Everywhere I go in Israel, it seems, people are trying to figure out me and my other English-speaking friends. Taxi drivers, waiters and random passers-by all want to know what our deal is. The first instinct is to assume that we are on Birthright (Taglit in Hebrew), the free ten-day trip for American Jews to visit Israel for the first time. Large groups from this program are all over the country now, wearing name tags and walking in packs as they tumble out of tour buses into sites of interest.
In the elevator in the nondescript north Tel Aviv apartment building of a friend who has immigrated to Israel, a woman asked us in Hebrew “Are you from Birthright?” My friend’s response, in fluent Hebrew: “No, I’ve actually lived in this building for two years.” In response to the same question from a cab driver at 2:30 a.m., I lashed out in Hebrew: “Not all Americans in Israel are on Birthright!”
No, I am not a first-time visitor. I lived in Israel for three months last summer in addition to a number of other shorter trips when I was younger. I speak good Hebrew and know my way around Israel and Israeli culture fairly well. My current status here: bumming around while visiting friends and family.
Besides the Birthright question, there is also general interest in what an American is doing here. This is especially pronounced when I am with other English speakers. We end up having to go around the circle explaining ourselves. I hang out with quite an eclectic group when I am in Jerusalem. The other night, for example, I went out with a friend studying abroad at Hebrew University, a Trinidadian undergoing conversion to Judaism, a South African reporter at a newspaper here, a part-Hawaiian Jewish girl from Seattle and her Israeli boyfriend. These are my friends here, and yet I am also different from them in an important way: they are all planning on living in Israel permanently (making aliyah).
And so I am in a somewhat strange position here. I am not really a tourist, and yet I am not planning to make aliyah. People ask me about it: I am a young American who spends quite a bit of time in Israel, has family here, speaks Hebrew. When am I coming for good? I love being in Israel and I would never rule out the immigration completely, but for now, living in Israel is not right for me.
Yesterday I talked to my mom about being in this weird middle position. “Shari, I’ve been dealing with that for years,” she said. My mom immigrated to Israel when she was 19 years old and lived here for five years before returning to the States to be with my father. She’s gone back fairly frequently to visit her sister, who also immigrated, and her friends who stayed and recently has visited once a year. “It’s OK to spend time without making aliyah. Israel also needs Zionist supporters too,” she said. This is true, but it still feels awkward to be in this in-between class of Anglos in Israel – not just visiting and yet not planning a life here. I guess I will just keep explaining.
Comments (3)
“I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.”
“the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning”
“the daughters of Job”
“and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.”
What is the Almighty, that we should serve him? and what profit should we have, if we pray unto him?
Lo, their good is not in their hand: the counsel of the wicked is far from me.
How oft is the candle of the wicked put out! and how oft cometh their destruction upon them! God distributeth sorrows in his anger.
They are as stubble before the wind, and as chaff that the storm carrieth away.
God layeth up his iniquity for his children: he rewardeth him, and he shall know it.
His eyes shall see his destruction, and he shall drink of the wrath of the almighty.
For what pleasure hath he in his house after him, when the number of his months is cut off in the midst?
Shall any teach God knowledge? seeing he judgeth those that are high.
“the spirit of Jacob”
“my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him”
“hath followed me fully”
“his seed shall possess it”
“all those men were heads of the children of Israel.”
“Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.”
“Save Caleb”
“I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.”
“judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him”
“Love ye therefore the stranger”
“I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;”
“one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee”
“thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.”
“I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.”
“I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.”
“Save Caleb”
“Save me, O God, by thy name”
“For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul”
“save me from all them that persecute me”
“their drink offerings of blood will I not offer”
“The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made”
“the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands”
“The wicked shall be turned into hell”
“every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”
“Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger”
“there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone”
“I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.”
“David the man who was raised up on high”
“The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high”
“thou shalt come down very low.”
“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord”
“Which executeth judgment for the oppressed”
“the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.”
“their drink offerings of blood will I not offer”
“The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made”
“the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands”
“The wicked shall be turned into hell”
“There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep”
“anointed him in the midst of his brethren”
“the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward”
Jeremiah
“My bowels, my bowels”
“heavens and of the earth earth and the heavens”
“For my people is foolish, they have not known me”
“they are sottish children, and they have none understanding”
“they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void”
“God created the heaven and the earth”
“the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”
“the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
“Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them”
“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
“Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah”
“let us smite him with the tongue”
“let us not give heed to any of his words”
“Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul”
“I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.”
“I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter”
“I knew not that they had devised devices against me”
“let us cut him off from the land of the living”
“his name may be no more remembered”
“let me see thy vengeance on them”
“for unto thee have I revealed my cause”
In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep.
