Page 58 - issue
P. 58
JOURNEY TOEFRATDREAMSCOMETRUE
THE ALIYAH OF
NISAN AND MARIETTA JAFFEE
Each stage in life brings new vistas, if your determina-
tion is as strong as your dreams. In the case of
Baltimoreans Nisan and Marietta Jaffee, the Holy
Land beckoned as Mr. Jaffee reached his retirement.
The Jaffees not only agreed to share their aliyah jour-
ney with me but also met me one fine afternoon in
Yerushalayim and gave me a ride through the coun-
tryside leading to their home in Efrat.
We drove through the famous tunnels and over the pictur-
esque mountains of Harei Yehuda, blossoming with the first
signs of spring. On the way, Mr. Jaffee stopped at an outlook
in the neighboring yishuv, Neve Daniel, to show me the view.
From this spot, the highest in Gush Etzion and, after Har
Hermon, and one of the highest in the country, you can see
much of Eretz Yisrael from the mountains down to the
coastal plain and, on a clear day, even the towers of Tel Aviv.
Located in Gush Etzion in Yehuda, Efrat was established
in 1983 as its own municipality, separate from that of Gush
Etzion. The city is only 7.5 miles south of Yerushalayim,
between Beit Lechem and Chevron, outside the Green Line.
Looking down onto Efrat from the lookout, I am reminded of
the pasuk from Chumash, “Eretz chitah, seorah, gefen,
teanah, rimon, Eretz zais shemen u’dvash.” The narrow strip
of land on which Efrat is situated comprises seven hilltops,
54 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
THE ALIYAH OF
NISAN AND MARIETTA JAFFEE
Each stage in life brings new vistas, if your determina-
tion is as strong as your dreams. In the case of
Baltimoreans Nisan and Marietta Jaffee, the Holy
Land beckoned as Mr. Jaffee reached his retirement.
The Jaffees not only agreed to share their aliyah jour-
ney with me but also met me one fine afternoon in
Yerushalayim and gave me a ride through the coun-
tryside leading to their home in Efrat.
We drove through the famous tunnels and over the pictur-
esque mountains of Harei Yehuda, blossoming with the first
signs of spring. On the way, Mr. Jaffee stopped at an outlook
in the neighboring yishuv, Neve Daniel, to show me the view.
From this spot, the highest in Gush Etzion and, after Har
Hermon, and one of the highest in the country, you can see
much of Eretz Yisrael from the mountains down to the
coastal plain and, on a clear day, even the towers of Tel Aviv.
Located in Gush Etzion in Yehuda, Efrat was established
in 1983 as its own municipality, separate from that of Gush
Etzion. The city is only 7.5 miles south of Yerushalayim,
between Beit Lechem and Chevron, outside the Green Line.
Looking down onto Efrat from the lookout, I am reminded of
the pasuk from Chumash, “Eretz chitah, seorah, gefen,
teanah, rimon, Eretz zais shemen u’dvash.” The narrow strip
of land on which Efrat is situated comprises seven hilltops,
54 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
