We have bought tickets

Just after I posted the last blog post Nate and I found a great deal on tickets. We come in on June 24th and will be living in Teaneck, NJ, by my cousins the Goldfishers, until August 24th. Nate will be working at Camp Shalom in Passaic, NJ, as a summer camp counselor and a learning Rebbi, and my plans...well are still in the planning stages. BUT, hopefully they will be in the confirmations stage by the end of this week.

Army service: As we explained before Nate went in to the army office for his first meeting, which was inconclusive. He has a second meeting scheduled for this upcoming Sunday. We are hoping to get him excused, but we have started to formulate a backup plan if we cannot, the details of which I do not want to share quite yet, for the sake of the people involved (don't worry it is legal).

Moving back the U.S.: Nate and I have a meeting today at Nefesh B'Nefesh to discuss what will happen if we move back, in terms of finances, since they helped us move here officially. They have the right to require we pay back every bit of assistance they provided, since the contract we signed when they gave us the assistance states that if we move back to the U.S. within three years of our making aliyah (not of our moving here) we may be required to pay back the grant, unless we can prove there is a need to move back. Today, we hope to prove that need.

Life in Israel: Over the past week we have had the opportunity to celebrate Yom HaZikaron and Yom Haatzmaut in Israel. These "holidays" (I use quotation marks for Yom HaZikaron, because it is a memorial day, and not for Yom Haatzmaut) are an entirely different experience here then they have ever been in America. They hold so much meening, and pride among the Jewish people here. I can only hope that after moving back to the U.S. Nate and I will find a way to continue to make them meeningful in our lives, and G-d willing one day, in the lives of the children that we will hopefully have. Yom HaZikaron, or Memorial Day, is not just another day for sales and BBQ's. It is actually a day to remember those who lost their lives in service of their country. Everyone, and I mean everyone, in this country, makes their way to the cemetaries. Streets are closed, and vendors are selling flowers on the streets. Nate and I did the same, both as part of a trip with the boys from the Yeshiva, and as a personal visit. We went to Har Herzl, the national IDF cemetary. We listened to the speaches by the prime minister and by other dignitaries and we cried with the kaddish of a father whose son died in the most recent war in Gaza. Afterwards Nate and I made our way to visit the grave of Mike Levin as we have done so many times before. We had a special treet in that Mike's mom was in visiting and we were able to spend some time with her.

The switch from this day to Yom Haatzmaut, Independence Day, which takes place roughly around 7pm, is almost magical. You go from a country in complete mourning to a country in complete celebration. The official sign in Israel of the begining of Yom Hazikaron is a siren to cause people to stop and take a minute to remember. The sign, however, for the the begining of Yom Haatzmaut is fireworks. Every city has a huge party sponsored by the city counsel. And there is a joke that the Rabbis have made a decree that you must have a BBQ on Yom Haaztmaut. The truth is most people take that "decree" pretty seriously. No stores are open on Yom Haaztmaut, and I mean no stores- not even the grocery store. The day is filled with celebrations and people doing hikes and just enjoying being in Israel. Also, on this day, is the official Tanach Bee- that is right. Every year on Yom Haaztmaut, Israel sponsors a world-wide Tanach bee (like a speling bee but with Bible). It was quite amazing, and I was quite impressed with the American who came in third place. A bit different then your 4th of July (not that America is not special in its own way).

We look forward to a very joyful Lag Ba'omer next week, and of course my, not so celebrated, midterms. Hope all are well!

Our Trip

So I finally am taking the time to post pictures of our trip. These are mostly of our time in Amsterdam, but a few are of America too.

Enjoy!

What's up Next

After returning from a much needed visit to the states, Nate and I are trying to organize our new plans for our future. As my mom reminded me our plans change quite often, but as usual we hope this one will be more of a permanent plan. Let's hope for the best.

As Nate said he applied to Yeshiva University's Azrielli Graduate School Program, and we will hear within the next few weeks if he got in. He applied for their summer program which Nate no longer has as much of an interest in as he did before, due to their cancellation of the ability to do student teaching in Israel, and the deans suggestions that it was not their "greatest" program. We are hoping if Nate gets in that we can defer the acceptance to the following year (2010) to do the full two year program in the U.S. That's right in the U.S. Nate and I now have plans to move back right after I graduate from Hebrew U. These plans are exciting yet daunting. We will finally be able to be around more family, which we have truly missed, yet I will have to get a "real" job, full time, and enough to support us, while Nate will be in school. Nate hopes to do both graduate school for his Masters in Education and Smicha at Yeshiva University at the same time. The grad program is two years and the smicha is four. He is hoping to travel to the U.S. in November to attend his old roommates wedding (yay for Yoni) and have the necessary interviews with YU for smicha. Wish us luck!

