Blog#9 G-ds winks

When things go as planned or without any issues....Do you stop and think oh that was helpful, and then carry on with your day?/life. So I admit yes that was me for the past number of years. But now  as I 'm trying to Adjust to "life" here I am trying to see  and use the borrowed phrase (from my hubby) g-ds winking at me. Explanation right????

As I am "absorbing" to life here things are really frustrating. Obviously not knowing the language is the number one issue. So any of the day to day tasks where you need to talk really become a HUGE hassle. Such as going to the bank. Of course this should be fairly easy. Who goes to tellers any more? You just use the atms. OK so let's say you didn't get your debit cards yet.....

So that was the mission which wasn't supposed to be too difficult because we had an English representative. Our luck our local bank was closed and it was Sunday!!! So next challenge go to any other local branch "speak " to the teller and take out cash. Ok next stop another local branch.... Follow waze our new Israeli navigator. ....Don't you love it when you rely on technology and it totally craps out on you@#%& . So we arrive at or destination... A traffic circle????!!! OK don't ask anyone just yet  we will find it. OK. Ask someone now ...because we just drove up and down the same street 5 times!!! Ok ask someone else because that person must have lied or had no clue. Ok never mind asking anyone just park the car and walk. Ok place is found ...phew. Next challenge talk to a teller. Oh first get reprimanded by someone who obviously waited a long time and wants you to be just as stressed as she is to take a ticket. Ok we take the stinking ticket and then out of nowhere comes the wink from g-d. I noticed the teller. Its my sisters nephew from her husband side... A fellow Canadian.  Yeah I remembered vaguely some one in my family mentioned he worked at a bank.  Good luck? or g-ds wink? Our number is called we ask for the specific teller. The challenge of not knowing Hebrew is now eliminated. Thank you g-d for your wink and  the challenges that come only for what I  can handle....
One more story to share on g-ds wink. So we finally got our debit cards from our branch and with signing up with that bank they gave out a pocket size dictionary. You know the ones you had for school. So post that errand came the grocery shopping. Local store in rbs Thursday night... Looks just like Rockland or Wesley kosher. Crowded and long lines. No worries everyone in rbs speaks English. To the spices section we go as I'm dropping different spices into my buggy my son starts opening the chocolate milk box drinks. While trying to ignore the situation of him begging to have one and then letting him have one and him saying we didn't pay yet I start to tune him out and figure out which one might be the basil. OK so my motto is try not to speak.... as my son continues to beg for my attention I notice the dictionary in the cart. Great I'll look up basil. that must have been a classic site..I wish I could have been an outsider seeing that. LOOSER!!!!..right??? The next best thing happens... a teenager girl says in her brokenish english you need help looking for something. G-ds little wink. I'm hoping to continue to see them and of course to thank g-d for them....by winking back.

Blog#8 whose your hero

I know that hero's are usually people who sacrifice their lives for a higher cause. Like 911 firefighters. Although many times I am mistaken and believe hero's are the ones who score the winning goal in the dying minutes of a playoff hockey game. Or who hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth to win the world series. However today my real hero was my son. He, although not really given the choice,walked into a class where knowing the teachers only speak Hebrew, and knowing he was not going with any friends went into his classroom with confidence and without a tear. Simply no fear! (I am hoping that stays)Truthfully he is a kid, and some kids are just better at adapting to diff situations than others. My kid is usually more set in his ways and change of order or schedule usually does not go well with him. So today I was amazed at his disposition in this situation. No struggle, no fight, no debates. Just straight up confidence! I am wondering if that came, literally with the territory?  Does living here... in this great country change who we are?  Does this land impact our personalities and we don't realize it. I know it's a 1000000 times easier to remain religious here, (because everyone is doing the same thing) but by living here does our personalities inherently change, do we re prioritize our priorities? Was there an ingredient that g.d put in this land that if we live in his land we become a different person than  we would be by living somewhere else.....only time will tell!
For now ...There are many heroes this great country has had and we can all think of so many but what I think is the common trait amongst them is the lack of fear to do what's right. My son has taught me that today. I hope that in the right situations I too will not be afraid of this land and what it has to offer me. It is different, it is foreign, it is scary but if i want to be hero i must also be fearless.

Blog #7 oleh chadasha

I realize my blog title is pre aliyah...its been two days since my arrival to Israel. I am now considered an oleh chadasha translated as New citizen. The plane ride was extremely awesome. I can say it was a little emotional as there is nothing like over 130 new cadets entering into the Israeli army singing am yisrael Chai. Dovid melech. Shavu vonim as our plane touched down. It made me really think that although this is my husband's dream I should have also wanted to join him in desiring to reside in Israel.  The ceremony en route to Ben gurion airport was very satisfying. I thought about many ideas. Such as do any other countries makes such a big to deal when citizens return to their own countries. Ie Italians to Italy? Russians to Russia? I have never seen or read about that....
The prophecy about the in gathering of the Jews back to israel is surely being played out. I felt that loud and clear when I looked at the people on the flight... Allot of them were not religious. What was it that made them want to return? After all America is America!! Why leave it..... there's so many more luxuries there. They have to be outright crazy to want to leave that all behind and more. Nefesh bnefesh also mentioned we were the 50th flight since 2002, and since then 35,000 Jews have returned to Israel.

After walking across the front of the terminal with the mob of yfamily members and soldiers cheering for us I felt a sense of pride. I did give up allot to come and I should feel pride in this tremendous change. I realized that This is our land if i/we don't acquire it who will. God gave it to the jews. He gave it to abraham. God told him to leave his father's home his birthplace;The land that he is familiar. And follow god to a place which He will show him. Eretz canan. Follow god blindly.... I am now also  fulfilling this age old commandment. I am now a citizen of Israel. And I also feel like I'm following god blindly. However I do realize that this was a choice and I now will also choose to try and make it work.

Blog#6 I hate goodbyes

Does anyone like saying goodbye? Obviously I am not referring to temporary goodbyes where you drop off your kid and pick him up couple of hours later. Im referring to the more permanent ones. However if you think of it most goodbyes are temporary unless we talk about death.
And when referring to that we almost never get any warning to say goodbye. So we can honestly say that the goodbye I'm referring to is temporary and should nevertheless be easy. Yet when I think about saying goodbye to my family on Monday I feel the heart strings pull. I am sooo fortunate to have been blessed with great family members.
I have seen and been around lots of different families and noticed their dynamics.  I can only say again how genuine my family is and how much we all care for eachother. There really isn't a time that I wouldn't help them out to the best of my ability.

Aside from my immediate siblings I truley will miss wholeheartedly my nieces and nephews. They always are there to show me how great it is to be an aunt abs still feel like a kid.

The hardest person to say goodbye to is my bubby and for obvious reasons..see above..we just really never know. So the tugging of the heart intensifies...we all live our lives with difficulties of trying to properly raise our own families. many times we have conflicts about what options to take to ensure our families are growing in the right way. I feel that moving to Israel is certainly a better place to raise a jewish family with a solid foundation. So with that decision I must pay a price of not being around my bubby that often. Sigh. Ugh. Gulp. Sniff

In regards to my parents well I know I'll see them often. They are now  retired and have gone to Israel very often. In fact they will be there a day before me for a couple of months :-) so to them I won't have to say goodbye..

Lastly..you know what they say abt what you should do when you miss your mother in law.. reload and shoot again:-).that could also be said about your father in law:-) although my in laws have treated me so respectfully I couldn't have asked for better ones

With the above in mind I will try to stay positive and convince the tuggings in my heart that this goodbye is only temporary.

See ya all on the other side.