Attitude decides your life

By RIVKAH LAMBERT ADLER
Marty Weisel (photo credit: Courtesy)
Marty Weisel
(photo credit: Courtesy)
 At 16, Marty Weisel was having a fine time in high school. Then his family made aliya.
“My mother always thought about making aliya, but it wasn’t a thing until two years before we did. When they offered the dental boards in English, my father said that now it’s a possibility because he could work as a dentist in Israel. He passed the exam and the house sold quickly. It all happened very fast.
“I was upset because I was right in the middle of high school. High school was really good for me. I had really good friends. I didn’t want to move. But we all went along with it. I have two sisters and my parents had a feeling that it would for sure be the hardest for me.”
Things didn’t start off very well. His first introduction to Ma’aleh Adumim was arriving in an empty apartment and being told by the landlord that she had just killed a scorpion in their new home.
“It is a desert and it was summer and it was hot. That was really hard in the beginning. I slept on an air mattress in the living room,” Weisel recalled. On the bright side, since it was a newly constructed building, everyone was new.
“The first Friday night, I had already met Anglo olim who were my age. That was the first step. I met really nice people who went out of their way to come and say hello. New friends dropped into my lap.”
He enrolled in a (now-defunct) program that allowed him to finish high school in one year in English.
“I didn’t speak any Hebrew that year, except for saying ‘Yerushalayim’ to the bus driver,” he recounted. He did, however, start to give thought to life in Israel after high school. Too young to be drafted, he enrolled in an army preparatory program in northern Israel that had a special integration track for English speakers.
“I like being successful and I realized if I’m going to draft, I wanted to do it right,” Weisel asserted. During his first year in the army preparatory program, he volunteered at the local preschool “because that’s where my Hebrew level was. None of the kids were Americans. That’s where a lot of my Hebrew improved. They correct you and won’t speak to you in English.
“I had to take advantage that year of everything offered. There was nothing to do that year but grow and learn about myself. That was my attitude during that year. After the second year, I felt ready to go into the army and succeed.”
After eight months of army training, Weisel was singled out from his group of 40 as the most exceptional soldier. He attributes that honor to his willingness to help others “even though I wasn’t very good in Hebrew,” he said. He went on to become one of the few non-Israelis in the Commanders’ Course eventually working as a basic training commander for new recruits to a Beduin trackers unit.
“I started off as the basic training commander. Then I worked as a drill sergeant who deals with discipline. I really had a good time. They like you a lot more if you’re strict with them. By the end, they really respected me. I still get texts from them sometimes. I was happy with the decisions I made, even if at the time it was hard,” Weisel reflected.
“After a hard week in the army, I got home and saw my friends in college in America were partying. I had this feeling in my heart that I was much happier doing what I was doing. I didn’t want to switch with them, even though I was crawling through thorns all week.
“When I would see my friends in America, I would imagine, ‘What if my parents didn’t make aliya?’ Things are more materialistic in America and things are more meaningful here. It’s not so easy here, but when you take a step back and look at the big picture, it’s so worth it to be living in Israel. I feel life here has more meaning.”
Weisel has always been interested in the performing arts, particularly film and theater. He’s just finished what he considers his most ambitious project to date. Building on the success of a modest after-school drama program he initiated last year for neighborhood kids from English-speaking homes, he wrote an original script for Aliyah: The Musical, which tells the story of an American family’s aliya. It’s about new olim trying to fit in and the challenges they face, especially in the early days.
One of his characters is a teen, like he once was, who does not want to be in Israel.
He conducted auditions starting last October and rehearsals began in November for the two performances in May that sold 350 tickets.
“Once I met all the kids, I spent another month rewriting the play and figuring out who fits which characters. Everyone who wanted to be in the play could be in the play.
“I also had the best team. I couldn’t have done it without them. We had 22 kids, ages six to 13, in the cast. My first priority for the kids was to make sure they were having fun. I had a picture of how I thought the play should be. But I wanted them to have a good time. I kept that as top priority, above doing a polished performance.
“I could tell the kids were having fun. Kids would come early and there was lots of enthusiasm for the activity. Parents were so grateful to the team, who were good role models.
“This was a huge undertaking. I’m glad it worked out, but it was much bigger than I imagined. It was so much work, but it was so worth it! I look at this as one of the biggest achievements of my life.”
With Aliyah: The Musical behind him, Weisel shows no signs of slowing down.
“I love being busy. I’m working basically full time in commercial film production and going to school, having my own private film clients, running children’s after school activities and also acting in community theater in Jerusalem.”
Flourishing in Israel at 23, Weisel explained why he thinks he’s been successful.
“I did always try and have a positive attitude about everything and I think that’s the key to life. When I was younger, I made this saying up. ‘Choices are important, but attitude decides your life.’
“Aliya is hard, no matter what. You have to take a step back to see why you’re here and how to make it work. In the end, it comes down to you and your attitude. I think the whole point of the play wasn’t about aliya, it’s about how to get through the hard things in your life.
“My family is so supportive of each other. That’s why we all gave Israel a good shot. My parents are the main reason I am successful in anything. My family really is incredible and we all support every single thing any one of us attempts. “In Israel, there are so many opportunities that you don’t have in other places in the world. The second you understand that, it’s so much easier to accomplish amazing things here,” he concluded.