a matter of perspective

Just when I thought I was no longer an Oleh Chadash, I was told I am...

I was sitting on the train home from work yesterday evening and I was trying to catch a few winks of shuteye. The elderly woman that sat opposite me was chatting with somebody else who had sat down nearby.

When that person got off, she decided to continue her conversation with me. She turned out to be a pleasant old woman. She kept going on and on how beautiful everything is -Bet Shemesh, Modiin, the train stations, the airport terminal, etc.

She told me about her kids who lived in the US for a few years and how she enjoyed the rain in Seattle so much, LA was too hot, etc.

The climate in bet Shemesh is great..

Then she asked me how long I have been in Bet Shemesh. I answered over 9 years. It's coming - she chuckled and said - "Ata Oleh Chadash!" - you are a newcomer.

It turns out she moved to Bet Shemesh from jerusalem 50 years ago. When Bet Shemesh was not a city of 90,000 or so people like it is today. Not even a city of 20,000 people like it was 10 years ago. 50 years ago Bet Shemesh was not even a village. It was what is known in Hebrew as a "Ma'abarot" - a transit camp. And before that her family had lived a number of generations in Jerusalem.

I guess compared to that I still am an oleh chadash. It is all a matter of perspective.