Page 21 - Issue 25

to doing my messima of the past two years completely
remote. The second major change in my life this past
year, my own Aliyah, made me realize just how much
the extended absence of shituf, kvutza, and messima
meshutefet during this period had affected every part of
my being.

One of the most frequent questions I was asked when I
was in the midst of completing my mandatory
quarantine upon arrival in Israel was “what are you
going to do when you are finally out of bidud?” I had two
answers: get vaccinated and hug my friends. Finally
being able to hug my friends was not only very special
to me because it had been over a year since I had seen
anyone in my kvutza, Kvutzat Maayan, or because it had
been such a long time since I had hugged anyone
outside my own family, but because it marked a
significant occasion: finally all living in the same
physical location together as a kvutza. For most of us,
we had waited four years of college for this moment,
plus at least two more as some of us finished our
terms on the Mazkirut Artzit. We waited through a
pandemic, for our Aliyah applications to be completed,
and for Israel’s skies to reopen again after a prolonged
airport shutdown this past winter. Finally living in
kvutza was what I had been dreaming about for so
long.

My first few weeks in Israel were quite busy. Socially, I
had a lot of catching up to do with friends after
experiencing a whirlwind of a year, a lot reintroducing
myself to the members of my kvutza, and a lot of
adjusting to now living with 11 other people. One of the
highlights of my first month in Israel was our kvutza