By Hannah and Emmanuelle Moscovitz

Hannah and Emmanuelle MoscovitzEditor’s Note: Hannah and Emmanuelle Moscovitz are two Ottawa sisters, the daughters of Jason Moscovitz and Elizabeth Richards-Moscovitz. Graduates of Hillel Academy, they are both studying at the University of Ottawa and have chosen to spend a year abroad studying at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. The girls will continue to send updates throughout their time in Israel.

Since our first trip to Israel in 2003, we have been left with the desire to spend more time in the country. We were fortunate to visit Israel on two great trips; Birthright and the March of the Living. These trips enabled us to gain a better understanding of Israel, both socially and educationally, and gave us the desire to experience life in Israel. We decided that studying in Jerusalem would be a great way to gain the experience we wanted and so chose to attend the one-year program at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

A few weeks before our departure, conflict broke out between Israel and Hezbollah. This unexpected turn of events made us realize that living the Israeli experience would be more difficult than we expected. The decision to come despite the war was a difficult one. After much consideration, we decided that it was important to continue with our plans. Spending time in Israel was very important to us, mainly because we wanted to experience Israeli life. Unfortunately, conflict is a reality of life in Israel.

We left from Pearson International with around 30 other students from Canada all going to spend the year at Hebrew U. It was comforting to see that most people had decided to go ahead with their plans to go to Israel. We were surprised to see very few empty seats on the plane. We arrived in Tel Aviv where a representative from the Hebrew University greeted the group at the airport and together we all left for Jerusalem where we got settled in our dorms. Although when we first arrived we were somewhat concerned due of the conflict in the region, we were quickly comforted by the information given to us about the conflict as well as on evacuation plans in case of emergencies.

Two days after our arrival we began the summer Ulpan, an extensive Hebrew course. The efficiency of the course is truly amazing. After a week of attending classes, we could feel a major improvement in our Hebrew. The classes are filled with students from all over the world interested in learning Hebrew in order to further their experience in the country. Throughout the month of August students in the Ulpan have been encouraged to participate in the many activities organized by the University such as Shabbat dinners, tours of the old city and other areas of Jerusalem, trips to the desert, to Tel-Aviv and other cities across the country. Needless to say our first month here has been extremely busy and very informative.

We are looking forward to the start of school in October when we will be taking courses in our fields of study as well as continuing to study Hebrew and taking advantage of the many organized activities. Having spent nearly two months here we can be sure that this year will be unforgettable.