The word "Commentator" caught my eye at once in the posting to the Yeshiva University alumni email. I had spent two years on the copy staff of The Commentator student newspaper and a year as Projects Editor. Working for the "Commie" was one of the truly enjoyable experiences I had at YU. Requests of the editor-in-chief still seemed to elicit an automatic positive response, even if it has been almost 30 years since this happened last.
I have to admit, however, that when I first responded to The Commentator editor's invitation to write about aliyah to Israel, I had no intention of writing a "feel good" piece. The plain fact is that I am "here" and you are "there", and our lives are different in many ways that you will never understand if you stay there. It is my children who serve, have served and will serve in the IDF. It is my children who first arrive at university when their US cousins are already on the way to graduate school, professional school and careers.
An Egged bus ride unfortunately often turns out to be much more than a bus ride, and I hope that the figure standing on the hill opposite me as I drive to Bar-Ilan from Efrat is not about to open fire. Everyone here has been touched at some level by the tragedy of war and terror. My dream is for just a little "peace and quiet", but I fear that this will remain a dream for quite some time.
Then it dawned on me that I was taking my anger out on the wrong people. It is the parents of today's Commentator readers, my classmates, who chose to remain in the US, preferring material comfort, career, and money and making use of whatever excuse was convenient at the time to justify this. At least some may have felt guilty about it; for others, the religious and national obligation of aliyah was never even a consideration. I am sorry if this offends some of you, but it was The Commentator, after all, that invited me to express my thoughts and the one that has guided me for a good many years is that a Jew belongs in Zion.
Having gotten this off my chest, I should like to point out that in my day, The Commentator would never have published a symposium on Israel and Aliyah, while Zionism received only basic lip-service at YU. If this represents a change, then it is certainly a very positive one.
Biography of an Academic Oleh
Much has been written as to the role of Golda Meir as Prime Minister, and her reputation has unfortunately sagged much of late, but I shall always owe her a great debt. Towards the very end of my high school days at MTA, she came to Madison Square Garden to address Jewish high school students of the New York area. She spoke in Hebrew and said that Israel needed us and that she expected us to come and fulfill our obligation to the Jewish People.
From that moment, I knew that I was going to live in Israel. I spent summers, and whatever other free time I had from YU, on kibbutz, and for a time, contemplated a future as a kibbutz chicken farmer. A junior year abroad at the Hebrew University and some prodding from my parents killed that idea, but by then, I also knew that I would return to Israel to study Jewish History at the Hebrew University. This course of future study was considered strange indeed by most of my fellow students at YU: no money, no status, questionable future. I doubt that this attitude has changed.
I arrived in Israel in September 1974 with an Abraham Mazer Scholarship from YU (!) for study at Hebrew University. I have had unimaginable good luck at all levels and have done and accomplished, in varying degrees, all that Israelis are supposed to do, and have done so without much difficulty. It is possible.
Seven years after aliyah I had a Ph.D. (and had married the former Chani Heimowitz and the first of our three children had been born), 15 years later I was a Full Professor of Historical Geography of Ancient Israel at Bar-Ilan University, and five years after that I was elected Dean of the Faculty of Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan. I teach Land of Israel Studies to Israelis!
Graduate Student as Oleh
Israeli society is still very closed, and often a job depends on protektzia (although it is no longer politically correct, even here, to actually mention this). Israel is a small country and sometimes one gets the impression that everybody was in the same youth group together, the same gar'in together and grew up in the same neighborhood. Obviously, this puts "outsiders", i.e., olim and potential olim, at a great disadvantage. For those, however, interested in the world of Israeli universities, the situation is thankfully different and the very large numbers of olim in all Israeli universities are proof of this. In spite of the usual politics inherent in any university, Israeli universities are (still) meritocracies, and this gives the qualified oleh a good chance. I should point out, though, that the comments below are general and there are differences between various faculties.
