"If you will it, it is no dream" –Theodore Herzl

I've been feeling a bit guilty lately. Why? Because I don't think I'm giving myself enough credit. If I can't be my own personal cheerleader then who in the world can? So right now I'm going to talk a little bit about how I've achieved one of my biggest Aliyah goals within my first year of being here.

I am so excited to announce that I am the new Marketing and Communications Manager for Masa Israel Journey. Guys, this is really kind of my dream job. I am working for a huge piece of the Jewish Agency who's goal is to provide Jewish young adults with meaningful, real Israel experiences. Not only am I working for them, but my specific job is to tell their story, our participants stories, using my creativity and experience. I hoped that when I made Aliyah I'd someday be working in a position like this at an organization like this but I honestly thought it would take at least 2-3 years.

Sorry not sorry, I'm majorly patting myself on the back right now because I feel that sometimes (a lot of the time!) during this Aliyah process I beat myself up. I feel bad for not having been able to save any money still, I sometimes question my friendships and think I'm more alone than I am, wonder why I haven't explored Israel since I've been here, why I haven't been to the Kotel to pray...the list goes on.

The reality is that I'm doing so well and I sometimes need to sit down and just appreciate it. It is stressful and it is hectic and there are days/nights of tears, but 9 months is not a long time. It feels like a long time. You can incubate a baby in the womb for 9 months, but when that baby comes out it doesn't know how to speak or walk or do virtually anything. That is because 9 months is just not a long time (and other scientific reasons I'm sure, but that is really beyond the point).

So I haven't saved money yet. Establishing a life anywhere is a huge commitment, monetary and otherwise. My friends here are really great. We have only known each other for 9 months (or less) and I need to keep that in mind. Our connections are still being built and strengthened and regardless, the love they've shown me is beyond this short time-frame. I haven't traveled Israel because I'm living here! Hello, Amy! You are not a tourist and now you are living real life. You'll get to see all the beautiful Israel you love soon enough. The priority right now is building your new life.

And there is time—so, so much time.

We the people...

"...it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions..." — Israeli Declaration of Independence, 14 May 1948

Last Tuesday I had the privilege of visiting the Israeli Knesset. The Knesset is Israel's parliament. They are housed in an amazingly beautiful building in Jerusalem. A friend of mine, Avi Mayer (whom some of you might know from his twitter fame or from his talk at the #IsraeliAmazing kick-off event), was participating in a meeting with the Immigration, Absorption, and Diaspora Committee to discuss the need for more coordinated public diplomacy between NGO's and the Israeli Government. Although the entire meeting was in Hebrew, I was able to understand quite a bit of what they were speaking about. I really wish I were able to understand it entirely because many comments made were directly related to the advocacy I do on campus! Avi even gave me a little shout out! (For those of you who are interested, and speak Hebrew, here is a video of the entire meeting. Avi's comments begin at 35:56 and my shout out is at 40:49. For those of you who don't speak Hebrew, or don't want to watch the video, here is a Jpost article about it.) Of course, being the Israel nerd that I am, I got really excited seeing members of Knesset walking in the same halls as me. I really enjoyed getting to witness a piece of Israeli democracy first hand. It is interesting to think about the fact that not everyone in the world gets to experience democracy. Not everyone has the right to choose to participate civically in society, or to choose who will represent them in that arena. 

We also briefly visited the Jewish Agency offices where a lot of really great work is being done for Israel and Jews around the world. I got to see Natan Sharanksy's office (unfortunately he was out so I wasn't able to meet with him), where Ben Gurion's office was and where Knesset used to meet. The visit really made me think about what I want to be doing with my future. The more I see/do/learn the more sure I become that my future career will have to be Israel related. And more than that; I have to be doing something constructive for Israel. I'm not even nearly 100% sure what that will eventually be, but there are many choices available to me.