ATTENTION PLEASE

[Noah Hansen]

Dear Kvutzah,

As you probably know, we--Noah and Maya--are both in the final stages of preparing move to Israel. Maya leaves on Thursday and Noah on Tuesday. After four years of debating, analyzing, preparing and conjecturing about the possibility that this might happen, we are happy to say that our plane tickets are now bought: there’s no more to talk about.

Haha, PSYCH!! THERE’S ALWAYS MORE TO TALK ABOUT SUCKASSSSSS. This email has 2 parts, Check-in and Business. If you only read one part, make it the business below.

CHECK IN:

Maya here! I leave for Israel on Thursday morning (i.e., two days from now, AH!). I’m feeling a lot of different emotions lately. Moving to Israel, perhaps permanently, is exciting AND scary AND happy AND sad AND awesome AND kinda shitty in some ways. It’s hard for me to feel all of those things at once -- a lot of times I just end up swinging from extreme to extreme. I’m incredibly excited about my messimah and my tzevet, and I cannot wait for everyone to come join us. Lately I’ve been worried that the first month and a half-ish will be hard on me, without the support of a full garin to help me through stress/overwhelmed-ness/loneliness/whatever. But I also know that I’ll have the habo community there to rely on, not to mention you all back home. So I’m good.

Noah here! The main thing I’m worried about in Israel is supporting Maya emotionally, because it seems like she might be suffering from bipolar disorder and I’m not sure that I’m equipped to deal with this. I mean, really, this is going to be hard for me. I just hope I can live up to her expectations that I will be a sufficient substitute for a full kvutzah, which, I must say, is a pretty tall order. Still, I want to thank Maya for her unequivocal faith in me to provide for every single one of her emotional needs. It warms my heart that she thinks so highly of me. I mean, I know I’ve supported lots of people emotionally before, but still, trust of this kind is really something special. I’m just worried that Maya’s elevated expectations of my abilities as an emotional support will make these two months really difficult for me. Still, I know that she has other people in the Habo community, including you guys, to rely on, so I’m good.
But seriously, it may seem like I’m joking but now, in this paragraph, I’m not:  Maya, I’m excited to be stressed with you and figure shit out chalutz style. Just tell me what you need and I’ll give it to you with a side of french fries. We’re doing this because we’re following our dreams, and that is always hard, and there are obstacles, but we’re doing it for the dream, ken? That’s why a bunch of crazy hippies left their homes, went to Palestine, suffered through all kinds of crazy shit, and through trial and error built communes aimed at saving the Jewish people and restructuring society as we know it. Buber wrote: “There seems to be a high purpose behind the increasing difficulty of the task...each fresh attempt demands an even greater exertion to fulfill the task; for such is the hard but not ungracious way of life itself. The same process seems to be true of the life of Israel.” I can’t wait to be in Israel, and to make fresh attempts at the task with all of you.

Business:

One thing that is not resolved: Kupah! Or, really, just one pressing aspect of kupah. We want to request, in a socialistic, kvutzati spirit, that those of you who see yourselves as invested in our Israel messimot help in whatever way you can to pay for our lodging for the next two months. We both thought that we would have free lodging at the kibbutz until the rest of you join us (when we will all move into our real bayit). But, due to Chava sucking, this is no longer the case and we need to get an apartment. ‘Ok, fine, but why should I have to pay for it?,’ you ask. We see ourselves in Israel not as isolated individuals, but as members of a kvutzah (ie, you) which is already our partner in spirit and will soon join us in reality. The awkwardly staggered trajectory of our kvutzah’s growth does not negate the collective spirit that will infuse all stages, from the moment Maya arrives until we’re all there. In other words, you may not be in Israel YET but two of your kvutzah-mates are. And they need to pay rent. And they’re poor.

Ofer and Jacki have found a place that costs 1800 shekels per month. We will be living there for two months, so the total is 3600. 3600 divided by 5 (Elissa, Eve, Anna, Noah, Maya) is 720 shekels or about $203 as a recommended amount. I only counted the five of us, but I know there are other people who are planning/hoping/considering to join us later on. Anyone who sees him or herself as invested in our kvutzah’s presence in Israel should feel encouraged to help us out. Maybe throw us 58 bucks.

Please everyone, get back to us asap with your thoughts. I know some of us are still at machaneh, but we are leaving VERY SOON!

Todah Rabah, and see you soon!
AVH

LOOOOOOOOVE
Noah and Maya

[Zoey Green]

Maya and Noah, what you're doing is scary and tremendous. Though I have a lot of faith that the community there will be welcoming, thoughtful and supportive in bringing you in, I have no doubt that being the first to go requires immense amounts of koach and courage. Committing yourself to explore what a messimati life there can mean for you is a very big step and I am happy that I have been able to watch as you both went through incredibly complex and transformative processes that got you to this place. 

