Honeymoon is Over - The most honorable Aliyah

Paul, Art and Jerusalem
What do the three have in common?
Last Saturday night we celebrated the birthday of our Mexican friend that lives in Raanana. The Bibles Land museum in Jerusalem had an event of Wine & Cheese followed by a concert by two guys that imitate Simon & Garfunkel. The wine was dry (I’m not a big wine connoisseur) and the Cheese was…was no there by the time we arrived. The concert was very nice but we had to keep quiet because of the grumpy old woman in front of us that kept on looking back at us. Overall it was very nice.

Honeymoon is over
I can’t believe last week we celebrated 6 months since we arrived in Israel. Looking back I think there has been certainly more good moments that difficult ones. The first months it was all new, it was all living the dream, learning new things, of course going through all the bureaucratic government and other paperwork, school registration, job search. All the visits to the doctor specially by the kids was not one of the highlights of this 6 months. Meeting new people, finding ourselves in this new society with a different culture, language, food, etc. Hey we even went through a War, we’ll just leave the water, flashlight and battery radio in our safe room (yes we have a shelter at home just like anyone else). As per working on Sundays, it will take more than 6 months (probably 6 years) to get used to. Watching Steelers football live after midnight will be another tough one to get used to
Half year after things are not so new anymore, however Israel still surprises me at times. It is still great been able to be part of the Jewish state.
Although routine tries to take over we try to break it sometimes, especially on Fridays while the kids are in school and there’s no work.
The kids are doing very well at school, learning Hebrew and speaking it with a RRReish accent. Making new friends.
Liora is almost done with Ulpan (Hebrew classes) and is already an expert. She has made great friends from Ulpan too. Taking care of the children while they are sick has been a challenge.
I’m thank G’d employed in a very rough time for the economy. Learning a lot about marketing in Israel, learning about Ketchup, Oatmeal and chocolate drinks, working in an Israeli company and with Israelis (that’s the toughest one), working all in Hebrew except for all outside contacts. I admit I’m still writing in English, typing is extremely difficult for me in Hebrew, however all or most of the emails I get back are in Hebrew.
Life here is very different in all aspects, and it’s good.
I’m thankful to G’d for showing us the way to get here and for giving us a happy life here and strength to overcome any difficulty.

The most honorable Aliyah
Every year when my Bar Mitzvah’s parsha (Torah’s weekly section) is read I try to get an Aliyah (called to a blessing of the Torah). Last year I was lucky enough to be in Israel visiting to check things out and be in Jerusalem. On Saturday morning I went a year ago to the Kotel (Western Wall) and got an Aliyah on my Bar Mitzvah’s reading, it was a unique moment given the place, moment and time in my life, I got an Aliyah at the Kotel on that special Torah portion while all that was going through my mind was Aliyah (literally: ascending- moving to Israel), well as you can see G’d answered to my prayers.
This Saturday my Bar Mitzvah parsha was read, I was hoping I could get an Aliyah given that it’s the first time I would do the blessing living in Israel on my Bar Mitzvah parsha. It would certainly be a special moment. But instead of getting an Aliyah I got something even greater… Nothing. How can nothing be greater? I will explain. The Gabay (prayer planner :) ) approached to me early in the prayers and said: “I know it’s your Bar Mitzva parsha and I will try to get you an Aliyah, however I’m trying to get all the returning soldiers one as well”. It’s true, I noticed suddenly that there were many faces I haven’t seen for the last three Shabbats at the synagogue, they were all defending our country.
It was the greatest, most meaningful and honorable Aliyah I’ve ever not gotten.


Batya’s Ballet
Last week Batya had a Ballet presentation. She enjoys it so much. Below are some pictures and a video. Enjoy.


Solidarity on War, discord on elections
Is good to see our soldiers back home. I don’t think peace is closer now, but what is clear is that terrorist activity will be halted for a while (lets hope).
So what’s on the news this days? Obama is on the spotlight. Also Israeli elections are happening in a couple of weeks. It’s interesting to see how war united most Jews in Israel and the world in solidarity and we will now see how politics and elections will divide us.


Next blog hear about our Friday experience at Machane Yehudah (Popular Jerusalem market).