By Judy Lash Balint
JERUSALEM — The latest Nefesh B’Nefesh charter flight bringing 360 new immigrants from North America last week included some Southern California olim who landed in thethick of the worst terror attacks in recent years.
Californians become new Israelis under Palestinian fire
MarvinCouture, 65, and Tom Dimercurio, 58, making aliya to Beersheba, stood out among the scores of young members of Garin Tzabar who were waiting to board the aliya flight partially sponsored by the Friends of the IDF.
The 104 late teen and twenty-somethings dressed in matching army green T Shirts will be joining the Israel Defense Forces in the coming months.
Marvinand Tom had taken leave of their friends in California and were less concerned with whom they were leaving and more excited about where they were heading.
While there’s no denying the courage needed to enlist in the IDF, it’s not uncommon for 18-25 year-olds to travel the world, learn new languages, pick up and try
out new cultures and crave adventure. In many ways it’s a lot more daunting for mid-lifers to pull up roots; sell houses for which they sweated and saved; pack
up and transport belongings; to arrive in a country with acknowledged age-ism, struggle with learning Hebrew, find appropriate work and a social framework and adjust to life in the Middle East.
Marvin and Tom, both Jews by choice, are taking on new names as they embark on their new lives.
Tom will become Natan Benari, and Marvin wants to be known as Yehuda Benari. The couple from Long Beach, CA converted some 15 years ago through the Conservative movement and affiliated with Temple Israel in Long Beach. Yehuda first came to Israel decades ago and spent time on Kibbutz Sarid in the north and both Benaris have been coming to Israel twice a year for the last decade to visit friends and learn more about the country.
After Yehuda retired as an attorney and Natan took early retirement from his position as an elementary school principal, the serious business of planning their aliya took hold. “We’re not really attached to California, so it’s not so hard,” avers Yehuda. They’ll be starting out in Beersheba, where they have friends and look forward to spending an adjustment period in ulpan.
The hardest part of their aliya process was making arrangements for their two dogs to accompany them. In fact, their journey to Israel started a week before the flight, as the Benaris drove across country instead of flying, so that the dogs would not be subjected to two long flights. “It’s been a long journey—in many ways,” said Natan.
The Benaris arrived in Beersheba two days before the deadly attacks that claimed the lives of 8 Israelis and brought normal life in the largest city in the south to a virtual standstill. The red alerts that sent residents scuttling for the bomb shelters didn’t rattle the new immigrants.
“The Arabs sure gave us a welcome!” Yehuda said from his new home in Beersheba. “We follow the safety rules and hope for the best. If they’re going to bomb us, though, they could find more convenient times to do it. In the middle of the night seems inhumane to say the least, One alarm even interrupted our dinner at
a restaurant last night. In all seriousness, nothing is going to interfere with our commitment to Zion!”
*
Balint is a freelancewriter based in Jerusalem, whose stories are filed on her website, Jerusalem Diaries: In Tense Times. She may be contacted at judy.balint@sdjewishworld.com
The story of the couple is nice, but it ignores a bigger story — 104 american kids coming to enlist in the IDF. That was never covered by the Israeli press, which somehow makes me think there’s something off about it. Maybe they were coming on some kind of summer program, rather than as olim in order to enlist. I know I may be wrong, but it just does not come down right with me..