A Day in Arad

aradcollective

In January 2012, I persuaded my brother that it would be a great idea to cycle all around Israel. We did cycle around Israel and I’m not so sure it was actually a great idea but it was an amazing experience in Israel that I will never forget!
 
On route around Israel, I met lots of young people who were on various MASA programs. MASA was something that I had never heard of before and on my return to England I set about finding more from the lovely Matt Keston at MASA in London. He told me that I was eligible but I had better hurry up because I was turning 30 and it would be the last year a program was available to me. That made up my mind and after a summer of hard work in the UK, by September 2012 I was living in a building in Tel Aviv with thirty or so others on WUJS Israel.
 
WUJS was an incredible experience. I was lucky enough to find my internship with Etgarim and divided my time between cycling tandem bicycles with autistic children and helping out in their PR and fundraising department with English language material.
I lived with three other English people that have now become some of my closest friends and it also turns out we all made Aliyah with Nefesh B’Nefesh!
 
I was 99.9% sure BEFORE WUJS that I was going to make Aliyah and my time on the program sealed the deal.
I spent a lot of time towards the end of the program researching the options for my next step. I had two criteria: I wanted to be in the South and I wanted to do an intensive Ulpan. At first it seemed this wasn’t going to be possible but with some help from the Jewish Agency, I found the Bayit Rishon B’Moledet program on Kibbutz Revivim (located between Beer Sheva and Mitzpe Ramon).
 
Bayit Rishon B’Moledet is not well-known among “anglos” since it was originally launched to help absorb Jews from the Former Soviet Union on Kibbutzim throughout the country. Its target audience is young oleh families and singles in their late 20′s-30′s who could benefit from a “soft landing” on a Kibbutz. Olim with Bayit Rishon B’Moledet receive the benefits of an intensive uplan, affordable housing, and a built-in community.
 
I visited Kibbutz Revivim twice, once on my own and once with Jamie and Shira (my WUJS friends). After hours of discussion we decided it was the right move for us. The Ulpan had a very good reputation, it was in the South, it was affordable and we retained our independence (ie no room sharing with lots of 21 year olds!)
 
In May 2013, Jamie, Shira and I arrived in Israel as new Israeli Citizens! We came straight to Revivim and we feel like we have landed in paradise! We have our own small but perfectly equipped apartments, there is a swimming pool and its hot! What more could you ask for!
 
In all seriousness, the Ulpan here is fantastic and it is a supportive atmosphere without feeling like you are being choked. However, we are the only English speakers on the program (everyone else is from Russia or the Ukraine) and we are extremely lucky to be here together. The other side of that is that is we can only speak Hebrew with our Russsian friends which is great practice!
 
We are also VERY well supported by Elena from the Jewish Agency and by Ravit and Emily from Nefesh B-Nefesh which has made the New Olim experience feel very smooth – and not the roller coaster I know others who made Aliyah outside of these programs have experienced!

The Desert Collective from Jamie Gordon on Vimeo.

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