Elena is Ilana

This is the story of Elena, who immigrated to Israel from Russia. Her first days in the country were difficult: the children thought she was arrogant and she didn’t understand their language and games. Feeling lonely and alienated, she did not want to change her Russian name to the Hebrew name Ilana, as the teacher suggested. “I’ll never understand the Israelis,” she thinks in despair. But she slowly becomes acclimated. The Jewish holidays begin to appeal to her, one of the girls in her class becomes her friend. But the big change occurs after Elena visits a kibbutz on the border and is forced into the bomb shelter because of shelling. When she returns to her class, she discovers that all the children had been concerned about her. She agrees to be called Ilana and becomes Israeli not only in name.