WELCOME HOME NATIV ALUMNI!
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"Let's see... I lived in Apartment 11 in 1004 Rambam (also known as O'Doyle). My host was Aharon Deutsch. I volunteered at ORT Sapir and in MDA Yerucham (in addition to a couple of times in Dimona) as well as a few times at Chavat Na'ama (with Yehuda) and at the cemetery. I also went on JNF ASB last year and got to visit Yerucham again! I had some of my friends from the high school bring me Yerucham falafel... best falafel in the Negev." -Oren Pollak |
WHERE ARE YOU NOW?
"THE Ohio State University. It's great, but nothing compared to Yerucham."-Jessica Reiser
"Colgate University! And its funny you ask, just yesterday morning I woke up, went outside, and noticed how the morning felt a little like waking up in the desert... a nice crisp Yerucham morning. Sigh. NEED. TO. GO BACK.
I think my Nativ experience definitely helped me secure a job as an RA here at school for next year; how can they reject someone with Israeli EMT experience? :) (shout out to Dugo and Stoehr)
Also, Colgate doesn't have a huge Jewish community, so I am often the go-to girl with any questions about Israel or Judaism. It's pretty fun that way. Like tonight, I"m having an in-depth conversation with a senior who is in Bangladesh and grew up learning to hate Israel (he doesn't). But being from Bangladesh, he couldn't even visit Israel if he wants to (they don't recognize Israel on a Bangladeshi passport).
That's my two cents..."-Becca Friedland
"American Jewish University. Missing Yerucham more every day."-Nathan Horowitz
"Eastern Michigan. Loving it but definitely missing Israel and Yerucham."-Beth Kent
"Barnard/JTS and I miss Nativ and Yerucham ALL the time!!! Enjoy it because it will proably be one of the best years of your life (for now)! Say hi to Gan Savyon for me!"-Lilli Flink
"We all miss Yerucham sooo much. I actually go tot visit over break, and it was fantastic. I'm currently a freshman at List (JTS/Columbia). I'm from Pittsburgh, PA, and when I was in Yerucham, I worked at ORT Sapir three days a week and in one of the gans once a week."
-Melody Mostow
"NYU! because of Yerucham my major encompasses education overseas. i'm still in touch with a few of my students form ort sapir (WHOO!) and plan on visiting them when i'm back in israel in may. Yerucham really helped to foster my independence which is extremely important at a school like NYU, but mostly, Yerucham was just an incredible community who welcome me with open arms. and that is what i am most thankful for."-Becky Pressman
"One of my favorite stories of Yerucham is that of our first night. We got to Yerucham mid-afternoon with only one duffle bag filled with stuff (because all of our other luggage was on moving trucks that were stalled because of bad weather) and began to explore the city a little bit. The next day was supposed to be our first day of learning about our volunteer options and really getting to know the city. As we fell asleep in our beds that fight night there was rain and thunder outside like you wouldn’t believe. It was not such a “warm welcome” to a new city we were about to live in for the next 4 months. As we awoke the next working we looked outside our windows to find that Yerucham was covered in snow! It was the first time in 8 years that it had snowed in Yerucham and it happened on our first day. Being from California, and my roommate from Arizona we jumped out of bed (called our parents out of sheer excitement) and ran outside to play in the snow. Our other roommate, and every one else from the East Coast laughed at our excitement because to them it was “slosh” but for us it was SNOW. The entire city closed for the day (schools and businesses) and there was a “snow day” in Yerucham. We spent our first day in our new home playing in the snow… it was awesome.
