למרות הכל... אין לי ארץ אחרת

A wise man with the initials ASB once said, "the greatest wisdom is facebook is that everyone can have a complicated relationship with everything." This was in response to my complaint that the Rikudegalim (flag parade) for Yom Yerushalayim was rerouted this year in the stupidest way ever for even more ridiculous reasons. If my favorite event of the year was going to be ruined, it could at least be for logical reasons. However I live in Israel, in the city of Jerusalem, and after four years here if I still expect logic there's no way I'll make it through another four years. Like so many other things, my relationship with this country is often complicated.

So here I am, living in the holiest city of the world. The municipality claims I owe 50 shekels in property taxes for the last five days of 2010 even though I have a receipt for paying the entire 2010 bill. I am trying to open a business, which is an insane idea as it is, and I expect people sitting five feet from each other in the same office to be able to transfer my call from one to the other so that I can get correct information about how to do things legally. Today I actually met someone from the municipality and she was astonished to hear that no one she said I should call ever answers their phone.

But I digress... okay fine, I can go on a bit more. Alright I'll stop. This is supposed to be my annual optimistic no-venting post.

Today at gan this boy (who made aliyah two weeks before gan started last year) was quietly singing שישו את ירושלים to himself and doing a little dance with it. I think I teared up. A few weeks ago when we celebrated Yom Haatzmaut at gan, I loved watching the kids wave their flags and sing כחול ולבן זה הצבע שלי. Then Yom Haatzmaut night I was in town with thousands upon thousands of people who were simply overjoyed to be celebrating another year of a sovereign Jewish state. Today marks 44 years since Jerusalem was taken back, and while I am annoyed at the parade situation I keep thinking how unbelievable it is how different this city was under a half century ago. As much as I dread going to Hebrew U these days, it's a small miracle going through where Mandelbaum Gate once stood. No small miracle.




Miracles. That is what I love about living here. In Israel and I feel especially in Jerusalem, no small miracle is taken for granted. Every little thing seems to mean so much here. It goes back to what I wrote in my essay for Nefesh B'Nefesh when I made aliyah. I decided to make aliyah because I knew what I could contribute to society, and I felt it would mean so much more if I contributed to society here in Israel.

I am grateful to my friends who have been so supportive over the past year as Gila and I work on opening our gan. While sometimes I feel nagged when asked the same questions over and over again that I still don't have answers too, they have been there for me all the way. I know my friends are proud of me, and I am proud of them for taking an interest in my life and in general the way we all look out for each other.

In September Gila and I will be opening our gan, which will be nothing short of a big miracle, but I am looking forward to it being a place where lots of small miracles happen. It will be a place where little Israeli boys and girls learn to jump and skip, to share and work together. I can't wait until next year at this time when I hear a kid humming כחול ולבן and think "Hey, I taught him that!". It's going to be one more way I put my roots down in this country- one more step towards fully realizing my dream to live in Israel.

Every year I feel like Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim come to remind us how we all felt when we came to Israel on teen tours or to learn for the year after high school. We feel that silly giddiness about being so happy to be in Israel and for a few weeks we might even forget all the nonsense real life throws at us here. Every year we need it- maybe even more than each year before.

This year I have some other reminders. My cousin Stuart just posted the draft of the family tree project he did of my Grandma Elka's mother's family. My grandmother's father was a lower middle class tailor in Chicago, but was also a leader of the Zionist Commonwealth (as it seems it was called). He never made it to Israel but always fought for its existence. My grandmother planned to make aliyah shortly after the State of Israel was founded, but the plans fell through and she only visited a couple times throughout her life. I had been to Israel ten times before I made aliyah. The fact I could come so many times is a miracle in itself. I've been thinking about my family history a lot lately, and I feel that my living in Israel is in their merit. I think about and remember my Grandma Elka- how much she missed me but how proud of me she was, and that's sometimes what keeps me going here.

עומדות היו רגלינו בשעריך ירושלים
We once stood in the gates of Jerusalem. We stand in Jerusalem again, and we're not going anywhere this time.

שישו את ירושלים בגילו בה כל אוהביה