Nevo and Joanna decided to book a hotel in the heart of the city for a few days to experience all Tel Aviv has to offer. That gave Don and I the chance to visit some of my family in Tel Aviv, and also explore the city more on our own before my intensive Hebrew classes started. We took a cab to Gane Tzahala, my aunt’s neighborhood in Northern Tel Aviv, and the cab driver commented, “Why would you want to go there? There is no “gan” (garden) and there is no “Tzahal” (army) there.
Don and I arrived and were greeted by my aunt Vered, uncle Pini, cousin David, and their friendly but very old dog, Buddy. I spent a long while chatting with my family in the living room, and “ha sheelat million ha dollar,” also one of my vocab terms for Ulpan, seems to be, “are you going to ever move to Israel?” Philosophically, I’m all for it for several reasons. With an existential threat to the small country, I think the best way to show support for Israel is by moving there and productively contributing to society. Also family life is much closer and more open in Israel, the food is fresher, and people seem to enjoy life a bit more- taking frequent vacations all over the world, chatting in cafes until 2 in the morning, and indulging in gourmet restaurants on a regular basis.
Vered told me that she lived for five years in Los Angeles in the same house and never met her next-door neighbor, until there was a severe earthquake and he came to see if they were ok. In Israel, Vered’s neighbor calls her from across the street to tell her she can’t see her through her window and is wondering where she went. There is a sense of interconnectedness between people here that often crosses the line into nosiness, but nevertheless feels warmer than in the United States.
On a practical level it’s not so easy to make aliyah. The cost of living in Israel is higher than in the United States, and adjusting to a new language and culture is easier said than done. Having just graduated college, I’m open to the many directions my life could take me in the coming years. Maybe someday I’ll call Israel my home, but in any event, a couple weeks brushing up my Hebrew in Ulpan can’t hurt.
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