Elisheva Gold — The Golden Aliyah
Originally from Teaneck NJ, Bat Sherut Bodedah 2018-2019
“שרו לנו התקוה לפני השינה”
“They sang Hatikva to us before bed.”
It sort of became the catchphrase of my Aliyah. Or, more accurately, our Aliyah.
My brother and I made Aliyah on the same day, making us the last of my siblings to do so. The six of us have always been very close and we all made Aliyah within two years of one another. People are always a bit shocked when they hear that - six siblings, all picking up their lives and moving to Israel, within two years?! They always ask where we got our ardent Zionism from, and the short answer is, “They sang Hatikva to us before bed.”
It sounds crazy, Hatikva being your lullaby. But to me, it was my childhood. It was the very beginning of a spark, a connection to this land, that has only grown since. The six Gold children got their passion for Israel from their parents.
But we all came to this slightly differently. I can’t speak for my siblings, but I know that at least for myself, my drive to come to Israel, and to serve in Sherut Leumi, is not just familial, but deeply personal. Making Aliyah was the path that I decided to take for myself at the age of fifteen. For me, Aliyah was, and is, about coming home and taking my place in Jewish history. As I said, when I became “officially Israeli,” to me that’s worth everything.
Sherut Leumi became the natural next step. Deciding I want to move to Israel and “take my place” means more than just standing in the Israeli Passport line at Ben Gurion Airport. Part of taking my place in Jewish history is giving back to the State of Israel and to the Jewish people. Sherut Leumi gives me the unique opportunity to be able to do that. I started Sherut Leumi at Machon HaMikdash in September.
For what feels like the first time in my life, I am the first person in my family to experience something. I’m the youngest of six, which means that I went to school last, graduated last, took a gap year last, and even made Aliyah last (purely by chance, my brother was handed his Teudat Zehut first). But I’m the first, the only one, to make Aliyah at the age of eighteen and do Sherut Leumi. My four oldest siblings all made Aliyah post-college. My brother who made Aliyah with me is serving in the IDF, although as sibling number five I’m sure the sentiment rings true for him as well. Sherut is something that my siblings can’t really give me practical advice on, or understand the issues I have when they arise. They haven’t experienced a Dirat Sherut, where the power goes out daily, or the jolting feeling that “wait, my friends all left” when seminary ended but I stayed.
This puts me in a pretty unique position.
The five people I’m closest to in the world are here with me. I couldn’t be luckier to be able to say that. They’ve given me the courage and strength to make it to where I am today. But at the same time, that doesn’t solve everything. It doesn’t mean leaving everything behind is easier. It doesn’t erase the seven-hour time difference between me and my parents, or even me and the majority of my friends. Yes, they’ve all stood on line at Misrad HaKlita and know the craziness that we call Israeli bureaucracy. But they don’t know the experience of spending three months trying to get the right papers from your Rakezet, just so that you can go and get the benefits given to Bnot Sherut Bodedot. And then those papers actually being wrong, and needing to start the process over. Or to sit in a Sayeret, the only English speaker in the room, and pray your Hebrew is working well enough today. And they’ve definitely never experienced all of this, while still in their teenage years.
At the end of the day, I made a decision based on the person I’ve become, outside of the Golden Six.
I changed the course of my future, I came home, forged this path because of what Israel means to me. I am spending my year giving back and contributing my piece.
