Behind the Headlines Israel is a Rewarding Place to Visit

There are no five-star hotels in Bet She’an in the northern part of the country. Like many Israeli development towns, Bet She’an is slow-paced and underdeveloped compared to neighboring cities. But every year, American college graduates volunteer their skills in these development towns with a program called Sherut La’am (Service to the People.)

“It’s such a hard life here,” said Lauren Gotlieb, a Sherut La’am participant who joined the program in July 1985. “You have to really have a lot of self-strength for the program.”

Gotlieb did not join Sherut La’am expecting a year-long vacation. The 22-year-old graduate of Tulane University in New Orleans had visited Israel five years ago and knew that she wanted to return right after college. “I thought this program would be the best way to learn Hebrew and learn about Israeli society,” Gotlieb said.

During the first three months of the program, which is coordinated by the American Zionist Youth Foundation (AZYF) and by the Youth and Hechalutz Department of the World Zionist Organization, the volunteers study Hebrew intensely at an absorption center in northern Israel. In this study phase of the program, the Sherut La’am group from North America is often joined by participants from South America, South Africa and Australia. There is also a six-month program offered without the intense study program for those with good conversational Hebrew and prior Israeli experience.

SHERUT LA’AM PROGRAM

After an orientation and interview with development towns officials, the volunteers disperse to their chosen town or city for job placement. A variety of professional fields are offered, such as in teaching, community work, social work, environmental protection, law, and computers.

Last year there were 312 participants in Sherut La’am, 70 percent from the United States. The one-year program is open to people between the ages of 20 and 35 who have a college degree, while the minimum requirement for the six-month program is at least one year of college. Participants are supposed to find work in their professions or fields of study, but volunteers must sometimes settle for whatever jobs are available.

When Gotlieb decided to work in Bet She’an, she had been promised a job in the field of photography. “But two weeks before I was supposed to move to Bet She’an, they said, ‘We don’t need you’, ” she said. Instead, she was assigned to teaching English, French and piano to fifth and sixth grade students.

FACING A CHALLENGE

“I never taught before in my life,” Gotlieb said, “so it was a real shock. All of a sudden I’m teaching full time. At first I didn’t know what I was doing, but it was a challenge.” She didn’t have much choice because “I had nowhere else to go.”

Gotlieb quickly learned how to handle her 12 English students. “At first the kids were so antsy, then I decided to teach them the Hokey Pokey. They loved it…. but it’s a challenge to try to think of games.” The experience can also be frustrating, according to Gotlieb. “The students learning English and French have problems reading the letters. I go over it slowly but it’s really frustrating. To me, since English is my language, it’s so basic. But when they finally learn something it’s so rewarding.”

During the work period, volunteers receive housing and a monthly stipend to cover basic food expenses. However, housing is not provided for those who work in large cities. In the development towns, three or four people usually share a two-bedroom apartment. An American “madrich” (counsellor) visits each participant once a month to offer help with any problems the volunteer might have.

FROM LOS ANGELES TO BET SHE’AN

One of the major problems with students in Bet She’an is their lack of discipline, according to Larry Rachman, a 25-year-old graduate of Syracuse University who joined Sherut La’am in July 1985. While Rachman teaches English and trombone privately, he sometimes sits in on classes. The students in development towns are a problem, he said. “They’re rude, they talk back to their teachers, they’re constantly screaming and yelling throughout the whole class… they run through halls and slam doors…. They definitely don’t care about education.”

After a year-and-a-half trying to break into television production in Los Angeles, Rachman drove to New York where he and a friend became frustrated with not being able to find jobs. They decided to go to Israel and live on a kibbutz and were referred to the AZYF. The Sherut La’am program grabbed Rachman’s attention while his Friend decided to travel to London.

Rachman is now helping 16 and 17-year-old students prepare for the English portion of their “Bagrut” examination which is the equivalent to the American Scholastic Aptitude Test. He practices conversational English with some 30 students for the exam, when they will have to talk about a picture in front of an examiner and also have to improvise small skits. In addition, Rachman has two trombone students.

“Some people might say it’s a waste of time because I’m not getting job experience,” he said. “But I’m learning a little Hebrew, I’m meeting people, I’m touring the country. I’m feeling my ‘Jewish identity’ I’m not religious, but to see the whole town shut down on Shabbat is interesting.”

Rachman says he is also learning to have a lot of patience. “In development towns things work so slowly; they don’t even move slowly they move backwards. It seems the people are trying hard not to become advanced.”

DIFFICULT TO DEVELOP A SOCIAL LIFE

It is also difficult to develop a social life in Bet She’an, according to Gotlieb. “There are people your own age but usually they’re in the army, so you don’t have any friends your own age. You get to know the families but it’s not the same. Sometimes the mother is only a few years older than you but she has four kids–she wants to know why you’re not married or why you’re not living in Israel.”

Rachman has become close to some of his students and their families. In one of these families, the mother has five children and the father is a border guard and is home only twice a week. “They say I’m like a sixth son,” Rachman said, “and they’re willing to do my laundry and invite me for Shabbat dinner.”

Both Gotlieb and Rachman are more concerned about their social relationships with their students and the families they have met than they are about security problems in Israel. “I was scared to death to come last July with all the hijackings,” Gotlieb said. “Once you’re here you don’t feel it; the press blows up every single thing that happens.”

“Of course it’s dangerous,” she added, “but it’s dangerous everywhere you live in the world.” Gotlieb, who is from Birmingham, Alabama, said that her father talks about New York City like it’s the jungle, “so it’s just your perspective. I went to New York City and learned to get around, so when you come to Israel you learn–like, don’t take the Arab bus line.”

Rachman was also a little frightened about his flight because he was traveling on Olympic Airlines out of Athens right after the terrorist hijacking of an airliner last year. “I was more scared flying from Athens than the entire time I’ve been here,” he said. “For every bomb in Israel, there’s like 20 murders in New York. Of all the bombs that go off, hardly anyone is ever injured. It’s not something to worry about.”

DIFFICULTY IN ADJUSTING

Despite feeling safe, there are other problems. Life in the development town is difficult to adjust to. Rachman learned of the townspeople’s inability to cope with the abundance of stray animals. “The best thing I did in Israel was to help save the life of a dog,” he said. While he and a friend were in the supermarket they found an itchy, furless puppy. “We took him home, then brought him to a vet, and cleaned him up,” Rachman said, “and now he’s well.”

Gotlieb feels she has learned about Israeli society just by living there. “A friend of mine, an Israeli, knew one of the soldiers who was killed in Lebanon. One time I saw her and asked, “How was your weekend?’ and she said ‘Oh, yesterday we had a memorial service. Those things hit you in the face all the time.”

For Gotlieb, this is one of the hardest years she has ever had. “You feel very down at times,” she admitted, “but you learn so much. I came here with this ideal–oh, I’m going to help people. I led such a selfish life just going to school, not doing anything for anyone. But I don’t know if I’m helping anyone teaching the kids the alphabet. Whatever I’m doing is a very small function and I have to realize that. The thing is, you have to have that attitude because if you expect to move mountains you’re going to be so depressed.”