Page 108 - issue

Lea thought of family pictures; “My
family, too, they’re going to have pic-
tures of their first year in Israel, and I
won’t be in any of them. And they are
going to have private jokes, just like
friends have private jokes...and I am not
going to know any of them.” And that’s
when she concluded, “In life, you pick
family.”
◆◆◆
Once the shock subsided, enthusi-
asm filled the Sondhelm home in
anticipation of the move. The children
were excited, because, as Sara Lea
puts it, “My parents were so excited, so
it was like an adventure.” I wonder
though, that even with their parents’
contagious excitement, how the chil-
dren reacted towards moving away
from their comfortable Baltimore life
in Greenspring and saying goodbye to
their friends? Sara Lea responds that a
few things helped them along. One was
that, as she puts it, “We were adaptable
type of kids; we went along with
things.” The vacations and happy
tourist memories of falafel, pizza
shops, beaches, and Masada also
helped. Since the kids were already a
bit familiar with Israel, they had an
idea of what to expect.
A few months later, the Sondhelms
made aliyah and settled into Har Nof
to be part of a community that
includes other Americans amidst
Israeli yeshivishe chareidim. Their
move “was as good as it could have
been,” says Sara Lea. The initial adjust-
ment presented fairly minor chal-
lenges. One that Sara Lea experienced
was being part of a community where
hardly anyone knew her or her family.
She describes her pride in being a
daughter of her parents. In Baltimore,
her parents were well known and
involved with the community. Amongst
many other community involvements,
Rabbi Sondhelm produced the Purim
shpiel every year at Shomrei Emunah,
and Mrs. Sondhelm was in the former
Encore women’s band. In general, the
Sondhelms did a lot of chesed and
hachnasas orchim. Sara Lea sorely
missed this sense of “belonging” and
pride she felt as being part of the
Sondhelm and Schlossberg family in
104 u www.wherewhatwhen.com u
Baltimore.
Other initial challenges were getting weekly basis. At one point, the cheder
used to a simpler lifestyle. It was a
much hotter climate than in Baltimore,
and there was no air conditioner. They
also didn’t have a dryer or a car, and
lived in a much smaller apartment
than they were used to. The year they
moved was a shmita year and the
prices of tomatoes were “sky high.” So,
one day, Rabbi Sondhelm announced
that they wouldn’t be buying tomatoes
for some time. Sara Lea remembers
thinking in astonishment, “But toma-
toes are so basic.” The children’s reac- schools fairly smoothly. Things were
tion, though, was not one of resent-
ment. It was an attitude of, “Gosh, this time. He had started learning in
is how people live here. Wow!”
Rabbi and Mrs. Sondhelm put a lot
of thought and wisdom into their
move to ease their children’s adjust-
ment. One thing is that they did was
not officially make aliyah immediate-
ly. Instead, they told their children
that they would try out living there
for a year and then would make
aliyah if things were working out.
After that year, everyone made aliyah
aside from Sara Lea and her older
brother Asher. They figured that it
would be wiser to make aliyah when
they got married, so as to gain better
financial benefits.
The Sondhems also wisely thought
about how they could enable their chil-
dren to make friends in their new envi-
ronment. The summer they came, Mrs.
Sondhelm and Sara Lea worked in the
English-speaking Camp Machanayim,
and the younger girls came along as
campers. “That was a great way to
make friends,” says Sara Lea. The
Sondhelms’ adjustment was made
even easier with the move of two other
Baltimorean families to Har Nof
around that time.
Upon arrival in Eretz Yisrael, Rabbi
Sondhelm was able to find employ-
ment. He became a Rebbe for post-
high school American boys who come
to learn in Israel. Currently, Rabbi
Sondhelm works in Yeshivas Ahavas
Chaim.
Initially, Mrs. Sondhelm remained at
home and kept house in Har Nof, in
addition to hosting the many people
they had at their Shabbos table on a
her young son attended asked her to
start an arts and crafts program, and
she did. Currently, Mrs. Sondhelm gives
piano and guitar lessons and conducts
a sing-along for the elderly in the Beit
Tovei Ha’ir senior facility in
Yerushalayim. She also manages vaca-
tion homes in Israel for people who live
in the States.
◆◆◆
The children adjusted to their new
easy for Asher, who was nineteen at the
Yeshivas Bais Yisrael (at that time locat-
ed in Bayit Vegan) the year before the
family’s move and continued his learn-
ing subsequently.
As far as Sara Lea was concerned,
she was too afraid to finish high school
in Israel and therefore decided to go to
an American seminary there. During
that year, Sara Lea took tests to com-
plete her high school studies as well,
and received her diploma by mail.
Although her parents lived in the coun-
try, Sora Leah stayed in her seminary
dorm and went home most Shabbosim
and chagim. Looking back, she says, “It
was a fun year.”
The next Sondhelm child, Devora,
was fifteen at the time of the family’s
move. Rabbi and Mrs. Sondhelm were
worried about sending her to a charei-
di Bais Yaakov, because coming from
her background, they knew she would-
n’t fit in. The school they chose had
more open–minded, lenient views. In
fact, since it was the school’s opening
year, Devora had only seven other
classmates, and the majority of them
were American just like her! The teach-
ers taught in Hebrew, and the girls
spoke English amongst themselves.
The school provided tutors who caught
the girls up in their Hebrew language
skills, and upon leaving high school,
Devora was fluent. Thankfully, Devora
had a good experience and adjusted
very well into Israeli life.
The younger children, Menachem,
eleven; Shira, eight, and Zvi, four,
attended the standard chareidi
chadarim and Bais Yaakovs and did