Page 79 - issue
P. 79
girl. She responds, “It was super hard. I was really excited 71
about it in the beginning until I realized that it meant not
being in Baltimore with all my friends.” The Siskinds settled
in Efrat, and Shaindel began a regular Israeli school immedi-
ately. It was only a few months later that they realized that it
was not working out for her there. Although in Baltimore
Shaindel had gone to Rambam and had spent a short time
in Bais Yaakov as well, she was unprepared for the foreign
language in her new environment, where everything sounded
like gibberish. The language barrier was a challenge, because
Shaindel is by nature a very sociable person.
She switched to a school in Baka, commuting every day
from Efrat to Yerushalayim. In this school, the student body
was comprised of olim chadashim (immigrants), and classes
were formed based on each student’s Hebrew level as
opposed to age. She received a heavy dosage of ulpan (lan-
guage instruction), and Hebrew, at whatever level, was the
spoken language among her new circle of classmates and
friends. She laughs at the memory of how she stopped talk-
ing entirely to her friends back in Efrat until she felt confidant
enough to speak to them in Hebrew.
Four years later, Shaindel moved back to the States by her-
self for high school and attended an open religious Jewish
school in New York. She describes her reasoning to go back:
“It was hard for me to find my groove in Israel, and I just felt
like I would be happier in the States.” After high school,
Shaindel resumed living with her parents, who had moved
back to Baltimore, and started cosmetology school and her
career in hair salons. After finishing cosmetology school,
Shaindel felt an urge to go on vacation and spend some time
in Israel with her older brother, who was still living there.
“The minute the plane landed, I felt I would not be able to
leave Israel,” she recalls. Aside from being on vacation, the
trip was meaningful for Shaindel in other ways: “I was already
on my spiritual journey seeking truth, connecting to G-d. I
wasn’t religious then, but I was in my own space with spiritu-
ality and looking for meaning. While in Israel, I kept on hav-
ing these hashgacha pratit moments. I would be walking
down the street and thinking, ‘Okay, G-d, if you want me to
live here, just give me a sign.’ And then all of a sudden it start-
ed pouring rain.
Another time, Shaindel was near the shuk with her laptop
when it started raining out of the blue. Totally unprepared for
the rain, Shaindel ran into a shop to buy an umbrella. There
was no reason for the storekeeper to think that Shaindel was
a tourist, but he proceeded to ask her if she lived in Israel.
She answered him honestly in the negative, to which he
replied, “You need to live here!” And this was after Shaindel
had once again asked Hashem to send her a message if she
should live in Israel. Some of her doubts were that she had
just started her hairstyling career in Baltimore and was hesi-
tant to begin again in a foreign country.
◆◆◆
Returning to Baltimore, Shaindel started filling out the
aliyah papers with Nefesh B’Nefesh, even as she was still
(continued on page 74)
u 410 358 8509 u
about it in the beginning until I realized that it meant not
being in Baltimore with all my friends.” The Siskinds settled
in Efrat, and Shaindel began a regular Israeli school immedi-
ately. It was only a few months later that they realized that it
was not working out for her there. Although in Baltimore
Shaindel had gone to Rambam and had spent a short time
in Bais Yaakov as well, she was unprepared for the foreign
language in her new environment, where everything sounded
like gibberish. The language barrier was a challenge, because
Shaindel is by nature a very sociable person.
She switched to a school in Baka, commuting every day
from Efrat to Yerushalayim. In this school, the student body
was comprised of olim chadashim (immigrants), and classes
were formed based on each student’s Hebrew level as
opposed to age. She received a heavy dosage of ulpan (lan-
guage instruction), and Hebrew, at whatever level, was the
spoken language among her new circle of classmates and
friends. She laughs at the memory of how she stopped talk-
ing entirely to her friends back in Efrat until she felt confidant
enough to speak to them in Hebrew.
Four years later, Shaindel moved back to the States by her-
self for high school and attended an open religious Jewish
school in New York. She describes her reasoning to go back:
“It was hard for me to find my groove in Israel, and I just felt
like I would be happier in the States.” After high school,
Shaindel resumed living with her parents, who had moved
back to Baltimore, and started cosmetology school and her
career in hair salons. After finishing cosmetology school,
Shaindel felt an urge to go on vacation and spend some time
in Israel with her older brother, who was still living there.
“The minute the plane landed, I felt I would not be able to
leave Israel,” she recalls. Aside from being on vacation, the
trip was meaningful for Shaindel in other ways: “I was already
on my spiritual journey seeking truth, connecting to G-d. I
wasn’t religious then, but I was in my own space with spiritu-
ality and looking for meaning. While in Israel, I kept on hav-
ing these hashgacha pratit moments. I would be walking
down the street and thinking, ‘Okay, G-d, if you want me to
live here, just give me a sign.’ And then all of a sudden it start-
ed pouring rain.
Another time, Shaindel was near the shuk with her laptop
when it started raining out of the blue. Totally unprepared for
the rain, Shaindel ran into a shop to buy an umbrella. There
was no reason for the storekeeper to think that Shaindel was
a tourist, but he proceeded to ask her if she lived in Israel.
She answered him honestly in the negative, to which he
replied, “You need to live here!” And this was after Shaindel
had once again asked Hashem to send her a message if she
should live in Israel. Some of her doubts were that she had
just started her hairstyling career in Baltimore and was hesi-
tant to begin again in a foreign country.
◆◆◆
Returning to Baltimore, Shaindel started filling out the
aliyah papers with Nefesh B’Nefesh, even as she was still
(continued on page 74)
u 410 358 8509 u
