Learning the Language and a New Year

A word of advice to those considering aliyah: If you're planning to move to a town or city other than one of the largest (Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, etc.), realize that you may not be able to take ulpan in your hometown. That's what we've learned this week. Modiin offers ulpan, and although we were promised that it would meet our level, we arrived on the first day to learn that they were going to be offering two levels, one for absolute beginners and one for everyone else. The "everyone else" encompassed too broad a spectrum, and frankly we were bored to tears, so we spent the last few days looking into our options. Yesterday we joined an ulpan in Jerusalem (in the big cities they can offer many levels because of the number of students enrolled) and were each placed into an appropriate class (Daled (4) for Sarah, Hey/Vav (5/6) for Josh). It was great--at least the first day. We are attending Ulpan Beit Haam which is in the Nachalaot section of Jerusalem about equidistant between Machane Yehuda and the city center. It's a diverse group of students. Sarah's class has eight students: three young American Olim learning Hebrew before enlisting in the army, one mother of college-aged children who also just made aliyah, an oleh from France, a Spanish student enrolling to study biology at Hebrew University, and one Arab student improving his Hebrew in order to matriculate to university as well. My class is rather small as the lower levels have many more students. The diversity of the student body is really fascinating--about evenly split between Arab students who need to improve their Hebrew in order to go to university and new immigrants. Yesterday, in honor of the Jewish new year, the entire student body came together for a party organized by the teachers. They explained the different customs and the symbolism of the foods eaten at this time of year. They also had apples and honey available for everyone. The teachers also recognized those who were fasting--it is now Ramadan, so Muslims do not eat during the day--and in addition to wishing everyone a "shana tova" (a good year) also wished the appropriate Arabic greeting for Ramadan, "Ramadan Kareem". One Arab student, who was making the rounds of talking with all of the young women in the room (glad I still fall into that category) engaged me in conversation. He was surprised, as many Israelis are, that we in the States also study Hebrew. I was tempted to pull out my Arabic, rusty as it may be, but thought it better to stick to one language for now--and Hebrew is the common language of expression for everyone in the room, as diverse a population as we are.
After we returned from Jerusalem, we picked up Sidney and did a 180 degree turn to head back to Jerusalem for an early celebration of Joshua's 37th birthday. We went to Stekiah Tzidkiyahu, a restaurant in the Talpiot neighborhood of Jerusalem that we frequented ten years ago when we lived here. It's a stekiyah, so they serve just about any kind of meat threaded onto a skewer and grilled over an open flame. It all comes with "salat aravi", a spread of 15 or so salads, some fresh and some cooked--cabbage salad, carrot salad, marinated tomatoes, eggplant with tomatoes, babganoush, parsley salad, olives, pickles, and more--as well as hummus, French fries, and fresh pita cooked in their Taboun oven. When we used to go there ten years ago, it was a real hole-in-the-wall kind of place where you ordered your food at the counter and had to scramble to get a table. A year or so after we left, the restaurant was destroyed by a suicide bombing...well they rebuilt in style. In fact that whole area, that used to be very industrial is becoming a trendy spot.
In the last few days, the impending new year has become a main focus of the country. On the bus marquis, the destination alternates with the message "shana tova". People on the street, in stores, on buses wish one another a good year. While in America, we thought of Rosh haShana as the beginning only of a religious new year, here the meaning is also secular. On TV, they were counting down the best videos of the year. Sidney and Josh just got back from some last minute shopping in the mall. The usual Friday throngs of people were multiplied ahead of the holiday, and they were greeted by students distributing apples and honey to bring a sweet new year.
So here's to a wonderful year, a year of peace, a year of new beginnings, a year of good health, happiness, and success. A year filled with love.