One can break into the academic world here from the bottom or from the top; it is extremely difficult to do so from the middle. The first option worked for me; the second will keep you in the US for a long time - and probably forever.
Breaking in from the bottom means doing graduate work in Israel (that Harvard Ph.D. in Jewish History will not impress anyone here) and becoming an "Israeli" student. Since the graduate system here is still very paternalistic, many MA and Ph.D. advisors still consider it part of their job to place their students, or at least their best ones. My advisor did this for me and I have been successful, so far, in assuring my best students jobs in academia here. In all honesty, however, I should point out that the dire financial situation of higher education in Israel and constant budgetary cuts have reduced university hiring to an absolute minimum, whether for Israelis or olim. It is unlikely that this will change in the short term, but certainly things will improve in the future.
Basic Aliyah
I should like to conclude by throwing in my "two cents" on aliyah in general:
1. Hebrew is a necessity; basic for the grocery store, but high level for most jobs. Learn Hebrew well now! Do not count on an ulpan.
2. "Find yourself" before you come to Israel. Know what you want before aliyah.
3. Prepare. Do your homework in advance while still in the US. Do not depend on information from shlichim or anybody else in an "official" capacity. Acquire information and speak to other olim, new- and old-timers. Come on a pilot-trip. Spend a sabbatical (of any kind) here before you buy a one-way ticket. "Yiyeh beseder" works better when you are better prepared.
4. Preparation includes knowing about the financial situation here and preparing accordingly. However, you will never make what you could in the US and your standard of living will go down. You are not doing this for the material benefits.
5. In spite of your best efforts, it is often very hard to get a firm job commitment before you actually move here. Employers simply do not believe that you will actually show up. Sometimes "a leap of faith" is necessary on both sides. No risk; no aliyah.
6. Ultimately, something or another is bound to go wrong, in spite of all your preparations. Be flexible and be patient. However, patient does not mean "bashful" or you will find yourself forever at the end of the line.
7. Zionism. This where you belong! All of your Jewish education and upbringing should have been pointing you in this direction. And if this has not been so, now is the time to change direction.
[Adapted from an article published Thursday, March 18, 2004 in Yeshiva University's student newspaper, The Commentator.]
I have to admit, however, that when I first responded to The Commentator editor's invitation to write about aliyah to Israel, I had no intention of writing a "feel good" piece. The plain fact is that I am "here" and you are "there", and our lives are different in many ways that you will never understand if you stay there. It is my children who serve, have served and will serve in the IDF. It is my children who first arrive at university when their US cousins are already on the way to graduate school, professional school and careers.
An Egged bus ride unfortunately often turns out to be much more than a bus ride, and I hope that the figure standing on the hill opposite me as I drive to Bar-Ilan from Efrat is not about to open fire. Everyone here has been touched at some level by the tragedy of war and terror. My dream is for just a little "peace and quiet", but I fear that this will remain a dream for quite some time.
Then it dawned on me that I was taking my anger out on the wrong people. It is the parents of today's Commentator readers, my classmates, who chose to remain in the US, preferring material comfort, career, and money and making use of whatever excuse was convenient at the time to justify this. At least some may have felt guilty about it; for others, the religious and national obligation of aliyah was never even a consideration. I am sorry if this offends some of you, but it was The Commentator, after all, that invited me to express my thoughts and the one that has guided me for a good many years is that a Jew belongs in Zion.
Having gotten this off my chest, I should like to point out that in my day, The Commentator would never have published a symposium on Israel and Aliyah, while Zionism received only basic lip-service at YU. If this represents a change, then it is certainly a very positive one.
Biography of an Academic Oleh
Much has been written as to the role of Golda Meir as Prime Minister, and her reputation has unfortunately sagged much of late, but I shall always owe her a great debt. Towards the very end of my high school days at MTA, she came to Madison Square Garden to address Jewish high school students of the New York area. She spoke in Hebrew and said that Israel needed us and that she expected us to come and fulfill our obligation to the Jewish People.
