Erez Yisroel Needs and Welcomes You!

Shalom and Welcome Home! 

My name is Miriam and I was asked by Shoshanah if I would write a posting about our experiences in making Aliyah.

Israel is in the news everyday. We are just a small country surrounded by enemies who want to see our destruction. I fear for my country. Our precious homeland has known many wars in our short 63 years of the modern state. Politics is the most popular discussion topic, every citizen and non citizen has an opinion.

Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people and we must always be the majority. We have to increase our population by many and we have room for every Jew. Aliyah is the only answer.

My husband and I spoke about Aliyah for many years before we finally decided to come home. There was always one reason [excuse] or another why we should wait another year.

The summer before our Aliyah, my son and I came to spend a month in Israel. When we returned to Canada I said to my husband, we must be crazy….our children and grandchildren are in Israel and we are here.
Something is wrong. Our real problem was we both had elderly mothers. We asked our Rav if it was wrong to leave them and he said go and make aliyah.

It took eight months from our first meeting with the shaliach from the Jewish Agency until our aliyah date.

On May 31st, 1994, my husband, son and I made Aliyah and were reunited with our married daughters and our Sabra grandchildren. Both our daughters came to Israel after high school to attend a one year seminary program and decided Israel was their home and never returned to Canada. Today, B”H we have 13 grandchildren, 6 are 10th generation Israeli.

During the past seventeen years our lives have been enriched in many ways. We notice things that we never noticed before, even though they were in front of our face. We have an appreciation for rain. Every drop is a
Bracha.. We appreciate beautiful flowers, fruit trees and amazing birds. We appreciate the quiet. We went through a war and still have air raid sirens to warn us of in coming Grad missiles to our Yishuv [community].

We don’t have any more money than we had in the ‘old country’, [we were always broke] but here we always seem to have enough for what we need. We had two cars in the ‘old country’ we don’t have a car in Israel. We travel by bus or tremp [hitchhike] or just walk.

When you walk the streets of the old city in Jerusalem or Beer Sheva....you know this is where Avraham Avinu walked. I live in Yishuv Ma’agalim [in the Negev] 5 minutes away from where Avraham Avinu lived. Today, where Avraham Avinu pitched his tent to welcome visitors, and his animals grazed is a nature park with a small stream where families go to picnic, hike and just relax. My grandchildren love to go to the ‘forest’. Sometimes if you are lucky and dig down a little in the earth you will find artifacts from Biblical times.

Making Aliyah is a difficult decision. It affects every member of your family. Living in Israel is both a honor and privilege. Yes, you may have to give up the so called ‘good life’, but I can tell you from personal
experience, that even though life in Israel is a struggle the personal satisfaction you receive living in our precious land gives you a much better life.

B”H our Aliyah has been very successful. If I may, I would like to leave you with a piece of advice. Mainly learn to go with the flow. In other words, you live in Israel and in Israel we don’t do things the way it was done in your former country. But most of all have PATIENCE. Israel works at a slower pace than most countries.

Wishing you B’ hatzala [good luck] and may your Aliyah fulfill your every dream. If I can be of assistance or if you want to just ‘talk’ about Aliyah please feel free to e-mail me at saftala@gmail.com

Miriam
http://miriamswords.blogspot.com

My Aliyah Story - So Far...

By Mike Diamond

I arrived in Israel on the 31st December 2008 from Cape Town. We were all taken to a special area and given our money and ID book – except me – but being so tired and excited I decided to wait until I got to my hotel in Jerusalem.

Regarding the ID book, I approached an organisation associated with helping South Africans, in the hope that they could help, and asked them for assistance. There were promises, but nothing happened. I went to the various administration departments on my own, and finally managed to find the right person. To my disbelief, the lady I spoke to said that I had lived in Israel for the last 20 years so I should have already been given an ID book. I gave them my reference letters from my last companies and the various letters I had stamped in court. Finally, they accepted my version and gave me my book. I then went to the office for my Sal Klita (absorption basket) money and sorted everything out with them.

We were then taken to our hotel and settled in. I then went down for supper and met all the other South Africans, which was great – as we spoke about our dreams and what we would like to do for our future.

Two necessary processes are necessary when coming to Israel – choosing the right bank for one and joining a Kupat Cholim (a health fund). I did not know who to talk to about finding the appropriate places to join up with that would be suited for me. Fortunately, I already knew about the banks and Kupat Cholim from the last time I was in Israel, so I knew exactly what I wanted. The next day we all went to the seminar and opened up our accounts for the bank and medical aid and cell phone. Afterwards we were taken to our coaches and were driven to our next residence the Merkaz Klita (absorption centre) in Raanana. I went to my room and met my room‑mate.

I selected Raanana as my base-point, because I have a few friends here and people have raved about the Ulpan here and so I decided to move into the Merkaz Klita. Also I only paid 300 Shekel per month for rent. At first it was quite amazing at the Merkaz because of the assortment of different people from all over the world and to hear their point of views about life in Israel.

I stayed at the Merkaz for six months and then moved to my own flat. But first I must tell you about my work I started doing in Raanana. The same day I arrived at the Merkaz I went to the supermarket with my room-mate and while standing in the line to the cashier, I said to my friend that I needed a job and a woman standing behind me said she owned a house cleaning company and offered me a job, where I am still working to this day.

I must be honest, I have not found any organisation that has bothered or cared enough to help me as far as I am concerned. There seems to be big talk, though that is all. Nevertheless, I am old enough to help myself. The truth is that I am still looking for a job, but still need help in networking with the right people who can see the skills I do have to offer and who will be able to help me give of my best in Israel. I believe it will be a win-win situation. Those who can aid me in finding the most suitable work for me will not only be helping me to settle in Israel, but they too will gain from the skills I have to offer.

As for now, doing cleaning is hard. Ironically, I earn the same as a teacher, bank clerk or nurse, so I cannot complain. It is not what I wanted, but I believe one should not sit and sulk. At least I am doing an honest day's work. Hopefully the near future will bring with it a new job with the network system Shoshanah is starting together with a fantastic Yahoo group aimed at allowing SA's to interact, share news and help each other in finding appropriate jobs etc. I believe this is more than any other organisation is doing to help the new South African Olim and they have been very helpful the short time I have been a member.

Although I do not have the job of my dreams here, I still love this country, warts and all and will never leave no matter what. My feelings for others experiencing difficulties here, are to just fight on and you will succeed.

Just to close, Shoshanah has a great chat club, and I believe this will also help new or future Olim to find either jobs or places to stay.

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Mike Diamond can be contacted directly at mike1diamond@yahoo.com. If you would like to offer assistance or find out more about his skills and talents, please be in touch with him directly. He is looking for work in an English environment - and would be happy to share necessary information about himself.