Married to a Jewish man and settled in Israel for more than 20 years, for many years, Ms. Hong Shurany's family has always been an address for the Vietnamese labor and trainee community to express their feelings and nostalgia for their homeland, especially during the Tet holiday. The small house and lovely garden in the city of Netanya, Central Israel, have long been a meeting place for many Vietnamese people working and studying in Israel. Having just returned from a trip of more than 2 weeks to Vietnam, she was busy in the kitchen preparing a meal to invite some Vietnamese relatives to her house to "celebrate Tet early". The peach blossom branch made of silk was taken out to be cleaned and re-planted. The Vietnamese flag was hung up. Simple dishes, such as pork sausage, spring rolls, vermicelli with grilled pork, rice noodles... cooked with ingredients brought from Vietnam, made the meal full of the flavor of the homeland. She confided: In Israel, it is very difficult to have a full Vietnamese meal, everything is lacking. Banh chung must be wrapped in banana leaves. Luckily, there were also shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms that had just been brought over, so the soup had the right flavor. The joy of meeting the community and preparing a special meal to help everyone feel at home helped her forget the fatigue after the 16-hour flight from Vietnam and the time difference with her home country.
Ms. Hong went into the kitchen to cook rice to invite everyone.
The guests included a few Vietnamese families and some agricultural interns who had just come to Israel under the training program of the international agricultural training center Agrostudies. The stories around the dinner table this year, in addition to traditional Tet customs and old Tet memories, could not help but mention the topic of war. Stories about families having people in the army, stories about participating in volunteer activities, stories about avoiding bombs and bullets, keeping oneself safe, especially for the interns who had just come to Israel to study.
The Vietnamese community in Israel has about 500 people, scattered in the three regions of northern, central and southern Israel. The war broke out on October 7, 2023 and has lasted for more than 3 months. Fortunately, the community is still peaceful because most of them live far from the war zone. However, clashes with sirens still take place every day in the border area adjacent to the Gaza Strip and the Lebanese border, making the risk of insecurity always present. Ms. Hong said: “After many years living in Israel, I have become accustomed to bombs and bullets of war. But the atmosphere has never been as urgent as this year. I am very worried, especially for young people who have just arrived from Vietnam, living far from home and are not mentally stable. My eldest son is also in the army, serving in a high-tech combat unit, so he sympathizes a lot.” Although her work is busy, every time there are events organized by the Vietnamese Embassy, such as the community Tet or the National Day celebration on September 2, her family always participates and enthusiastically supports, especially in the logistics stages such as food preparation, banh chung cooking, and decoration. She herself is active as a member of the Community Liaison Committee, as well as a member of the Vietnamese community in Israel who always looks towards her homeland. Commenting on Ms. Hong, Ambassador Ly Duc Trung said: “The Vietnamese community is an important factor in connecting and promoting understanding and friendship between the people of Vietnam and Israel. Among them, Ms. Hong Shurany is one of those who always enthusiastically participates and supports the Embassy in the common activities of the community, is an active nucleus, contributing to the success of the Embassy in the field of people-to-people diplomacy”. The group of trainees celebrate Tet at Ms. Hong's house. Not only that, Ms. Hong Shurany’s family is also one of the addresses welcoming workers and trainees who are working and studying in Israel. For the first time being away from their families during Tet, in a country tens of thousands of kilometers away with strange customs and practices, the workers and trainees feel like they are living in the atmosphere and flavor of Tet in Vietnam. Every time, she personally prepares the ingredients to wrap Chung cakes, prepares Tet dishes with traditional dishes to help the trainees ease their homesickness.
Ms. Hong on a visit to Vietnam.
Successful and considering Israel as her second home, Ms. Hong Shurany always looks to Vietnam with the desire to contribute to building her homeland to become richer and more developed. Every year, she returns to Vietnam 3-4 times to participate in activities such as charity work to help people in the highlands, and attend conferences and seminars on encouraging investment resources from Vietnamese people abroad. In particular, on every trip, she spends time going to border areas and islands to introduce and promote the country's scenic spots to the people of Israel. Currently, Ms. Hong Shurany is investing in a number of high-tech agricultural projects in Dak Lak and Gia Lai provinces, with a scale of dozens of hectares, focusing on growing avocado and pineapple trees using Israeli varieties and technology. She hopes to expand to other provinces and cities in the next few years, contributing to promoting agricultural development, increasing productivity and farming efficiency, creating more jobs and income for local people. Welcoming the Lunar New Year of Giap Thin this year, which falls during the war, traveling and visiting each other in the Vietnamese community in Israel is somewhat more difficult. The Vietnamese Association Liaison Committee coordinated with the Embassy to organize online community meetings for people to exchange and share their lives during the war and support each other if necessary. When asked if her husband was worried or complained when she spent a lot of time traveling and participating in community work, she smiled and said: “Over the years, my 'Vietnamese son-in-law' has always accompanied, encouraged and supported his wife in both common and personal work, becoming a solid rear for me to freely participate in community activities. My husband and two children all attended community meetings. My wish is that my family will become a small bridge connecting the people of the two countries, contributing to the common effort to build the image of Vietnam as a friendly, potential country, a safe and attractive destination for Israeli tourists."
Married to a Jewish man and settled in Israel for more than 20 years, for many years, Ms. Hong Shurany's family has always been an address for the Vietnamese labor and trainee community to express their feelings and nostalgia for their homeland, especially during the Tet holiday. The small house and lovely garden in the city of Netanya, Central Israel, have long been a meeting place for many Vietnamese people working and studying in Israel. Having just returned from a trip of more than 2 weeks to Vietnam, she was busy in the kitchen preparing a meal to invite some Vietnamese relatives to her house to "celebrate Tet early". The peach blossom branch made of silk was taken out to be cleaned and re-planted. The Vietnamese flag was hung up. Simple dishes, such as pork sausage, spring rolls, vermicelli with grilled pork, rice noodles... cooked with ingredients brought from Vietnam, made the meal full of the flavor of the homeland. She confided: In Israel, it is very difficult to have a full Vietnamese meal, everything is lacking. Banh chung must be wrapped in banana leaves. Luckily, there were also shiitake mushrooms and wood ear mushrooms that had just been brought over, so the soup had the right flavor. The joy of meeting the community and preparing a special meal to help everyone feel at home helped her forget the fatigue after the 16-hour flight from Vietnam and the time difference with her home country. 
![[Photo] Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh chairs Government Conference with localities on economic growth](https://vstatic.vietnam.vn/vietnam/resource/IMAGE/2025/2/21/f34583484f2643a2a2b72168a0d64baa)
Comment (0)