Seven months in, the dust has settled, the unfamiliar became familiar and confusion has been transformed to clarity. Seven months in I accept that there are no line-ups in Israel, no personal space, and truly no saying no to mashehoo cham? (a cup of tea/coffee.)
For the second track of my journey I have had the privilege of living, learning, and volunteering in the city of Kiryat Gat, Chicago's Partnership 2000 city. Kiryat Gat is a small city approximately 40 minutes south of Tel Aviv (30 minutes with an Israeli sheruit driver.) Continue traveling another 20 minutes outside this small periphery city, to Nehora in Lachish, and there lays an elementary school for all the surrounding Moshavim.
Walking onto their beautiful campus you see wide-open spaces, park games, science experiments, and even an ecologically friendly biodome housing lots of furry creatures. Rivkah Goober Elementary school, where another Otzmanik, Adam, and I spent our days teaching English, and frankly, learning Hebrew. Kids are wonderful at teaching Hebrew. They laugh with you at your mistakes and it gives them confidence that they can teach you, "an adult".
Our job as volunteers, more than anything else, was about building confidence. It is more then ABC's and present participles – it is about confidence and encouragement. The ability to speak English is far different from the courage to do so. We taught the kids that it doesn’t have to be perfect as long as you try. There is no better feeling in the world than three months after one of our students walked into our room saying "I speak no English" for them to leave telling you, "Thank you."
I clearly remember on the first day, walking into Rivkah Goober elementary school, and having all the kids run up to me and ask me where I was from. After telling them I was from Las Vegas and hearing the various casino questions that followed, I realized that just being there, speaking to the kids, was going to help shape their lives.
Outside of the students that did not speak English at all, there were a group of students that have lived in English speaking countries but weren't getting the English education they needed to maintain or improve their skills. Adam and I were given the freedom to take these 20 students and create an English play and newspaper. The play, "A trip Around Israel" was written by the kids. We started with a simple journal entry asking what is your favorite part about Israel? It was wonderful to see why they loved their country. Yehuda, one of our second grade boys, stated, "I love Israel because it is small like me!" Watching the students transform these stories into dialogue and finally a play that the kids will perform on English day was the highlight of my time at Rivkah Goober. For our English newspaper, Michal, a fifth grader who spent a few years in California wrote an article on the Hatikvah and what it meant to her. After hearing the Hatikvah in American and moving back to Israel, she understands the impact of the song of Hope.
Sometimes it is easy to get lost in the beaches, falafels, and rockets and it becomes easy to forget, “why Israel?”, and lose hope. I was honored to attend the book launch of a book that my 95 year-old grandfather helped produce about Victor Kugler, The Man Who Hid Anne Frank. We were privileged at the launch to hear from many people, including one of Anne Frank's close friends, Hana Pick, a holocaust survivor. Sitting in Jerusalem hearing her holocaust story, there is no forgetting, just knowing and understanding. I sit here today as a proud granddaughter as my Zadie reminds me and others why we must never forget and never lose hope.
Seven months in I understand why Israel is my homeland.
