Rabbi Diamond reflects on life after aliyah

Rabbi Gail Diamond and family. /Rabbi Gail Diamond

More than a decade has passed, but Rabbi Gail Diamond has never forgotten her New England family. 

After serving as rabbi and spiritual leader from 1993 to 2000 for Attleboro’s Congregation Agudas Achim, Diamond set off on a new journey which has her returning to lead this year’s High Holy Day services.

“I am looking forward to praying again in the beautiful sanctuary and reconnecting with families I have known for more than 20 years,” she says.  “I’m also looking forward to tashlikh at the Duck Pond.”

For years, Diamond dreamt of living in Israel after spending two years there as a young woman.  However, after meeting her partner, Alen Kacal of Trinidad, her plans were placed on hold.  By 2000, the couple decided it was time to make aliyah as Kacal faced citizenship issues.

“Moving to a new country at the ages of 39 and 35 was not easy,” she says. “But there is nothing that can compare to living in the land of our ancestors with Jews from all over the world. You just have to give it time to adjust, and you cannot come with rose-colored glasses.”

Since leaving the congregation, Diamond has achieved great success, both personally and professionally. Her greatest achievement she explains is her two children. Together with Kacal, she has a daughter who became a Bat Mitzvah in June and a son who is 9. 

She has also continued her spiritual leadership, serving first as assistant and then associate director of the Conservative Yeshiva in Jerusalem.  During her 14-year tenure, she worked with young adults and rabbinical students including Temple Emanu-El’s Rabbi Elan Babchuck. While there she also founded the distance learning program, an online source for articles, videos and daily learning content.  This summer, however, she left the Yeshiva in order to devote more time to her family.

Eight years ago, Rabbi Diamond began participating as a lay leader for Kehilat Tzur Hadassah, a Reform synagogue affiliated with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism.  There she engages in weekly beit midrash and assists in all aspects of the congregation.  

“I enjoy helping in all kinds of large and small ways, like setting up chairs and whatever else needs doing.” She adds, “Just last year, we received a grant to do joint programming with the local modern Orthodox congregation, which was unique and a model of cooperation for other communities to follow.”  

Her partner, Kacal, also served as president of the congregation for five years.

While picking up and moving their entire lives was both challenging and exhilarating, Diamond says that living in Israel is very special. She explains that as time has passed, she and Kacal feel more a part of things and less like they are living their lives in transition.

“I recommend aliyah to anyone who feels the call. The Jewish community here is unlike any other, the opportunities for Jewish learning and Jewish living are unparalleled, and despite many challenges, I am incredibly grateful to be living here.”

When asked if she and her family would ever return to the U.S., Diamond says, “We enjoy visiting, but at this point I think it would be hard to get used to living somewhere where Yom Kippur, Sukkot and Yom ha-Atzmaut are not national holidays. She continues, “I am used to the rhythms of Jewish life here; simple things like everyone saying Shabbat shalom on Friday and shavua tov on Saturday night and Sunday.”

Through the years, she says it has been a blessing that she has been able to reconnect with past members of Agudas Achim as they passed through Jerusalem. 

“I loved living in Attleboro, and that’s why I am so pleased to be returning for the Yamim Noraim.”

Lindsay Chancellor is a freelance writer based in Warwick and is currently working as a Marketing Director for a real estate investment firm.