From that moment, I knew that I was going to live in Israel. I spent summers, and whatever other free time I had from YU, on kibbutz, and for a time, contemplated a future as a kibbutz chicken farmer. A junior year abroad at the Hebrew University and some prodding from my parents killed that idea, but by then, I also knew that I would return to Israel to study Jewish History at the Hebrew University. This course of future study was considered strange indeed by most of my fellow students at YU: no money, no status, questionable future. I doubt that this attitude has changed.
I arrived in Israel in September 1974 with an Abraham Mazer Scholarship from YU (!) for study at Hebrew University. I have had unimaginable good luck at all levels and have done and accomplished, in varying degrees, all that Israelis are supposed to do, and have done so without much difficulty. It is possible.
Seven years after aliyah I had a Ph.D. (and had married the former Chani Heimowitz and the first of our three children had been born), 15 years later I was a Full Professor of Historical Geography of Ancient Israel at Bar-Ilan University, and five years after that I was elected Dean of the Faculty of Jewish Studies at Bar-Ilan. I teach Land of Israel Studies to Israelis!
Graduate Student as Oleh
Israeli society is still very closed, and often a job depends on protektzia (although it is no longer politically correct, even here, to actually mention this). Israel is a small country and sometimes one gets the impression that everybody was in the same youth group together, the same gar'in together and grew up in the same neighborhood. Obviously, this puts "outsiders", i.e., olim and potential olim, at a great disadvantage. For those, however, interested in the world of Israeli universities, the situation is thankfully different and the very large numbers of olim in all Israeli universities are proof of this. In spite of the usual politics inherent in any university, Israeli universities are (still) meritocracies, and this gives the qualified oleh a good chance. I should point out, though, that the comments below are general and there are differences between various faculties.
One can break into the academic world here from the bottom or from the top; it is extremely difficult to do so from the middle. The first option worked for me; the second will keep you in the US for a long time - and probably forever.
Breaking in from the bottom means doing graduate work in Israel (that Harvard Ph.D. in Jewish History will not impress anyone here) and becoming an "Israeli" student. Since the graduate system here is still very paternalistic, many MA and Ph.D. advisors still consider it part of their job to place their students, or at least their best ones. My advisor did this for me and I have been successful, so far, in assuring my best students jobs in academia here. In all honesty, however, I should point out that the dire financial situation of higher education in Israel and constant budgetary cuts have reduced university hiring to an absolute minimum, whether for Israelis or olim. It is unlikely that this will change in the short term, but certainly things will improve in the future.
Basic Aliyah
I should like to conclude by throwing in my "two cents" on aliyah in general:
1. Hebrew is a necessity; basic for the grocery store, but high level for most jobs. Learn Hebrew well now! Do not count on an ulpan.
2. "Find yourself" before you come to Israel. Know what you want before aliyah.
3. Prepare. Do your homework in advance while still in the US. Do not depend on information from shlichim or anybody else in an "official" capacity. Acquire information and speak to other olim, new- and old-timers. Come on a pilot-trip. Spend a sabbatical (of any kind) here before you buy a one-way ticket. "Yiyeh beseder" works better when you are better prepared.
4. Preparation includes knowing about the financial situation here and preparing accordingly. However, you will never make what you could in the US and your standard of living will go down. You are not doing this for the material benefits.
5. In spite of your best efforts, it is often very hard to get a firm job commitment before you actually move here. Employers simply do not believe that you will actually show up. Sometimes "a leap of faith" is necessary on both sides. No risk; no aliyah.
6. Ultimately, something or another is bound to go wrong, in spite of all your preparations. Be flexible and be patient. However, patient does not mean "bashful" or you will find yourself forever at the end of the line.
7. Zionism. This where you belong! All of your Jewish education and upbringing should have been pointing you in this direction. And if this has not been so, now is the time to change direction.
[Adapted from an article published Thursday, March 18, 2004 in Yeshiva University's student newspaper, The Commentator.]