Have you ever taken a trip, and then constantly thought to yourself, “I want to return to that place”? Has a place ever made you feel special, alive, and bright?
I grew up in Milwaukee and had learned a lot about Israel during my childhood. I attended Hillel Academy, then Milwaukee Jewish Day School, and went to Shorewood High School.
At my two Jewish day schools, I received a great Jewish education and learned about the land of Israel and always wanted to visit. During my youth, I never had the opportunity to visit. I was young and could only go in groups and it never worked out.
Once I was in high school, I had a few opportunities to travel to Israel, which opened my mind. As I explained in an article I wrote for The Chronicle in February 2009, when I was 17, I went to Israel for six months.
I returned to Milwaukee to go to Marquette University. I was active in the Jewish community and many of my friends were Jewish as well. I attended the Maimonides Program and Hillel Milwaukee functions, and went to Chabad of Milwaukee.
And I took two additional trips to Israel. Some people on one of those trips even told me, “Leah, I can see you living in Israel. You really love it here.”
It is hard to even explain the feelings I have from living here. Every day is a new beginning, and every day to me is meaningful.
I like the idea that each individual has a story that comes from somewhere else, and I am just one of these stories.
My coming from America, which is considered the land of dreams, to a small country that is only an eight hours’ drive from north to south was unbelievable for most Israelis to hear.
“How can you come from the United States? I want to go there.” I can’t count how many times I’ve heard this.
It is understandable to Israelis when people come from other countries that are not America or Europe to come for a better life, but my story to them was shocking.
Jan. 31 was my 23rd birthday, and a month before — Dec. 31 — was my date of aliyah three years ago. Time here has gone by so fast I couldn’t believe this when the date had come. I’ve been through so much, experienced so many new things, and had to figure out what I wanted to do while being here.
I started off, living in the Merkaz Klita (Absorption Center) in Kfar Saba, which is now shut down. I wasn’t sure exactly where I wanted to live after the absorption center. I had a job opportunity teaching English to groups of 8-10 children and for this position I had to live somewhere in the Ha’sharon area. This meant, Kfar Saba Rananna, Hod Hasharon, or Herzliya.
Herzliya seemed perfect. It is close to Tel Aviv, close to the beach, and a nice city, yet still quiet.
I had to search for an apartment a huge process in this country. [See Deborah Opolion-Elovic’s article elsewhere in this issue.] I decided to live with two other friends that I met in the Mercaz Klita, so we looked together. We found one that suited us in the center of Herzliya.
I am ten minutes from the beach in a car, 20 on the bus, and no more than an hour to the desert or the north with beautiful natural sites and greenery. I can travel to so many places and not even get on an airplane.
I can float in the Dead Sea, climb a mountain, hike in the Golan Heights, and go to the Kotel (Western Wall) all in the same day. I don’t know any other place in the world where there is so many incredible sites so close to one another.
During the week I am focused on my job. During the weekend, I like to travel around Israel. I like to camp, hike, experience the nature in the north or south, or sometimes hang out in Tel Aviv.
When I first arrived three years ago, I felt a bit lonely, uncomfortable, and I wanted to hop back on the airplane. I came into a dark place, not knowing anyone, in the middle of the night while it was raining.
It was like a scene from a movie; I was standing with my two big suitcases and no one around me to help me get settled or tell me where to go. I was scared that I made a wrong decision and didn’t know what to do.
Thinking about this now makes me understand how everything can get better, and it’s smart to make the best out of every situation. If I didn’t work it out, and had returned right away, I wouldn’t be experiencing the life I am living now.
Milwaukee native Leah Jeansonne works as a teacher in Herzliya, Israel.
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