Etana's+I+Face

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=Rationale= Mally Asserson made Aliyah when she was 18 years old. i find her a great citizen because she came to Israel all on her own not knowing Hebrew at all. She has no money, no friends, and she came to make a difference. Once she settled i n she started learning Hebrew and became a nurse. Nowadays she is the manager of old age homes. I would hope to learn throughout this project more about Mally and how she got through her Aliyah all by herself. I would want to find out what motivated her and if she thinks it was the right decision.

=Profile=

Mally Asserson
Mally Asserson was born in Manchester, England in 1954. She grew up in a religious family and went to a religious school. In her free time Mally used to go to Bnei Akiva which her school wasn’t very happy with. Mally went to a Beis Yaakov school which was very chareidi and that affected her later on in her life because it made her believe that we have more in common with the chareidi people than differences. Mally describes her life as a bit unusual but very fulfilled in many ways. Mally is a great person with an amazing life story that would make anyone who hears it feel happy and lucky to live in this country, and to be able to hear such an interesting person’s background. At the age of 16 Mally decided that she wanted to study nursing. So once she moved to Israel she enrolled in a nursing school in Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem. Mally decided she wanted to be a nurse because she recognized in herself a general laziness and she felt that if she would find a job that was helping others then she could be lazy the other 16 hours a day. Mally also knew that out of all the professions that she could choose, this would be the one her parents would let her come to study in Israel.

Mally came from a very Zionist background. She came to Israel right after she finished her high school studies. Mally was brought up believing that every good Jew should live in Israel. Unfortunately her parents couldn’t make Aliya but they always wished their children would be able to live in Israel. Mally made Aliya when she was 18, October 1973. She came all alone during the Yom Kippur War. Mally described how scared she was coming into Israel at the time of the war and how two planes escorted their plane from each side for protection. As the plane started to land Mally remembered how it felt going down, not seeing anything, there were no lights on. She was sitting next to her cousin and said: “this is how it must feel going into hell.” Mally decided to come to Israel because she believed that if the people of Israel are putting they're lives on the line then she should come volunteer and help as well.

Mally qualified her nursing course in 1976 and worked at first in plastic surgery for two years and then became the head nurse in Urology. Mally had a number of famous patients. One of the most impressive of them was the Baba Sali who came into the hospital very ill and wasn't really himself although people kept coming in all day to receive blessings from him. When Mally was asked how long she was planning on staying in Israel when she came in 1973 she answered that she wasn’t sure she would even survive her nursing course, but once she did she knew she wanted to stay.

A funny incident that happened to Mally was while she was working in Shaarei Tzedek. She was taking care of an injured soccer player from Beitar Yerushalayim and the decision was that only family could visit him. One day Mally was sitting at the front desk when a tall man walked in asking to see that famous soccer player. When Mally didn’t let him in he said that he is also a famous soccer player and he wanted to go in and see his friend. Mally refused to let him in and he got very frustrated and said “I am a star and I’m going to see my friend.” Mally said “well I am Mally and your not.” The man walked out angrily but came back later with the whole team and Mally ended up letting them in.

Another funny incident that happened to Mally while she was working at the hospital and was treating two patients at one time. Mally was helping the other doctors and was in the middle of getting something for them when she realized that a man was walking around and looking at patients files. Mally kindly walked up to him and asked him if she can help him with something. The man answered her but she was too occupied with what the doctor was telling her from inside the patient’s room and so she wasn’t listening to what the man was saying. The only thing she heard was that he wanted to talk to one of the head doctors. Mally kindly told the man that the doctors were very busy and couldn’t talk at the moment and that he should wait outside until they finished and then one of the doctors would come out to talk to him. The man looked at her a bit strangely but then walked out. When Mally came back into the patient’s room everyone looked at her in shock. The head doctor came up to her and asked her if she knew who that man was? Mally said no. The doctor answered that the man was the Minister of Health and that she had just kicked him out! Mally heard a lady outside yelling that she should come out and say sorry to him but the head doctor was very nice and went out and took care of it for her and she never had to deal with it.

Moving to Israel mostly affected mally’s baby sister who was 16 months old when she left. Mally described how hard it was leaving her, and how hurt her sister was that she was leaving. For 5 years her sister didn’t contact her, and didn’t want anything to do with her: didn’t want to speak to her and didn’t acknowledge her as a sister. Mally would see her siblings only twice a year when she would go visit them in England and when they would come to see her in Israel. Moving to Israel probably made it easier for her brother and sister who made aliya later in 1976 and 1980. Mally wasn’t totally alone when she got to Israel she had her uncles family who lived here to and she became very close to he cousin who was two years older than her.

When Mally came to Israel she had a problem communicating with her family back in England, because talking on the telephone was extremely expensive. She only got to speak to then once a month, and when she spoke to them it would only be for 3 minutes. Also the conversations that they had were very awkward because they would try to think of something to say that would be worth all the money they were spending. Mally also had trouble adjusting to the culture here in Israel because when she came Israel was way behind Britain and it was a big change for her because she came from a modern 1970’s house in Brittan and now she was moving into a small apartment with no heating where she was living all alone. A big problem Mally had to solve was the language problem: she barely knew any Hebrew and that made it very hard for her to get along with people at her work, understand what people were asking her and learn how to be a nurse.

