Journey from Josiah Wedgewood to Kibbutz Ein Dor
Filed under: General, History and Culture, Immigrant Moments
By Kayla Ship/Keshet
Recently I had the pleasure of meeting Aryeh Malkin, a 90-year-young native of the Bronx and “graduate” of the Shomer Hatzair youth movement. From the age of 11, Aryeh wanted to make aliyah to Eretz Yisrael and be a farmer, building the Jewish homeland through hard, physical labor.
“When you get to do what you want and help other people-there’s no better way to spend your time on this earth,” is what Arthur told me. These are inspiring words.
After serving in the US Army in World War II, he returned to New York, trying to figure out a way to get to Palestine. The Haganah offered him an opportunity he couldn’t refuse: to be one of the crew members on the Josiah Wedgewood, a ship that would eventually bring over 1, 300 Jewish refugees to the shores of Eretz Yisrael in June 1946 as part of the Aliyah Bet clandestine immigration operation.
After the boat was raided by the British, Aryeh was thrown into the Atlit Detention Camp along with all the other “remnants of the Holocaust,” as he refers to the refugees. After two weeks, the Haganah smuggled him out of the camp and eventually he became one of the founding members of Kibbutz Ein Dor, where he still lives with his lovely wife, Varda, a nurse who hails from Australia.
When bayit becomes home
Last week marked the third year anniversary of the aliyah of my sister, brother-in-law and three nephews, Beth, Ira, Natan, Gabe and Akiva. It’s hard to believe that three years have passed, particularly since we — the rest of my family — waited so long for them to move here. And what once seemed like an impossible dream [natch, Don Quixote] actually happened. We are all, that is, my three siblings and their families, and my mother, in Israel.
It’s a somewhat bittersweet anniversary given that my father, the original Zionist among us, died this summer after a long illness. In fact, he was diagnosed just one day after their arrival. But I’m still going to take this opportunity to look back on their three years, which I see as a real triumph, attesting to their sense of adventure, flexibility and unique personalities.
When they came, my nephews were 16, 13 and 9 years old. Akiva, the youngest, who has Down Syndrome, was the easiest to place in a framework and ended up going to the Feuerstein School, which has been a fairly good fit for him. Hebrew has also proven to be an easyish transition, as he’s got a knack for languages and now relishes using the vocabulary that he’s learned. Gabe is now 16 and as a former homeschooler back in Brooklyn, had a few false starts before he ended up at the Democratic School, a place where you may not do much formal learning, but where he’s learned a mean game of ping pong, made many friends and become a skateboarder. Natan, now 19, has probably had the sharpest learning curve, having started at Reut, a local middle/high school, spent his senior year learning ‘externi’ and then entered the army last fall as a ‘jobnik.’ He had a few false starts, including writing a blog for which he was reprimanded and had to stop writing, but he’s pretty happy, having ended up with a likable Druze commanding officer and a job that has its moments.
As for my sister and brother-in-law, they’re also finding their way, with the expected ups and downs of a major move when in your 40s. They both started out taking ulpan, which my brother-in-law has continued with, although I suspect he does so more for seeing his ulpan friends than for improving his diction. My sister has embarked on many a project, as is her penchant, including starting Shutaf, a ‘kaytana,’ the local word for daycamp, for special needs kids and their regularly-developing friends, which meets three times a year, on Chanukah, Passover and summer vacations.
Life isn’t perfect, in case I’m being too cup half-full. They have a tough landlord (“What’s wrong with a twenty-year-old faucet?”), the ongoing challenges of an extremely special needs son, professional travails and missing the very good chevre they had back in Brooklyn, as well as my brother-in-law’s family.
But I’m pretty sure they’re happy with their decision, and that if pushed, they’d do it all over again. Their new place has become home, despite the ongoing challenges of life in Israel. As my nephew Akiva likes to say, “Let’s go home to the bayit/house.”
What Would You Do With a Million Shekels?
I had a conversation a couple of months ago with two friends about the biggest factors keeping American Jews from moving to Israel. One maintained that it was money while I argued that money was only an excuse and that if you suddenly offered not only the average American Jew, but also someone with a strong connection to this place, a salary equivalent to that in America, he’d find a different reason to not come.
Whatever the “main” reason may be, there’s no arguing that in absolute terms, salaries here do not compare to those in the States. Not here.
Now…this past weekend also happened to be July 4th, American Independence Day. If not for a few reminders here and there, I would have forgotten completely. In America, there are celebrations, events, and promotions. Not here.
To recap, in Israel, you should not expect to make the same amount of money or celebrate the 4th of July as you would in America.
UNTIL NOW.
Holy crap, have you heard? Bank Leumi is running this special deal for its members: For every shekel you deposit, they will match it with 99 of its own, giving you a sum ONE HUNDRED TIMES your initial amount. How else to explain this transaction report?
I’M RICH, BABY!!!!!!!!!!!
With my newly found money, I plan to do the following:
- Buy Cafe Suzanna and move it to Kikar Rabin
- Start a competing line to the Jerusalem-Tel Aviv 405 line with a no-pushing policy
- Finance the opening of an authentic Mexican restaurant in Tel Aviv
It’s all about the Ben-Gurions, baby. Who wants to party?
Cross-posted at What War Zone???
Post-script: Here’s a note for you prospective bloggers out there: when you post a copy of your deposit report, be sure to Photoshop out *all* occurrences of your account info. Even get an Israeli’s help if necessary. Fortunately this was only online for a few hours earlier this week. You wouldn’t steal my identity, would you, Israelity readers?
Aliyah deals
Just read this week that the Absorption Ministry and El Al are offering special benefits to Israelis living abroad who move back to Israel during this 60th anniversary year. The ‘yordim’ who become ‘olim’ will be charged a flat rate airfare by El Al from any destination, and will be allowed extra baggage, a discount on shipping their belongings, as well as tax breaks for ten years, help finding work and programs for returning doctors, scientists and other researchers.
Sweet deal. I didn’t even get a free ticket when I made aliyah. Granted, snafu of my own, but this could be the opportunity to fix things. Now, my husband has been angling for a flat screen TV, and was thinking of asking friends of friends of friends who are making aliyah this summer to leave some space on their lift for a TV for us, as well as some lawn furniture. Forget the Americans; we need to find ourselves some real, returning Israelis. So anyone out there, let us know! And we’ll be happy to have you for dinner once you get here.
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