Category: aliyah rites

  • To the immigrant parents I grew up with:

    Dear immigrant parents of childhood friends, Hi. How are you? Have I told you lately your English is incredible? It was really fun growing up with your kid. Maybe I’m still even friends with your kid. Most of my friends from childhood had immigrant parents it seems. It really felt that way, at least. To…

  • Do it for the Anglo teens: Sponsor my 10k run for Team Crossroads

    Hello, it’s that time of year again where I get off my ass, get motivated by some grace of god, and run a 10k and then feel awesome about myself (then stop and procrastinate another 3-6 months). This time, I’ll run as part of the Jerusalem Marathon, and I’m going to do it as a…

  • Thanksgiving in Israel, ceasefire edition.

    I just OWNED my Americanness at our local Mister Zol. Usually my Australian huz deals with the turkey ordering and picking up. Blasphemy, I know. I’ve been passive about it because I always felt silly ordering a whole turkey at a chicken counter in Israel. So when I approached the counter, my language evolved from…

  • Israel Air Force by proxy: swearing-in ceremony, sabras, and planting roots.

    It’s a little surreal reading up on your country’s military air strike operations in real time as you drive back from your brother’s air force swear-in ceremony. But then again, it’s often surreal living here. We made the three-hour trek down to the Ovda Israel Airforce Base to see my brother’s טקס השבעה or swearing-in…

  • Little Midrash, Lizrael style.

    “Do you know what this week’s parsha is? Lech Lecha. Basically… Avraham Avinu, do you know who that is? No? So… he was the first Jew. He had the first brit milah. Do you know what that is? Well. You had one… All yehudim with a penis have one. So all boys who are yehudim…

  • There goes the Lone Soldier.

    There goes the Lone Soldier. Today I saw my brother off to his shlav bet compulsory 6-month IDF service. A bit anticlimactic as far as the mothers of 18-year-olds go. Actually, some were in various uniforms themselves. Maybe they’ve done it before. Maybe they’ve known this day would come for 18 years. There weren’t very…

  • Koala update: You have an American mom.

    I grew up with this perception of the Israeli kids in school being pretty laid back, coming to school with their lunch packed casually in plastic bags. I thought it was really cool… because I was a kid, and anything I didn’t get to do was cool. Even if every year my mom took me…

  • How do you take your Hebrew? Heavily-accented.

    Anglo self-hate. Nothing wins more comments on the Times of Israel than that. The latest? This piece by Noga Martin: Why can’t the Anglos learn to speak? The author made aliyah at 19 with no background in Hebrew. She managed to learn it and speak it fluently, as well as develop an Israeli accent in doing…

  • There’s a third camp…

    …the people who just live here. I’ve seen one too many Western aliyah/Anglo-bashing/Anglo-praising/Anglo-centric articles in the last week so now I’m just gonna mouth off a little. It seems people are either complaining about Anglos who need to get over it – ‘yes life is a struggle here in Israel, deal with it‘ – or…

  • We are the Anglos in Israel.

    Over seven years here, and you know what? It’s time to own it. Way to own it, Yosef Adest! And check out the bloopers for Sh*t Anglos in Israel Say. Great job, guys! [Psst, Adest lives here]

  • Super Bowl XLVI, the ex-pat-but-also-tired-parent way.

    I’m a NY Giants fan, which means when I care, which is rare, I’m following them because I’m from New York, it’s what my family does, and it’s who I am, and F you anyway. Four years ago, the day we moved to Tsur Hadassah, was the last Super Bowl, the incredible event where the…

  • #ImmigrantParentProblems.

    So, for just a minute, humor me. I make an ongoing effort to forget how hard this is. I swallow a lot in order to make the daily grind seem easier. And I try to push away my lucky, amazing, beautiful problems because I know so many people have much worse challenges: poor health… empty…