Moving to Israel during the war made it very hard for Mally to adjust because she couldn’t understand what was going on, and she couldn’t comfort her friends when something bad happened to them. So she just kept away but they hated her and thought she was cold, and that was a reputation that never left her.

Mally concluded “The biggest difference I ever made in my career was when I moved back to England and started working in geriatrics” Mally thinks that she made the biggest difference working in geriatrics because old people need good nurses as well and that is why when she came back to Israel she started working on developing more old age homes. Working in old age homes was a great opportunity for Mally because they were very flexible with the time that she would need to work and that helped her while she was raising her kids. Working in old age homes also helped Mally by giving her a chance to get to know new people and realizing that also old people deserve the same respect that other people do.

When Mally was asked if she has any regrets from her past she answered no, she had a great childhood and was blessed with two wonderful children and has great parents and siblings. Mally met her husband when she was very young and married when she was 36, but even that she doesn’t regret because she thinks that is she would have met her husband any earlier they probably wouldn’t have gotten married. When asked if she could go back to any time in her life would she change anything, Mally answered no- not because everything was perfect but because the things that weren’t perfect where what mad her into who she is today.

Mally’s message to the future generation is to treat everyone with respect and to try and understand people who are different from you. Mally also believes that everything you do should be for Kidush hashem and that’s also important in the way you treat people. Mally is a strong confident woman who stuck to what she believed in and did what she had to do to make her dreams come true.

=Background Research=

Yom Kippur War
On October 6th, 1973 – Yom Kippur- the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Egypt and Syria opened a coordinated surprise attack against Israel. The Egyptians began with an aerial attack. About 200 planes attacked IDF camps, airfields and other bases along the canal and deep in Sinai. In about two hours, the Egyptians had sent about 25,000 soldiers across the canal, and the Israelis had about 500 soldiers in the outposts along the canal. Overnight, the Egyptians put across about 500 to 700 tanks, and 3,000 other pieces of heavy equipment: trucks cannons and so on. Israeli armor from further inside Sinai should have been stationed on the canal, but were not. Ariel Sharon, the current president, insisted: “not enough is being done to rescue the soldiers trapped in the outposts.” Eventually, the tanks rallied to the rescue of the trapped solders, but it was too late. The Zionism and Israel dictionary states that Egyptian infantry, equipped with missiles, had destroyed about 60% of the 270 tanks that were available. Some rescue missions were successful in freeing a few men, but often more people were killed in the rescue than were saved by it. By the evening of October 7, the Egyptians had put across about 100,000 men, 1,020 tanks and 13,500 vehicles. They had destroyed over 150 Israeli tanks, losing only 20 tanks and 280 men.

The Zionism and Israel encyclopedic dictionary also informs us that when the war began on October 6, Syria had about 930 tanks and 900 artillery pieces in forward positions facing the Golan Heights. Two additional armored divisions and 460 tanks were right behind. Israel held the Golan Heights with 177 tanks and one infantry division, 44 artillery pieces and a SAM battery. Here began what was to be the largest tank battle since World War II. The Syrian offensive began at the same time as the Egyptians.

The situation in the Golan during the first days of the war was desperate. Israeli forces were grossly outnumbered and poorly equipped. The encyclopedic dictionary declares that Israel was thrown onto they're defenses during the first two days of fighting. "Israel carried the war deep into Syria and Egypt." The Arab states were quickly resupplied by sea and air from the Soviet Union, which rejected U.S. efforts to work towards a cease­fire. "As a result, the United States belatedly began its own airlift to Israel." The Soviet Union showed no interest in initiating peacemaking efforts while it looked like the Arabs might win. Two weeks later, Egypt was saved from a horrible defeat by the UN Security Council who had failed to act while the Arabs were leading in the war.

During the war Israel suffered from the death of 2,300 solders, 5,500 wounded while 294 were taken as prisoners. Egypt and Syria lost about 15,000 solders, 43,000 solders were wounded and 8,800 were taken as prisoners., Israel also had a big loss of military equipment but Egypt and Syria were in much worse conditions. They had lost a huge amount of tanks, aircrafts, boats, and much more. Israel had won a clear victory against Syria and Egypt. In addition Israel conquered a considerable amount of territory beyond the cease fire lines of 1967. The Jewish Agency for Israel stated: "The Yom Kippur war was followed by a lot of devotion to Israel among Jews." In the previous years, only a few Jews had been allowed to join relatives in Israel. In letters to the Israeli government and international organizations, Jews started to publicly declare: "We regard Israel as our historic homeland." And this was a very new development regarding the Jews and Israel. If you found this interesting u might want to find more information in the Jewish agency website or I the Zionism and Israel encyclopedic dictionary.

