Crossing the Yarden

By Yarden Frankl

"I am not an Anglo-Saxon"

I am sure at one time, when Israelis heard that Americans were willing to make Aliyah, they were filled with admiration, inspiration, and confusion. Why would anyone want to leave America, the land of drive-thru coffee bars, for Israel, where you get to decide each day whether to fear the Arabs or the government?

Yet most Israelis have been very welcoming to Americans and other Olim, especially those who decide to bolster the Jewish presence in lands that are historically Jewish but politically in question. Upon hearing that someone has made Aliyah directly from the U.S. to the Yishuvim, the standard Israeli response has been an admiring "pshhhhhhh!"

But now, many Israelis are suddenly waking up and discovering that they are surrounded by us Anglos. (I will concede that I am a native English speaker and will allow myself to be lumped together with Jews from England, Canada, South Africa, and Australia. But please don't refer to me as an "Anglo-Saxon." Historians argue over who the "Anglo-Saxons" actually were, but none of them have ever mentioned a tribe of English speaking Jews from New York who moved to Israel.)

For many Israelis, I can understand their nervousness of the Anglo "invasion." Suddenly in small yishuvim, people are demanding street signs and wondering why there is so much trash lying around. We look on nervously as kids step on M-16s at shul, and we invite people for Shabbat meals more than 24 hours in advance.

Yet on the other hand, I hope Israelis will understand that for most of us, the goals of moving here were not to open a MacDonald's on the corner and drive a sport utility vehicle (huge car with terrible gas mileage in which every occupant gets a seat and seat belt). Yes, we do stick out. Our kids play games where they try to hit a ball with a stick rather than kick it. And we are always paying too much for shoes because when someone tells us the price, our instinct is to pay it and not see if we have a common relative with the sales person who will somehow intervene in our transaction and get us a discount.

Some of us speak English a lot not by choice, but because our Hebrew skills are still not as good as they need to be. We lose our ATM cards in the bank machine because when we think the machine said "have a nice day" it really said "got your card, sucker!" We get really excited because we figure out how to pay our rent online, until we discover that we just paid it a few times in a row.

Understand, we would rather speak Ivrit, but for a lot of us, it will take some time. Don't assume that just because we have figured out how to ask you for directions in Ivrit, we have any idea what your answer is.

Yet, our ultimate goal is to have a true "klita," absorption. We have spoken with our feet and demonstrated the most extreme way we know how that it is our goal to be Israelis. Give us some time. Our kids are much farther ahead than us, but with their help, we will make it. With all the challenges facing Israel, this is still the place we want to live and raise our children.

Am I just a naïve guy who pays too much for shoes? Maybe, but I love walking into any school in the Gush and see it bursting at the seams with kids from all over the world. I can walk through my Yishuv and see numerous houses in all phases of construction. When you assume people are worrying about the "convergence" plan, they are really worrying about which fruit trees to plant in their yard next year.

America may have baseball, polite cab drivers, and Walmarts bigger than Ben Gurion airport, but I think we'll stay. We are arriving daily and will continue to do so. We will try to become more and more Israeli over time, but until then be prepared. There may be a longer wait for your Pizza.

Shabbat Shalom from our blessed nation.

© 2006 Yarden Frankl