45 years (!) since my aliyah

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Israel is much in my thoughts today.
First, because I just  watched the televised  swearing-in ceremony of our new government at the Knesset.
The elections were on January 22 and it took this long for Prime Minister Netanyahu to form a coalition.
Many changes and new faces. 

Secondly, today is my Aliyah  anniversary.
Exactly 45 years ago my good ship Enotria docked in Haifa and I set foot in Israel for the first time.
I was a new immigrant, olah chadasha!
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If you're interested, previous posts about how I left America and made the journey are here and here.
And you can see my Italian ship, built in Livorno!
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P.S.  If you are wondering about the Aliyah Caravan van in my photo, I think it has something to do with a Jewish Agency program for "bringing Israel to Russian Jews living in Germany," similar to a "Zionist Caravan" that drove through Italy.
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(Linking to Our World Tuesday.).

41st anniversary of aliyah

March 18 is always a beloved day for me. On that date in 1968 I first reached the shores of Israel, making aliyah. (More about why in my 40th aliyah day post from a year ago.)

Just out of college, I had almost no money and found the cheapest route: a standby flight from Chicago to New York, Icelandic Airlines via Reykjavik to Luxembourg, buses and a train down to Genoa, and a ship to Haifa. Phew!

Imagine my surprise when the ship left Genoa and headed west instead of south! We were going first for a stop at Marseille, it turned out. And then back to another Italian port. Then through the tight Straits of Corinth, docking in Piraeus (with several hours ashore to see Athens), over to Limassol in Cyprus. Finally, as the sun rose over Haifa, I reached the promised land!

Photo from Maritime Timetable Images, from the collection of Björn Larsson, with thanks.

This was my home on the Mediterranean Sea for seven days--the good ship Enotria!
A tiny cabin with bunkbeds in the nethermost part of the ship, with a porthole just above sea level. I remember one stormy night the three girls in the cabin were seasick. I stayed on deck, hanging on for dear life, letting the salty spray refresh me, loving every minute of the rocking and rolling.

Today I did some research, out of nostalgia and love.
The Enotria and the Messapia of the Adriatic Line were built in the early 1950s. This pair of small ships sailed around the Mediterranean out of Italy. In 1975 both ships were sold out of the fleet as Muslim pilgrim ships. The Enotria was lost in 1980 when she was driven against the Piraeus breakwater. Her sister followed her later to the wreckers.
Poor Enotria. God rest her soul. She brought me home.
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Riding into the setting sun

Since we have been on the subject of Israel's shrinking lakes for a few posts, thought I'd share this sunset. We drove from Tiberias, altitude -210 meters below sea level where the city meets the shore of the Sea of Galilee. The road southward goes through the Jordan Valley, part of the Great Rift Valley. From the road you see the Kingdom of Jordan and sometimes the river itself. Just after passing Jericho and just before reaching the Dead Sea (whose water is now down to -421 meters below sea level, you turn west toward Jerusalem, whose elevation is +800 meters.
This photo is the view from the desert. The sun set as we made our way up to the Holy City and then home to the Jerusalem Hills.
In Hebrew one never walks or rides TO Jerusalem. It is always aliyah, a going UP to Jerusalem, both a physical and a spiritual ascent.

N.B. "Sea level" of course means the level of the Mediterranean, the only "normal" sea we have.

Many more Sky Watchers share their favorite sky over at Wiggers World. Take a look!

40 years

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"God said to Abram, 'Lech lecha, go away from your country and your kindred and your father's house to the land that I will show you . . . and I will bless you . . . .' "
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In March 1968 I did, I left America behind and made aliyah, the spiritual ascent up to Israel.
On today's date, March 18, the good ship Enotria sailed into Haifa port, just as the sun was rising over Mount Carmel.
I disembarked, kissed the ground, and embarked on a new life.
I had never been to Israel except in my dreams, knew no one, had little money.
Fresh out of college, a 22-year-old idealist coming into an idealistic 19 year old country. Population just two million.
We both had a lot of growing up to do.

The photo shows my teudat zehut, my identity card.
We have been together forty years.

Citizen of the State of Israel--this indeed is my identity.
This is the promised blessing. Thank you, God, for showing me the way home.

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