I will be coming in later in the year, with hopes to have interviews set up for jobs (all suggestions welcome) and to find us a place to live. Our goal is to live in the Northern NJ area (Nate is not all that excited about this prospect) in order to be close to NY for Nate's schooling, but not actually in NY for my sanity. Hopefully I will be quite marketable having just finished an MA in nonprofit management and fundraising, in a time where hopefully things will be turning around.

Until we move back, however, we have a lot to deal with. First on the agenda is Nate's army service. He went in for what is called his "tzav rishon" his first call up meeting with army, where they did a number of psychological tests, physical-health tests, and he had a long interview, so the army could determine how healthy he is and ready for the army. As it turns out, he could not finish the appointment because the eye doctor was not in to do an eye test, so hence we do not have any answers yet. It was told to Nate by the physician, however, that he doubted Nate would be a combat soldier because of his ankles. As sad as it is, because we wish he could serve, we are actually hoping for Nate to get an exemption. We believe it is every Israeli's obligationt to serve int he army, and we plan to encourage our sons to serve in the army and our daughters to take part in what is called "Sheirut Le'umi," "national service," yet we now have a very real understanding of why most people who serve begin when they are 18 or 19. Nate is trying to move on with his professional career, and this would be quite problematic for that. Not to mention we are not sure how we financially would survive it. All these things, though, are supposed to be taken into consideration by the army when determining Nate's elligibility to serve.

After we figure out the army we are moving onto figuring out this summer. We both received camp counselor position offers for the summer, and they are in the U.S. My cousins, the Goldfishers, have kindly offered to let us house sit for them while they are away for the summer, in Teaneck, NJ. The camp we are leaning towards working at, Camp Shalom, is in Passaic, but they offer transportation to counselors from the Teaneck area, so it should not be too difficult. I, however, have a job, as many of you know, as a virtual assistant, and am nervous I would lose my clients due to my inability to work for them during day time hours (when they need me most) because I would be working for the camp. I am giving myelf a few weeks to figure out what to do, including trying to see if I can get enough work, and so too enough pay, as a virtual assistant to not work at the camp, and just continue as I am doing. Nate is also looking into getting work as a Mashgiach for the summer, since the pay is much better. At the same time, we are checking daily for tickets to fly into the U.S. which are not very cheap right now. Hopefully this part of our life will figure itself out soon too!

Lastly, we have started to try and figure out the lagistics of what it means to have just made aliyah and need to move back to the U.S. We have every intention of coming back to live here on a permanent basis. We love Israel, although it has proven to be difficult to live here, but we do believe ultimately this is our home. We very much hope that some family members will consider making aliyah (don't worry some already are) as well, so when we return we will not feel as alone. However, this does not exclude the fact that we did make aliyah already, received grants and assistance from the government and Nefeshe B'Nefesh, on the condition we were to stay, and now are returning to the U.S. We have already started to contact the necessary people and look forward to working this out.

Anyway, there is your update for now. Sorry, when we were in the U.S. for pesach we did not see many of you, but we truly just needed some family time with our immediate family, and since it was a short visit, that was our priority. Hopefully we will have a chance to see you all this summer.

Be well!

p.s. Pictures of our trip will be posted soon!

It's Been a Long Time Coming

So it’s been a long time since we’ve updated the blog, and I’d like to catch you all up on the past month or so.

I’ve taken my GRE’s so that I can apply to grad school in the states - I’m particularly interested in the Azrieli School of Education at Yeshiva University in New York. It offers a Masters in Jewish Education that I can do during the summers and student teach here in Israel during the year. I’m currently working on the last part of my application which I hope to submit soon.

Apparently I did well on the test, which is a good sign for my application, but the whole experience was interesting. Since we’re not in the US you can’t just take them whenever you want, so I registered to take them in Tel Aviv. I had to leave home around 9am so that I could take a bus to Tel Aviv and walk from the bus station to the building that has the office I needed. (Strangely the Canadian Embassy is housed in the same building).