“God created the heaven and the earth”
“the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep”
These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that the Lord God made the earth and the heavens,
But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground.
And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.
“the generations of the heavens and of the earth earth and the heavens in the day that the Lord”
“there went up a mist from the earth”
“watered the whole face of the ground”
“Lord God formed man”
“breathed into his nostrils the breath of life”
“man became a living soul”
Thy way and thy doings have procured these things unto thee; this is thy wickedness, because it is bitter, because it reacheth unto thine heart.
My bowels, my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; my heart maketh a noise in me; I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Destruction upon destruction is cried; for the whole land is spoiled: suddenly are my tents spoiled, and my curtains in a moment.
How long shall I see the standard, and hear the sound of the trumpet?
For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void; and the heavens, and they had no light.
“My bowels, my bowels”
“For my people is foolish, they have not known me”
“they are sottish children, and they have none understanding”
“they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.”
“I beheld the earth, and, lo, it was without form, and void”
Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah:
Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord:
But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.
And they shall teach no more every man his neighbour, and every man his brother, saying, Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith the Lord: for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.
Thus saith the Lord, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The Lord of hosts is his name:
If those ordinances depart from before me, saith the Lord, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
“the Lord, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God, and they shall be my people.”
“Know the Lord: for they shall all know me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them”
“I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
Then said they, Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah; for the law shall not perish from the priest, nor counsel from the wise, nor the word from the prophet. Come, and let us smite him with the tongue, and let us not give heed to any of his words.
Give heed to me, O Lord, and hearken to the voice of them that contend with me.
Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul. Remember that I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.
“Come and let us devise devices against Jeremiah”
“let us smite him with the tongue”
“let us not give heed to any of his words”
“Shall evil be recompensed for good? for they have digged a pit for my soul”
“I stood before thee to speak good for them, and to turn away thy wrath from them.”
For the Lord of hosts, that planted thee, hath pronounced evil against thee, for the evil of the house of Israel and of the house of Judah, which they have done against themselves to provoke me to anger in offering incense unto Baal.
And the Lord hath given me knowledge of it, and I know it: then thou shewedst me their doings.
But I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered.
But, O Lord of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.
“I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter”
“I knew not that they had devised devices against me”
“let us cut him off from the land of the living”
“his name may be no more remembered”
“let me see thy vengeance on them”
“for unto thee have I revealed my cause”
And Samuel said unto Jesse, Are here all thy children? And he said, There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep. And Samuel said unto Jesse, Send and fetch him: for we will not sit down till he come hither.
And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful countenance, and goodly to look to. And the Lord said, Arise, anoint him: for this is he.
Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren: and the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.
“There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep”
“anointed him in the midst of his brethren”
“the Spirit of the Lord came upon David from that day forward”
So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
He had also seven sons and three daughters.
And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.
And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
“the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning”
“the daughters of Job”
“and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.”
And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.
And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:
And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
“the spirit of Jacob”
And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying,
Send thou men, that they may search the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a ruler among them.
And Moses by the commandment of the Lord sent them from the wilderness of Paran: all those men were heads of the children of Israel.
And these were their names: of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur.
Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori.
Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.
Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph.
Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.
Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu.
Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi.
Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli.
Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael.
Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi.
Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi.
“all those men were heads of the children of Israel.”
“Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh.”
And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
“my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him”
“hath followed me fully”
“his seed shall possess it”
Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.
Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.
Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
“Save Caleb”
“I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.”
And I charged your judges at that time, saying, Hear the causes between your brethren, and judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him.
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God's: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me, and I will hear it.
And I commanded you at that time all the things which ye should do.
“judge righteously between every man and his brother, and the stranger that is with him”
Love ye therefore the stranger: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Thou shalt fear the Lord thy God; him shalt thou serve, and to him shalt thou cleave, and swear by his name.
He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen.
Thy fathers went down into Egypt with threescore and ten persons; and now the Lord thy God hath made thee as the stars of heaven for multitude.
“Love ye therefore the stranger”
When thou art come unto the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee, and shalt possess it, and shalt dwell therein, and shalt say, I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;
Thou shalt in any wise set him king over thee, whom the Lord thy God shall choose: one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee: thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.
“I will set a king over me, like as all the nations that are about me;”
“one from among thy brethren shalt thou set king over thee”
“thou mayest not set a stranger over thee, which is not thy brother.”
The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin.
Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger, nor of the fatherless; nor take a widow's raiment to pledge:
“every man shall be put to death for his own sin.”
“Thou shalt not pervert the judgment of the stranger”
The Lord shall smite thee in the knees, and in the legs, with a sore botch that cannot be healed, from the sole of thy foot unto the top of thy head.
The Lord shall bring thee, and thy king which thou shalt set over thee, unto a nation which neither thou nor thy fathers have known; and there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone.
