Chag (Passover) in Israel

Shalom all,

It seems that the Jewish and Christian holiday’s fell on the same time this year between Christmas/Hanukah and Easter/ Passover so recently it was very busy time in Israel. You can see from the pictures the Church of the Holy Seplecre during Easter and a picture overlooking the Old City of Jerusalem during the Birkat Hachamah (the time every 28 years when the sun is in the estimated position from when creation began) the uniqueness of Jerusalem for different religions.

During the Birkat Hachamah, I could hear the echo of Jews praying from different areas around Jerusalem but what was amazing was hearing the Jews who were at the Kotel praying and singing all together because the reverberations off the walls of the Old City magnified the volume. It was one of those moments in life that I will remember forever and know that it was a special sunrise.

For Passover I went to my adopted Jerusalem family for a 6 hour seder where we read each and every page, front to back. Thank g-d there is only one night of seder in Israel. What I loved most about Passover in Israel is that you do not feel like you are suffering at all from dry matza rolls or horrible tasting food. Most of the restaurants were open and they served yummy potato bread and the menu was basically the same as during the year.

From my last email I told everyone I got a job in Zichron Yakov working at the Tishbi winery. I moved up here yesterday, got a one-bedroom apt that is very quaint, in the center of town and has a communal pool. I will send pictures and tell you all about my work experience next week. Today I went to the winery, picked up the menu and tour guide information so when you come to the Tishbi winery I will be able to give you a 30 minute tour and do some wine tasting

I can not end this email without recognizing that tonight until tomorrow night is Yom HaShoah. It will be my first time to hear the siren that will sound tomorrow morning at 10am in remembrance of the 6 million Jews that were murdered in the Holocaust.

I hope all is well with everyone.

All my love,

Esther

Moving On Up...in Israel

Hello friends and family,

It has been a whirl-win of a month. It was very nice to see friends and family in Boston and visit my old-home but once returning to Israel, I knew I arrived to my new home, where I feel I belong as a Jew. Visiting Boston made me realize that there is no place I would rather be than living in Israel. I also realized I've picked up a few Israeli "bad habits" and do not understand the meaning of an organized line anymore, personal space or how loud my voice raises when I speak Hebrew.

I can not write this email without addressing the celebration of Purim in Israel and the passing away of the elderly man I took care of, Dave Medved. Dave passed away on Purim morning, which I found out is actually a huge mitzvah and we had a few shots of whisky in his honor. Although I was sad and miss him occasionally he lived a full life and died peacefully.

One of the best aspects of living in Israel is the celebration of Jewish holidays and Purim was an exceptional holiday to experience. All the kids were dressed up, humantashins were in abundance and the partying was plenty. I would not say it was better than Halloween because growing up near Salem, MA and having Halloween as my birthday makes that holiday a fabulous occasion as well.

For the past couple of weeks I've traveled around Israel with Cassie (see picture). We relaxed in Elat, partied a bit in Tel Aviv, went shopping and sightseeing in Jerusalem and relaxed in a beautiful bed & breakfast in the Galil (Cassie's aunt owns it if anyone wants the information). Now back to real life...

Although...real life consist of...working on the Tishbi Winery in Zichron Yakov. Today I got a job working on the Tishbi winery as a tour guide and waitress. My goal for working on the winery and living in Zichron Yakov is to improve my Hebrew by being immersed in Israeli society and to learn the process of wine making. I plan on renting an apartment with Israeli young adults or living with an Israeli family.

I hope all is well with everyone and I look forward to people visiting me on the winery :)

Chag Samach (Happy Passover)

Esther

Elections and other stuff...

שלום כולם Hello everyone,

It has been a very productive and busy month in Israel (for me and the State of Israel), between the War in Gaza, Elections, Hebrew lessons, work and volunteering I barely had time to sit on the beach and read a book (which I did last Saturday). I have to admit I love wearing flip-flops in the middle of February and the sun is shining most of the days, however I am very appreciative of the little bit of rain that poured down in Jerusalem this very dry Winter (even when I get caught in it!). This is the driest Winter Israel has experienced in a very long time and it is scary because our water sources are getting lower and lower every year.

So even though I am enjoying my jobs and making a lot of friends in Jerusalem, I've decided that I need to step out of my comfort zone and be immersed in the Hebrew language and Israeli society more than I am now. Actually, I sometimes feel like I live in the Upper West Side or in Coolidge Corner. My plan is to move up to a Kibbutz in the Golan or Galil and work on a winery by the Summer. I've always wanted to learn the process of wine making and living in an area where English is rarely spoken is the only way I will become fluent in Hebrew. I am not ready to move to Tel Aviv but by improving my Hebrew I will eventually be able to get a job that suits my career ambitions which will most likely be in the Tel Aviv area. As for now, I am loving working and volunteering at PresenTense. This past Shabbat I chaired a very successful dinner at PresenTense with 70 people, which imitated a camp style feeling.

