The end of an Era........Ulpan finishes!!

A couple of weeks before Pesach, our ulpan finished. I was amazed how affected by the ending I was. When I think about it, the ulpan had been part of my routine from shortly after our arrival! For over 6 months, four days a week I came to ulpan and sat from 8:30 a.m. until 12:45 p.m. with the same people day after day, struggling to learn and perfect our new language. I started with Darrell in tow and soon after Avital joined us. Then in January Darrell went to work and by the end of February it was time for Avital to go back to school full time. I cannot describe how ulpan affected our lives and carried us through those first months of aliyah. We all started ulpan the week after the kids started school and by the second week our phones were ringing during class with teary kids on the other end begging to be picked up. We would walk back into class all distracted and distraught only to be comforted by the other parents and our morah sara. When events occured in the world and more specifically in our little country, we helped each other process and deal with them and of course morah sara was always ready with her more Israeli approach and opinions and helped us to see the bigger picture. She listened and encouraged us.........."you olim have a very important tafkid " she would always remind us.........."just because something has been a certain way for ages on end doesn't mean it is good and you olim have to help us see where change needs to take place and help us to do it. That doesn't mean that we will agree and listen to you readily, you may have to push and keep plugging away, but don't give up on us!". We would have many class discussions about many different issues, Sara would remind us that it isn't about the topic but about the language we use to express ourselves, but the topics were important too. They weren't always heavy some were funny and light , we talked a lot about parenting and the educational system in Israel. We talked a lot about our kids and our feelings around our aliyah. Each chag was celebrated in a unique way in our ulpan. I will never forget Tu B'shvat, which I think I wrote about, and how it was so important and meaningful. The story of the transplanted tree, wilting and then regaining strength and blossoming again so beautifully, still brings tears to my eyes and never have I so strongly related to a tree before. The connection that we have to the land, grew within me as the months past. We read Agnon and I was so touched by his writings, it was simply beautiful. Sara of course picked a beautiful story which was an analogy for the jewish people and the galut. We talked about our professions and working in Israel. We talked about building homes and putting down roots............and once when the boys were all absent we had a lesson about all the words we women need to know about our bodies for doctor appointments etc. I practically always went to ulpan and didn't miss too much. It wasn't easy , there was lots of work and there were days when I just wanted to stay at home and whatever. But I made a commitment to myself to make ulpan a top priority and work at it like a job, and that is the only way to really do it. My hebrew improved immensely, still lots of work to do though, but more importantly I grew as a person and as an Israeli citizen. I will never be a sabra, but Sara and ulpan helped me to better understand the culture into which I have been dropped and hopefully by trying to understand and accept rather than always resisting I will experience a smoother klita, at the same time remembering my very important tafkid here.

Thank you Ulpan Alon Shvut, I will never forget all of you my wonderful classmates and my most wonderful teacher who took three of us Shermans into her class and shaped the beginning months of our aliyah and thus will remain with us in our israeli lives always. I feel like a kid being sent off into the big wide world now, go and find your way!!!