Aliyah Diary 16: Where People Look Like Me

View All Aliyah Diary Entries

Aliyah Diary

01. Aug 19, 2024: Preparation In America
02. Aug 25, 2024: First Few Days
03. Aug 29, 2024: Moving In
04. Sept 4, 2024: First Day of School
05. Sept 8, 2024: Two Weeks In . . .
06. Sept 16, 2024: Getting Comfortable
07. Sept 22, 2024: Ready for Yom Tov
08. Sept 25, 2024: Jerusalem Concert
09. Sept 30, 2024: Nasrallahed on the Floor
10. Oct 8, 2024: Driver’s License
11. Oct 13, 2024: Packages. (חבילות.)

12. Oct 25, 2024: October Sun and the Jew
13. Oct 30, 2024: Bureaucracies and Stories
14. Nov 2, 2024: The Kindness of Strangers
15. Nov 10, 2024: Safety Fourth
16. Nov 17, 2024: Where People Look Like Us
17. Nov 19, 2024: Jewish Identity and Outlook
18. Nov 24, 2024: Learning Language – l’at, ‘lat
19. Nov 28, 2024: Taxation for Americans
20. Dec 5, 2024: Tel Aviv Art Museum
21. Dec 11, 2024: Let Freedom Ring
22. Dec 23, 2024: Doctors & “Choleh Chadash”
23. Dec 29, 2024: The West Bank. (Shomron)

Type your email…

Subscribe

Return to Israel

On a hill top near Jerusalem lives Melech, a 42 year old man, in a one-bedroom house, surrounded by desert in the only house around. Born in Miami, and now raising goats, Mark changed his name upon arrival – he said the last straw was the Colombia University protests. Disgusted by what he saw as normal for the system, he wanted to go somewhere different. The “Year of Return” marked centuries and millennia since the first documented case of enslaved Jews landing in Iraq and Italy.

“When you arrive in Israel, and you get off that plane, and you don’t see [any] white people, indeed, you tell yourself, ‘This is where I should be, a place where the people look like me.’ Even if you don’t know the people, you still feel the connection,” he said.

At least 1,500 Black Americans have moved to Ghana since the “Year of Return” was declared in 2019 and it took until 2024 for me to plagiarize satirize the article about it. While I could turn this into a polemic on racism – I won’t ( – except I can’t help myself: why is it okay for you to say “no white people”? Also, until 1863 Lincoln’s plan for slaves was “back to Africa”. He also called them the n-word, sent hundreds to Haiti in a failed experiment where they died, arrested the government of Maryland so they couldn’t have a democratic vote, made tens of thousands disappear, censored the media, and … he won, so it’s all fine, right? I taught American history for four years … I have a lot to say on Lincoln )

Return to Israel for real this time

At any rate, the “Return to Africa” is the closest analogue I can think of to Jews’ return to Israel and I write that as a lead-in to this transcription of a speech my wife gave at a melava malka in our community [a formal meal after the Shabbath – we have meals for everything] . . .

My wife’s speech:

We did not start planning our Aliyah until after Pesach and we arrived in August – we had a handyman working on my house [Husband comment: we can’t spend more money! The house is fine!] and he said ‘You must have had some sort of schus [merit] to get here in that time. What was it?

After he said that, I was thinking about it, I don’t know – we’re normal people. [Husband: I guess…] What sort of schus would we have? [Husband: can we focus on the schus of finding a handyman who shows up to work?] I was thinking about it and remembered that after the past Rosh HaShana my husband and I took it upon ourselves to learn two pages of the sefer Chefetz Chaim every day about having proper speech. [Husband: My wife took it “upon ourselves” and bless her, she’s getting me into heaven.]

It was really very powerful and it completely changed our lives and I can’t explain exactly how, only G_d makes those evaluations and I truly feel that this learning is what brought us here. [Husband: my son is probably going to make some comment about an Oxford comma.] Learning to guard our speech is something that I wanted to publicize. [Husband: that’s so embarrassing to do in person – make a blog where you can hide behind a computer.]

The other thing I wanted to share is an antidote that really hit home for me – eruv Rosh Hashana I wanted to make it special for my daughter and take her to the Kotel [Western Wall] to pray, out to eat, and lift up her spirits, because she missed her friends in American and whatever it was.

First, I want to share something about me. Number 1, I don’t listen to the news, or rather, I didn’t, now I do. [Husband: changing my name to ‘Jerusalem Post’] Number 2, I tend to kind of under-panic a little bit. [Husband: unless I sneeze.] . . . and uh . . . not anymore. [Husband: no change observed during allergy season.]

So we’re in Yerushalayim, and we’re walking around, and enjoying ourselves, and we’re kind of noticing that it’s emptying out . . . and that’s kind of weird because before a chag [holiday] or Shabbat it’s really busy, and I thinking, that’s strange, okay, whatever. So anyway, we’re walking in the Old City and nobody is around anymore and it still doesn’t dawn on me what’s going on, and suddenly the sirens go off. And … oh, is that a siren?

My daughter says, ‘yes, and see those things —“
I said, “Yes, and those – are those airplanes?”
“Nope, mom. Nope, those are rockets.”

So we’re walking around and I’m wondering what to do and – oh, Jaffa Gate! We’re running and a soldier says something. He was speaking in Hebrew and I didn’t really understand what it was though it was something like, “Geveret, why are you so stupid! Get in here!”

Alright, so suddenly I find myself surrounded by Israelis and the soldiers are surrounding us and they say get down, put your hands on your head, and bochorim [young students] with their phones out recording, put them away and get down. The soldiers – some religious, some not – they’re surrounding us and they said, “we’re going to lead you in Shir HaMaloos” [Husband: song praising G_d … we have a lot of those – this, in fact, is one we use for our special meals – we have a lot of those, remember?]

I think, alright – my 40 years, I’ve had a good run.

[Husband: I don’t know what she’s saying because I wake up every morning, look over, and I’m looking at a 35 year old woman. It’s my wife, whew. Then I put on my glasses and … I’m looking at a 30 year old. Still my wife, whew.
Then I realize I live the dream …. I’m living in Israel and my wife is lying next to me, I’m sure she’s not a day over 29.9, and we are living in Israel. Then I sneeze, my wife wakes in a panic, and that causes me to panic, and then I laugh – haha, we scared each other again! Then I panic anew when she -still- doesn’t find that interaction funny.]

… it’s over. [Husband: we’re back to the story – she means she thinks her life is over, not the hurricane-force sneeze.]

My second thought was, “Despite the fact that I find myself, less than a month after making aliyah, trying to be heroic, trying to be strong for my daughter, you know … despite all that, I decide, I still have to be here. In that moment, I would still rather be here in Jaffa gate, saying tehillim with soldiers rather than being back in New Jersey on any day.