Its Zionism Y'all: Bringing Israel to the South

By Jaqueline Rose (Gray)
Bogeret of BZ 5753

In the summer of 2010, myself, my husband and our four children moved from our home in Modiin to Atlanta, Georgia for שליחות. My husband is a teacher and so the decision to go on שליחות was about giving something back to a community in the diaspora. We also thought it would be an amazing experience for us as a family - the opportunity to live in a different country, met different people and visit places that we would not normally get a chance to see.

We were sent by הסוכנות היהודית as שליחים מורים and have spent the past 15 months in Atlanta working at Greenfield Hebrew Academy and Young Israel of Toco Hills shul. I have been providing Hebrew enrichment and support to 1-8th grade students, together with giving yoga and environmental education classes to gan age kids. My husband has been teaching 7th and 8th grade Kodesh and History of Israel - his area of expertise! Shabbat is no time for rest as my husband is also Youth Director in the local Young Israel shul, organizing youth tefilla in the morning and Bnei AKiva in the afternoon. Being שליחים is a 7 days a week job!! We have worked very hard devoting ourselves to the community that brought us here, and trying to ensure that our שליחות has meaning and purpose by being an example to the community of what is means to be a religious Jew with Israel as a core value.

Despite the hard work, we are having a wonderful time here. We have been welcomed into the community with open arms and have made really good friends. Most importantly our children have integrated well and made amazing friends, having none of the social challenges you worry about as a parent. We have made sure to make the most of every Sunday, vacation, and family outing. We have enjoyed all the small things that make America such a fun place to be - Starbucks and Target to name a few!

But not a day goes by when we don’t miss Israel. During my year at Orot (1992-93) my love for Israel developed into an ideology, a life path, a passion. I meet and learned with people who had a deep love and respect for Israel and the Jewish people, and the way they lived their lives inspired me to want to live by those values. I knew that there was nowhere else that I wanted to live my life and raise a family. Five years after leaving Orot, I left my home town of London for Israel. I still remember how I cried the whole 4.5 hour flight, but once I landed at Ben Gurion I felt like a huge weight had been lifted from my shoulders and I had done what I promised myself I was going to do – I had made aliya.

Today, it is hard being away from our house that we built, our family and friends, relaxing Fridays when you DON’T come home from work and have to cook for Shabbat in two hours, and the sense of being part of a national community. Soon we will return to Israel. I do not under estimate how hard it will be to leave here, for myself and my husband, for our children. Even though we always knew this was temporary it's still hard to leave a place that you have invested time and energy, and made every effort to be part of the community. But once we touch down at Ben Gurion I know that I will have the same feelings I had when I made aliya - I am home, and as we all know “there is no place like home”!