Thursday, August 27, 2009

Send A Friend to Israel Contest

Yom chamishi, 7 Elul 5769.

 Almost twenty years ago, I fell head over heels in love with Israel -- and I spent the next decade and a half driving my husband crazy.  When he was finally crazy enough, he brought me here to live.

The Dearly Beloved has always liked this picture.  I had just figured out how to ask for something -- the ancient asimonim, probably -- and I felt like I could actually live in this exotic place.  It was the success that made the smile; but to him, it was the face of somebody who had found her makom.

During the years between that first visit to Israel and finally making aliyah, many of my friendships were with people who also longed for a home in Eretz Yisrael.

Of course -- how else could it be?  Who else could understand the longing, the fits of tears brought on by "HaTikvah," the daily fascination with an obscure internet radio station broadcasting illegally from a ship off the Mediterranean coast?
One of my best friendships developed with a very special woman who not only listened to my whining about a home in the Holy Land -- she eventually became instrumental in helping me and many other Jews to fulfill that dream.


Rebbetzin Dr. Rivkah Lambert Adler has not yet been permitted to fulfill this dream for herself.  But during the several years that she has nurtured "her baby," the Baltimore Chug Aliyah, she has shepherded a significant number of us from "our father's home" to the land that Hashem showed to the Jewish people and gave to them as an inheritance.  She set up meetings for us with Nefesh B'Nefesh representatives, as well as with people who taught us about banking and shipping and every other aspect of surviving in our future new home.  For some of us, she made the dream seem possible.  For others, she kept the dream alive, when "reality" would have crushed it.

Until Hashem allows Rivkah to come home, she blogs her love of the land, her desire to walk among the people as a citizen, her angst at being "outside the candy store, looking in."  And she and her dear husband, Rabbi Elan Adler, keep bringing speakers to Baltimore to remind every Jew that he is a potential oleh, that his land is calling him home.  And sometimes she visits us here in Israel, and reminds us of what the fever to be here felt like.

  Please take a little time to look over Rivkah's blog.  It is called Bat Aliyah.  As she says, "On September 11, 2001, I had an epiphany and realized that it was time to come Home."

I wish that every Jew in Chutz l'Aretz could want Aliyah the way this beautiful and precious soul does.  She is intelligent, funny, erudite.  Everyone who reads of her love for Israel and for the Jewish people wants to be part of that love affair.

If you are a blogger, and have not yet decided whom to nominate for the opportunity to fly aboard a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight to interview incoming olim, please consider my dear friend, Bat Aliyah.

Glossary:
Asimonim:  tokens used to operate Israeli payphones -- now obsolete
Makom:  place (here, "the place one belongs")
HaTikvah:  the Israeli national anthem
Chug:  club or organization
Oleh:  immigrant to Israel
Bat Aliyah:  Daughter of Aliyah -- one who "is a child of" the mitzvah of settling the land of Israel
Chutz l'Aretz:  anywhere outside the land of Israel

13 comments:

Baila said...

She sounds like an amazing woman. She deserves to win.

rutimizrachi said...

So does the inimitable Baila. I hope there are enough interviewing jobs for all of the bloggers who want to do the job. Me? I'll meet you all at the airport, and snack on dairy delicacies next to you at the JBlogger's Convention. :-)

Ye'he Sh'mey Raba Mevorach said...

Oh man Ruti! How am I going to write MY tribute to Rivkah? Maybe I'll just link to yours...

I just read some comments on Jameel's post about the GAP store in Jerusalem, and I am in SO much pain about Jews who do not yearn for Eretz Yisrael, even a little bit. "When the Mashiach comes, we will go." But they just don't get it. When the Mashiach comes, bimhera biyameinu today, it might be TOO LATE for them. G-d help them.

Rivkah, however, and others like her, will get the red carpet treatment. They yearn.

rutimizrachi said...

Oh, no you don't, dear one. You write your own. Your very special way of seeing things is needed. Besides, let's make her feel all of the love. She'll weep for days. ;-)

Anonymous said...

Rivkah should definetly be an Aliyah blogger. I wish I had a blog because I would nominate her as well!

sparrow said...

on your recommendation m'dear, I would happily vote for this delightful lady. How do I go about it?

sparrow said...

BTW, is that Post Office the one in the Old City, close to David's Citadel and the Police station?

rutimizrachi said...

Frayda: Sometimes the nominations of the heart mean the most.

Sparrow: Fair enough, dear friend. Here's the link: http://jbloggers.org/send-a-friend

rutimizrachi said...

Sparrow, again: Good eye, Girlfriend! ;-)

shimon apisdorf said...

ruti,
1) hope you and family are well.
2) please send the ormans my love.
3) i had the same sept. 11 epiphany as rivka.
shabbat shalom
see you, not soon enough
shimon

Batya said...

Your friend does sound perfect for the trip and blogging all about the flight and the olim. Good luck!
I was lucky enough to go twice with NBN, not bad for a lady who made aliyah by boat 39 years ago.

Tamar said...

Yes, yes, yes, yes. One of these days I would love to meet you, Ruti, and bond over our shared admiration of this very special and inspiring woman.

rutimizrachi said...

Reb Shimon: Greetings warmly received and passed. You and your dear family stay in our prayers for the a speedy and successful aliyah.

Muse: You already know you are one of my heroes. Having made aliyah "way back when" only adds to it. You are right: she will be perfect for one of the slots. (I assume there will be a few.)

Tamar: I look forward to the opportunity!