Maria-Valeria Morris, a Moscow native and a former teacher of art history and cultural anthropology, had a lifelong passion for the English language. From her early years in her hometown of Chelyabinsk in the Ural Mountains, she was encouraged by her teachers to embrace the language, to not be afraid of making mistakes, and to view English as a medium of life, not as a foreign language.
In May of 2022, Morris took a bold step towards a new life by making Aliyah to Israel. This was a life-changing decision, not just because of her Jewish heritage but also due to the escalating political and social tensions in Russia. Morris had already obtained a visa for Israel when she realized that her opposition to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and her status as a LGBTQ+ individual made her existence in Russia increasingly dangerous.
Morris was teaching at the Liberal Arts College of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration when Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th. She and her students were deeply affected by the invasion, and the situation further escalated in March when their department was accused of distorting history and promoting Western values by the General Prosecution Office. Fearing for her safety, Morris and her mother decided to leave Russia and make their way to Israel.
Upon her arrival in Tel Aviv, Morris felt a sense of freedom that she had never experienced before. This newfound freedom encouraged her to come out publicly and embrace her true self, leading to a split from her mother. Today, Morris resides in Haifa with her best friend from Moscow and is grateful for the supportive and multicultural atmosphere of the city. She has begun a new career as a client relations manager at RGB Media in Tel Aviv and is eager to continue her education in Hebrew, attending a beginners’ ulpan and academic drawing and painting classes.
Maria-Valeria Morris reflects on her journey to Aliyah and her new life in Israel with a sense of gratitude and newfound hope. “At least I can now be open about who I am, and that’s a really drastic change,” she says. “I went to Pride Week in Tel Aviv and could never have imagined such a feeling of acceptance and diversity, like a whole other planet.”