Ok- now my election experience...Most of you have read about the Elections in Israel so I will not recap the "still being decided" outcome. The one thing Israelis actually have an organized system for is the elections, probably because they do it so much. I get a card in the mail that states the location of where I vote, the hallway and even the exact booth number. However, I felt like I was voting for my Class President because I had to put a piece of paper with the party that I decided on into an envelop and the sealed envelop into a cardboard box. Even though Israelis are technology savvy they have not figured out how to make the election system modern. Also, Israelis do not understand the concept "mind your own business" (actually, I was told there are no words in Hebrew that translate this phrase) and even when I was in line to vote, the guy next to me asked me "who are you voting for?". I actually did not care that he asked and told him proudly "MIMAD" which is the Environmental party. He rolled his eyes at me and told me I was "throwing away my vote" which ended up being true because MIMAD did not get voted into the Knesset as a party (they were .3% shy of having only 1 seat). I was very excited and proud to be able to vote in these elections even if I did not vote for a big party. If you need explanation we can discuss in person or google "Knesset".

So as I was relaxing on this beautiful, sunny Shabbat day, I looked at my calender and saw that today was in fact Valentine's Day - I completely forgot about this holiday! What I love about living in Israel is that I did not see red boxes of chocolates everywhere, roses were no more expensive (I bought some for Shabbat), advertisements on TV are not geared to buying your "loved one" a present, and there was no pressure to be "on a date" today. To all my Friends and Family...Happy Valentine's Day and I hope you enjoy time spent with loved ones.

I am looking forward to visiting everyone when I come to Boston February 24- March 7. I will be in Boston most of the time but will travel to NY for a bit. I will have an American phone number so I will let people know once I get the SIM card. Have a good week and see you soon!

All my Love,

Esther

Getting Worse before it Gets Better

Hello friends and family,

I have received a few emails/ phone calls about the situation between Israel and Gaza and how I am doing and I just want to reassure all of you that I am safe in Jerusalem. I am not traveling anywhere for New Years just hanging around Jerusalem with some friends.

It is with hesitation that I write this email about the matzav (situation) because a part of me hopes that it is over in a couple of days; although the reality is it will most likely get worse before it gets better. I can go on and on about the political issues, but most of you know that Iran is funding Hamas and Hamas's sole agenda is to destroy Israel, so the big picture is the reality of fighting Iran but the immediate threat is that throughout these 6 months Hamas has rearmed with longer ranging missiles, weapons and training. Now it is finally time to deal with Hamas on the ground.

Throughout these 6 months of living in Israel I've met some great guys that are now in the army, some were called up to go into Gaza and some were trained in Gaza. It is a very unsettling feeling of actually knowing good friends here that are in Gaza compared to living in Boston knowing that "some random guys" are fighting on behalf of the Jewish State.

One of the stories I can tell you that happened a couple of days ago is this: I called my friend Dave at 10:30 Monday night and in a panicky voice he said he would call me back in 10 minutes. Ten minutes later Dave called me back and he was in shock. He was just on the phone with his mate that is a journalist who was driving near Ashquelon and all of a sudden Dave's mate heard a siren that a rocket was launched from Gaza and in position to hit Ashquelon. In Ashquelon they have 1 full minute before impact so he had 1 minute to find a shelter. Dave's mate stopped the car, put the cell phone on the seat but did not turn it off, and ran to the nearest shelter. One minute later, Dave was still on the phone listening through the phone and heard the rocket's thud. Dave then hung up the phone. Dave's mate called him back once he got back into the car and said that he was safe but could not find a shelter so he had to lie on the ground with his hands over his head until he heard the rockets impact.

My daily life is not directly affected by the situation like the people living in Beer Sheba, Sderot, Ashquelon, Ashdod and other Southern cities, but who knows? I can only hope that this mission will be swift and that the IDF learned a lot from their mistakes in the Second Lebanon War.

I am still on all these list serves from Jewish American organizations and I want to thank you for your media support, organizing rallies, and general support of Israel. I hope the next time I write it is with good news. Go to my friend Benji's blog for his comedic insight, he is brilliant. http://www.whatwarzone.com/2008/12/here-we-go-again.html

Happy New Year…all my love

Esther

Happy Hanukah, Merry Christmas, and Happy New Year!

Shalom

There is something about the holidays in Israel which reminds me how special it is to be living as a Jew in the Jewish state during this time in history. I feel very lucky to safely walk the streets of Jerusalem celebrating Hanukah with my friends, however it was not always like this and it will probably not continue forever but at this point of time in Israel I am very grateful for my freedom and lifestyle.

Some of the things I love about Hanukah in Israel are:

1. Menorah’s lit up on lamp posts and on taxi cabs (see pic)
2. Chocolate covered parve, yummy, sufganiot (aka Donuts)
3. Walking down the street and seeing Hanukah candles burning in the windows of people’s homes
4. Saying Chag Samach to everyone and not having to explain to anyone that yes, in fact, I am Jewish and do not celebrate Christmas

My favorite Hanukah story in Israel is that one of my friends, Paul, was at the gym the first night of Hanukah at 5:30ish. Over the loud speaker the receptionist announced that lighting the Menorah will be at the front desk in a couple of minutes. All of a sudden the treadmills, elliptical machines, macho men lifting weights, dance class STOPPED! Everyone came to the front desk to light the first candles and sing Hanukah songs. Only in Israel!

