I am an Israeli Citizen!

Where do I begin? When I last left off, I was “only” an American citizen and was about to board the plane to bring me to a new life where I would also be an Israeli citizen.
Well…the journey is complete and BH we are Israeli citizens!! Let me share with you some details about the flight and the arrival ceremonies but due to my being SO tired, I need to be brief today. Will get into more details at a later date…

The anticipation that was FELT acutely on the flight was so awesome! We met others, like us, moving to Maale Adumim and others who were moving all over the country. I did not sleep for a minute…at least not that I can tell. We did all of the passport paperwork and immigration info paperwork on tablet computers. By the time we landed, we were registered as Olim Chadashim…new immigrants.
When we landed, I began to shake and cry uncontrollably, as the thousands of emotions that had been coursing through my body all came out at that very moment. All of the planning led to this moment in time! As I walked onto Israeli soil for the first time as an Israeli, I literally laid down on the ground, kissed it and thanked Hashem for this amazing opportunity.

There were thousands of people at the airport to greet all of the Olim. It was incredible how many came out just to greet US. We felt so loved…so special.
I was interviewed by a number of news agencies both in Hebrew and in English. I just hope I remember to find the archived reports to read them!
After the welcoming ceremonies, speeches, getting our luggage, getting our Teudat Oleh and getting a (free) taxi…we finally arrived at Maale Adumim. We are staying near our home with some (new) friends and hope to be able to move in fairly soon.
Thanks to all of you who emailed me in real time to tell me you saw us live on the NBN welcoming ceremony. It was an amazing time and one that I am thrilled that so many people had the chance to watch.
That is all for now…gotta go make a plan of action for tomorrow and then rest a little more. We are thoroughly exhausted…but we will plug ahead.
Regards from our new home…ISRAEL!

Step Two...

I am sitting at the gate at El Al awaiting our boarding of the plane. This morning, after a semi-restful night, we packed ALL of our luggage onto the airport shuttle and headed to JFK. Along with 240 other people, we shlepped our stuff through one line after another: NBN, El Al, security, a goodbye ceremony and on and on. As I looked around, I saw so many people who, I assumed, were going through such similar emotions: Its VERY tough, but it will be very REWARDING. I am SO glad that we said our goodbyes in Chicago! Watching all those people here saying goodbye and THEN to go right to the gate...it's murder!

I am already an emotional wreck. I am already tearing up at the smallest thing. In 12 ours, IYH, we will achieve our goal that we planned out years ago...arriving home. Speaking of arriving home...I am THRILLED to report that my dad is going home today! We are grateful to HKB"H that we can leave knowing that he is going to be at home.

Assuming all goes well, my next post will be as a citizen of Israel!

Until now, I looked at everything as the "last of..." And as of today...I begin to look at everything as the "first of..." of everything.

Finally, it was SO nice to have a friend [Ebby (Fettman) Marell] surprise us at the airport. Not only that, but on our flight is Adam Segal and family (orig from Chicago) making aliya, Shira Ozery, our Shlichat Aliya in Chicago and Shelly Levin who originally introduced us to the property in Maale Adumin that we bought!

I can not wait...time to go...L'Hitraot to all!!!!
zms

Step One...

I am writing from the Ramada Hotel at JFK Airport. It is about 5pm local time and it has been a wonderful day so far! Our day began very early...after Shacharit, we travelled with a "convoy" to the airport...the five of us...TEN pieces of luggage...carry-ons and "personal items" (laptop, etc). All of this and us piled into 3 cars (thanks Leo, Howie and Debbie!). It was almost comical to see all of this luggage! I recall seeing many times in various airports, large families travelling with what seemed like 100 suitcases and saying to myself, "Am I glad that that is not ME!" Well, this time it WAS me...a few luggage carts (wheels of course not working right on 2 of them) and a LOT of patience and our curbside check-in was done. Once IN New York, we used the shuttle and my nephew/niece to get us and our luggage to the hotel where we will spend the night in anticipation of one of the greatest adventures of our lives.

I received a phone call this afternoon from the newspaper called "B'Sheva." This is the magazine/paper arm of Arutz-7. I was interviewed about our impending Aliya. The interviewer told me that she had prepared all of her questions in English and was quite surprised that she was able to conduct the entire 15 minute interview in Ivrit. Truth is that since the paper is written IN Ivrit, I did not want something lost in translating from English to Ivrit, anyways. It was an interesting experience and I hope to meet the reporter at the airport on Tuesday when we land.

Speaking of Tuesday...that day is a day that I have thought of and played out in my mind for YEARS...and now it is merely hours away. My girls say that I will be easy to be spotted coming off the plane--I will be the one who will be a total emotional wreck! I hope not...I want to "live" in the moment! I will be using my new Flip video camera to record the experience and post it here once I get my act together after landing.

We just got notification today that our "lift" is arriving in Israel a bit faster than we anticipated...like TOMORROW!! So, once we are there, we will need to work fast to get it cleared. This means that we will not have much rest once we arrive. Besides all of the things we must do as new Olim once we arrive, we will also have to deal with the lift contents sooner than we thought. But that certainly beats having our stuff it in Cypress for 3 months as it did for a couple I know.

I am not sure exactly when I will post next but you can be assured that it will be either during or after the craziness at JFK pre-flight. Here is the link to watch our arrival LIVE in the comfort of your home. It can be seen at approximately 11:00pm (CHICAGO TIME) on Monday evening, July 6th: www.nbn.org.il/live

No more countdown...we are DOING this...we are in the MIDDLE of the biggest change of our lives. No more "tick...tick...tick." Now it is time for the clock to stop. Now it is time for time to "stand still for a bit" so we can enjoy every single minute.

