The most nurturing experience an oleh could have wanted - Haaretz

Subscribe to Print Edition

Wed., January 23, 2008 Shvat 16, 5768

Israel Time: 13:37 (EST+7)

web haaretz.com

Back to Homepage

Rosner's Domain

Diplomacy

Defense

Jewish World

Opinion

National

Print Edition

Advertising

Books

Arts & Leisure

Business

Real Estate

Easy Start

Travel

Week's End

Anglo File

Last update - 22:47 21/12/2007

The most nurturing experience an oleh could have wanted

By Ariel Zilber

Tags: Hebrew, aliyah, Israel, Ulpan

We were a unique group at Ulpan Etzion in January 2004, new immigrants from the four corners of the earth. If the Zionist enterprise is history's most ambitious lab experiment, then we were the fresh batch of mice thrown into the volatile cage. At this run-down yet reputable school in West Jerusalem, we could not have asked for a better, more nurturing facility.

From the school's social worker who took on my HMO after it wouldn't process my health insurance without proper forms from the army, to the ulpan director who assured us we were more Israeli than the natives because we were here by choice, to the Hebrew teacher who explained the difference between the verb structures, ulpan was a new home away from home, a cultural kaleidoscope that brought together gentiles from Uzbekistan, Argentine soccer fanatics, Brazilian engineering students, and young, flamboyantly wealthy French Jews.

During class, one kippah-wearing oleh from Uruguay broke out in applause when the teacher showed television coverage from the period of Rabin's assassination. One secular Brazilian girl who spent summers at Hashomer Hatzair found little in common with her Orthodox roommate. Nor was she amused when the sign she had carried to a Peace Now rally was torn into pieces by Israel's newest volunteers for the West Bank's hilltop youth.

	Advertisement

Although palpable, the politics of the day did not dominate the ulpan dynamic. The friendships forged cross cultural and linguistic barriers that would not have been broken in any other social structure. Where else could the Ghanaian son of a Russian Jewish mother meet a Colombian girl who would later become his bride?

Ulpan did more than just instruct us about proper spelling or warn us to tell the cab driver to turn on the meter before he offered to rip us off. It gave us our first cold dose of the Israeli reality that we grapple with to this day.

Bookmark to del.icio.us


	L.A.-bound
	The Israeli film "Beaufort" has been nominated for an Oscar for Best Foreign Film.


	Virtual trees
	The JNF takes tree-planting online for Tu B'Shvat during the shmita year.




1.	Ulpan Etzion	06:10	\|	Rochelle	23/12/07

2.	It`s more than a hebrew class	13:32	\|	Mati	23/01/08

Today Online


	Gazans flood into Egypt as gunmen breach border
	Responses: 170


	Burston: Qassam rockets as collective punishment
	Responses: 25


	Editorial: Religious Zionism versus the State of Israel
	Responses: 24


	Amira Hass: Gaza siege reminds world Israel is the aggressor
	Responses: 35


	Israel, U.S. to boycott UN rights council meeting on Gaza
	Responses: 68


	Uzi Benziman: Israel has Arab syndrome of false images, lies
	Responses: 9

More Headlines
13:36 Hamas: Border must be controlled exclusively by Palestinians, Egypt


13:37 Gaza masses stream into Egypt as militants blast border wall


10:42 Hamas militant killed in IDF arrest raid in southern Gaza Strip


12:24 Father of terror victim slams Olmert for letting PA try the killers


11:09 Kabbalist rabbi helps the lonely find love on Tu B'Shvat in J'lem


11:27 Israel, U.S. to boycott UN rights council meet on Gaza blockade


12:28 Rightist MK to Defense Min.: Tackle illegal Palestinian construction


11:57 Bereaved parents call on PM to resign in 'alternative Winograd report'


12:42 Leaders of Paris aid conference for PA urge donors for more