Posted on the aliyah mailing list (Tachlis) by the moderator Eli Birnbaum on October 12, 1999 Shalom all Aliyah is one of the most difficult and beautiful decisions a family can make. Those of us who have been here awhile sometimes tend to forget all the reason why we came. To remind us of those basic (and not-so-basic) reasons we made this choice, members of the Tachlis discussion group compiled the following by-topic list. If you can think of something we forgot, please let me know. Thanks to the contributors: Jonathan B. Horen, Neil Kummer, The Bienenfelds, Debbie Koren, Ilana Cohen, Maria Lissitz, and Marian Margulies. A special thanks goes to Joy Pincus who got the ball rolling. General To learn Hebrew and appreciate it as a living, evolving, and dynamic language. Mediterranean sun and beach. Fantastic places to go visit, all within hours' driving: Jerusalem's old city, Tsfat, Tiberias, the Galilee, The Dead Sea, Ramat HaGolan, Eilat. When you move, you get to take not only your refrigerator, but your toilet seat with you, because that's the way things here work. You finally really get to know what the prayers mean. You can go to Jerusalem anytime you want and pray at the Kotel. Free Hebrew lessons - in fact you get paid to learn. The excitement and adventure of learning to live in a new country. Neuroses free. No charge for a new set, since many neuroses don't translate inter-linguistically. To allow the part of you that is Jewish to feel at home. Sincere prayer: You can pray about returning to Jerusalem and Israel and Zion and feel less a fool and a fake. Mixed prayer: You can pray in a minyan with equal parts: Moroccans, Kurds, Haredim, kids in shorts, and Mizrachi, --Sephard, Sephardi, and Ashkenazi-- and have the Shaliach Tsibur graciously (humbly, unceremoniously) ask the minyan what to do next, not because he doesn't know ---- because he's doing it for them To learn-about and live Judaism among Jews, as the majority, rather than as a minority. To use and appreciate public transportation To serve in the IDF -- either sadir, or shlav-bet -- for all the reasons that you should have done the same thing back in the States, but weren't quite up to being "all that you can be" The bank tellers don't sit behind bullet proof glass, they sit at a simple desk. Movie seats are preordained - no general admission rioting. You are living and walking around the same country that your forefathers did. You can find the name of all the places in the Bible. Would you believe no icy streets in the winter? Because it's still a lot more difficult to "marry-out" if you're living here! Society When you're lost, you can easily ask anyone for directions and everyone has a different way for you to get there. The friendliness of meeting other families on a tiyul. The unexpected that always makes life more interesting, if not challenging. How small the country is with all the intimacy that provides. If your car breaks down, people will stop and offer help whether you ask for it or not. To meet and live among fellow Jews from throughout the world, each group with its own cultural variations, baggage, and unique viewpoints. The diversity of its inhabitants and the rich multicultural heritage that makes us more aware of not only our differences but all that we have in common. You get to come on the annual Tachlis Tiyul. Perfect strangers insist on inviting you home for dinner. The emphasis on family and friends and the ease with which one gathers together. The informality and ease of making friends with strangers. People talk to each other - in stores, on the street, on the bus, in traffic (well, in traffic it's not always so nice, but at least they acknowledge you're there). Every person on the street (not necessarily your street) is your family and will help you if you need it or complain, suggest etc. when you don't. It's fun to hang the wash out above the street or the yard. I like living without a dryer. I like balancing things so I don't drop the clothes pins or the clothes. Little things can give a person pleasure here, if you open yourself to them. Food No problem getting kosher food in supermarkets etc. Plenty of kosher restaurants including those where you couldn't eat in the States but can eat at them here. The olives. I love the variety of Israeli olives that I find in the shuk. I have my favorite olive vendor, and I know I will find him there whenever I go. I come home with a hetsi kilo of green olives and I'm in heaven. Yemenite food and schug in great abundance and variety. The vast variety of cheese here. The sites sounds and smells of the shuk; choosing each vegetable and piece of fruit and saving money at the same time. To stand in line, with others, outside a bakery three hours after the end of Chol ha-Moed Pesach, smelling the pitot as they bake, buying a bag of ten (or even two bags), then running home to wash, make haMotzi, and eat a big mouthful! Holidays and Shabbat To walk through Geula and Mea Shearim on a misty, drizzly evening toward the end of Hannukah, watching the flames in the hannukiyot dance and cast olive-oil-yellow light Here, you don't have to listen to Xmas carols when you go into stores, turn on the radio, ride in elevators, etc. Before each Jewish holiday, you can feel the country preparing for that holiday. Here in Jerusalem, you see lulav and etrog being sold on certain streets (and even in some supermarkets!) Watching hundreds on children run around in Purim costumes. You don't need to explain the holidays to anyone. They're ours, celebrated openly here. Visiting different sukkot and seeing each family's decorations. Walking in Jerusalem on a Friday night listening to the songs floating down to the street. No trouble getting time off for the Jewish holidays. Vacations on Hol Hamoed. No problem with early Fridays. Everyone from your banker to the street cleaner knows when the Chagim are and everyone wishes everyone a Shabbat Shalom and Chag Sameach. Only one day chag. Feeling that special feeling on Friday, and especially Saturday when the whole country is preparing for Shabbat or chag. Watching the numerous people walking on the streets, carrying beautiful flowers home on Fridays special for Shabbat. The business, helter-skelter frenetic pace of life on Friday morning followed by the sharp contrast of the late afternoon stillness, peace, and tranquility that descends and encases all of Israel like a lovely protective fog. The smell of challah bread wafting through the air on Thursday night near the Angel bakery The yom shishi songs of yesteryear of Arik Einstein and others, again, just before Shabbat. Children Kids can come home after dark and you don't worry - well you worry less. Mighty progeny. As mixed (cultural/linguistic/national) breeds, your children will be (ble ayin hara) remarkably strong and resilient. Neighbors will take in your child on their own if they see him outside on a cold day and insist on feeding him lunch. Your children will know exactly who they are and tell you. Children will not grow up feeling different and isolated because they are Jewish. (Almost) everybody can spell and pronounce my children's names. The opportunity to make special friends who have similar priorities and ideals. Children will (B"H") grow up feeling good about being Jewish and knowing that it is a special part of them.