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| Devorah Vanderman, second from left, and her family |
Q. Shalom Devorah. What can you tell us about your childhood?
A. I was born in New York, to a religious-Zionist family (my father's mother, born in New York to European immigrants, was unfortunately the only one of 11 children who remained Torah-observant). When I was 6, in 1968, a year after the Six Day War, we made Aliyah to Israel. My parents met each other on a trip to Eretz Yisrael, and since then they had always wanted to make Aliyah, but kept on waiting to get ready… Finally, when they already had five children, a friend of theirs told them: "If you don't go now, you'll never go!" So they took their kids and went! Their families were opposed, because it was very hard for them that we were leaving.
On the day of our Aliyah, we all wore Shabbat clothing, and it was truly a moving event. Ever since then, every year we celebrate our Aliyah Day together.
We lived at first in Ramat Gan for a year, until our apartment in Yerushalayim was ready, and we then moved there, to the Bayit V'gan neighborhood. Whenever there was vacation, my parents would take us on trips throughout the land, and this is how we got to know many places.
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| Devorah's parents with a new great-grandchild |
At first my parents made sure that we kids would continue to speak English, so that we wouldn't forget it and would be able to speak with our relatives when they came to visit. But we quickly learned Hebrew and we talked amongst ourselves in Hebrew. But today we all still know English quite well, because of our parents' concern.
Q. When did your connection with Beit El begin?
A. After we got married (more on that below), we looked for a community in Yesha (Judea and Samaria) so that we could help strengthen the Yesha settlement enterprise. We heard about Beit El through friends, so we came to visit, enjoyed it, and we moved in – 26 years ago. During the first year I traveled to Jerusalem to work, but after a year, I heard that Yeshivat Beit El had a job opening in my field, and I have worked here ever since.
Q. What is your job in the Beit El Institutions?
A. I am the payroll accountant, which means taking care of the salaries of all the employees of all the different bodies connected with the Yeshiva: the Bnei Tzvi Yeshiva High School, Arutz-7, the Besheva newspaper, and of course Yeshivat Beit El. I also deal with donations, tuition, and other things of that nature.
Q. What have you learned from working in the Beit El Institutions? How is it different than other work environments?
A. I would say there are two things that typify my work here. One is that there is a special relationship between all the workers – we are friends, all help each other, and it is very enjoyable to work here. In addition, we learned from Ketzaleh, with whom we used to work all the time, that all our work here in the office is a great mitzvah of the building up of the Land of Israel. As a result, this is the general feeling in our office, and even though the salaries are not high, we know that we are part of a great ideological enterprise. It makes the work here very pleasurable. (According to Ketzaleh, one is even allowed to talk on Shabbat (!) about the Yeshiva's financial matters because it's part of the mitzvah of settling the Land…)
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| Sukkot with the whole family, including many grandchildren! |
Q. What can you tell us about your family?
A. Barukh Hashem, I am happily married to Shaya, whose family made Aliyah from the U.S. a couple of years before mine. Our families used to take trips together, when we were very young. But as we grew older, though our parents remained friends, we children lost touch with each other. After a bunch of years, my husband was learning in Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav, as was my older brother, who thought of matching us up. And so we met again, and the rest is history! We have five children, Barukh Hashem – four are married, and the youngest is getting married in three weeks, with G-d's help.
Our oldest son, Yehuda, lives in Shilo, just 20 minutes north of here; he has four children, and is an architect. Next is Uriyah, who lives in Rehovot; he has two daughters, and works in computers. Our oldest daughter is Sarah, who lives in Givatayim; she and her husband are active in the Torah core group there, doing great things. She has three children, and works as an industrial engineer. Yir'at is married to a boy who studies here in Yeshivat Beit El and in Machon Lev. She has a degree in education and runs a nursery in her home, and they live here with their three children.
Q. What message would you like to give to our readers abroad?
A. There is nothing greater than being involved in the building up of a Torah community in Eretz Yisrael. And to be in the IDF, Israel's army defending its land and people – this is the greatest ideal for a Jew. We must remember that throughout the generations, the Jews were persecuted in the Diaspora, and today we have a state and army of our own – this is truly the fulfillment of the prophecies and dreams of all generations. Every Jew who is a partner in this great enterprise can merit the most exalted place that can be.