Chosen People to the Chosen Land
Aloh Na'aleh in conjunction with the Israel Center

#4 • Editor: Batsheva Pomerantz contact — aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il
This “from time to time” feature is geared towards encouraging Aliya... AND encouraging veteran & new Olim to become more invoved in encouraging and easing the Aliya of others.

Two events focusing on North American aliya are to be held during ASERET Y’MEI T’SHUVA, a time of remembering, reflecting, and renewal.
The AACI Memorial Ceremony honors the memory of North Americans, AACI associate members, and members of their immediate families who have fallen in service to the State of Israel or as victims of terror. The ceremony will be on Tuesday, September 10th at 4:00pm at the AACI Memorial Forest near the Sha'ar HaGai junction; The guest speaker is American-born Col. Miri Eisinhead of the Combat Intelligence Department in IDF Army Headquarters. Bus available from the AACI J’lem office; reservations are requested. The charge is 10NIS. Please phone 02-561-7151 to reserve a seat.

The Second Conference of Aloh Na'aleh entitled "Our Answer to 9/11" will take place on Wednesday, September 11th at 2:00 pm at Jerusalem's Renaissance Hotel
Speakers include: Prof. Chaim Waxman, Rutgers University - North American Aliya: Who comes and why;Rabbi Dr. Chaim Moshe Sosevsky, Rosh Yeshivat Ohr Yerushalayim, Recent changes in American attitudes towards Aliya; Rabbi David Marcus, Pres. RDM Group - What’s being done today by Aliya organizations;Rabbi Aaron Adler, Rosh Yeshivat “Ner Tamid”, Hashmona'im - Educating towards Aliya; Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Nefesh B’Nefesh cofounder & exec. dir. - Nefesh B’Nefesh and its vision For further information and to make reservations,please contact Rabbi Roness at 02-566-1181 ext. 320 or aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il
Eretz Yisrael in Our Sources
Dwelling in the Land of Israel is equivalent to all the mitzvot in the Torah.
— Sifrei Re'eh

Assisting the Oleh
The time slot in the Torah Tidbits' BackPage schedule for Wednesdays 8:00-10:00pm has been filled for the past ten years (and twelve years before TT appeared) by the Aliya Counseling session of Miriam Bass.
Initially created to provide a time convenient for those who can come only in the evenings, Miriam has updated information on a range of topics. She helps with translations of bills and completing forms. But mainly, people feel free to talk to her from their hearts. They find a sympathetic and experienced ear.

Miriam Bass has helped olim from all Anglo countries, Russians who made aliya from the US and Dutch olim. People come to her Jerusalem office at the OU Israel Center from as far as Ra'anana, Netanya, and YESHA communities.

In line with the OU Israel Center's exceptional dedication to encouraging aliya and helping olim, the service is offered for free to students, tourists and olim.

Aliya Pen Pals
Correction of email address from last month's "Aliya Pen Pals":
English Teacher, Sara Angstreich, aliya in 1974 from NJ:
sara aharon@alumnimail.yu.edu

Here to Stay
Dyonna Ginsburg made aliya in February, upon graduating from Columbia University a month earlier. She came from Woodmere, NY and lives in Old Katamon, Jerusalem. Currently, she is in a masters program at Hebrew University, teaches English, and is the new coordinator of Tehilla Tzeira Israel.

I have been here seven months and still haven't figured out how to answer the question, "Why did you make aliya?" You would think that, by now, I would have formulated a good response, especially since I get asked this question all of the time.

And yet, I am hard-pressed to adequately explain why a 23-year-old, recent Columbia University graduate would choose to leave behind her friends and family and move to Israel during the current situation.

So, when asked about my aliya, I usually provide a list of motivations. First, I explain that I grew up on religious Zionism. My parents encouraged their three kids to move to Israel and we followed suit - my younger sister came two years ago, my younger brother is starting yeshivat hesder now. Then, I go on to say that, as an observant Jew, I am thrilled by the idea of living in a country where malls have shuls and makolet men wish you "Shabbat Shalom". Finally, I describe how my professional goal of pursuing a career in Jewish education and public policy is uniquely suited to life in Israel.
But, after listing all of these motivations, I am left with the feeling that my answer is woefully inadequate and that, if only I could explain my "coffee-table book theory," then people would really understand.

