I created this blog to share my Aliyah experience, which has proven quite eventful and unpredictable. It is my hope that other olim and potential olim can benefit from this website and together we can find some humor in our self-imposed trials and tribulations.
My blog will take you through my personal story of making Aliyah, with a bit of wit and cynicism. While the process of moving to Israel, dealing with bureaucracy, learning Hebrew, becoming absorbed into a new culture, joining the army and the many other steps can be difficult, they can also be comical. This blog will expose my comical, and sometimes embarrassing, transformation from being an American living in Israel to becoming an Israeli with an American accent.
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July 19, 2008 at 8:44 pm |
Congrats on the new blog! I look forward to reading more about your Aliya experiences…
July 31, 2008 at 8:59 pm |
Congratulations Jessica! Can’t wait to see more of it! I have the feeling I’ll loooove it…
August 1, 2008 at 8:53 am |
Young Zionists unite! Power to the olim…
August 4, 2008 at 7:45 am |
Good luck with the new blog. I already see at least one article that I’ll be referring to at some point…
August 7, 2008 at 10:56 pm |
omggg i CANT WAIT TO MAKE ALIYAHH!!!!!! I NEED TO BE HOMEEE IN ISRAELLL!!!<3
February 17, 2009 at 6:58 am |
Wow, this blog is a great find! I’m a Hebrew student in college and I’ve taken a great interest in Israeli culture and am having all sorts of aliyah fantasies lately. Unfortunately though I’m not even technically Jewish so I guess my Israeli dream is a bit further than other candidates’…in any case it’s a lot of fun living it vicariously through you!
P.S. I’m from Minneapolis!
February 20, 2009 at 5:41 pm |
I am not sure what you meant by “technically” Jewish – by whose standards are you not technically Jewish? As far as the laws of Israel, there are two different “standards”. There is the Law of Immigration standard which says that if you have one grand parent that is/was Jewish, then you are considered Jewish and can make Aliyah. This standard was created as a reaction to the Holocaust because this is how the Nazis defined a Jew. If this is the case, then you can make Aliyah.
Then there is the Rabinut standard. This means that you have to have a Jewish mother or Orthodox approved conversion. The Rabinut standard affects marriages, births, burial – basically any Jewish life cycle. For instance, if you meet the aliyah standard but not the Rabinut standard then you can become a citizen of Israel, but you can not marry in Israel – unless you “convert” by an Rabinut approved rabbi.
This system was created during the birth of the State and was one of the concessions that Ben Gurion made to the religious and has continued to affect the country. In my opinion, this is one of the biggest mistakes Ben Gurion made – along with the concession he made regarding the religious exemption from the army. There are many people that continue to pay for this mistake today.
This concession has basically made Israel, the only country in the world where you can’t practice Judaism the way that you want – i.e. as a conservative Jew, reform Jew, etc.
Unfortunately, there is not enough awareness, especially among native Israelis about this situation, even though there are many immigrants that exist in this “purgatory” state.
March 30, 2009 at 9:08 pm |
Interesting reading. I never really gave much thought to the internal religious politics in Israel before. I loved the beautiful photos too.