Birthplace: Philadelphia for both
Aliya date: Dina, 2004; Shlomo, 2005
Occupation: Students, both looking for work
Family status: Married, one daughter, Tzedakah, 17 month
As
young as they are, both Dina and Shlomo Schachter studied for years,
each acquiring deep knowledge of all aspects of Jewish life. Now, as
new parents, they're faced with an all-too-common new-immigrant
problem: how to transform all the education into earning a living.
Each earned a degree in Jewish studies, Shlomo from Oberlin
College in Ohio, where he was also a football star, and Dina from
Temple University in Philadelphia. Each spent years learning in various
yeshivot, and following that, lived and learned in the heady
religious-Zionist atmosphere of Bat Ayin. Four months ago, the couple
moved to Beersheba where Shlomo studies natural medicine at Reidman
College, while Dina studies graphic arts two days a week at Sapir
College. Now on their own as a family for the first time since their
marriage in 2005, with a new apartment and a baby, the need to start
earning a living has become critical.
"It's discouraging," Shlomo says. "We have all this formal
Jewish education, but here in Israel, the average guy on the street
knows just as much about Judaism as we do."
"Both of us have years of experience doing many
different things," Dina says. "We've both coached athletics, either of
us can teach English or Hebrew. The problem is that most of the
educational institutions require certain certificates to teach, so
we're having trouble finding work. We're both looking for any kind of
work that fits into our family situation."
FAMILY BACKGROUND
Dina's parents, two sisters
and a brother still live in the US. "I grew up in a Reform home in
suburban Philadelphia," she says. "All my grandparents were born in
North America. We have this wonderful photo of my great-grandfather,
taken in his village in Eastern Europe before the Holocaust. He was the
only one from that village to survive. He left, walking across Europe,
to escape the Russian army, then stowed away on a ship to America. He
built a whole new life in Roxbury, Pennsylvania."
Shlomo was also born in Philadelphia, although he and Dina
first met in Jerusalem. "I grew up in a Renewal shul," he says. "I
found my grandfather's high-school yearbook, and when everyone else was
saying their dream was to be a rich doctor or lawyer, he said what he
wanted was to be a labor pioneer in Palestine.
"Both sets of my grandparents came from Vienna, and both had
amazing stories. My mother's family escaped just ahead of the Nazis in
1939. My father and all his siblings had a harrowing journey, coming in
through the Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, then into the US on the first
night of Pessah, 1941. At Thanksgiving, my father always says a special
blessing in gratitude for America's having taken them in."
Several members of Shlomo's family live in Israel. His older
sister skipped her high school graduation ceremony to come alone, at
17. His mother, Alana, lives in Safed.
BEFORE ARRIVAL
"I'm a birthright poster child," Dina laughs. "Growing up, I had
no desire at all to live in Israel - it seemed very dangerous here.
Then one Rosh Hashana, a friend told me she'd just come home from a
birthright trip, and I should go, too. The next day, my mother signed
me up - it just before the intifada. Over 30,000 kids applied, so they
held a lottery to see who'd go. I didn't get picked - which was
precisely the moment I knew I wanted to go! Later someone dropped out,
so I made the list. When I'd been here just four days, I called my
parents and said, 'That's it! I want to live in Israel!'
"I came home, went to the shaliah, but he advised me to
do a few more programs, spend more time here before making aliya, so I
did. For the next four years, I went back and forth, but was mostly
here."
Shlomo's Israel experience began when he was two, when his
family spent a year here. After that, he went back and forth so often
that he filled two US passports with Israel stamps.
ARRIVAL
"After college graduation, I had a little gift money," Dina
says. "I found a cheap airline ticket, and told my parents I was going
to spend six weeks in Israel. I didn't make any plans, just took my
backpack and my skateboard and jumped on a plane. When I flew into
Ben-Gurion at 4 a.m., I couldn't find the friend I'd planned to stay
with, and I was freaking out. I was trying to go back to Philadelphia,
but somehow ended up in Jerusalem where I just fell in love with the
city.
"I decided I wanted to stay and learn Torah full time. I found
a tiny apartment I could almost afford, but then I was completely
broke, so I decided to make aliya. I gave up my return ticket, walked
over to the government office to open my aliya file. At the time, my
boyfriend back in Philadelphia was furious. 'You knew you were going to
stay!' he said to me. I laughed. If I'd known I was going to stay, I
would have brought more than two changes of underwear."
Cumulatively, Shlomo spent many years here, but always on a
tourist visa. "He just couldn't get around to making aliya," Dina says.
"Finally, after we were married, I made him do it. I wanted him to have
health insurance."
Shlomo made aliya with the help of Nefesh B'Nefesh's "Express
Aliya" from within Israel. "It was the first day of Hanukka, 2005," he
says.
LIVING ENVIRONMENT
The Schachters moved to Beersheba's Neveh Ze'ev neighborhood
four months ago and found an airy, four-bedroom apartment filled with
light but almost nothing else. "This apartment in Jerusalem would have
cost us $2,000 a month," Dina says. "Living in Beersheba is much
cheaper, but in Jerusalem, there are many more jobs."
LANGUAGE
Both are fluent in Hebrew. Shlomo grew up in Jewish schools, and
learned while visiting Israel. Dina says, "I did three ulpanim
immediately after the birthright trip. I learned Hebrew very quickly. I
think that's why my aliya was so smooth - I was able to speak Hebrew
with all the officials."
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