South Africans in Ariel

The Talmud Family

My family and I made Aliyah on the 5th July.  We are blessed with 5 children, ranging from 17 down to 16 months.

 

We have been in Ariel since the 6th July, and have been very happy here.  We have all settled in well.  Three of my kids are at school, and settling in nicely.

 

4 days after we arrived, we signed a lease to an apartment, and moved in a few days later.

9 days after we arrived, my husband went to the employment agency with Reuven, our Absorption representative, and then went for an interview a few days later, got the job, and started the following day.  He has been with the company for almost 2 months.

 

We are very happy that we decided to come to Ariel.  It has been a very positive and wonderful move for us, and the community welcomes you with open arms, and is extremely helpful and supportive, which has been a huge benefit for us.

 

Anat Talmud

Ariel

 

 

The Caspy Family

My husband Cobi and I and our 3 sons returned from South Africa (Dec 1986) and spent 4 months on Kibbutz Givat Brenner, before deciding to make Ariel our home town in May 1987. Thus we have been here now for over 22 years.

 The boys have grown up, and we have experienced through them all the stages of their education in Ariel.

Yaron is now 31, married to Nili and has B.A degree from Bar Ilan University in political sciences and Middle East studies.

Roi is 27, and had just completed his B.Sc in computer sciences. He studied at the Ariel university.(Michlala) 

Eytan is 24 and is a volley ball coach, a gym-room instructor (Wingate graduate) and a life guard. He has almost completed a course in Sports therapy (treating injuries=also through Wingate) and works part time at the Ariel Sports and recreation club.

 All three boys went to primary, junior high and high schools in Ariel-the younger two also went to different ganim here.

We found it very convenient to have most of the education needs for the boys, in the town.  

 I worked for 21 years in the only private pharmacy in the town as the main pharmacist. For the last year I am now working as a pharmacist for Kupat Holim Leumit.

 Cobi does not work in Ariel, but certainly enjoys returning home (in summer) to the wonderful cooler and less humid climate we have here in comparison to the high humidity of the coastal area.

 My father Solly Wasserman came on aliya to Ariel in 2002.He is now almost 86. During the first year he joined the ulpans available here and had fun meeting new people.

 We have many friends in Ariel, also many ex South Africans who were part of this community but for various reasons decided to leave.

 Ariel has been a great town in which to raise children. They have had good schooling, after school activities and although we have a much smaller selection of shops (than in larger towns), we did not feel the lack of anything of importance in Ariel. I think they grew up with less to offer, but with fewer temptations.

 Ariel is not far from most major cities and towns, and the transport system is great, and improving .The buses offer transport  to Petach Tikva, on to Ramat Gan and Tel Aviv very regularly. The new bus service has just begun and will be even better as it provides transport to the train station at Kessem.

 We belong to the shul or Beit Haknesset-Ohel Ephraim which is in our neighbourhood -Rova Aleph, and last year Rabbi Hillel Maisels from cape town became the Rabbi for our shul.

We have recently had a number of celebrations (weddings) and all the community members help to have good parties. There is a good social spirit amongst the community. The growing number of immigrants, from South Africa and the U.S.A/Canada is having a positive effect on the community which has only had immigration from the former USSR in previous years.

The new sports centre, which opened a year ago, has also given the population many more activities i.e. .all year round swimming pool and a fully equipped gym, exercise classes of all sorts etc.I thoroughly enjoy the pool and art classes.

 The University centre of Ariel has developed to an amazing degree over the last years offering many courses and degrees, and has approx. 10,000 students.

 Ariel has great weather in summer-hot but not very humid. It is colder here in winter than the coastal region, but has the added plus of snow falls some winters, which is great fun.

 To sum up-Ariel has much to offer anyone-new olim and everyone looking for a place with great quality of life.

Ethne Caspy

 

 

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