If you didn’t go to seminary in Israel

amother

Powderblue

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 4:35 am

Just to provide a different angle:

I knew I would move to and live in Israel from my early teen years. And I had never been to Israel. And my parents weren't pro-Israel.
I made it very clear to my parents that I was going to sem and staying. And so it was.

I went to a very Zionist sem and didn't love sem. I had waited years to go. I had always loved limmudei kodesh in school and couldn't wait. I did love the trips and being in close contact with Israelis. I had lessons in English and Hebrew. I didn't love the lessons or the social aspect of sem- I think I disliked the whole businessy-feel of sem. I got scholarships and almost entirely paid my way through sem using the money I'd made and saved in high school.
Today (almost 20 years later), I feel like the seminary experience was not right for me. I don't regret it because it was the path that I was evidently meant to take, but I dislike the assumption that it's the 'done' thing in so many communities.
My love for Israel existed deep inside before I even knew what life in Israel was like, and I honestly don't think my year in sem changed my desire for Israel.
Also, grew up in a not wealthy family and a more modest kind of community so the adjustment for me was much easier. I connected with Israelis (and still do) much more than I connected with the overwhelmingly American group of girls whom I went to sem with.
Living here for almost 20 years and feel truly blessed to be raising our family here.

amother

Powderblue

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 4:39 am

Reality wrote:

I am so curious, which sect of Jews call Israel, Yisrael or Eretz?

I've traveled in many circles and have never met either. Did you mean Medinat Yisrael?

I do love how you include theoretical in your response. There are too many Jews who love our land in theory.

I remember one friend who would call Israel "Eretz". I remember finding it baffling LOL

She was the cool kid of the class and they often went flying off to Israel so I just accepted that strange quirk but until this day she is the only person I know of who called Israel "Eretz".

amother

Lightpink

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 6:07 am

B'Syata D'Shmya wrote:

What a sad comment.

I didnt think the goal of Seminary in EY was to encourage Aliyah, in fact, I was given the impression that parents didnt want seminaries pushing the Aliyah direction.

The seminary did not encourage aliyah at all. Life just took me here

amother

Candycane

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 6:17 am

I cannot understand how going to seminary in Israel and loving eretz yisrael have anything to do with each other. I feel that the seminaries in Israel use the concept of "learning to love the land" as a PR advertisement.
They need to put a "kosher" spin on the outrageous costs they charge for their business.
I truly feel sad that we live in a society of "keeping up with the cohens" and put ourselves in debt and stress to do what is nowadays expected of us.
The love for our land, for eretz yisrael, for the kedusha and for the ruchniyus has nothing to do with $35,000 + for our girls to sit and have iced coffees in Ben yehuda, or in greens, or in shefa mall......

amother

Jetblack

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 6:27 am

I was really lonely in seminary in Israel.

I had no family here and my seminary basically left us stranded a lot of the time. In addition to that, my parents were in a terrible financial situation and after basically paying for a lot of seminary with my own money, I had barely any spending money and would do crazy things like walk back from the Kosel (no money for Rav Kav) or work for my Chesed family for NIS 15 hour Pesach time.

Being in Israel really helped me develop a closer connection to Hashem. There was a real sense of desperation and loneliness driving those feelings, but I became stronger for it.

I moved to Israel after marriage only because my job transferred easily and my husband really wanted it (he didn't want to live near his family!). I have grown to love the simplicity here and the education my children are receiving. I have also worked really hard to make it work, and I'm proud of where we are financially and also in life. BH

amother

Tangerine

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 3:13 pm

Reality wrote:

Are you serious? All charedi/yeshivish people talk about Eretz Yisroel. I'm going to EY for Pesach. My son is in yeshiva in EY. Those who speak Hebrew with havarah sefaradit call it Eretz Yisrael. Religious Zionists call it Aretz, not Eretz. Or they did when I was active in the movement. We used the term Medinat Yisrael only when referring to it specifically as a political entity, like "Does Medinat Yisrael have a future?" "The rise of Medinat Yisrael as seen through the eyes of somebody or other" "This was before the establishment of the Medinah."

amother

Fuchsia

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 9:34 pm

amother Jetblack wrote:

I can actually feel this post in my heart. It’s sad and happy at the same time, and reminds me of my experience. I did love seminary but the beginning of the year I felt lonely too, and didn’t have immediate family either. It took awhile before I made close friends, and developed a relationship with my distant cousins. But the money thing… wow it’s relatable. I too would walk for hours to save bus money, and barely had anything to spend - I lost a considerable amount of weight that year because the food at my seminary was barely edible but I couldn’t afford to buy myself anything at the makolet. And I walked everywhere.
I too lived in Israel after marriage and loved every minute.

amother

Fuchsia

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 9:43 pm

amother Candycane wrote:

I wouldn’t know enough about israel and loving it had I not gone to seminary. And my feelings didn’t intensify until about halfway through the year. So a visit or a 4 week trip wouldn’t have done it for me, but several months in a row really made me love It. I had to live there to truly love it, not as a tourist if that makes sense.
I may be the anomaly, but for me, it was seminary itself that made me love the land.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 11:29 pm

amother Tangerine wrote:

I dont know any religious zionists who call israel Aretz. I know my grandmother a"h, who lived in israel after the shoa called it aretz. But religious zionists? Nope. We call/ed it Eretz Yisrael or Medinat Yisrael, depending on the context of the conversation.

amother

Arcticblue

Tue, Mar 05 2024, 11:50 pm

shabbatiscoming wrote:

I think tangerine is saying that DL when talking in hebrew would say גרתי בארץ or נשובה לארץ. They don’t call EY ארץ unless they’re talking to someone about it. I think you also have to be in Israel to see it referred to that way. Sorta like how New Yorkers talk about going to the city. I hope this makes sense.

essie14

Wed, Mar 06 2024, 12:57 am

amother Arcticblue wrote:

No.
I live in Israel. We would say גרתי בישראל not גרתי בארץ.
Never heard anyone refer to Israel as Aretz.
Israelis say ישראל to refer to Israel.

amother

Snow

Wed, Mar 06 2024, 1:48 am

essie14 wrote:

No.
I live in Israel. We would say גרתי בישראל not גרתי בארץ.
Never heard anyone refer to Israel as Aretz.
Israelis say ישראל to refer to Israel.

Interesting. I hear and use it all the time.

אני גרה בארץ
חזרתי לארץ .etc

I also use it interchangebly with ישראל

shabbatiscoming

Wed, Mar 06 2024, 6:18 am

amother Arcticblue wrote:

Im with Essie. Never hear people using Aretz. I would also say גרתי בישראל. Never גרתי בארץ.

slushiemom

Wed, Mar 06 2024, 6:31 am

I hear what you mean about not having a real connection unless you've spent time there. I was raised in a very Zionist environment, and Israel always had a central place in our life, but I didn't go myself until my family went the summer before 10th grade. I fell head over heels in love with everything about the country, and spent the rest of HS obsessed with going back.

By the time I went for seminary after graduation, I knew there was no way I would go back to America. Seminary itself was fine, I didn't have such a connection to the school, but I woke up every day, looked at the sky and my view of Jerusalem and felt intense gratitude just to be able to be in Israel.

I never went back to America, I've been in Israel for almost 21 years and I feel a deeper connection and appreciation for this land and our people every single year.

I wrote this a couple of months ago, after Elisha Loewenstern, HYD fell in battle in Gaza:

https://etana.substack.com/p/time-for-honesty