So lot’s of fun stuff this week (oh, that was a lie). On Tuesday I headed to Ramat Beit Shemesh to pick up the (loud trumpet music) The Israeli Checks and ATM Card!
They only had the checks, the ATM card will arrive NEXT week.
Besides this unexpected turn of events it gave me a chance to catch up with some people in RBS who I hadn’t seen in a while.
On to Wednesday.
On Wednesday I took my first trip ever to Kever Rochel (Rachel’s Tomb). From there I went to Maaleh Adumim to hear Rabbi Pinchas Winston speak about the Geula (redemption). Due to my desire to keep these writings as neutral as possible, I will not be detailing what he said. But take my word for it very interesting stuff.
I then spent the night at the home of a family who make Aliyah from Baltimore, the Dressler’s.
This morning, I went to Jerusalem to make my first (and probably last for a while) big purchase, the bike. I know have a set of wheels, and I must say that it was quite a feeling to be able to get around Jerusalem, at 10 mph rather than the usual 3.
So I went to the Old City and davened at the Kotel.
I’m heading to Moshav Matityahu for Shabbos and Tish B’av.
Hopefully some exciting 10mph stories next week.
Showing posts with label Aliyah. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Aliyah. Show all posts
Thursday, August 7, 2008
Monday, August 4, 2008
Ketubot, Rabbi's and Shnekel's (and Pizza)
Well today I had the privilege of getting my first experience with the Rabbanut. I had some friends who got married last month in America, but the Rabbaut did not recognize their Ketuba, so they had to go in front of these Rabbi’s to “prove” that they were married. To do that they had to have two “aidem” (witnesses) to the fact that they were married, so my friend and I went to the Rabbanut building in central Jerusalem this morning.
An interesting fact, the Rabbanut building is the same building that used to house the Knesset. It’s right off of King George street.
I had been waiting for my first experience with some kind of hellish Israeli bureaucracy, and luckily my first experience was not directed at me.
My friend and I actually arrived before our friend and his wife, we hadn’t seen each other for a while so we had a good chance to schmooze. When they finally did arrive they started the process of whatever it was that they do behind that door.
Now the door was very interesting. Pretty much at all times the door remains locked, and you are not able to knock on it because there is a sheet of cloth that hangs suspended between the actual door and the hallway where they make us all wait for them.
The first thing they did was confiscate our Tudat Zehut’s, I’m not sure exactly why they did that. They then took the couple into the room by themselves to question them. I later found out that they wanted to make sure that our answers matched whatever they had said.
My friend and I each went in separately, my friend went first. I was wondering what kind of questions they would ask me. I assumed it would do something related to the wedding , “was the Ketuba written the correct way?” “Who was the Rabbi who wrote it…” etc.
But to my surprise, when it was actually my turn to be interrogated, they were asking me questions relating to the religious level of the my friend.
“Does he drive on Shabbat?”
“How sure are you of that?”
“How long have you known him?”
Then the actual questions of sustenance.
“You were at this supposed wedding?”
“What was the name of the Rabbi who signed the Ketuba?”
That last one I answered “Rabbi Goldberger,” and for good measure (as all of them were very Charadi looking) “and he wears a very big Striemel.” They seemed very impressed by that.
Of course the problem came when they stared asking me questions about my friends wife, and more specifically when they asked if I knew here parents. I didn’t and the pretty much told us that she was not Jewish, because we had not proof that she was Jewish, therefore they could not give them an Israeli marriage license.
Let’s just say the emotional situation in the room starting moving VERY quickly.
So we went out wondering what we were going to do when the couple remembered that she has a relative who lives in Geula (the place-not the time) who knew her and her parents. They were able to contact him, and he showed up about a half an hour later, dressed in his kaputa and hat, and looking very Chareidi.
Let’s just say that the next step went very quickly and they were accepted as a married couple. (I think there was some Yiddish involved).
When the Rabbi came out to tell them what their decision had been, there was a big sigh of relief (he’s in the army and it’s not that easy for him to get out). The Rabbi told them the good news and their instructions for getting the documentation that they needed.
As he turned to leave he turned around, smiled, and said to the two fo them “Mazel Tov.”
The last step was they actually had to go downstairs and pick up the physical document. While we were waiting for them, my friend (the single one) went to get a soda and asked if the machine too a “Shnekel.”
“What’s a ‘Shnekel?” I asked.
That was apparently his term for the new 2 shekel coin. I wonder why the name never caught on…
From there all four of hung out for a few hours. This was really the first chance that I had to hang out with friends since getting here.
We had lunch on Ben Yehuda (pizza) and then I went with them to Misrad Hapanim so that she could (finally) get her last name to be same as her husbands.
From there we parted ways and I went to pick up some things I needed. But I must say all in all, it was a very interesting day…
An interesting fact, the Rabbanut building is the same building that used to house the Knesset. It’s right off of King George street.
I had been waiting for my first experience with some kind of hellish Israeli bureaucracy, and luckily my first experience was not directed at me.
My friend and I actually arrived before our friend and his wife, we hadn’t seen each other for a while so we had a good chance to schmooze. When they finally did arrive they started the process of whatever it was that they do behind that door.
Now the door was very interesting. Pretty much at all times the door remains locked, and you are not able to knock on it because there is a sheet of cloth that hangs suspended between the actual door and the hallway where they make us all wait for them.
The first thing they did was confiscate our Tudat Zehut’s, I’m not sure exactly why they did that. They then took the couple into the room by themselves to question them. I later found out that they wanted to make sure that our answers matched whatever they had said.
My friend and I each went in separately, my friend went first. I was wondering what kind of questions they would ask me. I assumed it would do something related to the wedding , “was the Ketuba written the correct way?” “Who was the Rabbi who wrote it…” etc.
But to my surprise, when it was actually my turn to be interrogated, they were asking me questions relating to the religious level of the my friend.
“Does he drive on Shabbat?”
“How sure are you of that?”
“How long have you known him?”
Then the actual questions of sustenance.
“You were at this supposed wedding?”
“What was the name of the Rabbi who signed the Ketuba?”
That last one I answered “Rabbi Goldberger,” and for good measure (as all of them were very Charadi looking) “and he wears a very big Striemel.” They seemed very impressed by that.
Of course the problem came when they stared asking me questions about my friends wife, and more specifically when they asked if I knew here parents. I didn’t and the pretty much told us that she was not Jewish, because we had not proof that she was Jewish, therefore they could not give them an Israeli marriage license.
Let’s just say the emotional situation in the room starting moving VERY quickly.
So we went out wondering what we were going to do when the couple remembered that she has a relative who lives in Geula (the place-not the time) who knew her and her parents. They were able to contact him, and he showed up about a half an hour later, dressed in his kaputa and hat, and looking very Chareidi.
Let’s just say that the next step went very quickly and they were accepted as a married couple. (I think there was some Yiddish involved).
When the Rabbi came out to tell them what their decision had been, there was a big sigh of relief (he’s in the army and it’s not that easy for him to get out). The Rabbi told them the good news and their instructions for getting the documentation that they needed.
As he turned to leave he turned around, smiled, and said to the two fo them “Mazel Tov.”
The last step was they actually had to go downstairs and pick up the physical document. While we were waiting for them, my friend (the single one) went to get a soda and asked if the machine too a “Shnekel.”
“What’s a ‘Shnekel?” I asked.
That was apparently his term for the new 2 shekel coin. I wonder why the name never caught on…
From there all four of hung out for a few hours. This was really the first chance that I had to hang out with friends since getting here.
We had lunch on Ben Yehuda (pizza) and then I went with them to Misrad Hapanim so that she could (finally) get her last name to be same as her husbands.
From there we parted ways and I went to pick up some things I needed. But I must say all in all, it was a very interesting day…
Sunday, August 3, 2008
Neve Daniel
On Friday headed out to Neve Daniel to spend Shabbos with the Eastman’s. I’m not exactly sure why everyone call it Neve Daniel, all of the signs I saw said “Newe Daniel,” and the Hebrew had 2 vavs which usually implies a “w” sound.
I first traveled into Jerusalem to meet up with the Eastman boys before heading to the Central Bus Station (commonly referred to as “The Tachana”) and was approached be a cab driver trying to offer me his service. I’d tried to tell him that I would rather walk, and he continued to insist that he would drive me. So I asked “will you take me for free?” He looked a little surprised and I realized that he had completely misread that situation (think that I was a “rich American”).
“Ani Oleh Chadash” (“I’m a new immigrant”).
He looked at me, “From America?”
“Ken-Yes.”
“Why would you come here?”
So I said it straight to him, “It’s better here.”
I think I gave him something to think about over the weekend
So I meet up with the Eastman boys and we took the bus to Gush Etzion. Neve Daniel is on the highest mountain in the Gush Etzion region and from the top you really have a commanding view of the area. To the west we could see Beitar, and on the other side of the Efrat, and apparently on clear days you can see as far as the Mediterranean Sea.
I introduced myself to Jeremy Gimpel of Shabbos, who lives on the block next to the Eastman’s, as well as to Lawrence ben-David, husband of Laura ben-David who wrote the Aliyah book “Moving Up.”
The synagogue in Neve Daniel is quite impressive, they know how to give it its due prominence (pictures’ on the blog israelfix.blogspot.com). I’m still not sure exactly what the structure on top was (I heard, water fountain, UFO…) but it was an impressive structure.
One interesting thing I learned this week regarding the security fence that Israel is currently building is that apparently the Prophets actually write about the area that Jerusalem will cover during the time of the Third Temple. During that time all Jews will have to travel to Jerusalem, and they all have to be in the walls of the city.
The truth is that today, as large as Jerusalem has become, there still is not enough room for all of the world’s Jews.
Interestingly enough apparently the way that the security fence is being built in relation to the Eastern part of Yerushalayim, the fence is going almost exactly on the border that was prophesied would be the border’s of Greater Jerusalem 2500 years ago.
Just an interesting tidbit I picked up over the weekend.
Oh, and he pictures are (finally) up. Let me know if you have any trouble with the links.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9244&l=5a35b&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9245&l=5dc7e&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9246&l=5330e&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9247&l=0d9cc&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9248&l=fbb5b&id=299900444
Here's the picture of the Shul:
I first traveled into Jerusalem to meet up with the Eastman boys before heading to the Central Bus Station (commonly referred to as “The Tachana”) and was approached be a cab driver trying to offer me his service. I’d tried to tell him that I would rather walk, and he continued to insist that he would drive me. So I asked “will you take me for free?” He looked a little surprised and I realized that he had completely misread that situation (think that I was a “rich American”).
“Ani Oleh Chadash” (“I’m a new immigrant”).
He looked at me, “From America?”
“Ken-Yes.”
“Why would you come here?”
So I said it straight to him, “It’s better here.”
