Life in Israel: Once an Oleh, Always an Oleh?

The other evening I joined a few dozen olim, ascendants/immigrants to Israel, mostly from English-speaking countries, some recently arrived and others here for about half a century. Actually, at my table we probably had the highest sum total of years in Israel. One friend has already celebrated fifty years since her aliyah. My half century is just a year and a half from now, and my other friend came not all that long after I did. Some of the audience only made aliyah after retiring in order to fully enjoy their freedom from work and to fulfill the dream of living in the Jewish State of Israel, the Land of the Jewish People.

Benji Lovitt, Joel Haber, Hani Skutch and Liami Lawrence entertaining Anglos of South Jerusalem.

About a hundred years ago, my grandparents, great-grandparents and others, who had escaped eastern Europe and moved to the United States had been active in landsmanshaft, clubs/societies of those who came from the same towns, cities or areas. My father's parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and even some cousins are buried in the Neshelsk Cemetery in New York. Nasielsk, Poland, near Warsaw was the city they came from. And I remember hearing how excited my two grandmothers were to discover that they were both from the same city in Belarus, Rogotshov. My father's mother confirmed this in a way, when she told me that my coloring is like my other grandmother. She remembered seeing her in Rogatshov as a young woman.

All of the comedians at the event based their routines on the immigrant experience, which is natural, since we all have it in common. My friends and I see a big difference between our aliyot to Israel way back when and that of many of the newcomers, but we still all laughed at the jokes. I guess that's because you do need a good healthy sense of humor to adjust to the differences we've encountered and enjoy our lives. Baruch Hashem, Bless the Lord, we are so happy we came to Israel to live and just can't imagine living anyplace else!