My third act: Early scenes

Assuming that, like my mother, I would live a life in three acts, I considered carefully the form and content of my third act. As the curtain rose on the third third of my life, I was hoping to shape an act that would incorporate meaningful new experiences and establish a sense of belonging to a land I where I was born yet barely knew. And so I made aliya ["ascension"] nearly five years ago and began my bihemispheral life, splitting the years into near-equal parts between living in Atlanta, Georgia, and Tel Aviv.

I was on terra firma in the northeast United States (from Manhattan to Boston; Washington, DC; and Atlanta). Yet living in Israel after decades of merely vicarious experiences (Hebrew language study and a rich Jewish education, for instance) and short stints to the motherland required jump-starting assimilation into my new-old home. While my spoken Hebrew was OK, it lacked the slang and neologisms coined since the Hebrew Bible was canonized! (Toothbrush, computer, WIFI, parking lot, as examples, do not appear in the Five Books of Moses, no matter how closely you study the text!)

I aimed to improve my language and deepen my understanding of the social, historical, and political contexts of contemporary Israel and the cultural norms of my fellow Israelis. I wanted to explore how modern political Zionism, the dream of its founder, Herzl, had fared, and even morphed. And what about the effects of this international political movement that has supported the ingathering of Jewish exiles to their ancestral homeland since Zionism's late nineteenth century birth till now, as the State of Israel prepares to celebrate its 59th birthday May 5, 2007?

"Learning Hebrew grammar is like learning math," said my language teachers at the Gordon ulpan, a center for the intensive study of Hebrew. "And, if you're good at either subject, you’re on your way to conquering the other." Hmm. My perfect excuse to forget learning grammar. Meanwhile, I found that a rigorous course on Middle East studies is endlessly complex and, similar to defining truth — yields a mass of opinions and interpretations: biased, subjective, contradictory. What is a late learner to do?

How would I identify the evolving issues and changing demographics over the decades? Where were the quick tips on “getting” the confusing manners and mores? And who wrote the manual on following increasingly complex political and security matters, not to mention the instructions on navigating government bureaucracies (Ministry of Immigrant Absorption, for instance) and negotiating with national health services and banks, among other institutions? Short answer: I wouldn’t and couldn’t find all the answers in my lifetime. Clearly, I needed a Plan B. I would cobble a fast path to key answers (and questions) about my new-old home. In this way, I could identify Who, What, Why, Where, When, and How of what had fast become a detective thriller.

My Plan B? A blessing and two not-so-secret ingredients.

• The blessing: A community of Israeli relatives and friends that provides support, caring, and vital life-affirming adventures, and with whom I observe the Jewish calendar and witness the life cycle. This blessing enhances life's meanings, sharpens my values, and informs my choices. And it surely helps cushion routine bumps and blows of immigration. (See my previous blog entries on Gila, Shimon, and Tova here, on Noam and Aviya here, on Noam, on Daniel, on Ohad and Aviya here, more on Ohad, on Susanne, on Shimon, and on my childhood friend here, and on Miriam, and again, on Ohad.)


• Ingredient 1: Steadily attending weekly classes at ulpan and participating in a Modern Hebrew literature course (mentioned here).


• Ingredient 2: Regularly viewing Hebrew-language, Israeli-produced documentary films at the Tel Aviv Cinemateque Library, with expert guidance from the Tel Aviv Cinemateque Librarian. This lens on the multicultural country’s long history, its kaleidoscopic soul, and the passions that fuel it has been my biggest surprise source of some answers and many new questions.
  

NOTE: I am interested in your comments on points this post touches. And, if you have experience acclimating to bihemispheral living, expat living, overseas assignments, or even moving to another city or state in the same country — please share some lessons you learned, including any tips, cheat sheets, how-to's, or handy hints.