Tag: immigrant

  • The hard way.

    The hard way.

    At the ‘חוג בת מצווה’ I’m doing with my daughter, tonight’s session was focused on Jewish Israeli women heroes of the last century; this follows six weeks focused on even earlier historical Jewish strongwomen. Posters that hung around the room exposed us to some oldies but goodies – Naomi Shemer, Golda Meir, Henrietta Szold –…

  • The things that change and don’t change in fifteen years.

    The things that change and don’t change in fifteen years.

    15 years ago, I landed at Ben Gurion airport and a Russian-accented משרד הפנים rep told me I’ve been spelling my last name wrong my entire life as he prepped my paperwork. Last night, I was helping my son with his math homework in averages and after puzzling over the inaccurate wording of this problem,…

  • Fadichot leaking all over the place.

    Every other week or so when I pick up Koala from his gan, his ganenet passes me the pants I dressed him in that day and I look down and see him wearing the poofy red replacement pants we keep there. Always with the same explanation: “He leaked again so we changed him…” I guess…

  • On living outside Israel.

    It happens every time I visit the States: I spend about 35% of the time thinking about the reasons I could and couldn’t live there. By now, the couldn’ts far outweigh the coulds. So it stands to reason that I’m going through the same process here in Melbourne. It’s different, of course, because it’s not…

  • Israeli life on paper.

    I’m covered in dust as I write this from the depths of old documents, yellowed papers, stacks of ancient bills. Call it spring cleaning, call it nesting, call it what you will but I have managed to set aside three cartonim of dead trees to recycle.  What’s super fun about doing something like this –…