Ahava from Israel: First Crazy Days

8:30am flight to Tel Aviv through Toronto (Chicago doesn't have enough Jews who want to go to Israel). I made friends with my seatmate right away, Eti (short for Esther), who is from Lombard (no Jews, she says). Eti is Israeli of Turkish descent and married to an American. She was traveling with two sons and hadn't been back in Israel for two years! She and I chatted up those 1.5 hours and we quite surprised when the pilot announced landing already. So, from 11:15am to 1:15pm (boarding El Al for Tel Aviv), I got to be in Canada for the first time. It was quite hilarious to see all the Canadian flags and paraphernalia in the gift shops. Canada seems like such a calm, nothing-ever-happens-here place!! Eti and I realized that we would be sitting almost behind each other on El Al. As soon as I got on the plane, I felt like I was in Israel already. Jews. Jews. Jews. Making noise, laughing, getting excited to go back home. El Al’s slogan is appropriate: Home Away from Home.

I made friends with the guy sitting across from me – Adam – who made aliyah from New Jersey and spent a good deal of time talking to me about the positives of making aliyah. I wasn’t convinced, but he gave some good arguments. He works for a special volunteer force of reserve IDF soldiers (already having completed army) that protects the citizens of… and …He seemed like a really solid guy to me and even invited me to come spend Shabbat in his town, not far from Jerusalem. Maybe I’ll take another seminary girl with me after I understand the terrain a bit more, although Adam said it’s just one bus ride away from the Central Bus Station in Jerusalem. This is exactly what I did when I went to BeerSheva, which was further. It may be a good glimpse into how people live outside of Jerusalem and outside of seminary and outside of all-American neighborhoods (apparently, my neighborhood, HarNof, is one such). Adam said he could even set me up for Shabbat with some French-speaking Jews. But it’s still a maybe, we’ll see…it’s good to have contacts anyway! I hope I can spend Shabbat by Celine, one of Danielle’s daughters (remember Danielle, my Parisian host mom?). Celine lives in a suburb of Jerusalem called Beit Shemesh. Adam told me something super crazy – there are a few women in Beit Shemesh (not representative of the whole community) who wear clothing similar to Muslim women and even cover their faces so that only their eyes show! Eeek! LAMA?

Something else I loved about being on a plane full of Jews is that people gathered together in the back of the plane by the “kitchen,” and just chatted away, letting the flight attendants by every now and then! No one was told to go back to their seat…everyone just happily gathered into groups where no one knew each other but just started chatting and playing Jewish geography. One woman, Daliah, told me that she and her husband used to live in Vernon Hills but now live in Long Grove. They used to belong to Vernon Hills’s Reform Synagogue, Ohr Shalom, but found it to be uninvolved with Israel and too religiously reform for their taste. They now go to a traditional synagogue a walk away from their home. She, two random ladies, Eti, an Israeli girl, and I formed a rather funny group and talked about everything from Daliah’s botox to the Israeli girl’s five years of selling Dead Sea Products in the States, to the other lady’s 25 years of living in Israel and 20 years of living in the States (first 25 years because her son woke up one day (he was 16) in San Diego (where they lived) and asked her what they were doing in this non-Jewish country. Wow. That’s quite mature. So they moved!).

When it got dark outside, I asked a lady sitting in an aisle seat if I could sit in her empty seat near the window because I liked to look at the illuminated cities at night. She looked at me like I was weird and said she doesn’t speak English, only Hebrew. I detected a Russian accent so I asked in Russian. She let me sit, still looking weirdly at me. I looked out, trying to see the cities from underneath the plane wing. I had picked a bad seat. I saw some and loved the view. Then I turned to her, trying to spark up conversation. We ended up talking for a while; Katya lives in Israel but her only son married (a Russian girl) and lives in Toronto. She had been visiting him. She showed me photos and we talked about other things as well. She told me she was glad to talk to me because she had been sad about leaving her son. I was glad I sat next to her, too.

