Otzma Volunteers Jessica Goldstein (left) and Shiri Berger in action

Because I grew up in New Jersey, I am lucky enough to live in Arad now. I landed here just one month ago with two fellow OTZMAnikim, sick from vacation, anxious to have a full schedule, and nervous about my Hebrew. Now it’s safe to say that I’m healthy, thanks to access to the community pool, working more hours in a week than I ever thought I could, including starting some mornings at 7am, and learning more Hebrew in a day than I learned in all three months of Ulpan classes!

The first few days were “exploratory,” though I was comfortable with the city’s geography after walking across the street and seeing, from one spot, the mall, the post office, the health clinic, the high school, and with a crook of the neck, the local pub! Shmuel Kaplan, the living-bridge coordinator for Partnership 2000, walked us around the area and introduced us to many people throughout the town. Those initial introductions are still serving me well. By the end of that first week, we had worked together to find, for my schedule, the suitable balance between my interests and skills and the desires and needs of the community.

I chose to work in the high school for three days each week, feeling that I could make a connection and utilize my American identity and floundering Hebrew skills all at once. Tsippi Yirmish, the coordinator of the English department there adopted me at once. I can go to her house for dinner, for lunch, for laundry, to sit and talk, or to just watch some TV, whenever I want. It is with her family that I feel like Arad is my home. And that same feeling is with me two mornings during the week when I spend time at Melev Valev, a center for mentally and physically impaired adults. There I really stretch my Hebrew skills and my mind and sometimes even my body with morning exercise class. Hugging and working with people there provides the type of heart warming security that volunteering is known for.

Those afternoons, my roommate Shiri and I spend time with grammar school kids after school. We help them with some homework, supervise games, and teach them some English along the way. It’s the two or three nights working with Ethiopian teenagers that are the most intimidating. Shiri and I talk with them, help them with their English, and just spend time in their lounge. Being American is a plus, but my hesitant Hebrew speaking skills certainly make things harder with these high school students. Just today in school, they approached me and started talking about the day. This, I consider, a triumph. And time will only tell how far the relationship and impact will go.

So now I comfortably appear to all of my work sites, happy to be there, ready for the day. Living in Arad is a wonderful experience, and, so far, I wouldn’t have it any other way!

Shvat 5760 - January 2000