Ariella (Lis) Raviv, the oldest child of Hannan and Lisa, active leaders in the Detroit Jewish community, is living in Tel Aviv’s trendy old north neighborhood, near her favorite spot in the country, the meeting of the Yarkon River and the Mediterranean Sea at the TLV Port. Ariella lives with her husband Tzvi and their 3 children, Hadassa, 6 1/2, Yehudit, 3 and Harel, 5 months who was born on Passover, during the first strict Covid lockdown in Israel. As Ariella says, they “broke” the curfew to get to hospital. When they returned home with their first Sabra baby, they were welcomed by her 2 brothers, Matan, a former IDF elite combat soldier, now working in a real estate investment company, and Aviv, the youngest of the siblings who has been in Israel for over a year, on a fellowship with the Ethiopian National Project through the Jewish Agency.
“We were planning to come to Israel for just a year, but due to Covid, my job with Weight Watchers is mostly virtual, so we could allow ourselves another year here. The girls can improve their Hebrew both at school and by just living in Tel Aviv. Hadassa is now a fluent Hebrew speaker and quite independent, more, I feel, than if we were in Michigan. It’s a great city, even during a pandemic. We walk everywhere, have lots of friends from the “expat” community who, like us, feel the need to create family from the community. And everywhere we walk, we feel history. Ariella once met the great great grandson of Eliezer Ben Yehuda, the father of the modern, spoken Hebrew language, and Hadassa plays with the great granddaughter of Yeshayahu Leibowitz, one of the premier Jewish intellectuals before and after the establishment of Israel. This is not unusual, as it’s almost an everyday experience to encounter someone who is connected politically, militarily or intellectually to the founders of this State. It’s a crazy and dynamic country.”
Tzvi (also a former IDF combat solider) is an entrepreneur, well immersed in the Start Up Nation pace in Tel Aviv where he is running “Savings Jar”, a startup he founded that addresses financial wellness and habits for long term financial success.
The only downside for Ariella of the Israel experience is the restriction of global travel. She has not seen her parents since January, but, hopefully despite the strict entrance rules to Israel during the pandemic, there is an exception for grandparents to visit new born grandchildren. As Ariella says, “Only in the Jewish State!”
Looking forward to welcoming Hanan and Lisa here in the near future.