Volume 7, Issue 9 / Elul 5764 / September 2004

Dr. Mendelsohn: Committed to Treating his Fellow Israelis

Once he has passed his qualifying exams, Espen will serve as an army doctor in the Israel Defense Forces.

Espen Mendelsohn was nurtured on Zionism. Even as a teenager, he knew he would make aliyah; it was only a matter of time. Growing up in Oslo Norway, Espen was an active member of the religious Zionist youth movement Bnei Akiva. After graduating from high school seven years ago, he came to Israel on hachsara, Bnei Akiva's one-year study and volunteer program. He made long and lasting friendships with many people, including his warm adoptive family from Kibbutz Sa'ad.

Espen returned to Norway for college and medical school, remaining active as a counselor at the youth movement's summer camp and year-round activities. As soon as he finished medical school in Norway, Espen, now Dr. Mendelsohn, arrived in Israel, in late 2003. He knew that his future, as a Jew, was in Israel: "For thousand of years the Jews have prayed to return to Israel and I'm not going to come?" he asks rhetorically.

Espen is living at the Jewish Agency's Raanana Absorption Center, where he is enrolled at an intensive five-month ulpan and study program for medical personnel. More than 40 olim are currently studying in this program, which teaches medical vernacular. Edna Sadeh one of the coordinators at the ulpan explained that there are olim from many countries with varied backgrounds entering different fields of medicine. "We try very hard to place students in appropriate classes and to personally help each and every one of the olim get through the bureaucratic paperwork when applying for licensing by the Ministry of Health."

After completing ulpan, Espen plans to attend classes at Ichilov Hospital for six months to help prepare for the qualifying exams. Once he has passed his exams, Espen will complete a year of residency in order to be certified as a physician.

Only then, will Espen begin serving, as an army doctor, in the Israel Defense Forces. Although he will be much older than the average soldier, his skills are in high demand.

Espen already feels at home in his new country. He is enjoying his studies and appreciates the support he is receiving from the staff of the absorption center. Friendly and outgoing, Espen has made many new friends in the Raanana area. For the short term he is looking forward to passing his exams and working in his profession, as well as greeting his chanichim, the participants in the youth programs he organized, who are arriving on the hachshara study and volunteer program next year.

Eventually, he looks forward to getting married, settling down and raising Israeli children in the land he loves.

Written by: Tova Naiman
Photos by: Shlomy Ben Ami

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