Naomi and I also participated in one of the greatest events ever. We voted. While that’s not so cool to most of us, it was an enthralling experience here in Israel. Firstly, it seems sometimes that in Israel if it should take 10 minutes to do X and it could take an hour, it’ll end up taking three hours. Yet, voting was a cinch. The decision process, however, not so much. I’ll leave that out, but once we decided who we’d vote for - you go it, show your ID to the election monitors - and then choose one slip of paper with the party on it, place it in an envelope, and place it in the blue box. That’s it. Simple, basic, and very low tech.

Check out these pictures:

You get these envelopes, signed by both of the election monitors that are present.


Each card is a vote, you choose the card with the letter(s) of the party you want to vote for.


Place the party you picked (not our pictures, we voted for someone else) into the envelope

Place the envelope into the ballot box (made out of cardboard) and then you're done. Like I said, low tech and easy.
Naomi's started her second semester of Grad School at Hebrew University. She's done pretyt well so far, and the second semester is continuing in that manner. She's also been busy with some work she's picked up as well; she's taken on a few clients working online for people in the states, and though it's only party time it helps out a lot financially.
Purim happened here at the Yeshiva, which was great fun, though trying to keep track of the 44 kids was tough. But we dressed up and had a good time nonetheless.

Spring time in Israel is beautiful, not only the desert, but the whole country starts to bloom. We went up north with the Yeshiva recently, for shabbbat in Tzfat. It was beautiful and from Har Meron you can see Har Hermon (still white capped with snow).





We're getting ready to head back to the US for Passover, with a brief stopover in Amsterdam each way. We're hoping to take a few of the sights in our 24 hours there (total). We're planning to see the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, the Flower Market, etc. I've been there before four years ago, but I still never got to see all of the things that I wanted to. Anyway, we'll be in Philly for a week and DC for a few days including the Seder. We're hoping to see a bunch of people while we're around and the cherry-blossoms which are blooming this time of the year in DC.

Hopefully the next update will take place sooner since we're on break for the moment.

A True Act of Kindness

This past Sunday, the Yeshiva that I work at was host to one of the most amazing things I've ever seen. You all know I've traveled the world, I've seen a lot, and I'm very grateful for the opportunities that I've had, yet with all the beautiful cities and amazing experiences I've had, I've never quite had one as truly awe inspiring as this carnival.

Around 300 children from Ashkelon (one of the major cities living within range of the rockets from Gaza) came to the Yeshiva, so that we could give them a day off – just a day to be a kid again – due to the incessant rain of rockets they've experienced over the past year they've rarely had time to just enjoy themselves without that feeling that at any time a missile could strike. An anonymous donor paid for the entire event, from busing the children to Jerusalem, the rides,
our Staff t-shirts, and the food; what a way to truly make an impact.

We set up and manned a dozen different rides and games for the kids, moon bounces, motorcycle races, basketball games, slides, etc. We each had a role to play in the event, some of us were running the booths and playing with the kids, some of us were serving them cotton candy and popcorn, and some of us worked the DJ booth. The most impressive part of this whole event – was not that it was set up within three days – but the faces the kids had on the entire time. Kids go nuts for these carnivals all over the world, but when they live in mortal
danger day in and day out, and then they have this event – it brings the idea of charity to a whole other level.

Take a look at these pictures, you'll see just how great this event was.

The War in Gaza

Since the war began in Gaza on Saturday morning here in Israel there have been constant news updates about the action taking place over there.  As one guy I know put it, it's not that the war's started, but that Israel finally has decided to join it.  That's about the way I feel about the situation.

It was reported yesterday that Beer Sheva has been hit by a rocket, and today another one.  That places the major towns/cities of Beer Sheva, Ashdod, Ashkelon, besides of course the cities that have been under constant threat for the past three years.  The kibbutz I lived on seven years ago, Sa'ad was first hit by a Kassam while I lived there - twice. Two Kassams (they're the shorter range missles) was a big deal then, now not so much.

This map will help:

Let me take this opportunity to put this into perspective.  Beer Sheva has a population of 186,000; Ashdod 207,000; Ashkelon 109,000; plus another 25,000 in small communities surrounding the Strip; plus 25,000 in Netivot; plus 19,000 in Sderot itself. Lehavim, where my cousins Burt and Batya - who celebrated their son's Bar Mitzvah on Monday - live, is also within range has a population of 6,000 among other towns nearby.

