Five Towns students find career opportunities in Israel

By Baruch Spier

Two Five Towns women have returned from Israel after a summer spent taking advantage of unique career opportunities there and strengthening their connection to the land. Each had an internship with an Israeli company that was arranged by Yavneh Olami’s Summer Internship Program.

All participants in the six-week program were set up with an internship in the field of their choice, with housing arranged in a dormitory as part of the deal. Yavneh Olami also brought the students on Shabbatons and provided a weekly group dinner.

“I’m really living here, doing everything on my own, taking a bus with everyone else working here,” said Carly Rothenberg in an interview several days before her flight have to New York. She mentioned her daily commute on four buses to travel back and forth from her internship.

Rothenberg worked for the head of the Department of Archeology at the Israel Museum, categorizing various findings and helping to make the website more user friendly. She reported no issues with language at the office because most of the staff speaks English as a mother tongue.

“It’s always nice seeing someone who successfully made Aliyah,” said Rothenberg admiringly about her boss, “and she’s a woman.”

Rothenberg, who was visiting Israel from Woodmere, just finished her first year studying English and psychology at Queens College.

Atara Rubin, who flew back to Lawrence earlier this week to continue her studies in graphic design at Stern College for Women, learned a firsthand lesson about daily life in Israel while on the program.

“Now I realize that it’s going to be hard to live here,” said Rubin who interned for a printing company in an office full of Hebrew speakers.

Rubin and Rothenberg both finished their first year in university before starting their internships, and were impressed by the positions offered at their respective companies.

“Yavneh Olami found this internship for me even though I didn’t have any experience,” said Rubin. She was thankful that the company she interned with, Ayalon Print and Graphics, was willing to speak to her in English and teach her graphic design despite the fact that she was leaving the country at the end of the summer and was therefore unable to significantly contribute to the company.

“I was actually a little surprised because of the stereotype of Israelis being impatient,” said Rubin about working in close quarters with Israelis. “They were willing to take time out from their own work.”

The program brought the students on a number of outings, such as a visit to the Foreign Ministry and planting a tree in a JNF forest.

Rubin has considered Aliyah since attending Camp Moshava and had a one-word answer to why she didn’t continue studying in Israel after finishing a year abroad at the seminary Midreshet Amit.

“Parents,” she said, then reconsidered and added, “Also, I wanted to get married first.”

Rothenberg has a hard time seeing herself living in America for the rest of her life, and has envisioned herself as part of Israeli society ever since her parents bought an apartment in Jerusalem.

Both Rubin and Rothenberg gave ‘O.K.’ as their current Hebrew level at the end of the summer, right before they left for America. However, Rothenberg seemed slightly embarrassed when she admitted that she still ordered hamburgers in English, despite a strong enough vocabulary to dine in Hebrew.