And thou shalt become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword, among all nations whither the Lord shall lead thee.
Thou shalt carry much seed out into the field, and shalt gather but little in; for the locust shall consume it.
Thou shalt plant vineyards, and dress them, but shalt neither drink of the wine, nor gather the grapes; for the worms shall eat them.
Thou shalt have olive trees throughout all thy coasts, but thou shalt not anoint thyself with the oil; for thine olive shall cast his fruit.
Thou shalt beget sons and daughters, but thou shalt not enjoy them; for they shall go into captivity.
All thy trees and fruit of thy land shall the locust consume.
The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low.
“there shalt thou serve other gods, wood and stone”
“The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high”
“thou shalt come down very low.”
Hear my prayer, O Lord, and give ear unto my cry; hold not thy peace at my tears: for I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.
O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.
“I am a stranger with thee, and a sojourner, as all my fathers were.”
Save me, O God, by thy name, and judge me by thy strength.
Hear my prayer, O God; give ear to the words of my mouth.
For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them.
“Save me, O God, by thy name”
“For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul”
O Lord my God, in thee do I put my trust: save me from all them that persecute me, and deliver me:
“save me from all them that persecute me”
Let not them that wait on thee, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed for my sake: let not those that seek thee be confounded for my sake, O God of Israel.
Because for thy sake I have borne reproach; shame hath covered my face.
I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.
For the zeal of thine house hath eaten me up; and the reproaches of them that reproached thee are fallen upon me.
“I am become a stranger unto my brethren, and an alien unto my mother's children.”
The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made: in the net which they hid is their own foot taken.
The Lord is known by the judgment which he executeth: the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands. Higgaion. Selah.
The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.
“The heathen are sunk down in the pit that they made”
“the wicked is snared in the work of his own hands”
“The wicked shall be turned into hell”
Their sorrows shall be multiplied that hasten after another god: their drink offerings of blood will I not offer, nor take up their names into my lips.
The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance and of my cup: thou maintainest my lot.
“their drink offerings of blood will I not offer”
Now these be the last words of David. David the son of Jesse said, and the man who was raised up on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet psalmist of Israel, said,
The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and his word was in my tongue.
“David the man who was raised up on high”
Praise ye the Lord. Praise the Lord, O my soul.
While I live will I praise the Lord: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being.
Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there is no help.
His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that very day his thoughts perish.
Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord his God:
Which made heaven, and earth, the sea, and all that therein is: which keepeth truth for ever:
Which executeth judgment for the oppressed: which giveth food to the hungry. The Lord looseth the prisoners:
The Lord openeth the eyes of the blind: the Lord raiseth them that are bowed down: the Lord loveth the righteous:
The Lord preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.
The Lord shall reign for ever, even thy God, O Zion, unto all generations. Praise ye the Lord.
“Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help, whose hope is in the Lord”
“Which executeth judgment for the oppressed”
“the way of the wicked he turneth upside down.”
Posted June 4, 2008 1:35 AM
Posted on June 4, 2008 01:35
So the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning: for he had fourteen thousand sheep, and six thousand camels, and a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand she asses.
He had also seven sons and three daughters.
And he called the name of the first, Jemima; and the name of the second, Kezia; and the name of the third, Kerenhappuch.
And in all the land were no women found so fair as the daughters of Job: and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
the Lord blessed the latter end of Job more than his beginning
the daughters of Job
and their father gave them inheritance among their brethren.
And the Lord said, I have pardoned according to thy word:
But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord.
Because all those men which have seen my glory, and my miracles, which I did in Egypt and in the wilderness, and have tempted me now these ten times, and have not hearkened to my voice;
Surely they shall not see the land which I sware unto their fathers, neither shall any of them that provoked me see it:
But my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him, and hath followed me fully, him will I bring into the land whereinto he went; and his seed shall possess it.
my servant Caleb, because he had another spirit with him
hath followed me fully
his seed shall possess it
Surely there shall not one of these men of this evil generation see that good land, which I sware to give unto your fathers.
Save Caleb the son of Jephunneh; he shall see it, and to him will I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.
Also the Lord was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither.
But Joshua the son of Nun, which standeth before thee, he shall go in thither: encourage him: for he shall cause Israel to inherit it.
Save Caleb
I give the land that he hath trodden upon, and to his children, because he hath wholly followed the Lord.
Posted May 31, 2008 11:44 PM
Posted on May 31, 2008 23:44
Not having moved is something I've regretted all my life. The best thing to do would be to finish college, and take it from there. A.B. Yehoshoah has said that one can't be a Jew in the Diasporah. He was correct. To have a whole integrated Jewihs self, one must be there.
Posted May 31, 2008 7:24 AM
Posted on May 31, 2008 07:24