Group therapy in a blog.
Jewish
“You Had Me at Shalom”–Single? Move to Israel
918 years
Apparently, singles sick of looking for Jewish partners in other countries are on the move to Israel, according to an article in Ha’aretz…
The number of young, unmarried North American Jews immigrating to Israel has increased dramatically in the past few years, with a leap of 40 percent projected for 2006 as compared to last year’s figures. In 2004, some 350 North American singles immigrated here (out of a total 2,600 olim from the U.S. and Canada). The number of single North Americans rose to 450 last year (out of a total of 3,000 olim), and for 2006, the forecast is 625 singles by year’s end (with a total of 3,000-plus expected).
If you’re looking for olim from countries other than North America and the U.K–which accounts for 126 singles last year and 140 by the end of 2006–the numbers aren’t as good, as the article reports that single olim from other countries appears to be decreasing slightly.
According to statistics provided by the Jewish Agency […] Thirty-seven Jewish singles immigrated from Australia this year, compared to 41 the year before. Similarly, 36 Jewish singles immigrated from South Africa, compared to 48 the year before. Still, the influx of young Americans has expanded the Anglo singles scene in both Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, its two major bases. “I do get the feeling that the singles scene is getting bigger,” London-born Nadia Levene, who organized a Jerusalem singles party over Simhat Torah that attracted over 400 people.
Of course, no one is saying that moving to Israel means you’ll immediately meet someone. Lord knows there are enough single people in Israel who remain single and frustrated by it, despite the other miracles that might be available in the Holy Land…
But still, for those of us who are single and searching for a nice Jewish boy or girl, this article represents additional kosher food for thought.
Last Nights
218 years
Last nights have always been difficult. One tends to get caught up in the details of departure, and within those details are layers of doubt and lingering regret–over the undone or underdone, over the potential for intrinsic change, and for the vanishing moments of the now in the stark awareness that the present becomes past in the instant it happens.
Being here has been everything and nothing I’d anticipated. The anxieties were mostly unfounded, and the experience overwhelmingly positive. Friendships were forged and realizations discovered. To an extent, I feel younger–as if some sort of vital essence were recaptured and, to my great surprise, reinvigorates me. I’m infused.
And now, because it’s a last night of this, a genus of freedom that I’ve lived through the last few weeks, I fear its imminent pastness, the moment at which this becomes that thing that once was; and puzzle at the fact that the life I left behind is again my future.
More characters will be typed, but only after departure.