My next religious experience was Midnight mass church bouncing in the Old City. These were some of my observations:

1. You can tell who is Jewish at mass by who is swaying back and forth to the pretty Christmas songs
2. The Jerusalemite Syndrome Jesuses were walking around like it was their Birthday
3. The priest of the Scottish church said Christmas is all about a crack-whore, I think he was talking about Mary but he could have been talking about a ritz cracker
4. The priest also said if Jesus was an entitled middle-upper class Jew than he would not be their savior. This could be taken as anti-Semitic or maybe this priest had a bad day with Israeli customer service.

To all my Jewish friends, I hope you enjoyed the Matzo Ball dance, saw a good movie and ate yummy Chinese food. To all my non-Jewish friends, Merry Christmas and I hope you enjoyed it with your loved ones.

Today is my 6 month Aliyah-versary and I will be celebrating with friends at a few parties tonight.

All my love,

Esther

Integrating into Israeli society

Hello friends and family,

It has been about a month since I've updated you about life in Israel, which is going very well. It is getting a bit chilly here but I still go out for my morning runs which proves to be the most dangerous thing here because of the wet, slippery leaves on the limestone, hilly sidewalks.

I ended Ulpan Etzion early in November because life was getting busy and I started working a few jobs but I found a part-time intensive Ulpan which I will start in early January. In the meantime, I babysit the cutest baby, care for a very nice elderly man, am the Marketing Director for Sacred Burial Products which capitalizes on Christian ideology by selling soil from Israel to Christians for burial (everyone has their flugelbinder) so hopefully this is mine, and I am selling ads for PresenTense Magazine. I am also on the Steering Committee for PresenTense Summer Institute and will be developing a business/ leadership curriculum for the summer fellows. (my Masters is actually coming in handy!)

It is hard to express in words the transition that I am going through living in Israel but what I've realized is that this experience is a step to the process. It is not the end all be all, but something that will make me a better Jewish leader and Zionist. The World is too transient now to be in one place forever.

I've thought a lot about the transition steps for an Anglo who immigrates to Israel and these are some of my observations and insights. This past summer I was in vacation/program mode in which I made my group of friends, explored Israel, and finally enjoyed some free time in my life. Then the Chagim (holidays) month was a fun-food-filled festival in which I experienced some eye-opening events. After the Chagim reality set in and money starting running low so it was time for me to stop having so much fun and start applying for the jobs I was researching in the field of Corporate Social Responsibility, but reality hit me even harder when people told me my Hebrew was not up to par. This brings me to the real integration into Israeli society- working 4 jobs!

I love living here but there are times I feel like my world in Boston just lifted itself up and changed locations to Jerusalem. Through talking with people they say the integration into Israeli society takes a good three years, from learning Hebrew, to settling into a community, getting a "real" job and breaking away from my Anglo world. Who knows? I have friends here for all different reasons, some just to get a free Masters, or an Israeli passport which is more useful than their South African passport, and some to find a husband. I am still finding my reason but in the meantime gaining insight into the process. I also think to really understand what it means to live in Israel and be an Israeli I have to live in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem and maybe up North (working on a winery).

Sorry this is such a long email but I've been doing a lot of thinking about the integration into Israeli society and how/where I would benefit the Jewish world at large.
I am very excited to see some of you this December/January when you are leading Birthrights, which if you need to me to speak to the group about any topic, I am available. For the rest of you, I will see you when I visit Boston/Philly/NY in late February.

Chag Samach and all my love,
Esther
www.esthersaliyah.blogspot.com
Me and baby Livnat...soooooo cute!

My street!!!

Nir Barkat and the GA

Shalom from the homeland!

Sorry it has been a while since I've updated everyone about the happening with my life in Israel but life is very busy and interesting. I am still going to Ulpan (Hebrew lessons) but only about 3 days a week, I am working part-time babysitting and in elderly care, and enjoying my new friends.

The interesting part of my life is that I was campaigning for Nir Barkat, the newly elected mayor of Jerusalem and he WON!! I am sure most of you have heard about him if not you can go here: http://www.barkat.org.il/English.aspx. The day of the election I stood on the corner of a major intersection waving at people and yelling VOTE Nir Barkat (in Hebrew) - see picture! Also, the night of the American election we stayed up very very late to watch the results on tv and it was extremely exciting that Obama won.

These past few days the GA (General Assembly) of North American Federations was happening in Jerusalem so I attended most of the conference. The speakers included Prime Minister Olmert, President Shimon Peres, Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and many other Jewish leaders. The main point of the conference for me was to network and see some friends from Boston/NY/DC which was very nice. I would fill you in on the details but my friend Benji Lovitt (who went with me) wrote such a hysterically true piece on the conference that I am going to direct you to his blog. http://www.whatwarzone.com/2008/11/its-ujcs-ga-2008no-its-matza-balloh.html

I hope all is well with everyone in the States and you are "staying above water" during this challenging economic time.

All my love,
Esther
Taryn and me volunteering on election day