The Yom Kippur war was a very hard time for Israel. We had to fight for our lives and our country, but in the end it was worth it because our land is safe, people are allowed to move to Israel. If you think its hard coming to Israel now days, you should think of how hard it was to make aliyah during the war and the risks people had to take to live in Israel. The Yom Kippur made Israel accrue more land, made Israel a bigger country, stronger army and a better place to live in.

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=Literary Connection=

** __אני מאמין__ **

אני מאמין באמונה שלמה בביאת המשיח

ואף על שיתמהמה עם כל זה אחכה לו בכל יום שיבוא אני מאמין, אני מאמין. __** I Believe **__

I believe with complete faith in the coming of the Messiah, I believe

Believe in the coming of the Messiah In the coming of the Messiah, I believe Believe in the coming of the Messiah

And even though he may tarry Nonetheless I will wait for him And even though he may tarry Nonetheless I will wait for him

Nonetheless, I will wait for him I will wait every day for him to come Nonetheless, I will wait for him I will wait every day for him to come  I believe.

 "I believe" is a song that talks about believing in God and in the coming of the Messiah. Even when it takes him a long time to come we still wait for Him everyday and believe in Him.

The song Ani Maamin is a short summary of one of the 13 articles of faith written by the Rambam. I think that the author’s main point was to show how a Jew is supposed to feel and believe in God and everything that He does. Even though He waits to save us and to send the Messiah to us we still have to wait for Him and believe that He will come someday. The song also points out our loyalty to God and how strong our belief really is.  I chose to include this piece of literature in my project because it shows our dedication to our God and to what we believe in. I think this belief is demonstrated most in Israel and in the people that make Aliyah because they are giving up everything to come to Israel and they make the coming of the Messiah nearer. I think that living in Israel shows total belief in God and how we trust Him in everything we do and are waiting for Him every minute of our lives. This piece of literature connects to Israel because in Israel everything depends on God. If God doesn’t give us rain then we won’t have anything to drink, we won’t have anything to eat. In other countries they can always find water and only in Israel do we depend completely on God. This need for Gods help makes us more connected to Him and makes us believe that He will help us.

This song is a song that the Jews and the people of Israel sing in celebrations, times of need, and ceremonies. It shows that God is guiding us through everything and never leaves us alone: as God’s nation we must believe that. I think the way the song was written is the best thing about it - It starts off and ends off with the worlds “I believe”. Even after all the hard things that we face we still believe in God from the start until the end, and that’s what makes our belief so special.

I don’t think I would change or add anything to this song if I had a chance because it is short, straight to the point, has a great message to the world and states the way of life of the Jews clearly and strongly. I wish that every Jew in Israel would feel this connected to God and believe this strongly in His decisions and in how He controls the world.

=Creative Connection=

My connection to Israel started when I made Aliyah. Moving to Israel was a big deal but a great decision, because all Jews should live in Israel. Since my family had the choice to come to Israel and live here, it made me feel even more connected to my home.

When I think of a place that should be the land for the Jews I cant think of a better place then Israel. Israel is an amazing country and I love living here. Ever since I’ve moved here my life has been filled with great, exciting, and fulfilling experiences.

I think Israel is most special because everyone who lives here is connected to each other. Israel’s culture is different then any other, and that’s what makes it so great. In Israel where ever you go you can always find Jews all around you, and we all have a historical connection to the land we live in. it gives me the best feeling to know that I’m living in the land that God gave us, where my extended family lived, where everyone cares for each other, and where all Jews should be living.

I painted a picture of a blossoming tree filled with many colors, because it reminds me of Israel. The scenery in Israel is unbelievable, you can truly see Gods creation in all of your surroundings. Also like the tree keeps blossoming and growing, so does Israel. Every day more people move here and the population gets bigger all the time.

I hope that people will keep coming to Israel and help it grow, and that Israel will keep blossoming and will keep becoming more and more beautiful everyday. I also wish that our connection will grow with every day that we spend in this wonderful country.

=Reflection=

At the beginning of this project I was disappointed with the topic that we needed to make our project about. I thought that this project should be a way for each girl to use her creativity to make her project special in different ways, such as different topics or original ways to put together each project.

During the process of the project I’ve learned that this was also a good way to show your creativity and to reconnect with your country. I found that I haven’t really considered how lucky I am to live in such a great place and lately I haven’t taken the time to think about my connection to Israel. This project gave me a good chance to do that.

I think this project improved my researching skills along with my writing skills. I enjoyed looking up new topics that I otherwise would not think of, and it was great interviewing someone as interesting as Mally Asserson. The writing assignments on this project also helped me with my creative writing skills that I haven’t been working on.  This project gave me a chance to think outside the box, and look around at the great gifts god gave us. All in all, the project was a better experience then I thought it would be, and it helped me in ways I didn’t think it could. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it.

=** __Bibliography__ **=

Google images- Yom Kippur War-

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-profile pictures-

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Jewish Agency-

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online library of hebrew songs-

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Zionism and Israel encyclopedic dictionary-

[|http://www.zionism-israel.com/dic/YomKippurWar.htm]