Written by High School Intern Rachelle Paskovaty
Going to a Zionist school really makes one’s belief in Zionism stronger. At least, this is very true for me. I used to go to Ulpanat Orot in Toronto. When girls graduate from there, a large percentage of them end up in Israel, either because they make Aliyah or because they go to the army or to seminary. I skipped a few steps and made the move to Israel by myself a couple of years earlier than my peers.
I decided to transfer to an Israeli high school program, even though this meant going back one grade. This was my only option in order to continue my high school studies in Israel. One of the main reasons that I wanted to make the move was because I wanted to improve my Hebrew. This is one of the greatest decisions I’ve ever made.
Of course, here in Israel, everything is different on all accounts. First, of course, the language is different which sometimes creates a challenge for me in school. And this challenge is even bigger because a lot of the material that they learn in Israel is taught through different methods than it is in Canada. It will take time for me to get used to these changes.
However, school is just a minor difference compared to some of the other changes I’m experiencing in my first few months here. A greater difference is how normal it is to have a bomb shelter in almost every building you go into. As scary as this may sound to people who don’t live in Israel, To me, the concept of bombs, shelters, and rockets doesn’t frighten me nearly as much as the thought of losing Israel, which I fear could happen depending on the undecided political situation.
Seeing as there are constantly so many threats to Israel’s security, another precaution that’s taken are the security checkpoints. These checkpoints with border soldiers are normal things to see when driving around in Israel, and if someone is taking the bus instead of driving in a car, it’s normal for the border guard to get on and do a quick walk through of the bus before clearing it to pass through the checkpoint.
One more prominent difference in Israel is the mentality of the people who live here. It’s very unlike the typical Canadian way of behaving – polite, politically correct, etc. In Israel, people are, as some people put it, “rude,” while others call in “blunt.” The people here don’t mind being pushy and blunt, speaking their minds,and sometimes they don’t exchange greetings because they don’t want to engage in meaningless small talk. All my friends back home know how truthful I am, so they know that this mentality really suits me. Here in Israel, I don’t seem as blunt or straightforward as I do in Canada.
These are only a few of the many differences between living in Canada and Israel. As a whole, it’s a completely different lifestyle here. But all together, in my eyes Israel is the best and safest place for me to live and really works for me and my personality.