I think I gave him something to think about over the weekend
So I meet up with the Eastman boys and we took the bus to Gush Etzion. Neve Daniel is on the highest mountain in the Gush Etzion region and from the top you really have a commanding view of the area. To the west we could see Beitar, and on the other side of the Efrat, and apparently on clear days you can see as far as the Mediterranean Sea.
I introduced myself to Jeremy Gimpel of Shabbos, who lives on the block next to the Eastman’s, as well as to Lawrence ben-David, husband of Laura ben-David who wrote the Aliyah book “Moving Up.”
The synagogue in Neve Daniel is quite impressive, they know how to give it its due prominence (pictures’ on the blog israelfix.blogspot.com). I’m still not sure exactly what the structure on top was (I heard, water fountain, UFO…) but it was an impressive structure.
One interesting thing I learned this week regarding the security fence that Israel is currently building is that apparently the Prophets actually write about the area that Jerusalem will cover during the time of the Third Temple. During that time all Jews will have to travel to Jerusalem, and they all have to be in the walls of the city.
The truth is that today, as large as Jerusalem has become, there still is not enough room for all of the world’s Jews.
Interestingly enough apparently the way that the security fence is being built in relation to the Eastern part of Yerushalayim, the fence is going almost exactly on the border that was prophesied would be the border’s of Greater Jerusalem 2500 years ago.
Just an interesting tidbit I picked up over the weekend.
Oh, and he pictures are (finally) up. Let me know if you have any trouble with the links.
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9244&l=5a35b&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9245&l=5dc7e&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9246&l=5330e&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9247&l=0d9cc&id=299900444
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=9248&l=fbb5b&id=299900444
Here's the picture of the Shul:
Thursday, July 31, 2008
Alternative dimensions and Beit El
I am thoroughly convinced that buses in this country exist outside of the dimension the rest of the world exists in. I don’t understand how it is possible for them to squeeze into these incredibly narrow spaces, spaces that I would feel uncomfortable going through on my bike. (The other day I was on a bus that was passing another bus in an extremely narrow road, and I swear that at some point the two buses intersected and were intersecting over one another-something that, as far as I know, is impossible!)
And even more so then the extremely narrow spaces are the speeds that they send these enormous machines through the street at. Yet they always manage to stop on a dime, and navigate through cars, other buses, and pedestrians.
Besides that today I had a great “only in Israel story.” I was on the bus from Beit Shemesh to Bene Brak, and at one of the stops in Beit Shemesh a man came speeding towards the bus on his bike, with his small son in a carrier on his back. The man pulled in front of the bus and asked if the bus would wait for him so he could run his son into his house (which was right in front of the bus stop). The bus driver asked if anyone minded, and no one had a problem with it. The man took 2 minutes running inside and then running back out, throwing his bike in the bottom of the bus and finally climbed onto the bus.
At the next stop we had a guy come onto the bus wearing his tallis and tifilin. Only in the country!
My trip for the day (after I went to Bene Brak to drop off my stuff-and by “Bene Brak,” I mean “Givat Shmuel” were I’m staying) was to Beit El to visit the Arutz Sheva studio.
I got to the bus station and was waiting for the 2pm bus when Walter Bingham, one of the radio hosts, sat down right next to me.
Just so you know who this is, Mr. Bingham made Aliyah 4 years ago from Britain. He is well into his 80’s and actually fought for the British during the 2nd World War.
So he gave me a little tour as we were driving through the Binyamin region of Israel. On the way he pointed out a few Jewish towns, like Kochav Yaakov, as well as Ramallah, which we could see in the distance.
The first person that I met in the studio was Ben Bresky, cool guy who does a lot of the audio editing and mixing for the studio as well as hosting a music show once a week on Sunday.
While I was there I actually recorded a commercial for the station, I send it out when it gets played.
After schmoozing for about and hour I headed across the street to the Yeshiva there to do some learning (with all of this running around I’m a little behind in the Daf). I had a great seder, and the yeshiva was quite impressive, about 200 boys, I’d say ages 14-18 all doing their afternoon seder in the Land of Israel. This is Judaism, Torah in the Land of Israel, you can’t get any better then that.
I went back to the studio a little while later to say hi to Goel Jasper and Dovid Gancher who were there to do the Aliyah show. They were interviewing the translator of the Eim Habanim Semeicha, Rabbi Moshe Lichtman (who I believe lives in Beit Shemesh).
I then when back to Jerusalem and treated myself to my favorite schwarama resteraunt, and had a Chetzi Chetzi.
Now for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically a Schwarama, but with strips of Schnitzel in it. I don’t want to imagine how good/bad it is for you, but it was sooo good.
Anyways, probably won’t be able to post again before Shabbos, which I will be spending in Neve Daniel with the Eastman’s.
Have a great Shabbos!
And even more so then the extremely narrow spaces are the speeds that they send these enormous machines through the street at. Yet they always manage to stop on a dime, and navigate through cars, other buses, and pedestrians.
Besides that today I had a great “only in Israel story.” I was on the bus from Beit Shemesh to Bene Brak, and at one of the stops in Beit Shemesh a man came speeding towards the bus on his bike, with his small son in a carrier on his back. The man pulled in front of the bus and asked if the bus would wait for him so he could run his son into his house (which was right in front of the bus stop). The bus driver asked if anyone minded, and no one had a problem with it. The man took 2 minutes running inside and then running back out, throwing his bike in the bottom of the bus and finally climbed onto the bus.
At the next stop we had a guy come onto the bus wearing his tallis and tifilin. Only in the country!
My trip for the day (after I went to Bene Brak to drop off my stuff-and by “Bene Brak,” I mean “Givat Shmuel” were I’m staying) was to Beit El to visit the Arutz Sheva studio.
I got to the bus station and was waiting for the 2pm bus when Walter Bingham, one of the radio hosts, sat down right next to me.
Just so you know who this is, Mr. Bingham made Aliyah 4 years ago from Britain. He is well into his 80’s and actually fought for the British during the 2nd World War.
So he gave me a little tour as we were driving through the Binyamin region of Israel. On the way he pointed out a few Jewish towns, like Kochav Yaakov, as well as Ramallah, which we could see in the distance.
The first person that I met in the studio was Ben Bresky, cool guy who does a lot of the audio editing and mixing for the studio as well as hosting a music show once a week on Sunday.
While I was there I actually recorded a commercial for the station, I send it out when it gets played.
After schmoozing for about and hour I headed across the street to the Yeshiva there to do some learning (with all of this running around I’m a little behind in the Daf). I had a great seder, and the yeshiva was quite impressive, about 200 boys, I’d say ages 14-18 all doing their afternoon seder in the Land of Israel. This is Judaism, Torah in the Land of Israel, you can’t get any better then that.
I went back to the studio a little while later to say hi to Goel Jasper and Dovid Gancher who were there to do the Aliyah show. They were interviewing the translator of the Eim Habanim Semeicha, Rabbi Moshe Lichtman (who I believe lives in Beit Shemesh).
I then when back to Jerusalem and treated myself to my favorite schwarama resteraunt, and had a Chetzi Chetzi.
Now for those of you who don’t know what that is, it’s basically a Schwarama, but with strips of Schnitzel in it. I don’t want to imagine how good/bad it is for you, but it was sooo good.
Anyways, probably won’t be able to post again before Shabbos, which I will be spending in Neve Daniel with the Eastman’s.
Have a great Shabbos!
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Pizza, Government Offices, and Cell Phones
Whew! A lot has happened in the past few days. The last time I posted I had gotten my name changed at Misrad Hapanim to the RIGHT name and had opened my bank account.
That was on Sunday. After I had posted that I went and got my cell phone (I’ll post the number at the end), and had a great experience at the Orange store. I understand that the workers there work on commission but this guy who I had was phenomenal. He spoke English, and was very upbeat and fun. After we had the phone set up he gave me first ringtone, a clip from Jeff Dunham’s skit of Achmed the Dead Terrorist, “SILENCE!! I -.”
Phone’s work differently here then they do in the States. As a tech guy I keep with all of the changing technologies and different services that are offered in different countries. In America, you are usually given a phone by the phone company (usually it’s free, but sometimes you pay a subsidized price) and then you pay a monthly fee for a set amount of minutes which either are not all used up at the end of the month, or if you use more then your quota of minutes you have to pay more if you go over. There are other perks in America, like free night s and weekends.
In you pay for your phone (as far as I know unsubsidized) but they you pay pennies for the phone service, and you only pay for the minutes you talk.
I’m not saying one way is better than the other, just the differences between the two.
Anyways, Sunday has for sure been my most successful day so far. Getting 3 things done in one day is apparently quite an accomplishment in this country.
I was speaking with someone at the Nefesh B’ Nefesh office when I was there on Sunday (not an NBN staff-someone else I knew), and he pointed out to me that what I’m doing is like registering for college. You have to run around going to from office to office for a few week’s… and then the REAL work begins!
Alright, so yesterday I went to Yerushalyim to take core of my health insurance at Bituah Leumi. I walked in thinking “here we go, a government office in Jerusalem.” I was expecting to have a 4 hour wait before I was able to get anything done.
To my surprise I was only there for about 40 minutes. I filled out my forms, and they said everything should be taken care of by next week. I was very surprised that it had gone that smoothly. And here I was at 10:30 in the morning with a few hours of free time on my hands. So what does any good Jew do when they have free time? Usually one of three things:
1. Eat
2. Socialize
3. Learn.
I did all three
I stopped by a pizza shop and had some early lunch, while listening to a shiur on my iPod. About halfway through my meal, one of my Rabbaim Rav Slifkin (the “Zoo Rabbi”) walked into the shop. He had just returned from a trip to Africa, and hadn’t know about my Aliyah. So we sat and schmoozed for about a half an hour.
Later in the day I met up with uncle to have lunch (again!...second lunch), and we schmoozed for a few hours. I then went back to Benei Brak/Givat Shmuel and picked up some stuff so I could be in Ramat Beit Shemesh in the morning to take care of bank stuff.
That was on Sunday. After I had posted that I went and got my cell phone (I’ll post the number at the end), and had a great experience at the Orange store. I understand that the workers there work on commission but this guy who I had was phenomenal. He spoke English, and was very upbeat and fun. After we had the phone set up he gave me first ringtone, a clip from Jeff Dunham’s skit of Achmed the Dead Terrorist, “SILENCE!! I -.”
Phone’s work differently here then they do in the States. As a tech guy I keep with all of the changing technologies and different services that are offered in different countries. In America, you are usually given a phone by the phone company (usually it’s free, but sometimes you pay a subsidized price) and then you pay a monthly fee for a set amount of minutes which either are not all used up at the end of the month, or if you use more then your quota of minutes you have to pay more if you go over. There are other perks in America, like free night s and weekends.
In you pay for your phone (as far as I know unsubsidized) but they you pay pennies for the phone service, and you only pay for the minutes you talk.