If we do all the addition, we get at least 577,000 people who are now living under the constant threat of missle attack.  If they're lucky they'll have 45 seconds notice of an incoming missle, if not as lucky (depending on the distance from Gaza) they'll only have 15 seconds to find shelter.  

The population of Israel is about 7.28 million people.  That 577,000 is 8% of the population.  Let's put that in terms that mean something - the current popluation of the US is 306 million - 8% of which is 24,480,000.  If 24.5 million people in the US were living under those conditions, what do we expect the US would do?  I hope it wouldn't have taken them three years to get their act together like it took our government to.

One of my students yesterday was complaining about Israel's failure to effectively combat the media response to the Arab attack. He said, "When someone attacks Israel for disproportionate response, the answer the Israeli government should be giving is: of course, it's disproportionate! A proportionate response would be to send 10,000 missles into a crowded city without regard to where they hit." 

Update: I added the map, and forgot to add, Kiyrat Gat 47,8000, Yavne 32,000 and Gedera 16,700.  That brings it up to 673,000 at least living within range of rockets; making it 9.2% of the Israeli population and 28,152,000 Americans living under rocket fire.

Chanukah Sameach!

I'll post some of what we've been up to in a day or two, some great pictures too. But before I do that, I wanted to answer a question I've received a few times. What is it that I do? Sure, I study, but what? Well that's a very complicated answer, but basically I study (for the most part) nearly 2,000 year-old Rabbinic texts attempting to understand how Jewish law is decided and why we come to said conclusions. These texts will be in Hebrew and Aramaic.

Well, I decided to give you an example, through a timely Dvar Torah:

There's a question in the Talmud: What is Chaunkah? What is the significance of Chanukah, and what does it celebrate? Typically there are tons of answers to this question and nearly every Rabbi in history has his own take on the answers, but I'd like to deal with it a bit.

When we're children we're taught about the miracle of the oil. When the Maccabees came into the Temple after the war they found a flask of still sealed, pure oil hidden in the Temple with enough oil to last one night. Through a miracle it lasted for eight, until new pure oil could be made. Fantastic, beautiful.

Except, um... that's not exactly what happened. Let's say that Chanukah does celebrate this event, well the miracle only lasted seven days - the days that oil shouldn't have lasted for, the first day wasn't a miracle at all! So then, where do we get eight from?

One of those popular answers is that the first night celebrates the victory over the Greeks and the last seven celebrate the oil - the nes pach hashemen. The Netziv (mid-19th century Lithuania) gives us a different answer, combining the two ideas - the finding of the oil itself was a miracle and we celebrate two miracles on the first night - the military victory over the Greeks and the finding of the oil.

Ah, now we've got it. We've got the historical element and the religious one. Fantastic. However, should we really be celebrating the defeat and destruction of human beings? That doesn't seem to square with a Jewish view of b'tzelem elokim (that all of mankind, regardless of religion, is made in the image of God). This is why, according to some, we celebrate the oil instead of the military victory though that is really the essential part.

Well if that's the case, that we celebrate the finding of the oil, then the Maharal's got a great question (Prague, 1500's): the paragraph of Al HaNisim (that we insert in the prayers during this week) has no mention of the miracle surrounding the oil at all! How is it that our prayers don't mention such an important part of the Holiday? Why should we be celebrating the finding of oil anyway? It's just for the Menorah anyway.

He answers all these questions beautifully. In fact these two ideas are intrinsically connected. What were we fighting the war for anyway? Against the Greek oppression of our religion and the defilement of the Temple. The Greeks defiled the Temple and the only way to reconsecrate the Temple was through the relighting of the Menorah. Hence, according to the Maharal, the two miracles are actually only one. The finding of the oil flask and the relighting of the Temple is the culmination of the military victory, the final act that showed the victory and the miracle that happened. This should invoke a vision akin to the flag raising on Iwo Jima or at the Kotel in June of '67.

Hence, every year when we relight our Chanukiot, we are not just celebrating the finding of the oil in the Temple not just the military victory. But rather that we are celebrating and renewing the victory over those who seek to crush us through physical destruction and those who seek to destroy us through assimilation. No, we are still here, still here proclaiming year after year that we will not be defeated that we will continue to bring light to this world. Chag Urim Sameach.