Letters deliver common ground to East County, Israeli student

Lia Silber’s letters during the summer of 2014 described alarms sounding and the possibility of having to evacuate her home in Tel Mond, Israel.

“I heard an alarm in my house for the first time,” Lia wrote to her pen pal, Mill Creek resident Natalie Mount. “Where my grandpa and uncle live, there are two daily alarms.”

Natalie couldn’t relate to the chaotic political climate last year in the Middle East, or the constant threat of danger; she worried when she didn't hear from Lia for a few weeks.

But in the last year, as violence in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict has become less frequent, the 13-year-old girls’ letters and friendship is changing.

Instead of asking Lia whether she is safe, Natalie asks her pen pal about her summer vacation plans and what good books she has read lately.

“The biggest news I had was that I got two cats — Prince and Charming,” Natalie said. “But, those are the kinds of things we can talk about now. We can talk about normal friend things again, and I don't worry so much if I don’t hear from her for a little while. I know normal life things happen.”

The girls met for the first time since they became pen pals last year. Natalie and her mother, Marni, and other family members traveled with a group from Temple Emanu-El on a 10-day trip in June to Israel.

Lia and Natalie coordinated to meet for a daylong hangout June 13.

They visited Madatech, the Israel National Museum of Science, Technology and Space. While they toured the exhibits, they talked nonstop about the happenings they forgot to write about over the last year.

Lia gave Natalie a copy of the memoir, “Wild: From Lost to Found on the Pacific Crest Trail,” in English, and Lia will read it in Hebrew. They will discuss the book together in their letters.

"At first, I was quiet and didn’t know what to say," Natalie said. “I had so much to say and so little at the same time, because we hadn't seen each other in a year, but we talk all the time.”

The girls sparked their friendship when Lia came to visit Sarasota for a junior playwriting contest. During her trip, she attended Temple Emanu-El and met Natalie.

They became fast friends and began exchanging letters. 

In the early stages of the pen pal relationship, Mount helped her daughter generate conversations with her new overseas friend. Over time, Mount formed a relationship with Lia's mother, Tali.

The mothers email each other monthly and also spent time together during the recent trip to Israel.

The Silber family has plans to visit East County again within the next few years, and the Mounts will likely clear space for the family to stay with them.

As the girls enter eighth grade, Natalie expects their letters will continue to keep them active in each other’s lives.

But after high school, the girls’ lives will likely take diverging paths.

Natalie plans to attend college and maybe study abroad for a semester in Israel.

But Lia might not have much time to write letters or emails. Israel requires 18-year-olds to enlist in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) after high school. Men serve a mandatory four years, and women serve for two years.

“We plan on being friends our whole lives, definitely. But, it will be interesting — and scary — to see how (Lia's) life, and mine, changes after high school.” — Natalie Mount, Haile Middle student

Although Lia hasn't been hearing the alarms as frequently as she did a year ago, the girls are still nervous about the time she will spend in the IDF.

Marni Mount comforts her daughter by reminding her that they aren’t even in high school yet, and the world will change by then. 

Both girls maintain hope for peace.

“My letters were sent back a lot more last year than they are now,” Natalie said. “Hopefully things continue to calm down and I won't have to worry about Lia again, especially as we get older.”

Contact Amanda Sebastiano at [email protected]