplan believes the book, which sells for $35, will bring back memories to people in Kansas City who traveled to Israel during the 1970s.
“It is also a history of the 1970s in Israel from the point of view of an American female immigrant.”
She began marketing the book by writing and emailing friends and relatives along with people who are mentioned in the book. Anyone interested in ordering a copy of “Witness to History: Ten Years as a Woman Foreign Correspondent in Israel” may contact Kaplan at .{/mprestriction}