I’m not saying one way is better than the other, just the differences between the two.
Anyways, Sunday has for sure been my most successful day so far. Getting 3 things done in one day is apparently quite an accomplishment in this country.
I was speaking with someone at the Nefesh B’ Nefesh office when I was there on Sunday (not an NBN staff-someone else I knew), and he pointed out to me that what I’m doing is like registering for college. You have to run around going to from office to office for a few week’s… and then the REAL work begins!
Alright, so yesterday I went to Yerushalyim to take core of my health insurance at Bituah Leumi. I walked in thinking “here we go, a government office in Jerusalem.” I was expecting to have a 4 hour wait before I was able to get anything done.
To my surprise I was only there for about 40 minutes. I filled out my forms, and they said everything should be taken care of by next week. I was very surprised that it had gone that smoothly. And here I was at 10:30 in the morning with a few hours of free time on my hands. So what does any good Jew do when they have free time? Usually one of three things:
1. Eat
2. Socialize
3. Learn.
I did all three
I stopped by a pizza shop and had some early lunch, while listening to a shiur on my iPod. About halfway through my meal, one of my Rabbaim Rav Slifkin (the “Zoo Rabbi”) walked into the shop. He had just returned from a trip to Africa, and hadn’t know about my Aliyah. So we sat and schmoozed for about a half an hour.
Later in the day I met up with uncle to have lunch (again!...second lunch), and we schmoozed for a few hours. I then went back to Benei Brak/Givat Shmuel and picked up some stuff so I could be in Ramat Beit Shemesh in the morning to take care of bank stuff.
Monday, July 28, 2008
Teudat Zehut and other intersting things
Finally I got something done! Yesterday I went to the NBN office and picked up my Teudat Zehut without an issue. They sent someone to get it for me in Ashdod and it was waiting for me at their office in Jerusalem when I arrived.
An interesting side note, it's getting to the point now that I'm (and I'm sure other people as well) are getting very jumpy around tractors. I passed a group of Arabs working on the new subway system and one of them was in the tractor starting it up and facing right at me.
There wasn't an issue, I walked right passed, but it's just another thing to keep in mind when you're out and about. The only way to go about this is to live you're life as normally as possible and don't give into the fear. The terrorists want us to live our lives in fear and the best way to fight that is to live you're life as normally and as freely as possible.
From the NBN office I went to Maaleh Adumim to see the Adler's. I met up with the Schamroths there and we all went out to Malcha Mall for dinner (Kosher Burger King-I'll start posting pictures eventually).
Burger King was interesting, in America you have inter-transliterated siddurim, where they have the Hebrew transliterated into English. Here it's the other way around. I was staring at their menu trying to figure out what it was saying (Davel Vooper?) The Double Whooper was very good.
The one issue I had that I knew I was going to have to deal with when I got here was getting my name changed so that it included both of my middle names. I was already and Israeli citizen so when I made Aliyah I had to come with my Israeli passport. So I was back and forth to the embassy in Washington a few times between December and March. When I received my Israeli passport I opened it to discover that they had left out my 2nd middle name. My middle name is "Israel" -Yisrael, someone there must have thought that I had put nationality in the wrong box so they returned my passport without the correct name.
When I told them they just told me to go to Misrad Hapanim here and get it changed, because I would have had to wait another few months if I had gotten it done in America (they mail everything to Israel) and I needed the passport in order start being processed for Aliyah.
The truth is it was the smoothest thing that I've done so far. Thank you to Yehudis for driving me around to all of these places in Beit Shemesh to take care of my documentation-it is saving me a lot of time.
I walked into the Misrad Hapanim where the security guard-that's right, the security guard-helped me fill out all of my forms to have my name changed.
They were incredibly helpful and they changed my passport and Teudat Zehut for me right on the spot. It only took about 20 minutes.
From there we went back to Ramat Beit Shemesh where I opened my bank account-another thing that went relativly smoothly. I know when I get my first bank statement all hell will break loose-but that will be for another post.
So hopefully by the end of today (if everything goes as planned) I'll be able to check 3 things off my list:
1. Name change
2. Bank Account
3. and cell phone
We should be heading out soon to go pick up the phone. Hopefully that will also be a successful trip.
I'll update the insurance situation on the next post. NBN is going to try to help me with this.
An interesting side note, it's getting to the point now that I'm (and I'm sure other people as well) are getting very jumpy around tractors. I passed a group of Arabs working on the new subway system and one of them was in the tractor starting it up and facing right at me.
There wasn't an issue, I walked right passed, but it's just another thing to keep in mind when you're out and about. The only way to go about this is to live you're life as normally as possible and don't give into the fear. The terrorists want us to live our lives in fear and the best way to fight that is to live you're life as normally and as freely as possible.
From the NBN office I went to Maaleh Adumim to see the Adler's. I met up with the Schamroths there and we all went out to Malcha Mall for dinner (Kosher Burger King-I'll start posting pictures eventually).
Burger King was interesting, in America you have inter-transliterated siddurim, where they have the Hebrew transliterated into English. Here it's the other way around. I was staring at their menu trying to figure out what it was saying (Davel Vooper?) The Double Whooper was very good.
The one issue I had that I knew I was going to have to deal with when I got here was getting my name changed so that it included both of my middle names. I was already and Israeli citizen so when I made Aliyah I had to come with my Israeli passport. So I was back and forth to the embassy in Washington a few times between December and March. When I received my Israeli passport I opened it to discover that they had left out my 2nd middle name. My middle name is "Israel" -Yisrael, someone there must have thought that I had put nationality in the wrong box so they returned my passport without the correct name.
When I told them they just told me to go to Misrad Hapanim here and get it changed, because I would have had to wait another few months if I had gotten it done in America (they mail everything to Israel) and I needed the passport in order start being processed for Aliyah.
The truth is it was the smoothest thing that I've done so far. Thank you to Yehudis for driving me around to all of these places in Beit Shemesh to take care of my documentation-it is saving me a lot of time.
I walked into the Misrad Hapanim where the security guard-that's right, the security guard-helped me fill out all of my forms to have my name changed.
They were incredibly helpful and they changed my passport and Teudat Zehut for me right on the spot. It only took about 20 minutes.
From there we went back to Ramat Beit Shemesh where I opened my bank account-another thing that went relativly smoothly. I know when I get my first bank statement all hell will break loose-but that will be for another post.
So hopefully by the end of today (if everything goes as planned) I'll be able to check 3 things off my list:
1. Name change
2. Bank Account
3. and cell phone
We should be heading out soon to go pick up the phone. Hopefully that will also be a successful trip.
I'll update the insurance situation on the next post. NBN is going to try to help me with this.
Sunday, July 27, 2008
Shabbos and more fun with Bituach Leumi!
So Friday, I got up at around 7am to go to Shacharit. Then I hung around Givat Shmuel for the morning doing some work on the computer, and getting to know my 2 other roommates, one who's Israeli, the other who's a law student in Chicago and was in Israel for the summer as an intern.
I got the bus to Ramat Beit Shemesh at around noon. It felt so good to be be back in RBS for Shabbos, where I spent Shabbos with my families good friends, the Schamroths.
Shabbos was awesome, you can't really compare Shabbos in Israel to Shabbos in America. Particularly when you spend it in an almost entirely religious community, and every single other person in the entire community is doing the exact same thing that you are. I remember seeing a list of "what we like about Israel" and one of the things on the list was "Shabbos, really feels like Shabbos."
I walked down to Ramat Shilo, where I will be moving to sometime next month, for Mincha and Shalosh Seudos, and ran into Dovid Gancher from the Aliyah show on Arutz Sheva. Nice guy, and he's a head hunter, and good person to know.
I had Shalosh Seudos with my Rosh Yeshiva, and had a very nice close to Shabbos with maariv in Ramat Shilo.
Today, more fun! I went down to open up my bank account at bank #1 and found that it was closed in Sunday. I went to bank #2 and found that they could do anything because of the situation with my tudat zehut. They can open up a bank account with me before my tudat zehut is issued, and they can open it up after I have my tudat zehut, but they can't open up the account after it has been issued but before I have it. I should be getting my tuday zehut today and will be able to open up the account tomorrow (hopefully will also be able to get my phone after that). Thanks to Yehudis for driving me around everywhere.
Another interesting story with my tudat zehut (which I'm hoping to pick up today from the NBN office), I got a call from Nefesh B' Nefesh saying that somehow my Tudat Zehut never made it from Ashdod to their office in Jerusalem! Would I mind if I could wait a day and pick it up tomorrow.
NO! I want my tudat zehut today because there are too many things I need to do that I can't do without it! I need the Tudat Zehut to open a bank account, and I need to open a bank account before I can get my phone!
Not to knock NBN they've been incredibly helpful throughout all of this, but if I'm going to be dealing with American's I have a right to act like an American!
I also went on trip #2 to Bituach Leumi (health insurance) today. The guy there was in credibly helpful but if I went through his office it would take close to month before I was insured (arrg, if only I'd remembered to go to Bituach Leumi at the AIRPORT!). He recommended that I go to the one in Jerusalem, I'll have a longer wait at the office, but I'll get insured faster.
So hopefully the next time I write I'll have my Tudat Zehut, and I might have opened my bank account and even gotten a phone. But I'm looking up! Because I know that it'll take a while but once everything is done all I'll have left are some great stories to tell.
I got the bus to Ramat Beit Shemesh at around noon. It felt so good to be be back in RBS for Shabbos, where I spent Shabbos with my families good friends, the Schamroths.
Shabbos was awesome, you can't really compare Shabbos in Israel to Shabbos in America. Particularly when you spend it in an almost entirely religious community, and every single other person in the entire community is doing the exact same thing that you are. I remember seeing a list of "what we like about Israel" and one of the things on the list was "Shabbos, really feels like Shabbos."
I walked down to Ramat Shilo, where I will be moving to sometime next month, for Mincha and Shalosh Seudos, and ran into Dovid Gancher from the Aliyah show on Arutz Sheva. Nice guy, and he's a head hunter, and good person to know.
I had Shalosh Seudos with my Rosh Yeshiva, and had a very nice close to Shabbos with maariv in Ramat Shilo.
Today, more fun! I went down to open up my bank account at bank #1 and found that it was closed in Sunday. I went to bank #2 and found that they could do anything because of the situation with my tudat zehut. They can open up a bank account with me before my tudat zehut is issued, and they can open it up after I have my tudat zehut, but they can't open up the account after it has been issued but before I have it. I should be getting my tuday zehut today and will be able to open up the account tomorrow (hopefully will also be able to get my phone after that). Thanks to Yehudis for driving me around everywhere.
Another interesting story with my tudat zehut (which I'm hoping to pick up today from the NBN office), I got a call from Nefesh B' Nefesh saying that somehow my Tudat Zehut never made it from Ashdod to their office in Jerusalem! Would I mind if I could wait a day and pick it up tomorrow.