Rabbi Weissmandl from Shearim said that he would meet me outside of customs. He told me to call him and keep my laptop open so that we could email each other (emails reach his phone) before he gets to Tel Aviv. He ended up not being able to come because of traffic and he had had to stop on the side of the road and help someone who had had a stroke! (He is also a medic) I got lost looking for a sherut (taxi that fits a lot of people for a cheaper rate), with some Israelis looking at me weirdly when I said the word “sherut,” not understanding…?! Finally found it, but it left without me and another guy who was waiting, having been all filled. The guy and I waited for half an hour. I asked him to ask the guy manning the stand how much longer it would take. The guy said he didn’t know – it depended on the next flight. So we chatted, and I found out my waiting partner was from Paris and going to yeshiva! So we chatted some more, in French, because his English wasn’t good and my Hebrew was nonexistent. It was fantastic to speak French again! He and I ended up splitting a cab to Jerusalem; neither of us wanted to wait longer. His yeshiva was on the other side of the city from Har Nof (where my seminary, Shearim, is), but the cab driver dropped us off, respectively. I can’t believe I negotiated the price of a TAXI! Who does that? Apparently, Israelis do. The driver wanted 180 shekel each, but we paid 140. I don’t know if I could’ve done better, but it was annoying to have to bargain – I hate doing it! But, I’ll learn, like every good Israeli. The French guy wasn’t good at it either.

I got to the seminary apartment, where Melody was waiting for me. She showed me around and gave me my key. There were little posters that said “Welcome Elina! Can’t wait to get to know you!” That was so sweet. There were 4 other girls in the apartment – Laura (from Chicago), Dayna, Shayna, and Joanna. I’ve never had so many roommates – it’s going to be fun! I’m sharing a bedroom with Dayna. I had to get ready and shower – there was an annual banquet at Shearim for all the girls who are leaving after being in seminary for a year (or more). All the hustle and bustle of meeting her girls, looking this way and that…it was crazy for someone so jetlagged and tired! The food was delicious – the girls made it themselves. They also decorated very nicely. Between courses, some would stand up and honor the teachers/tutors with a poster with personal messages on it. There are 3 other Russian speakers – one girl from Baku, who is leaving next week, another from Uzbekestan, leaving in a few months, and Shoshana, a woman in her 70s from San Diego. Shoshana is amazing! She adores Shearim, loves the girls, and they love her back. She even told me that she “wasted” a month at Neve. I don’t know if that’s fair, but I guess it wasn’t a good fit for her. I think Shearim might be smaller and more like a family. It was really nice to sit in a room with all the girls who go to seminary – I do like the family feeling. Shoshana made the fish course, which was delicious. She said she is a REALLY good cook, so I told her I’d love to learn something from her sometime. I hope she’ll take me up on it.

Toward the end, I couldn’t keep my eyes open any longer. It was 4pm and I was ready to go to bed. But no, I told myself I’d go to bed around 7 or 8pm. I wanted to get on a normal schedule. Before leaving Shearim, I called IsraelPhones and ordered a phone (discount for Shearim). They said they’d deliver that evening, but they didn’t. I’ll have to wait until after the holiday, probably Friday. Their office is closed today (Tuesday). The girls and I walked down two flights of stairs to get to the nearest grocery store to buy some food for Shavuout. The girls are cooking lunch and dinner for tomorrow. Tonight, we are going to host families for the holiday meal. The grocery store was expensive; Melody and Laura said that there is a cheaper one that is a bit further away that they go to. The girl in front of me in the checkout line invited me for Shabbat already J After shopping, my roommates were getting ready for a tihel party they were throwing for Shayna, our roommate who is getting married. A tihel is the headscarf/covering that a girl wears at home/outside when she is not wearing her shetl (wig). Each person who was invited was asked to buy one for Shayna. This was so nice! The girls decorated with balloons, party favors, and bought snacks. I didn’t join the party – I was just too tired. I went to bed at 7:30pm and slept through the whole thing, including their singing and music! I woke up at 6:30am to go to the bathroom and slept until 1pm, when I was awoken by Dayna, who was worried about me that I was sleeping so long! Hmm 17.5 hours of sleep. Not bad! Tonight is the beginning of Shavuout, the holiday that culminates the 50 days of counting the Omer after Pesach, ending in Hashem giving the Torah to the Jewish people. Tonight, I’m going with Racheli, a girl from seminary, to a host family’s for the festive meal. Then, we’re staying up for some learning. Then, my roomies and I are going to walk to the Kotel to daven. Then, we’re having breakfast at an alumni’s by the Kotel, then we’re coming back to sleep. I am very much looking forward!

Ahava from Israel!

Elina