"My Faces of Israel; Meet Ravit Morales"
I've been living by myself for a little over 2 weeks in this beautiful apartment in an amazing neighborhood. On Thursday my dear friend, Tina, and her husband Jeff, came from Colorado. Tina has been my friend since 1989 when we met at Haifa University. We spent 5 weeks backpacking through Europe together that summer and had there been blogging and tik-tok and snapchat and Be Real- we probably would have been the queens of all of it. Instead we quietly wrote in our journals every night about our adventures. We took pictures with real film that we developed when we got home. When you hear the song, "Sitting on the Dock of the Bay", by Otis Redding, picture two un-showered girls with raggedy clothes and wearing socks with sandals (not slides, leather greek sandals stained brown from the rain). We're riding in a stifling hot Greek train, teeth stained red from cheap wine, singing this song along with our Sony Walkman, changing the lyrics to "Sitting in the Back of the train. I left my home in Israel...." Every time I hear that song it brings me back to that moment.
This week I started my in- person Hebrew class. I've been in an on-line class for the last 18 months which has it's merits and I've definitely improved- although there is nothing like being in person. Prior to being here I struggled to join the conversation of a group of people who were speaking Hebrew even though I understood most of what they were saying. I realized today that it's one of the negatives of being on zoom. In person, we all just talk, ask questions, interrupt each other, shush each other....like real life.
I joined a class that ended today (new one starts Sunday) and spent only 2 days with the sweetest group that has been learning together for a couple of months. Ben-Ari- a young man from Mexico who is here on a year of service after high school- he wants to go to law school and be a politician in Mexico City, Mila- also on the year of service, is from Belgium and applying to a dance school. She looks so much like my niece, Dani, I was taken aback. Beatrice is a doctor from Italy who married an Israeli and is working as a waitress before she gets her credentials, and Audrey from Switzerland who is applying for a job in finance. Boom- 4 more faces of Israel.....
I want to introduce you to my friend Ravit Morales. Ravit was also on my first Momentum trip (see previous blog for explanation). She grew up in the Bronx, New York to an Israeli mom and American dad. Her mom's parents both came to Israel as orphans. Her maternal grandmother came from Germany on the first "maapilim boat" (a boat with over 200 German children escaping the holocaust), she was 13 at the time. Her grandfather escaped Poland because he was thrown off a train to save his life from the death camps.
After her parents divorced, she moved with her mom to Arizona. At some point she found herself back in the Bronx and back with her old flame Anthony Morales, first generation American from Puerto Rico.
In 2009, the Morales family picked up their 4 children and moved to Israel despite Anthony not being Jewish. Originally, it was for 2 years and it became forever. Ravit's siblings already lived here as did her mom's family. She wanted to be close to them and raise her children in a different environment than the US. The family speaks English and Spanish at home. Her older 2 girls have moved out of the house already and are working, the younger 2 children live at home. She works for Mastercard.
Almost every day since I've been here Ravit has texted me on Whatsapp to see how I'm doing, offering to meet me for lunch or ask if I need anything. She's already arranged for me, Mike, (who arrives next week) and my friends Tina and Jeff to join her family for Shabbat next week. What I love about Ravit is that while she has gone through a number of challenges (primarily health for her and her children) in her life, she's not a negative or depressed person. She is able to reflect on each of the situations and talk about them as they relate to current day. We go deep on our marriages, our children, life in Israel, life in the US, our health, etc.
Like Shani, every time I'm here, Ravit makes an effort to come and meet me for a meal, a walk, something. On my birthday they took me to a spa and out for lunch. On this time she has become an every day friend to me - I'm so grateful!
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