NO! I want my tudat zehut today because there are too many things I need to do that I can't do without it! I need the Tudat Zehut to open a bank account, and I need to open a bank account before I can get my phone!
Not to knock NBN they've been incredibly helpful throughout all of this, but if I'm going to be dealing with American's I have a right to act like an American!
I also went on trip #2 to Bituach Leumi (health insurance) today. The guy there was in credibly helpful but if I went through his office it would take close to month before I was insured (arrg, if only I'd remembered to go to Bituach Leumi at the AIRPORT!). He recommended that I go to the one in Jerusalem, I'll have a longer wait at the office, but I'll get insured faster.
So hopefully the next time I write I'll have my Tudat Zehut, and I might have opened my bank account and even gotten a phone. But I'm looking up! Because I know that it'll take a while but once everything is done all I'll have left are some great stories to tell.
Friday, July 25, 2008
To Yerushalayim
So yesterday was my first trip into Yerushalayim (Jerusalem). It was weird, it felt like I’d never left. There were some changes, the biggest one being the new bridge that they’ve installed right at the entrance of the city, but I walked past my favorite shawarma shop, and the Tachana (bus station) was as crazy as ever.
I decided to walk to the Old City instead of taking a bus, so I could take stop by some places along the way. One of which was the site of the bulldozer terror attack a few week’s ago.
My first stop was Mechane Yehuda (“The Shuk”) where I picked some bourekas (one thing I forgot about this country is how good the baked goods are). I then stopped by the Judaica Book Centre to take a look at what they had and to say hi to the owner.
From there I pretty much went straight to the Old City, I tore Kria right at the top of the stairs that lead down to the Kotel. Stayed for a little while, learned the Daf, davened Mincha, and then took the bus to Geula to catch a bus to Ramat Beit Shemesh.
It’s interesting, that my day in Yerushalayim seemed so routine, for 2000 years Jews have been praying to return there and now that we are back, it kind of feels like it’s taken for granted.
Anyway, short post for today, and some more press from this week’s flight.
The Baltimore Jewish Times: http://blogs.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/philjacobs/
Yeshiva World News (pics taken by my friend Yehuda): http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=21450
Arutz Sheva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXByHD7o9Sk&eurl=http://www.kumah.org/
I decided to walk to the Old City instead of taking a bus, so I could take stop by some places along the way. One of which was the site of the bulldozer terror attack a few week’s ago.
My first stop was Mechane Yehuda (“The Shuk”) where I picked some bourekas (one thing I forgot about this country is how good the baked goods are). I then stopped by the Judaica Book Centre to take a look at what they had and to say hi to the owner.
From there I pretty much went straight to the Old City, I tore Kria right at the top of the stairs that lead down to the Kotel. Stayed for a little while, learned the Daf, davened Mincha, and then took the bus to Geula to catch a bus to Ramat Beit Shemesh.
It’s interesting, that my day in Yerushalayim seemed so routine, for 2000 years Jews have been praying to return there and now that we are back, it kind of feels like it’s taken for granted.
Anyway, short post for today, and some more press from this week’s flight.
The Baltimore Jewish Times: http://blogs.jewishtimes.com/index.php/jewishtimes/philjacobs/
Yeshiva World News (pics taken by my friend Yehuda): http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=21450
Arutz Sheva: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oXByHD7o9Sk&eurl=http://www.kumah.org/
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
"Everything and Nothing" at the same time
Today's post will be in 2 parts
I forgot to tell one part of the initial experience after I got to Israel yesterday. After I left the airport and was driving on the Tel Aviv highway towards Givat Shmuel, my first thought was, “wow, the country looks goooood.”
You kind of get a warped perception of what life is like here from America. Largely because the only news you hear is bad news. Not that you’re not aware of bad news here, but here you can walk around outside and see a thriving economy, lot’s of people walking around enjoying the sun, and the sun, you don’t get it quite like you do in America, and you see life in the country. Quite a different experience then one gets in America.
Anyways, I had a Russian cab driver, who spoke about 3 words of English (“yes, no, pen”), so I got to practice some of my Hebrew right when I got here. I was actually surprised by my Hebrew, I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought. So far actually it seems that I’ve been speaking to everyone in Hebrew and they’ve been speaking to me in English. I’ll say my Hebrew sentence with one or two English words substituting the Hebrew one’s I don’t know, and they’ll respond in English with one or two Hebrew words mixed. It’s kinda working… Anyways I’m already expanding my vocabulary, guess how you say “energy?”
”Energy”
“Cholesterol is… well, “cholesterol.
So I asked this cab driver where he was from in Russia. He told me he was from the town of Berditchev.
There’s a rabbi, named Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, who was famous for his Dan l’kav Zchut (giving everyone/everything the benefit of the doubt). So this was the name that immediately popped into my head.
I turned to ask him “Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev?” But before I got the chance, this not overtly religious looking guy, turned to me and said, “You know Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev? That was his place.
Part 2:
So today I went to Beit Shemesh to get part 1 of bureaucracy done…and walked away empty handed. I had to go to Betuach Leumi to get registered for health insurance and they had absolutely no one there who spoke English. I'm at the stage where I can mix up the two languages, but I'm not really conversational n Hebrew (yet!). So I’m going to go back tomorrow with someone who speaks Hebrew, and get this thing straightened out.
But the day was not a complete waste; I had the completely random experience of taking a cab with an Israeli who lived in Baltimore. He said he lived there from 1991-1998 and he told me there was one thing he learned there, and it took him 8 years to learn this, “In America you have everything, yet you have nothing. In Israel you have nothing, yet you have everything.”
I’m heading to Jerusalem for the first time on this trip tomorrow, will write later.
I forgot to tell one part of the initial experience after I got to Israel yesterday. After I left the airport and was driving on the Tel Aviv highway towards Givat Shmuel, my first thought was, “wow, the country looks goooood.”
You kind of get a warped perception of what life is like here from America. Largely because the only news you hear is bad news. Not that you’re not aware of bad news here, but here you can walk around outside and see a thriving economy, lot’s of people walking around enjoying the sun, and the sun, you don’t get it quite like you do in America, and you see life in the country. Quite a different experience then one gets in America.
Anyways, I had a Russian cab driver, who spoke about 3 words of English (“yes, no, pen”), so I got to practice some of my Hebrew right when I got here. I was actually surprised by my Hebrew, I guess it wasn’t as bad as I thought. So far actually it seems that I’ve been speaking to everyone in Hebrew and they’ve been speaking to me in English. I’ll say my Hebrew sentence with one or two English words substituting the Hebrew one’s I don’t know, and they’ll respond in English with one or two Hebrew words mixed. It’s kinda working… Anyways I’m already expanding my vocabulary, guess how you say “energy?”
”Energy”
“Cholesterol is… well, “cholesterol.
So I asked this cab driver where he was from in Russia. He told me he was from the town of Berditchev.
There’s a rabbi, named Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev, who was famous for his Dan l’kav Zchut (giving everyone/everything the benefit of the doubt). So this was the name that immediately popped into my head.
I turned to ask him “Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev?” But before I got the chance, this not overtly religious looking guy, turned to me and said, “You know Rav Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev? That was his place.
Part 2:
So today I went to Beit Shemesh to get part 1 of bureaucracy done…and walked away empty handed. I had to go to Betuach Leumi to get registered for health insurance and they had absolutely no one there who spoke English. I'm at the stage where I can mix up the two languages, but I'm not really conversational n Hebrew (yet!). So I’m going to go back tomorrow with someone who speaks Hebrew, and get this thing straightened out.
But the day was not a complete waste; I had the completely random experience of taking a cab with an Israeli who lived in Baltimore. He said he lived there from 1991-1998 and he told me there was one thing he learned there, and it took him 8 years to learn this, “In America you have everything, yet you have nothing. In Israel you have nothing, yet you have everything.”
I’m heading to Jerusalem for the first time on this trip tomorrow, will write later.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
New York ===> Israel-SHALOM FROM ISRAEL
All right, I’m writing this from Café Aroma in Givat Shmuel, about 5 miles from Tel Aviv.
Yes I made it, and it was an incredible experience. I got to JFK at around 10:30 yesterday morning, checking in went very smoothly. We then we had the departure ceremony and before long I was going through security and down to the plane.
The plane ride itself was an interesting experience. Not like you’re normal international flight. As Jerry Seinfeld says “You know when you’re sitting in coach and the stewardess close the curtain to first class they give you a little look, ‘well, maybe if you’d worked a little harder.’”
There wasn’t really any of that in this flight, there were no curtain’s and I was walking back and forth over the entire plane. First class and business class was reserved for NBN and Misrad Hapanim staff, and press, including Baltimore’s very own Phil Jacobs of the Jewish Times. But anyone was allowed to visit anyone in these seats.
My Rosh Yeshiva was sitting in First Class, and at one point I went up to talk to him, and got to experiment with the very cool chairs that they have up there, chairs that literally folded flat into a bed.
The truth is besides the seat there wasn’t anything else impressive about First Class. At least on this flight, the food was the same as everyone else’s, the entertainment was the same, and (the moment of truth) the bathrooms are exactly the same as coach (except in First Class they had soap).
The landing also went very smoothly, we debarked the plane to a hoard of press with lots of camera’s including my friend Yehuda (I’ll post his pictures later this week.
We then boarded a bus to take us the “old” terminal of Israel’s old airport. This airport has pretty much become the Nefesh B’ Nefesh airport, and the new airport is used for everything else.
We were bussed into the terminal to, we were told, 900 people waiting to greet us. There was certainly a lot of energy in the terminal, something about Jews returning home, I don’t know it makes some people excited☺
There was a welcoming ceremony, including a special presentation given to the oldest member of our flight, an 88 year old woman, who had been on the ship Exodus 61 years ago. The ship tried to get into Israel, but was sent back to Europe. Now she finally made it to Israel.
I then went upstairs to start my initial process by the Misrad Hapanim, this is where I received the first lump of my absorption money (temporary ID card), my Tudat Zakaut and my voucher for my free cab ride to my first place in Israel and made my first big mistake. The mistake wasn’t actually in that particular place, it was after I’d gone downstairs to get my luggage, I went into the entrance hall and some guy swooped down on me asking for my travel voucher so he could get me a cab. I handed it to him and 30 seconds later he appeared with a driver.
My mistake was I forgot to go and get registered for healthcare and apparently about 2 minutes after I left, they were in there looking for me. So I’m going to head to Misrad Hapanim tomorrow and get to deal with my first taste of straight Israeli bureaucracy! That should be fun.
I’m staying in Givat Shmuel for about a month or so, and it wasn’t until I got here that all sense of my rational broke down. For approximately 5 seconds I stopped and yelled “I’M IN ISRAEL.”
That was it, went back in rational mode.
