WOW! I can't believe it's a year. B"H we made it.
Looking back at the blog I see we stopped posting half way though the year. It's not that there weren't things to write about. Every week something cool happens, we just got busy with life here and did not spend the time it takes to continue posting. We can try to start up again there are always things to share. Please do leave comments so we can get some feedback what you like or don't like etc...
I owe a big post about getting the car, it will have to wait till I have the time. I just want to clarify to all those who read the License to drive post, although I am sharing some real practical live situations that happen here in Israel on a day to day basis, even when is may seem frustrating, it is always amazing and sometime even entertaining. It says in chazal ארץ ישראל נקנית באיסורין "Israel is acquired with trials and tribulations" while that is true, to put things in perspective it is a million time less difficult than say 50 years ago and much easier then even 10 years ago. 50 years ago some of the חלוצים "Pioneers" came here got malaria and died. Today you may not be able to get kosher imitation crap for sushi. Tough one!!! But with voice over IP phone and skype you can see and speak to the US all the time, and can get just about anything here. Somethings may cost more so we still use ebay and either have them ship here or have the Moms get it to someone coming. Plus whatever comes your way there are many times when you say WOW it is so worth it to be here, and we do feel it is a tremendous Zechut (honor) through thick and thin. If you tell a pregnant woman there is no pain that is not true, however when a woman has a baby and sees the benefit, she will usually be willing to endure more pain for the honor and privilege of another child.
Anniversary Day
We wanted to make a Seudat Hadaya, but were not sure what date to use. We though of perhaps the Jewish Anniversary date, but as we got closer we realized it was a few days ago and didn't seem like the right day. Then came Shabbat we were thinking of a Kiddush but there were plenty others going on. We had already made redervations online to welcome the New Olim on the Aug 18th/19th flight with nefesh bnefesh. So on the morning of the 19th we all got up 5:30AM (yes even me) to make it to to the air port by 6:50AM. Israel built a new state of the art beautiful airport so for those of you who remember the old one it is not used very much. NbN uses the old airport to greet the Olim and kind of took it over for this purpose, this way it is private and Only for the Olim and people greeting them which is a few hundreds people. They have tons of large pictures all over the place of Olim arriving and hugging etc.
B"H things went well we got there by 7AM and the plane was a bit delayed so we got to hang out meet people have breakfast there with Barekas, Cup cakes, Cappachinos, Iced coffie etc. NbN knows how to make a party in style. We found out from friends there that Ilan and Rachel Yaish from Woodmere (Camp Dora Golding) were going to be on that flight as well as a new neighbor of ours moving to our block. We were excited to greet people we know. There was a lot of energy in the room. There were many big screens showing the runway. When the place landed we saw it taxing in on the big screen, everyone was screaming and clapping. It was a very different experience being on the other side this time. We hope to do it many more times and to greet more family and friends. When the plane arrived they opened the doors to the runway and everyone went running outside. There was a band playing and we got to wait behind a barricade for the Olim to come on the busses. You could not see the actual plane from there but we did see it on the video live and all knew it was near by.
Then the 1st bus arrived. Soldiers were lined up on each side of the barricades with Israeli flags, there were lots of Big flags everywhere. People were singing dancing hugging crying blowing Shofars you name it. A few people came with Sifre Torah. It's an Amazaing experience. Everyone there knows that this is much bigger then just them or the people they are greeting, it's the witnessing and being part of Kibbutz Galutenu, something Jews have been praying for for 2000 years. I took some pictures and met Jacob Richman there. He posts tons on things on his website including ALL Aliya flights, all terror victims anything to do with Israel. I told him I'll send him some more pictures. You can see them at: http://www.jr.co.il/pictures/israel/history/usa-aliyah.htm
When the last bus came everyone went inside sat down, heard some speeches Then we left. It was awesome
Party
On the way back we decided to just make the seuda that afternoon 2:00PM we'll make a barbecue and invite whomever is home. We were going to a concert in Netanya that night so this would fit right in. It really did feel like our anniversary. It was the same day as last year Aug 19th and about a week or so before school started. We started calling all our friends and neighbors from the car and managed to get a few yeses. When we got home Elkie went to her course, I went shopping for chicken franks etc. with the boys the girls went back to zzz. We felt that if we make if a Fleshig BBQ in the afternoon it would be special and like a seuda or chag. And so it was we worked fast put it all together and at 2:00PM people were already coming. We said only in Israel can you decide to make a party in 4 hours and actually pull it off. Hopefully next year we can plan a bit more in advance and perhps have more people join us.
Next day we went to Wadi Kelt (A river hike), on the way to the dead sea. I saw on the map it was a bit east of Pisgat Zev, so decided to call Boruch Thee and ask where is the best place to go there. He knew the place cold and gave us the best advice we went to Ein Prat then another spot. You drive down these VERY curvy roads and then walk in the water and you can jump in too. It was lots of fun. Ok that it for now till next time.
Shlomo
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