Ten years ago….

Exactly today, ten years ago was one of my biggest days in life.

I made Aliyah!

Here´s a bit of history:

My mom is Swiss by birth, but made Aliyah in 1968 at the age of 18. My father is Israeli by birth, born in Teheran and made Aliyah as a baby. Now here´s a short story how my parents met.

It was not in Israel! My father used to work for ELAL security in Switzerland and lived at my grandmother’s apartment; she would rent out rooms to young Israeli’s. My mom lived in a Kibbutz and came home for a visit. She didn´t meet my father at home! My mom and dad went to the same Jewish student party that night and met there, not knowing that my father is sub-renting a room at my grandmother’s house. That’s how they met, 3 weeks later my father proposed and a year later they got married in Israel. For economical reasons they decided to stay in Switzerland for a couple of years and go back to Israel when they made some money. Sadly they are still living in Switzerland and I think they both regret they ever left Israel.

I grew up, always thinking that we will go home soon. It was like living with packed suitcases and just waiting for the moment to return to Israel. (Of course we didn´t actually have packed suitcases). Every year we went for Pessach, Summer break and the high holidays to Israel, we stayed with my cousins and aunts and uncles and of course grandparents and all the time we referred to Israel as our home. It was a fantastic childhood!

But the years went by and we didn´t make Aliyah, so I decided to take it into my own hands and make Aliyah alone (well not completely alone as I had many friends making Aliyah at the same time), maybe the family would follow then! My father came with me to Israel on 5^th January 1997, first we stayed with our family for a week and then we went to Ulpan Etzion where I stayed for 3 months. I spoke so good Hebrew that the guards at the gate thought that I was a teacher, unfortunately my writing skills were almost inexistent. I felt like living my whole families dream. A Swiss TV team asked me if they can film me for a documentary movie, of course I agreed. They interviewed my mom as well and when they asked her if she wasn´t afraid that her daughter is living in Israel, her answer was: “I was more afraid with 3 children in a Jewish school in Switzerland!”

I lived in Israel for almost 4 years. There is no real reason why I returned and yet there are hundreds. My parents got divorced after 25 years of marriage, my siblings took it very hard and my brother called me a couple of days after they told them and said: it’s hell, you have to come home! Needless to say, I was on the next plane to Zurich.

I actually just planned to go to Switzerland for a couple of months, to be with my family and use the time to work and make some money, gain distance from a boy I broke up with and then return. I kept my apartment, my furniture, most of my stuff, etc and only sublet my room (I was living in a rental apartment in Tel Aviv with roommates). Well, I never went back for good, again for no real reason, I got a well-paid and interesting job, stayed longer than planned, enjoyed being around my family, felt that my family needed me and at the end I resigned my apartment contract in Israel.

The funny thing is that I was never able to make the big move of all my stuff back to Zurich. Every time I went to Israel and every time one of my Swiss friends would come to visit, I/they would bring things. Most of my furniture and electronics I sold. At the end only books and some photo albums were left. Until this day they are stored at my best friend’s house. Somehow it makes me feel good to know that I still have something left in Israel, not sure how to explain this feeling.

My brother made Aliyah a couple of years later, but returned 8 months later engaged with his (now) wife. Same reasons as my parents; make some money and then return. They lived in Switzerland for 3.5 years now, they are awaiting their first child, she adapted very well to Switzerland, both have great jobs and they travel 2 – 3x a year home, to Israel. Some things never change.

I feel very melancholic today. Ten years ago, it´s a long time and yet I don´t feel much different today than I did on the day of my Aliyah... Again I am in a new country, trying to make it work, it is not Israel and not comparable to the feeling of Aliyah, it´s different, I am married now, owner of an apartment, planning to start a family, I guess I do feel a bit different….