One last note, for any of you who were worried about today’s bulldozer terror attack in Jerusalem, I was nowhere near it. From what I hear 5 Jews unfortunately were injured, including one who will need to have his leg amputated. We should hope that they all make full recoveries, and the terrorist (who was killed by some quick thinking citizen and border guard policeman) is brought to justice.
For press on today’s flight:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126924
(check out my guitar case)
I’ll post more as they become available. Anyways, it’s now about 11am in America? I’ve been up since 6am yesterday, and I’m going to go crash soon.
SHALOM FROM ISRAEL
Yes I made it, and it was an incredible experience. I got to JFK at around 10:30 yesterday morning, checking in went very smoothly. We then we had the departure ceremony and before long I was going through security and down to the plane.
The plane ride itself was an interesting experience. Not like you’re normal international flight. As Jerry Seinfeld says “You know when you’re sitting in coach and the stewardess close the curtain to first class they give you a little look, ‘well, maybe if you’d worked a little harder.’”
There wasn’t really any of that in this flight, there were no curtain’s and I was walking back and forth over the entire plane. First class and business class was reserved for NBN and Misrad Hapanim staff, and press, including Baltimore’s very own Phil Jacobs of the Jewish Times. But anyone was allowed to visit anyone in these seats.
My Rosh Yeshiva was sitting in First Class, and at one point I went up to talk to him, and got to experiment with the very cool chairs that they have up there, chairs that literally folded flat into a bed.
The truth is besides the seat there wasn’t anything else impressive about First Class. At least on this flight, the food was the same as everyone else’s, the entertainment was the same, and (the moment of truth) the bathrooms are exactly the same as coach (except in First Class they had soap).
The landing also went very smoothly, we debarked the plane to a hoard of press with lots of camera’s including my friend Yehuda (I’ll post his pictures later this week.
We then boarded a bus to take us the “old” terminal of Israel’s old airport. This airport has pretty much become the Nefesh B’ Nefesh airport, and the new airport is used for everything else.
We were bussed into the terminal to, we were told, 900 people waiting to greet us. There was certainly a lot of energy in the terminal, something about Jews returning home, I don’t know it makes some people excited☺
There was a welcoming ceremony, including a special presentation given to the oldest member of our flight, an 88 year old woman, who had been on the ship Exodus 61 years ago. The ship tried to get into Israel, but was sent back to Europe. Now she finally made it to Israel.
I then went upstairs to start my initial process by the Misrad Hapanim, this is where I received the first lump of my absorption money (temporary ID card), my Tudat Zakaut and my voucher for my free cab ride to my first place in Israel and made my first big mistake. The mistake wasn’t actually in that particular place, it was after I’d gone downstairs to get my luggage, I went into the entrance hall and some guy swooped down on me asking for my travel voucher so he could get me a cab. I handed it to him and 30 seconds later he appeared with a driver.
My mistake was I forgot to go and get registered for healthcare and apparently about 2 minutes after I left, they were in there looking for me. So I’m going to head to Misrad Hapanim tomorrow and get to deal with my first taste of straight Israeli bureaucracy! That should be fun.
I’m staying in Givat Shmuel for about a month or so, and it wasn’t until I got here that all sense of my rational broke down. For approximately 5 seconds I stopped and yelled “I’M IN ISRAEL.”
That was it, went back in rational mode.
One last note, for any of you who were worried about today’s bulldozer terror attack in Jerusalem, I was nowhere near it. From what I hear 5 Jews unfortunately were injured, including one who will need to have his leg amputated. We should hope that they all make full recoveries, and the terrorist (who was killed by some quick thinking citizen and border guard policeman) is brought to justice.
For press on today’s flight:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126924
(check out my guitar case)
I’ll post more as they become available. Anyways, it’s now about 11am in America? I’ve been up since 6am yesterday, and I’m going to go crash soon.
SHALOM FROM ISRAEL
Monday, July 21, 2008
NBN TV
If anyone is interested, Nefesh B' Nefesh will be broadcasting the landing on their website at http://www.nbn.org.il/index.php . The plane lands at about 1am EST, so if you're up and are interested, go ahead and enjoy.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Episode 1: Baltimore ===> New York
I’ve been pondering something. A deep question of the universe.
Can you get Listerine in Israel?
I’ve been pondering something else.
I’M MOVING TO ISRAEL TOMMOROW!!
So after about 3 days of packing, I’m sitting here in Far Rockaway, NY about 20 min from JFK so I can take off in the morning.
(Now that you have the setting we will continue with post #1)
Before I start this post I want to thank a few individuals (and teams):
My parents for being very supportive of my Aliyah and for everything they’ve done for me over the years
Lenny & Glenna (Glenny) Ross for helping me convince other people that I really am working very hard, and for all of the incredible work that they do.
Rabbi & Rebbetzin Goldberger for their guidance throughout the years
The Baltimore Aliyah experts/motivators/coordinators who just do incredible work-Rabbi & Rebbetzin Adler as well as our incredible Shaliach Neil Gillman
I think that’s it...oh and the Shamroth’s, Eastman’s, and Bolthouser’s for allowing me grace their homes for my first 3 Shabbosim in Israel.
Now I am aware that there are some people reading this who may not be aware of the terminology that I use. You can just ask, or Google it, if you have a question on anything,.
Of course the past 72 hours haven’t been without its share of enjoyable moments. Like discovering that after weighting one of my bags, the scale said 120lbs (the limit’s 70). I do have reason to believe that the scale was toying with me (as I’ve been told scales sometimes do).
Or when we pulled into driveway of the house we’re staying at here in Far Rockaway, a certain unnamed person discovered that they had misplaced the keys to the house (gender-specific terms have been obscured to protect the guil- I mean innocent)
Anyways, I’ve been asked if I’m scared, nervous etc about tomorrow, and I’m still feeling really calm about it. It’s not everyday one decides to leave suburbia America to move to the Middle East.
So for any of those who don’t know (read: have not asked me sometime in the last 6 days-seems like EVERYONE’S done that) I’m going to be staying for my first month with a friend who lives in the coastal city of Ramat Gan, and goes to Bar Ilan University. After about a month or so I’ll be moving to Ramat Shilo, a new community located near Beit Shemesh, and will be working at Yeshivat Lev Hatorah.
So this first post will be short, I just wanted to get something out today because I promised some people that I would. Tomorrow bright and early (11am) gotta be at JFK for check-in, I’ll write more about it on the plane and hopefully the next time you hear from me I’ll be in the Holy/Homeland.
Can you get Listerine in Israel?
I’ve been pondering something else.
I’M MOVING TO ISRAEL TOMMOROW!!
So after about 3 days of packing, I’m sitting here in Far Rockaway, NY about 20 min from JFK so I can take off in the morning.
(Now that you have the setting we will continue with post #1)
Before I start this post I want to thank a few individuals (and teams):
My parents for being very supportive of my Aliyah and for everything they’ve done for me over the years
Lenny & Glenna (Glenny) Ross for helping me convince other people that I really am working very hard, and for all of the incredible work that they do.
Rabbi & Rebbetzin Goldberger for their guidance throughout the years
The Baltimore Aliyah experts/motivators/coordinators who just do incredible work-Rabbi & Rebbetzin Adler as well as our incredible Shaliach Neil Gillman
I think that’s it...oh and the Shamroth’s, Eastman’s, and Bolthouser’s for allowing me grace their homes for my first 3 Shabbosim in Israel.
Now I am aware that there are some people reading this who may not be aware of the terminology that I use. You can just ask, or Google it, if you have a question on anything,.
Of course the past 72 hours haven’t been without its share of enjoyable moments. Like discovering that after weighting one of my bags, the scale said 120lbs (the limit’s 70). I do have reason to believe that the scale was toying with me (as I’ve been told scales sometimes do).
Or when we pulled into driveway of the house we’re staying at here in Far Rockaway, a certain unnamed person discovered that they had misplaced the keys to the house (gender-specific terms have been obscured to protect the guil- I mean innocent)
Anyways, I’ve been asked if I’m scared, nervous etc about tomorrow, and I’m still feeling really calm about it. It’s not everyday one decides to leave suburbia America to move to the Middle East.
So for any of those who don’t know (read: have not asked me sometime in the last 6 days-seems like EVERYONE’S done that) I’m going to be staying for my first month with a friend who lives in the coastal city of Ramat Gan, and goes to Bar Ilan University. After about a month or so I’ll be moving to Ramat Shilo, a new community located near Beit Shemesh, and will be working at Yeshivat Lev Hatorah.
So this first post will be short, I just wanted to get something out today because I promised some people that I would. Tomorrow bright and early (11am) gotta be at JFK for check-in, I’ll write more about it on the plane and hopefully the next time you hear from me I’ll be in the Holy/Homeland.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Update: This Blog
For those of you who have been following this blog you may have noticed that I've been posting less and less over the past few months. This is not due to my lack of interest in this blog, but more that I've just been really busy (you can imagine as one plans to move their life to another country).
Anyways, after I land in Israel next week I will be starting a new blog, dedicated exclusively with life in the Land of Israel.
Don't worry, Trying to Fix the World will still be around, and I will even be posting all of the posts in the new blog to this one as well. This blog will turn more into my rant blog (big surprise there, as that was it's purpose to begin with), as well as other things that I feel like writting about (you may have noticed some tech related things) and the new blog will be (objective!) about my life in Israel.
It will not include political issues, it will deal purely with my day to day life.
I want to do this for a few reasons
1) I want to be able to document my first few years (and beyond)
2) I want to create a non-threatening forum so that people from across the political, religious, and cultural spectrum will be able to appreciate what life in Israel is really like
3) I want to do what ever I can to encourage Jews in America to, at the very least, appreciate Aliyah (and at the most, come to Israel themselves)
The first post will go up sometime next week, I will be writing on the plane and whenever I get a chance after I land.
Anyways, after I land in Israel next week I will be starting a new blog, dedicated exclusively with life in the Land of Israel.
Don't worry, Trying to Fix the World will still be around, and I will even be posting all of the posts in the new blog to this one as well. This blog will turn more into my rant blog (big surprise there, as that was it's purpose to begin with), as well as other things that I feel like writting about (you may have noticed some tech related things) and the new blog will be (objective!) about my life in Israel.
It will not include political issues, it will deal purely with my day to day life.
I want to do this for a few reasons
1) I want to be able to document my first few years (and beyond)
2) I want to create a non-threatening forum so that people from across the political, religious, and cultural spectrum will be able to appreciate what life in Israel is really like
3) I want to do what ever I can to encourage Jews in America to, at the very least, appreciate Aliyah (and at the most, come to Israel themselves)
The first post will go up sometime next week, I will be writing on the plane and whenever I get a chance after I land.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Update: 2 Weeks to Go!