Only a few weeks after moving to Yerucham my roommate and I came across a little puppy (that we immediately named “Garry”) as we were walking to volunteering. Garry followed us around for a while until we turned around at one point and the puppy was gone. For the next few days it was as if we were crossing paths with Garry everywhere (Yerucham is a pretty small place so its not completely unimaginable that that would happen) and we finally decided to take her home. Our roommates were not too thrilled about the idea of having a puppy around so we talked it through with some of the boys, and they decided to take care of Garry. The first thing they did with their new puppy was change her name to “Zahava.” Although we were initially upset, because we had already named her Garry, the name Zahava caught on quickly and in no time she became a part of our Yerucham family." -Roxanna Donay
"THE Ohio State University. It's great, but nothing compared to Yerucham."-Jessica Reiser
"Colgate University! And its funny you ask, just yesterday morning I woke up, went outside, and noticed how the morning felt a little like waking up in the desert... a nice crisp Yerucham morning. Sigh. NEED. TO. GO BACK.
I think my Nativ experience definitely helped me secure a job as an RA here at school for next year; how can they reject someone with Israeli EMT experience? :) (shout out to Dugo and Stoehr)
Also, Colgate doesn't have a huge Jewish community, so I am often the go-to girl with any questions about Israel or Judaism. It's pretty fun that way. Like tonight, I"m having an in-depth conversation with a senior who is in Bangladesh and grew up learning to hate Israel (he doesn't). But being from Bangladesh, he couldn't even visit Israel if he wants to (they don't recognize Israel on a Bangladeshi passport).
That's my two cents..."-Becca Friedland
"American Jewish University. Missing Yerucham more every day."-Nathan Horowitz
"Eastern Michigan. Loving it but definitely missing Israel and Yerucham."-Beth Kent
"Barnard/JTS and I miss Nativ and Yerucham ALL the time!!! Enjoy it because it will proably be one of the best years of your life (for now)! Say hi to Gan Savyon for me!"-Lilli Flink
"We all miss Yerucham sooo much. I actually go tot visit over break, and it was fantastic. I'm currently a freshman at List (JTS/Columbia). I'm from Pittsburgh, PA, and when I was in Yerucham, I worked at ORT Sapir three days a week and in one of the gans once a week."
-Melody Mostow
"NYU! because of Yerucham my major encompasses education overseas. i'm still in touch with a few of my students form ort sapir (WHOO!) and plan on visiting them when i'm back in israel in may. Yerucham really helped to foster my independence which is extremely important at a school like NYU, but mostly, Yerucham was just an incredible community who welcome me with open arms. and that is what i am most thankful for."-Becky Pressman
"One of my favorite stories of Yerucham is that of our first night. We got to Yerucham mid-afternoon with only one duffle bag filled with stuff (because all of our other luggage was on moving trucks that were stalled because of bad weather) and began to explore the city a little bit. The next day was supposed to be our first day of learning about our volunteer options and really getting to know the city. As we fell asleep in our beds that fight night there was rain and thunder outside like you wouldn’t believe. It was not such a “warm welcome” to a new city we were about to live in for the next 4 months. As we awoke the next working we looked outside our windows to find that Yerucham was covered in snow! It was the first time in 8 years that it had snowed in Yerucham and it happened on our first day. Being from California, and my roommate from Arizona we jumped out of bed (called our parents out of sheer excitement) and ran outside to play in the snow. Our other roommate, and every one else from the East Coast laughed at our excitement because to them it was “slosh” but for us it was SNOW. The entire city closed for the day (schools and businesses) and there was a “snow day” in Yerucham. We spent our first day in our new home playing in the snow… it was awesome.
Only a few weeks after moving to Yerucham my roommate and I came across a little puppy (that we immediately named “Garry”) as we were walking to volunteering. Garry followed us around for a while until we turned around at one point and the puppy was gone. For the next few days it was as if we were crossing paths with Garry everywhere (Yerucham is a pretty small place so its not completely unimaginable that that would happen) and we finally decided to take her home. Our roommates were not too thrilled about the idea of having a puppy around so we talked it through with some of the boys, and they decided to take care of Garry. The first thing they did with their new puppy was change her name to “Zahava.” Although we were initially upset, because we had already named her Garry, the name Zahava caught on quickly and in no time she became a part of our Yerucham family." -Roxanna Donay