Former US-Israeli cop goes into sabra sports and gets the shock of his life

Ami Baran, then 13 years old, decided to leave Chicago and come to Israel on her own in 1974. His Zionist identity and dedication to a life in Israel had already been forged by the time he was 13 – bar mitzvah age when Jewish boys formally become mature.

"I grew up knowing that my parents had survived the Holocaust," Baran told The Times of Israel. "My father was a partisan fighter," says the author. His ent....