Yes, I am well aware that the posts are starting to become fewer in number, not that I don't have material to write about, just sheer lack of time to write. But I wanted to document my Aliyah process, not only for other people to hear about it and hopefully be inspired by it, but also for me so that I can look back and see how I felt about this upcoming move, which is probably the biggest decision of my life that I've completely chosen for myself.
So...the packing...Yeah, it's kind of happening. After about a month of procrastination, I took the first big step, I found two boxes and pulled up the suitcase I'm taking with me...and they've sat in my room for the past week collecting dust. I'm not sure why it is, but I have this thing about pushing stuff off to the last minute, kind of like I think that something will change as the day gets closer and the job will be somehow easier.
So I know have two weeks and a day until that plane takes off, a plane I've been waiting for for two years. And what's funny is that I'm not excited at all. Well that's not true, of course I'm excited, but I don't have that butterfly anticipations in my stomach, the "Oh wow, I'm leaving" feeling. Other people are getting excited about it "So when are you leaving?" in a very hopeful kind of way (no, they're not, I'm joking) but I have notices myself saying that's this is the last time I'll be able to do 'X'.
I wrote a few weeks ago about a bike ride I did up Greenspring in the Baltimore area. I went about 12 miles or so up that road before I turned back. I had been planning to go last week and this week as well, but I was recovering for the accident last week, and this week it looks like rain's going to hit the Baltimore area (besides I should get a start on packing). But on Tuesday, I went to drop my sister off somewhere and found that I had a free hour. An hour that I could just take to myself, without having to worry about schedules, pickups, deadlines, and other slave masters that can run our lives.
So I decided to just drive, drive up Greenspiring. Now for those of you in the Baltimore area who have never done this I highly recommend it, for those of you outised the area, you'll have to use your imagination. I don't know what it is about this road, but it seems the further you go up it the more beautiful it gets. You cross over the beltway and find yourself in a stretch of woods and a country road. I saw a dear on my way back, which reminded me of a time about 4 years ago when biking had to stop as a family of dear crossed the road.
After this winding conntry road through the woods, which kind of act like a portal into literally another world, you're really in the country passing this incredible colonial style house sitting in enormas corn fields.
This stretchs for about a mile before you're back in the woods climbing a steep hill up to this incredible vista that overlooks more farmland. It's incredible to think that this is really what America is about these rolling hills and open areas, we like to live where the action is but sometines it makes us forget about this other side of the hill. Where people live on large plots of land really touch it and appreciate what it means to be walking on grass most of the time instead of concrete.
Anyways I drove about 20 miles out and was just thinking, this will be the last time I do this, because it is. I am moving to Israel, a country where the inhabitants REALLY love their land. These farms out in the backwoods of Baltimore, don't have to worry that their land will be given away to people who want to kill them. They may take it for granted but they have a gift, Jews in Israel, Jews in general, whether they want to believe it or not, will never have that luxery of feeling that they have finished. Because we won't, not until the Beit Hamikdash is standing on the Temple Mount and the world is begging us to be their moral compass. We ourselves need to work on heading in the right direction, part of which is not just coming home to Israel, but also to do what we can to bring Torah into our lives. I heard an interesting point made, the Torah is not a book about about how we can make G-d happy, the Torah is a book on how to become a better person, and how to change the world into a positive place.
Rant done: I'm moving to Israel in 2 weeks and I can't wait!
So...the packing...Yeah, it's kind of happening. After about a month of procrastination, I took the first big step, I found two boxes and pulled up the suitcase I'm taking with me...and they've sat in my room for the past week collecting dust. I'm not sure why it is, but I have this thing about pushing stuff off to the last minute, kind of like I think that something will change as the day gets closer and the job will be somehow easier.
So I know have two weeks and a day until that plane takes off, a plane I've been waiting for for two years. And what's funny is that I'm not excited at all. Well that's not true, of course I'm excited, but I don't have that butterfly anticipations in my stomach, the "Oh wow, I'm leaving" feeling. Other people are getting excited about it "So when are you leaving?" in a very hopeful kind of way (no, they're not, I'm joking) but I have notices myself saying that's this is the last time I'll be able to do 'X'.
I wrote a few weeks ago about a bike ride I did up Greenspring in the Baltimore area. I went about 12 miles or so up that road before I turned back. I had been planning to go last week and this week as well, but I was recovering for the accident last week, and this week it looks like rain's going to hit the Baltimore area (besides I should get a start on packing). But on Tuesday, I went to drop my sister off somewhere and found that I had a free hour. An hour that I could just take to myself, without having to worry about schedules, pickups, deadlines, and other slave masters that can run our lives.
So I decided to just drive, drive up Greenspiring. Now for those of you in the Baltimore area who have never done this I highly recommend it, for those of you outised the area, you'll have to use your imagination. I don't know what it is about this road, but it seems the further you go up it the more beautiful it gets. You cross over the beltway and find yourself in a stretch of woods and a country road. I saw a dear on my way back, which reminded me of a time about 4 years ago when biking had to stop as a family of dear crossed the road.
After this winding conntry road through the woods, which kind of act like a portal into literally another world, you're really in the country passing this incredible colonial style house sitting in enormas corn fields.
This stretchs for about a mile before you're back in the woods climbing a steep hill up to this incredible vista that overlooks more farmland. It's incredible to think that this is really what America is about these rolling hills and open areas, we like to live where the action is but sometines it makes us forget about this other side of the hill. Where people live on large plots of land really touch it and appreciate what it means to be walking on grass most of the time instead of concrete.
Anyways I drove about 20 miles out and was just thinking, this will be the last time I do this, because it is. I am moving to Israel, a country where the inhabitants REALLY love their land. These farms out in the backwoods of Baltimore, don't have to worry that their land will be given away to people who want to kill them. They may take it for granted but they have a gift, Jews in Israel, Jews in general, whether they want to believe it or not, will never have that luxery of feeling that they have finished. Because we won't, not until the Beit Hamikdash is standing on the Temple Mount and the world is begging us to be their moral compass. We ourselves need to work on heading in the right direction, part of which is not just coming home to Israel, but also to do what we can to bring Torah into our lives. I heard an interesting point made, the Torah is not a book about about how we can make G-d happy, the Torah is a book on how to become a better person, and how to change the world into a positive place.
Rant done: I'm moving to Israel in 2 weeks and I can't wait!
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
The Ethnic Cleansing of "Palestine"
Note: the following story and analysis is purely satirical (although there's probably some truth to it)
I was in the library last week and noticed that there was a stand of book's about Israel in honor of Israel's 60th birthday.
I wandered over and started to browse through them, noticing various books, some I've read and some I haven't. Books like O' Jerusalem, Dershowitz books, and others.
Then one book caught my eye.
Located on a stand about Israel (a stand supposedly to show Israel in a POSITIVE light) was the book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine."
I have not read the book, I probably will not read the book, but even without reading that book, I can tell you that the book is full of lies.
You want to see ethnic cleansing, look at Darfur. You want to see ethnic cleansing, look at the Nazi's. Israel's relationship with it's Arab neighbors is not ethnic cleansing
Now I'm going to make a rather interesting statement: even though the premise of that book is false, that Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians, the creation of a Palestinian state will cause the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians (Pretty strong claim right? Watch this).
According to the Arabs they are considered to have "Palestinian nationality" in that they have the right to property in the state of Israel (more commonly know is the Right of Return or Death to Israel or "We the Arabs unabashedly declare that we hate all Jews and want you dead") , whether they be first generation, 2nd generation, 3rd...it doesn't matter. If they had a ancestor that, at one point in time, owned land there, all of his descendant's have a right to that land. (Whether they even owned the land to begin with is for another post)
Here's an example of how their claims are taken directly from a page in Jewish history and twisted to meet their false agenda.
Hitler determined a Jew by a person had at least one Jewish grandparent. If you're grandfather married a Christian and your family have only married Christians since, you are still considered a Jew.
My (as in like me, the author of this blog) grandfather came to Israel (AKA, British mandated "Palestine") from Russia in the mid-30's. On his passport (wasn't really a passport, it was more like an ID card), under nationality, was stamped "Palestinian."
Ah, here's where it gets interesting, these Arabs want to claim that they are an indigenous nation, that have lived here for millennia (just like the Jews have), yet how could a Jew have the same nationality as they do AKA "Palestinian"? The only way for this to make sense is for people who lived under the British Mandate, who were issued identification cards to be given that nationality.
Now the local Arab population did not like the name "Palestinian" at all. That word was associated with all this nasty things, like the PALESTINE Post (later to be renamed the Jerusalem Post), the PALESTINIAN Airways (later to be renamed El Al), and worst of all PALESTINIAN (later to be renamed "Israeli" or another eternal name Jew/Yid/Yihudi/Bnei Yisrael).
Yes, they didn't like that name at all, in fact if you would call and Arab a "palestinian" he would shout at you for calling him a Jew.
Anyways, to get back to the ethnic cleansing. There was no ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, because the Palestinians were the Jews. But to follow the logic of the Arabs, I would be a 3rd generation Palestinian because my grandfather was given the nationality of "Palestinian" because he happened to live in the Land of Israel during the time the British were labeling people who lived there that name.
But wait! My grandfather left Israel shortly after it became a state, do I still have that lofty status as a"Palestinian?"
According to them I do. Remember, they view anyone who had, at one in history, owned property in the Land of Israel, or even just lived there, as the rightful owners for the rest of time to their ancestors. They also, even if they left, maintain the status of "Palestinians." (You can find people who claim to be 2nd or 3rd generation "Palestinian" who live in America)
So anyways according to that I am a Palestinian.
I am also an Israeli.
Therefore if there is ever (chas v'shalom) the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea & Samaria (or let's say even if they decide to make their state somewhere else, a ploy that we know is only so they can destroy Israel) I should be able to have duel citizenship to both places, correct? I should have a Israeli passport like I do now, or I should have a Palestine passport.
Right?
WRONG!
Because I would not be allowed to have a Palestinian citizenship purely because of the fact that I AM A JEW! I would not be allowed to even visit their state because the Palestinian state would be Juden Rein! No Jews! None!
But let's say that I was living in community in Judea & Samaria (something that is very likely to happen) I would be ethnically cleansed by ISRAEL with the support of the UNITED STATES, from my home there. Israel is not the one doing the ethnic cleansing because they want to drive the Arabs out of Israel, the ethnic cleansing is going on purely for the Arabs! Its' the ARABS WHO ARE ETHNICALLY CLEANSING THE ORIGINAL PALESTINIANS, THE JEWS!
So anyways, I will probably never read the book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" because it will most likely a work of fiction that doesn't examine the history correctly. As Rabbi Ken Spiro put it, "The creation of Palestinian history, is one of the most successful historical fabrications in the history of the world."
But don't worry, in another 5, 10, 50, 100 years eventually the threat of the "Palestinians" will disappear, and I can guarantee you, the Jews will still be here.
