Last Updated on November 4, 2021

One Year After Aliyah

A light-hearted look at 20 things I’ve learned

By: Leah

1. Even though they teach you the word “savlanut” or patience, no one seems to have any.
2. Pray that when the serviceman says he is coming on Tuesday, that he means this coming Tuesday and not one of the other 51 Tuesdays this year.
3. Although irons are readily available, they are obsolete, no one wears ironed clothes.
4. Even though you signed a guarantee check for the furniture and appliances in your apartment, nothing works properly and your landlord wont do anything about it.
5. A weekend is Sefad constitutes going away for the summer.
6. More than half your wardrobe is in a suitcase in a place called the “boidum” – pray the weather doesn’t change overnight!
7. Doggy-do on the sidewalk is part of the eco-cycle and dog owners don’t always believe in removing it.
8. All the tenants in your building know how much you earn and how much your rent or mortgage is.  There is no shame in asking.
9. You can participate in a “minyan” on the train from Tel-Aviv.
10. Saying “die already” to your parents means “stop it” and is not wishing them an early demise.
11. Do not buy blue crepe toilet paper even though it is cheaper.
12. Four square meters of undergrowth next to your apartment, constitutes a garden.
13. The words villa and cottage have a different definition in an Israeli dictionary. No matter what, they are smaller than what we are used to.
14. You can negotiate a parking fine and generally get out of it.
15. You can have your groceries delivered to your door – let someone else break their backs.
16. No one will refund your money – once you’ve parted with it, it is gone for good.
17. You should have an overdraft
18. You can have friends over “for watermelon“
19. You should buy your kids state-of-the-art bicycles, even if they can only ride them on Yom Kippur
20. Some people eat Matzah all year

• More inspiring Aliyah stories and experiences
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• Hebrew slang