Eyes of a Different Color: Memoir of Love From Israel to America

Oy vey! It’s 1979, and a young Israeli girl finds love with an American doctor during a brief visit and risks it all to get married after a whirlwind romance. Now the young couple must really get to know one another post-nuptials while trying to survive as fish out of water in rural Texas. This true love story will have you laughing and crying through life’s ups and downs while experiencing a marriage story like no other.

What could Bob, a newly minted New York physician, and an 18-year-old Israeli woman, Iris, have in common? From New York to Tel Aviv and, finally, of all places, Odessa, Texas, they develop a mutual love. While struggling to outline the boundaries of a marriage, Iris is determined to find her own identity, apart from just being a doctor’s wife. She must master a new language, face antisemitism, and fight the loneliness of being away from family and friends in a new land. Both experience a new culture in Texas, encountering cowboy boots, the Texas two-step, and differing religious views. Follow Bob and Iris as they travel from the skyscrapers and mountains of New York to the hills of Jerusalem and on to the desert of Texas. Meet the people they knew—New Yorkers, Israelis, Texans—and the situations of marriage, culture, and self-identity that many of us share. This true story is one of hard-won triumphs and unexplained tragedy.