Yale Class of ’70 and current Yale Club of Israel treasurer Orrin Persky recalls that he has “never been disappointed in meeting a Yalie”. Though I didn’t come across this quote until I was well into the research stage of this article, I realize that was my initial motivation for taking on this article. When ESRA magazine expressed interest in a piece about the Yale Club my first thought was that no matter what the focus or theme of the questions, interviewing Yalies would produce interesting results. Two important things were discovered through the research and composition of this article. The first being an alumni group committed to all the usual things - social enrichment, professional and social networking, hosting and connecting visiting Yalies with alumni in Israel, and maintaining a connection to Yale. Another unique but also surprising fact that distinguishes the Club from other alumni organizations around the world is that most of its members are Anglos who have chosen to live, work and raise families in Israel.

As former Yale Club of Israel president and member of Yale University class of ’43 Aaron Levin explains, the current club is actually the second one to be founded in Israel. Levin recalls that in 1954 “someone from the embassy” founded a club for Yale alumni and affiliates in Israel. The club was active for two years and then collapsed. Levin describes this club as the “steak and martini” kind of alumni organization. Founded in the late 1980s, the Yale Club of Israel is a very different type of organization. Levin describes the process of its founding as a much more serious undertaking than that attempted in the 1950s. As he explains, some members of the Yale class of ’85 came over to Israel and were surprised that there was no active Yale Club and decided to start one. A questionnaire addressed to Yalies in Israel was sent out by these recent graduates and the responses indicated that meeting and assisting visiting professors, alumni and undergraduates were to be among the chief objectives of the new club. Levin describes this new group as “pretty serious” and not just wanting a “good time”. With these priorities, the Yale Club of Israel was born.

In the almost 25 years of its existence, the Club has done a good job balancing the “pretty serious” and the “good time”. While the Yale Club continues to connect visiting alumni, undergraduates and professors, it has also become an important piece in the social network of its members. Hershel Safer, Club member and Yale class of ’81 member, recalls that his primary reason for becoming a club member was to make new friends and belong to a new social network. Safer defines the role of the Club for him as “definitely social”. He compares the social nature of the Yale Club with the distinctly more “professional” flavor of the MIT Club, of which he is also a member. In the past years, the Club has organized and participated in wine and beer tasting, concerts for visiting Yale undergraduate singing groups, outdoor excursions, private lectures and performances and various other social and cultural activities. Club president, Carice Witte, class of ’83, points out that the Yale Club is by far the most active alumni club in Israel and has even inspired other organizations to “pick up the torch and create interesting events for their alumni”. Jon F, club member and Yale class of ’70, attributes the success of the events to the club membership. As he explains, the activities are based around the skills and interests of the group members. The willingness of members to share their skills and local expertise has been the driving force behind the success of the breadth of the Club’s activities. Another element to the success of events planned by the Club is their accessibility. Witte is careful to choose activities and locations all around Israel thus increasing the chances that more alumni will be able to attend. The club also places a large focus on welcoming visiting Yalies to Israel by setting up Shabbat hospitality and connecting these students with alumni in the country.

The success of the Club as a whole, however, rests on something other than its strong leadership, breadth of activities and commitment to connecting Yalies through the generations - a unique connection between Yalies. In interviews, each member was asked to recall his or her favorite Yale memory. Arik Zalkinder, Yale ’80, explains, “[There is] something special about the streets of Yale and feeling you are part of a very special environment”. As undergraduates, this feeling is all around us and in everything we do. As alumni, scattered throughout the world, this “special environment” stays with us and grows into a connection we share with other Yalies. Describing her first interaction with the Club, Miriam Hartman Beazley, Yale ’80, notes, “I remember feeling an immediate bond with the people I met that evening, and the bond has lasted until now. The Yale Club seemed an oasis in the desert for me”. In a letter to members, Club president puts it well. “…Each club gathering allows us to step out of our usual pattern of life and enjoy events and activities most of us would probably never get around to doing…the club offers the opportunity to meet people who are at once diverse and unified by a shared and, in many cases, seminal period in our history – our Yale experience”.

But the most amazing thing about the Club members is not their connection to Yale or even to each other but rather their connection to the State of Israel. Unlike most alumni clubs around the globe, the Yale Club of Israel is comprised mainly of immigrants - natives of other countries who have become Israeli citizens. A favorite part of each interview was asking why aliyah. And while answers ranged from Zionistic ideals to religious beliefs, a love for Israel was common to each answer.

The same shared experiences and understanding are the very things that give Yale graduates access to some of the most elite professional and social communities in the United States. Orrin Persky (Yale ’70) puts it, Yale serves as an “open ticket to life and success”. Arik Zalkinder agrees, stating that in most circles in America “Yale makes a certain sound”. The reality however is that this sound is simply not as loud or as clear outside the US and especially in Israel. As Club president writes, “'unlike alumni clubs in almost every other country in the world, the Yale Club of Israel is comprised mostly alumni who where born and raised in the USA and sometime after graduating Yale decided to leave behind a life of greater financial success and perhaps greater career achievements in order to fulfill more personal goals embodied in living in the land of Israel”. To this end, members interviewed were asked to comment on the difference in terms of profession and lifestyle they currently have in Israel and that which they imagined themselves to have had they stayed in the United States. Most agreed that they would make more money, have larger homes or drive nicer cars, but at the end of the day, the choice to have their lives and families in Israel came down to much more than that. The Yale Club of Israel is truly a special alumni organization. It combines an appreciation of and dedication to the place that brought us together in the first place – Yale - as well as to the place that connects us all now - Israel.