YERUCHAM!!!

The old saying goes that as time goes by some things never change. This has never rung more true that this past weekend that I spent in the tiny town of Yerucham here in Israel. For those who have forgotten I spent 6 months volunteering in the community of Yerucham 2 years ago when I was on Nativ. I had the opportunity to go back after my 2 year absence to go and visit one of my friends that is on Nativ now as well as my host family that adopted me when I was there. I left Jerusalem on the direct bus to Yerucham Thursday evening around 8 to get there a little at 10:30 since it is a wonderfully long drive(compared to everywhere else). As the bus passed land markers on route I couldn’t help but remember all the times that I used to take this bus to and from my home at the time. When I made that last left to approach the town I could feel all the good times that I had come back to me and my heart fluttered a little. I arrived on Zvi Borenstein and got off the bus to a quiet evening in the small town. I began to walk around and remember my day to day life that seemed like a lifetime ago. Of course I would then run into people I knew. The kids when I volunteered at the local high school were now graduating or in the army. One of my kids Eli was sitting at the pizza parlor and we got to catch up. Then another student Izabella was hanging out with some friends and I learned what has been going on in her life for the past 2 years. It seemed like nothing had changed since I left except time. Then when David Helfand was finished with his MADA shift I met up with him and his Nativ friends who were celebrating a friend’s birthday. It was nice to see them have the same great times that I had.

For meals I made sure to see the people that made my stay incredible. I went to the house of Asi and Iris Shoham, the kindest family in all of Israel. They took me and Roxy in when we were on Nativ having Shabbat meals with us and giving us a place to come to whenever we needed. At the time their children were adorable young one aged between 6 months and 13. Now that 2 years had gone by it seemed like they were not children anymore. The oldest Diaya is 15 and likes a teenager, Yaera is not 12 and just celebrated her bat mitzvah at Masada, Tzur is the only boy( I should say young man) at age 7, Klil is a vibrant 4 year old that talks up a storm, the baby at the time Regev is now 2 ½ and runs the house. The whole experience of being there made me feel as though I had not left and just returned back for my usual visit. At first I got the stares of who are you but then once memory(and pictures) kicked in then they all remember and treated me like I was family again. It was such a great evening that I never wanted it to end but when 11:30 rolled around the kids had to get to bed. David and I went back home to get some rest. The next day I was able to go to lunch at Hila Melker’s house(she was another one of my students now in the army). Her father is the ambulance driver for David which was a funny coincidence. We went there and had a great time. We showed up and the whole family was there and excited to see us. Hila threw me a huge hug and was so happy I came back to visit. We had some authentic Sephardic food which was so tasty(even though it made david sick). We spoke all Hebrew and once again I was happy with my grasp of the language and progress I have made. Then we went home for naps and seudat shleshit. It was a peaceful Shabbat that made me so appreciative and gave me the impressions that I can always come back to this town that was so important to me. That evening I had ot get back to Jerusalem and took the bus back to get home. It was an amazing weekend had that I truly cherished and was just sad I had not done it before. I hope that this summer when I have a free weekend I can go with Roxy back there.

A week to experience

This past week has seemed like more of a blur than an actual week. I have had class, work, friends, and of course drama. I started off with a bang on Sunday since I had a meeting with David Keren to discuss my summer job of Pilgrimage. I met with him and we talked about what the job entails, who I am working with, what I can expect to get out of it, and many other topics that I was curious about. We had a blast doing it in an informal way; he is a sweet man that really makes spending time with him enjoyable. Of course the topic of Aliyah came up as it always does with my friends and associates in this country and I told him that my passion for this place has come to me being involved in it and applying it to every aspect of my life but as for me living here it is not in the cards right now. That answer is always followed with that makes sense but it is sad to hear. I finished my meeting and then said a quick hello to JJ and tried to figure out a time that we could get together for dinner. I really miss his kids and want to spend more time around them while I am here. I got to bed early so I could wake up refreshed and ready to go. The one thing I have realized though that is a fatal flaw, the more sleep you get the more you want. It is a vicious cycle that one day I will figure out how to beat the system.

I spent the days busying myself with school work and attempting to reconnect with some people back home that I had not spoken to in a long time. I had e-mails to get to, letters to write, blogs to post you name it and I had to catch up on it. I sat myself down I the library and got to it. I did not make a very large dent in the task list since I got a call from Adam to do lunch. I don’t pass those up since he is so busy here with everything that is going on that when he makes time I have to jump on it. We got some grub at Frankies and talked about life and how happy we are with everything that we have and is going on. He is truly a great guy that I cherish every moment we spend together. Afterwards I finished up class and bustled home to say goodbye to Talia who was leaving for London to visit friends. I then finished the night at my apartment hanging out with the roommates that I normally do not see which was a nice change of pace for me.

Nothing too out of the ordinary happened the rest of the week, just some nice events that I usually go to. I had my Face to Face program where we got together and talked about how we can make a program that will do what we are doing on a larger scale. We tried to figure out how to make a difference in the communication that goes on between Israelis and non-israelis that changes the way they look at each other. I believe it is a key element in the relationship between the two that is mostly neglected. The stereotypes that we hold for the opposite group detract the beauty that is found underneath the surfaces. Whether it is the gruff exterior of an Israeli that hides the scared innocence or the proper American that holds dismay for the chaotic hustle of life, looking beyond that we can see the truth behind it all. I have learned an important lesson while part of this program and that is that until we see the other side’s perspective we can never truly come together.

I had a culinary experience as part of my spring in Jerusalem program where we ate different foods from different ethnic jews. Iraqi rice, Ethiopian vegetables, Israeli salad, just to name a few all helped in understanding how the differences of our histories shaped the bringing together of this state. It was a lovely presentation that wrapped up a stressful week. I decided that it had been long enough and was about time that I saw my host family from Nativ. So this Shabbat I am going south to Yerucham.