As a child, I used to spend hours poring over coffee-table books of Israel. Many a lazy Shabbat afternoon was spent staring at pictures of palm trees and citrus groves, sabras with sun-kissed faces and sages with flowing white beards.

In time, however, I came to understand that Israel is not the coffee-table book of my childhood. In the modern Jewish state, nothing is picture-perfect. I have yet to see sun-kissed sabras and bearded sages dancing the hora together. Things are far more complicated, far more confusing, far more dynamic than that.

So, "Why did I make aliya?" I made aliya because I saw smudges on my Israeli coffee-table book. I saw smudges and wasn't content to leave them alone. So, "Why did I come now?" I came now because I have the unique opportunity to be part of the grandest experiment in world history at precisely the moment that people are whispering the words, "failed experiment."

True, I made aliya because of religious Zionism and Jewish malls. But, I also made aliya because of post-Zionism and Jewish prisons. Above all, I made aliya because as long as people continue to ask why I made aliya, I know that there is a lot of work yet to be done.

Old Katamon by David Magence
Licensed Tour Guide
Before the War of Independence, Katamon was an Arab neighborhood, and the Arab headquarters in Jerusalem were located there.
Katamon was liberated by the Hagana and Palmach on May 1, 1948. This was the first Jewish victory in Jerusalem, after five months of fighting.
With Katamon's capture, the Arab residents fled, and Katamon was repopulated by Jewish families whose homes had been destroyed during the fighting, and by new olim.
The Hebrew name of Katamon is "Gonen", meaning "defends". This is due to the neighborhood's location on the cease fire lines with Jordan, and its being part of Jerusalem's line of defense during the years the city was divided.
Over the years, Old Katamon has undergone a process of gentrification and is now considered one of the better neighborhoods of the city.
Streets with names like Palmach, HaShayarot (convoys bringing supplies to besieged Jerusalem) and Mechalkei HaMayim (water distributors) commem- orate units which participated in the War of Independence.
Many Anglos live in the centrally located neighborhood with a choice of modern Orthodox schools, cultural and religious centers catering to their needs.

It looks like this “corner” will be a regular feature of CPCL. As long as CPCL Editor Batsheva Pomerantz allows me to contribute some of my “Only in Israel” stories, I’ll do it. — Phil

We came on Aliya 21 years ago, mid-week between KI TEITZEI, when you go out (of the United States) and KI TAVO, when you come to the Land of Israel. When I was here just 8 days, I was in Tel Aviv for some long-forgotten reason. A man stopped me on the street and asked for directions. I responded that I was not a local and could not tell him how to get to where he wanted to go. He said, “Oh, you are a Yerushalmi?” Without thinking, I answered, “No, I’m from New York”. He went on his way, and I was frozen to the spot. Here is the first time in my life that someone called me a Yerushalmi (which I was, and am B”H), and I denied it! Unacceptable. I ran after the receding figure of the fellow, tapped him on the shoulder and said: “Excuse me, I AM a Yerushalmi.” Record importantly set straight.
When we bought our first refrigerator, a Tadiran, I was thrilled to find that it came with a built-in solution to the turning-off-the-light-in-the-refrigerator problem. It was a little sliding piece of plastic that could cover the switch for the light to prevent the light from going on when the door is opened. A subsequent refrigerator has an on-off switch, easily accessible for the same purpose. Whatever the “patent”, it is identified in the instruction manual of the refrigerator as a device for Shabbat. It isn’t an option. It is standard equipment on Tadiran and Amcor refrigerators.

Instead of reaching past containers of food to the back of the fridge to unscrew the lightbulb each week, and then again after Shabbat to screw it back in, or to leave it off permanently, here was a convenient way to accomplish the weekly task. But more than that is the knowledge that we live in a country where Shabbat is a factor in day to day life. This is a small example, but it counts.