Today at work I was reading about an interaction where Moses gets overwhelmed by the responsibility he feels for the Jewish people. He basically says he'd rather die than have to keep confronting the burden of caring for a people. I think God's response to this is one of the moments of Torah that actually speaks to me as God tells Moses to gather 70 elders from the community who will consult together and share the burden of figuring out how the hell to deal with the Israelites, a people lost both physically and spiritually. (Now, of course, that's ignoring the part where God threatens to make them eat so much meat it comes out of their nostrils, but you know, you can't win 'em all.) What the passage says to me is that trying to build a better world, one based on social justice and compassion, is too much for one person alone. We are meant to find strength in community. We are meant to find people to share the burden as we look to destabilize systems of oppression and build a society based on equality. To me, this is at the root of kvutzah and at the root of what it means to shape your life around Jewish values. So, I am proud and excited to see you head off to Israel to create your own vision for yourselves, your kvutzah and for society.  

Business:

Now, I imagine and hope that my support for you will take a lot of different forms, but I will say here that I think I am currently in a situation that allows me to be a support financially. I will send you a personal email letting you know what I think I can afford to contribute, but if you could give some direction on the listserve as to how to actually get that money to you, I think that would be helpful. 

It's really crazy to think what different places every one is in than when this listserve was first created, but I want to thank you Maya and Noah for bringing us into where your thoughts are today. 

Love always,

Zoey     

 

[Becca Kahn Bloch]

Count me in for some $$. I'll email a full check-in later, but I can say that spending the summer at Gilboa with Zev and Sarah has been really amazing and made me think about our kvutzah and Aliyah in much more tangible ways. I still can't commit to saying "yes, I will be there on these dates," but I can say that I feel connected to and responsible to the 58 garin, and I would love to be a part of financially supporting it. 

[Jacki]

The total is 1800 for the apt, not per person. You guys should be fine to pay that with dmei kiyum (the amt is currently being worked out for this year but itll be almost 2000 per person).

בתאריך 13 באוג 2013 21:11, מאת "Noah Hansen" <noah.h...@gmail.com>:

[Jacki]

Sorry, misunderstood the 3600, thought you meant per month. But in any case, what i said about income vs expenses still stands. Plus, are you guys coming with any savings?

בתאריך 13 באוג 2013 21:11, מאת "Noah Hansen" <noah.h...@gmail.com>:

Dear Kvutzah,

Check-in and Business. If you only read one part, make it the business below.

CHECK IN:

[Zev Dever]

Would sept 9th be too late to let you know if I can kick in some shekels?

Sent from my IPhone

[Noah Hansen]

Thank you all for the responses so far.

In spite of what Jacki said, we'd still feel more comfortable with added support from the kvutzah.

Another thing I forgot to mention: the movement does not pay for my plane ticket (because I'm not a Workshop madrich,) nor does Israel (because I'm getting the A-1 visa, not making full aliyah). So if people would be willing to help out with that at all too that would be great. The ticket was 1,372 so contribute whatever you feel comfortable. I don't think we need a separate budget for this. Whether we get money for the apartment or for my ticket ultimately doesn't make much difference. I just wanted to be transparent with everyone that the plane ticket is partly why I'm strapped for cash, so even if we can pay our way with the house, I've already spent big money that the movement doesn't cover.
In terms of getting money to us: we will soon give you an address in Israel to which you can send checks (make them out to Noah).

Details to come.

Todah
Noah

[Sophia Blumenthal]

I gotchu guys! Lemme just deposit my massive machaneh paycheck and I'll let you know what I'm playing with

Phia

[Eve Lifson]

Noah and Maya, I'm so excited for you two embarking on the first part of the great #aliyolo experiment. You are the mega-chalutzim, being the first of us to get there and start making a life. And wow, Hava really sucks. 

I'm happy to take some financial responsibility for your first couple months there. While I have not had an income this summer, I do have some savings I've been living off of. I'm a little confused about the rent situation as it relates to dmei kiyum and other living expenses. Here's my understanding, please correct me if I'm wrong. Although the rent expense is totally unplanned for, it's not as if you're relying solely on us to make sure you have a roof over your head. Rather, it would be much more comfortable to have some more money to use towards all living expenses in the next couple months?

Let us know more logistically about transferring money/sending checks. That may get a little more complicated because of the whole living in Israel thing?

Go get 'em!

Eve

--
Eve Lifson

Tufts University 2013

Peace and Justice Studies

[Ben Marsh]

Also, what is dmei kiyum? I'm not hip on all this aliyah lingo.

-Ben

[Eve Lifson]

shoulda thought about learning the aliya lingo before you signed up for that winter class last Jan. ohh snap! dmei kiyum refers to the money that the movement provides for garinim in exchange for movement work. it's calculated each year and each garin gets that amount of money x the number of people in the garin. you have to be either doing a movement messimah OR living in a garin to be part of the system. 

now you know, it's eve super short show!

[Ben Marsh]

Neat!