Oh, and on one last note:
I was in the library last week and noticed that there was a stand of book's about Israel in honor of Israel's 60th birthday.
I wandered over and started to browse through them, noticing various books, some I've read and some I haven't. Books like O' Jerusalem, Dershowitz books, and others.
Then one book caught my eye.
Located on a stand about Israel (a stand supposedly to show Israel in a POSITIVE light) was the book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine."
I have not read the book, I probably will not read the book, but even without reading that book, I can tell you that the book is full of lies.
You want to see ethnic cleansing, look at Darfur. You want to see ethnic cleansing, look at the Nazi's. Israel's relationship with it's Arab neighbors is not ethnic cleansing
Now I'm going to make a rather interesting statement: even though the premise of that book is false, that Israel is ethnically cleansing Palestinians, the creation of a Palestinian state will cause the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians (Pretty strong claim right? Watch this).
According to the Arabs they are considered to have "Palestinian nationality" in that they have the right to property in the state of Israel (more commonly know is the Right of Return or Death to Israel or "We the Arabs unabashedly declare that we hate all Jews and want you dead") , whether they be first generation, 2nd generation, 3rd...it doesn't matter. If they had a ancestor that, at one point in time, owned land there, all of his descendant's have a right to that land. (Whether they even owned the land to begin with is for another post)
Here's an example of how their claims are taken directly from a page in Jewish history and twisted to meet their false agenda.
Hitler determined a Jew by a person had at least one Jewish grandparent. If you're grandfather married a Christian and your family have only married Christians since, you are still considered a Jew.
My (as in like me, the author of this blog) grandfather came to Israel (AKA, British mandated "Palestine") from Russia in the mid-30's. On his passport (wasn't really a passport, it was more like an ID card), under nationality, was stamped "Palestinian."
Ah, here's where it gets interesting, these Arabs want to claim that they are an indigenous nation, that have lived here for millennia (just like the Jews have), yet how could a Jew have the same nationality as they do AKA "Palestinian"? The only way for this to make sense is for people who lived under the British Mandate, who were issued identification cards to be given that nationality.
Now the local Arab population did not like the name "Palestinian" at all. That word was associated with all this nasty things, like the PALESTINE Post (later to be renamed the Jerusalem Post), the PALESTINIAN Airways (later to be renamed El Al), and worst of all PALESTINIAN (later to be renamed "Israeli" or another eternal name Jew/Yid/Yihudi/Bnei Yisrael).
Yes, they didn't like that name at all, in fact if you would call and Arab a "palestinian" he would shout at you for calling him a Jew.
Anyways, to get back to the ethnic cleansing. There was no ethnic cleansing of Palestinians, because the Palestinians were the Jews. But to follow the logic of the Arabs, I would be a 3rd generation Palestinian because my grandfather was given the nationality of "Palestinian" because he happened to live in the Land of Israel during the time the British were labeling people who lived there that name.
But wait! My grandfather left Israel shortly after it became a state, do I still have that lofty status as a"Palestinian?"
According to them I do. Remember, they view anyone who had, at one in history, owned property in the Land of Israel, or even just lived there, as the rightful owners for the rest of time to their ancestors. They also, even if they left, maintain the status of "Palestinians." (You can find people who claim to be 2nd or 3rd generation "Palestinian" who live in America)
So anyways according to that I am a Palestinian.
I am also an Israeli.
Therefore if there is ever (chas v'shalom) the creation of a Palestinian state in Judea & Samaria (or let's say even if they decide to make their state somewhere else, a ploy that we know is only so they can destroy Israel) I should be able to have duel citizenship to both places, correct? I should have a Israeli passport like I do now, or I should have a Palestine passport.
Right?
WRONG!
Because I would not be allowed to have a Palestinian citizenship purely because of the fact that I AM A JEW! I would not be allowed to even visit their state because the Palestinian state would be Juden Rein! No Jews! None!
But let's say that I was living in community in Judea & Samaria (something that is very likely to happen) I would be ethnically cleansed by ISRAEL with the support of the UNITED STATES, from my home there. Israel is not the one doing the ethnic cleansing because they want to drive the Arabs out of Israel, the ethnic cleansing is going on purely for the Arabs! Its' the ARABS WHO ARE ETHNICALLY CLEANSING THE ORIGINAL PALESTINIANS, THE JEWS!
So anyways, I will probably never read the book "The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine" because it will most likely a work of fiction that doesn't examine the history correctly. As Rabbi Ken Spiro put it, "The creation of Palestinian history, is one of the most successful historical fabrications in the history of the world."
But don't worry, in another 5, 10, 50, 100 years eventually the threat of the "Palestinians" will disappear, and I can guarantee you, the Jews will still be here.
Oh, and on one last note:
ALL JEWS IN THE WORLD COME HOME AND MAKE ALIYAH!!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Aliyah Update
All right I realized that I completly forgot to keep you guys updated on the Aliyah process. Needless to say I think all of my paperwork is done for both the Embassy, Jewish Agency and Nefesh B' Nefesh.
I learned that this is not going to be the easiest thing. I got my Israeli passport about a month or so ago (yay) and they didn't put my full name in it (noooo). But it's OK for me to make Aliyah with, and I'll have to stop at the Misrat Hapanim and get the name changed when I get to Israel (so not looking forward to that.
Anyway less then 3 months to go and the excitment is definitly rising, as soon as the semester I'm gong to be doing two things:
1. Learning Hebrew intensivly
2. Packing and getting stuff to bring with me
And then July 21 I head to JFK for the flight...Mashiach pending of course. They it'll be sooner.
Monday, April 7, 2008
"If you consider yourself a Torah believing Jew, then you should AT LEAST be YEARNING to come to Israel. Maybe you feel you can't because of your fear, or your family obligations for elderly parents or lack of custody for your kids, but a Jew should at LEAST be YEARNING to make aliyah and move to Israel. You should at least be saying, "I'd LOVE to come to Israel, but alas, I cannot, I have to care for my sick, elderly mother who can't be moved". ...And if you are not yearning for Israel, if you are not dreaming of the day when you can come home, and instead are very happy in the cage you live in, there is something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with your Judaism."
- Tamar Yonah (Israel National Radio)
- Tamar Yonah (Israel National Radio)
Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Random Thoughts of the Day...
It's been a while since I last posted and a lot has happened. The big ones being that I finally got my Israeli passport and with it my "officially" being approved for Aliyah by the Jewish Agency.
I knew that since I got my Mac I was going to find less time to write, partly due to the fact that now I have some other outlets for my creative juices, like recording music (which actually got some airtime last week on Israel National Radio), as well as just getting used to the new system. I must say the transition from PC to Mac has been very smooth and I can't see myself going back unless it's because of economic reasons.
Anyways this blog is about Torah and Israel so I have to get some stuff off of my chest.
I make Aliyah in the number of day that are listed on the side screen of this page.
And I am terrified.
I know that I've been all gung-ho about Aliyah ever since I came back from Israel that last time (2 years, 2 weeks and 3 days) and I did something that I said that I wouldn't do.
I got comfortable.
It's hard not to in the Exile, that's one of it's tests.
It's the story of Purim. I discovered something interesting last year about the whole Purim story, that the king before Achashvairosh allowed the Jews of Persia to return to Eretz Yisrael to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash.
And their resonse?
"We don't want to go, we like it here, we're going to stay."
So imagine this, a Jews, in the Exile, going to Daf Yomi at night and Vatikin in the morning. Who has the most inspiring Shabbos meals and is someone who is true leader in the Jewish community. Goes to the big government event of the year and makes sure that there is enought Kosher food with every type of hechsher that every sect of Judasim holds by to make sure that the JEWS CHAS V'SHALOM WERE TO DO SOMETHING TREIF!!
And they eat off of the Kalim of the Beit Hamikdash.
I talked to one of my old Rebbeim last week about something he had said in my sister Bais Yaakov class, regarding Aliyah. He had said that it's not a good idea to make Aliyah with kids, because it is in a sense going to end up being the kids who will take the hardest hot from the culture shock, especially if they don't want to go in the first place.
I can't comment on making Aliyah with kids, because I am not married yet and do not have kids of my own. I can however say that he is right in a sense and that it is hard to know what the effect will be on the kids because that might be one the most unpredictable part of the Aliyah as a family equation.
There have been families with kids who have thrived and families who have fallen, but the point is that in order to have a smooth transition from the Exile into the Land of Israel, is for young couples and singles to make Aliyah before there are any kids in the picture.
And that is going to start with education.
Rabbi Fass said that America does not need to pack up it's bags and go tomorrow, but the mentality around Aliyah has to change. There still is the sense that Israel is a charity cause and not something to be taken seriously when it comes to the idea of what the Torah says and actually live there. And people who make Aliyah still kind of get the looks from people who say "s/he's strange."
The trick is education, the groups in America that are educating about Israel as a state are the more modern groups, yet there are also more likely the more affluent group and more rooted in materialism.
The more charadi/yeshivish world don't talk about Aliyah, yet are more committed to Torah in the Exile.
I don't know what the answers are, but I do know that the idea around Aliyah has to change. Israel is no longer a charity organization that serves the purpose of being a refuge for fleeing Jews from countries that are persecuting them. It is now a thriving country (and in some ways more stable that even the United States.)
Which leads me to one more point that I think that a fitting end to Jewish life in America (if Mashiach doesn't come, which will hopefully be by the time you read this) if, as what's happening right now, the American economy would collapse, bringing with it an end to the prosperity this country has enjoyed for decades.
As Natan Sharansky said "In Russia I had to break out of Iron Curtain. You in America need to break out of Golden Curtain."
I don't run the world, that's up to G-d. All I can do is do my best to see it is truthfully as it is and do whatever I can to leave the world a little better than the way I found it.
On a final note, everyone should have, in the back of their minds, that Israel is where home is and not get too comfortable in the Exile. Otherwise, as Jewish history has proven time and time again that it repeats itself, and will we be in Israel drinking on kalim of the Beit Hamikdash.
I knew that since I got my Mac I was going to find less time to write, partly due to the fact that now I have some other outlets for my creative juices, like recording music (which actually got some airtime last week on Israel National Radio), as well as just getting used to the new system. I must say the transition from PC to Mac has been very smooth and I can't see myself going back unless it's because of economic reasons.
Anyways this blog is about Torah and Israel so I have to get some stuff off of my chest.
I make Aliyah in the number of day that are listed on the side screen of this page.
And I am terrified.
I know that I've been all gung-ho about Aliyah ever since I came back from Israel that last time (2 years, 2 weeks and 3 days) and I did something that I said that I wouldn't do.
I got comfortable.
It's hard not to in the Exile, that's one of it's tests.
It's the story of Purim. I discovered something interesting last year about the whole Purim story, that the king before Achashvairosh allowed the Jews of Persia to return to Eretz Yisrael to rebuild the Beit Hamikdash.
And their resonse?
"We don't want to go, we like it here, we're going to stay."
So imagine this, a Jews, in the Exile, going to Daf Yomi at night and Vatikin in the morning. Who has the most inspiring Shabbos meals and is someone who is true leader in the Jewish community. Goes to the big government event of the year and makes sure that there is enought Kosher food with every type of hechsher that every sect of Judasim holds by to make sure that the JEWS CHAS V'SHALOM WERE TO DO SOMETHING TREIF!!
And they eat off of the Kalim of the Beit Hamikdash.
I talked to one of my old Rebbeim last week about something he had said in my sister Bais Yaakov class, regarding Aliyah. He had said that it's not a good idea to make Aliyah with kids, because it is in a sense going to end up being the kids who will take the hardest hot from the culture shock, especially if they don't want to go in the first place.
I can't comment on making Aliyah with kids, because I am not married yet and do not have kids of my own. I can however say that he is right in a sense and that it is hard to know what the effect will be on the kids because that might be one the most unpredictable part of the Aliyah as a family equation.
There have been families with kids who have thrived and families who have fallen, but the point is that in order to have a smooth transition from the Exile into the Land of Israel, is for young couples and singles to make Aliyah before there are any kids in the picture.
And that is going to start with education.
Rabbi Fass said that America does not need to pack up it's bags and go tomorrow, but the mentality around Aliyah has to change. There still is the sense that Israel is a charity cause and not something to be taken seriously when it comes to the idea of what the Torah says and actually live there. And people who make Aliyah still kind of get the looks from people who say "s/he's strange."
The trick is education, the groups in America that are educating about Israel as a state are the more modern groups, yet there are also more likely the more affluent group and more rooted in materialism.
The more charadi/yeshivish world don't talk about Aliyah, yet are more committed to Torah in the Exile.
I don't know what the answers are, but I do know that the idea around Aliyah has to change. Israel is no longer a charity organization that serves the purpose of being a refuge for fleeing Jews from countries that are persecuting them. It is now a thriving country (and in some ways more stable that even the United States.)
Which leads me to one more point that I think that a fitting end to Jewish life in America (if Mashiach doesn't come, which will hopefully be by the time you read this) if, as what's happening right now, the American economy would collapse, bringing with it an end to the prosperity this country has enjoyed for decades.
As Natan Sharansky said "In Russia I had to break out of Iron Curtain. You in America need to break out of Golden Curtain."
I don't run the world, that's up to G-d. All I can do is do my best to see it is truthfully as it is and do whatever I can to leave the world a little better than the way I found it.
On a final note, everyone should have, in the back of their minds, that Israel is where home is and not get too comfortable in the Exile. Otherwise, as Jewish history has proven time and time again that it repeats itself, and will we be in Israel drinking on kalim of the Beit Hamikdash.
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Iranian Aliyah
I've recently been very taken by the whole Iranian Aliyah issue that has popped up in the past week, sparked by the secret Aliyah of some 40 Jews from Iran to Israel.
I remember last year, in my English class (with the anti-semitic, anti-Israel teacher) showed us a slideshow of someone's trip to Iran, and tried to show it off as some moder, hip, really cool place to live.
The slideshow was of course sparked by the recent academic dialogue about whether the United States should attack Iran because of the influx of terrorists that are fighting American troops in Iraq, as well as their violation against stopping their nuclear weapons program.
So my teacher, always wanting to portray terrorists in a "equal" light, showed us this video in the hopes that we would think differently about Iran. As the video ended she asked us who we thought the video was aimed for, in my annoying habit of ALWAYS answering a teachers question, I answered "hardcore conservatives."
She said she didn't think so, and I realized she was right, the point of this slideshow had a much more dangerous consequence, the audience was everyone, and the goal of it was to make the idea of attacking Iran an unappealing option in the average American's eye.
Now to be honest with you I think what is going on in Iraq is just a pathetic quagmire, that will have the United States military there for a long time, all the while sucking money from China to pay for the high costs of it. But when it comes to Iran there's another agenda to consider, that namely being that they want to destroy the State of Israel.
It's funny, because they are planning to do it with nuclear weapons because of the "Zionist Occupiers," and to "save" the Arabs who live there, yet do they not realize that a nuclear weapon will kill the Arabs as well?
Oh, and regarding Iran's capability to destroy Israel with nukes, a report on Arutz Sheva last week discussed what a nuclear war with Iran would look like on the causalities side. If Iran were to C"L shoot a nuke at Israel, they would have maximum 800 thousand causalities (one Jewish life is too much but we're talking theoretically".
The response from Israel would be the complete annihilation of the entire Iranian population, and the Israeli causalities are assuming that Israel isn't able to destroy Iran's nuke while it's in the air, either way Iran would be completely wiped off the map.
But, regarding Aliyah. . .According the article posted above, the Jews of Iran left in secret under the dead of night, to escape, via a third country, to Israel.
One of the sick things that Muslim controlled countries do, and particularly to Jews, is that they do not let all the members of a family leave at one time. This enables the government to keep a hold of the tongue of the absent family member from telling what life, really is like under a Muslim leadership.
I know someone from Iran who is unable to speak about what life was like there, because he fears that if his statements were ever tied to him, the Iranian government would kill the family he has there,.
Some of the Jews who came this week, were the last members of their families to leave Iran and they explained what life is like in Iran know, they have shut down all Jewish schools, it is forbidden to learn/speak Hebrew, Jewish children are forced to go to Muslim schools and that includes Jewish holy days like Yom Kippur.
The Jewish leadership of Iran came out against the Aliyah, and were opposed to it. I think, and others agree with me, that they were just saying it to keep the dogs of the government at bay so they won't start an influx of antisemitism.
One day the curtain will fall in Iran, just like it fell in Germany, Russia, and various Muslim countries, and I'm telling you it will be just like other cases when Jews were being persecuted, just for being Jewish, and the world found out how they were being treated. They'll show sympathy for about a week, then it'll be business as usual, and they'll ignore that this ever happened.
I remember last year, in my English class (with the anti-semitic, anti-Israel teacher) showed us a slideshow of someone's trip to Iran, and tried to show it off as some moder, hip, really cool place to live.
The slideshow was of course sparked by the recent academic dialogue about whether the United States should attack Iran because of the influx of terrorists that are fighting American troops in Iraq, as well as their violation against stopping their nuclear weapons program.
So my teacher, always wanting to portray terrorists in a "equal" light, showed us this video in the hopes that we would think differently about Iran. As the video ended she asked us who we thought the video was aimed for, in my annoying habit of ALWAYS answering a teachers question, I answered "hardcore conservatives."
She said she didn't think so, and I realized she was right, the point of this slideshow had a much more dangerous consequence, the audience was everyone, and the goal of it was to make the idea of attacking Iran an unappealing option in the average American's eye.
Now to be honest with you I think what is going on in Iraq is just a pathetic quagmire, that will have the United States military there for a long time, all the while sucking money from China to pay for the high costs of it. But when it comes to Iran there's another agenda to consider, that namely being that they want to destroy the State of Israel.
It's funny, because they are planning to do it with nuclear weapons because of the "Zionist Occupiers," and to "save" the Arabs who live there, yet do they not realize that a nuclear weapon will kill the Arabs as well?
Oh, and regarding Iran's capability to destroy Israel with nukes, a report on Arutz Sheva last week discussed what a nuclear war with Iran would look like on the causalities side. If Iran were to C"L shoot a nuke at Israel, they would have maximum 800 thousand causalities (one Jewish life is too much but we're talking theoretically".
The response from Israel would be the complete annihilation of the entire Iranian population, and the Israeli causalities are assuming that Israel isn't able to destroy Iran's nuke while it's in the air, either way Iran would be completely wiped off the map.
But, regarding Aliyah. . .According the article posted above, the Jews of Iran left in secret under the dead of night, to escape, via a third country, to Israel.
One of the sick things that Muslim controlled countries do, and particularly to Jews, is that they do not let all the members of a family leave at one time. This enables the government to keep a hold of the tongue of the absent family member from telling what life, really is like under a Muslim leadership.
I know someone from Iran who is unable to speak about what life was like there, because he fears that if his statements were ever tied to him, the Iranian government would kill the family he has there,.
Some of the Jews who came this week, were the last members of their families to leave Iran and they explained what life is like in Iran know, they have shut down all Jewish schools, it is forbidden to learn/speak Hebrew, Jewish children are forced to go to Muslim schools and that includes Jewish holy days like Yom Kippur.
The Jewish leadership of Iran came out against the Aliyah, and were opposed to it. I think, and others agree with me, that they were just saying it to keep the dogs of the government at bay so they won't start an influx of antisemitism.
One day the curtain will fall in Iran, just like it fell in Germany, Russia, and various Muslim countries, and I'm telling you it will be just like other cases when Jews were being persecuted, just for being Jewish, and the world found out how they were being treated. They'll show sympathy for about a week, then it'll be business as usual, and they'll ignore that this ever happened.
Friday, December 21, 2007
Adventure at the Israeli Embassy-Part 2
Well I got to the embassy a little bit later then I did on the previous time I'd gone, this meant I had to wait in a longer line at security, and then at longer line at "The Window."
So as I was standing there (for 2 hours and only 6 people in front of me) I once again got into some interesting conversation's with the people there including an American (non-Jewish) teenager who wanted absolutely nothing to do with me and a man from India who worked for the American Embassy and for the New Israeli Fund.
So after about an hour and 45 minutes I finally made it to "The Window," and presented the additional documentation to be added to my file.
There was just one problem.
They couldn't find my file!
Somehow my file had been misplaced in the clutter they called an office. So I took it in stride and asked what I needed to do to to replace whatever was in the file. It turned out not much. I had to go back to my high school and get a letter with the dates I was in HS, and there were two forms I had to fill out.
The good news is that this should be the last trip I have to make to Washington, I can email the rest to them.
Then with G-d's help I get stuff moving at the Aliyah Center and Nefesh B'Nefesh and I move to Israel!
So as I was standing there (for 2 hours and only 6 people in front of me) I once again got into some interesting conversation's with the people there including an American (non-Jewish) teenager who wanted absolutely nothing to do with me and a man from India who worked for the American Embassy and for the New Israeli Fund.
So after about an hour and 45 minutes I finally made it to "The Window," and presented the additional documentation to be added to my file.
There was just one problem.
They couldn't find my file!
Somehow my file had been misplaced in the clutter they called an office. So I took it in stride and asked what I needed to do to to replace whatever was in the file. It turned out not much. I had to go back to my high school and get a letter with the dates I was in HS, and there were two forms I had to fill out.
The good news is that this should be the last trip I have to make to Washington, I can email the rest to them.
Then with G-d's help I get stuff moving at the Aliyah Center and Nefesh B'Nefesh and I move to Israel!
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