L'Hitraot!

"Shalom" Times Three

The word Shalom has three meanings and all three apply at this moment. As we are just a few hours for leaving on the journey of our lives, I say SHALOM in the sense of "goodbye" to my community here in Chicago. It has been an amazing experience begin part of such a thriving and growing community. I will miss SO much about this city. Even as I type these words, people are pouring into my parents' home to say L'hitraot. It is soooo sad to see my kids saying goodbye to their closest friends. It is also so beautiful to watch at the same time.

I say SHALOM in the sense of "hello" to my NEW community and country: Maale Adumim and Israel. After standing on the sidelines for 50 years and watching my beloved country grow and change, we are finally going to become part of the future of Jewish History! It is an amazing feeling to know how close we are at this moment to realizing this dream.

I say SHALOM in the sense of "peace." We are going to a location that is one of the more volatile in the world, to say the least. We ALL pray for peace...we all pray for Shalom for Israel, its citizens and the Land.

So...this Shabbat...it certainly was emotion-filled. It began with my davening Friday night at the Adas. I haven't davened there in TEN years and it was so special that so many came over to me to inquire about my dad (see later in this post) and wish us well on our move.
Friday night, we ate at my sister's and had part of the family with us, as well. Needless to say that considering our MOVE and my dad's situation this past few days, it also was an emotion-packed evening.

After a well-needed sleep, I went to yet another shul...Bais Chaim Dovid. Again, so warmly welcomed and it was so different to be HERE in Chicago and daven in a different location!

Lunch...again at my sister's with more of the family and the saying of goodbye to them...Tears flowed freely...both tears of joy and tears of sadness. I told them all, that the fact that we all get along so well makes this parting that much more difficult!

Then came what I felt would be the MOST difficult moment of all...saying L'hitraot to my parents. First, let me back up. My dad is doing SO well, Baruch Hashem!!! He looks, sounds and feels (bli ayin hara) SO great! We walked to the hospital on Shabbat to bid farewell (for a few days until we have access to Skype!). My dad gave us some wonderful words of wisdom, and we all sat and talked for a while. When it came time to say goodbye, I told my dad that I THOUGHT that this would be the most difficult goodbye of all...but the truth is that this was the EASIEST goodbye of all...WHY? Because I could look at my dad and tell him directly to his eyes how much we love him and my mom. The fact that we came so close to losing him and then to have the opportunity to say goodbye to him sitting there looking so great...well, I can never thank Hashem enough for that opportunity!!! Saying goodbye (L'hitraot) to my mom was also difficult but again...at least thank G-d BOTH are healthy and able to travel to Israel...hopefully SOON!!

Well...I think that is it for now. Time to attempt to go to sleep and awake to a "brand new day." Tomorrow we start the next phase of our lives and pray to Hashem that while we KNOW things will not be easy...at least things will not be too hard.

Off to NY in 9 hours and 40 minutes...TICK...TICK...TICK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We Are Now Down to HOURS...

It is just before Shabbat. We are packed...we are pumped...we are ready to go. It is a HUGE Bracha that we have Shabbat to rest up just before we leave...we need it. It has been a VERY stressfull week but an exciting one at the same time. We are so grateful to Hashem that all has turned out so well with my dad, shlit"a, and that we are moving full speed ahead.

I have tried my best to reply to all who have emailed etc about our Aliya, my dad and just good wishes, in general. I have had literally hundreds of emails these past 3 days and appreciate each and very one of them.

On yesterday's posting, a fine young man left a very insightful comment that I want to reproduce here as it SHOULD be seen by everyone!


I don't understand why they call it a closing. I think it should be called an opening. The opening of a new chapter in your lives. As you move from this Galut-bound house to one in Israel, everything opens up, and life takes on a whole new meaning and as you close the front door behind you for the final time, may this closing open many new doors in your Aliya.
July 2, 2009 11:48 PM

I could not agree more. Amitai...thank you so very much!

I am looking forward to what I KNOW will be a very emotional Shabbat and Moztaei Shabbat...saying goodbye to family and close friends. Not "goodbye" but L'hitraot. Sad and happy at the same time...that truly is what life is all about.

Shabbat Shalom for the last time in Chicago. B'shavua Ha'ba Bi'rooshalayim (...or Maale Adumim)

36 hours...15 minutes...TICK...TICK...TICK

We are Officially Homeless in Chicago!

As of 11:30am local time, my family became homeless. Before you start to pity us, keep in mind that this was THE last major step before leaving on Aliya on Sunday for our NEW home on the other side of the Ocean. I must say that it was an extremely emotional morning for me on two levels. First and foremost was finding out that my dad's condition had dramatically improved. Baruch Hashem, he looked great, was sitting for a little in a chair and talking up a storm. The second reason was the closing on our home. We have lived in this home for 23 1/2 years. We raised our girls here, and all of our life-decisions, discussions, good times and bad focused on the home. As we were driving to the closing, I reviewed many of these milestones in our lives that happened in the house and I began to feel quite emotional. It is not a car...it is not a book...this is where we lived our LIVES. It made me sad...and excited to understand what this sale meant.

Last night, we moved about 95% of the remaining items from the house to my parent's home...including ALL of the luggage...oy, is it going to be fun shlepping all of this!!!

I want to thank all of those who have taken the time to call, email etc about my dad. It is incredible to see the Yad Hashem. While I know I made a similar comment yesterday, one can NEVER adequately thank Hashem for all the chessed shown to a person!

We now are at the threshold of the door awaiting the last Shabbat and subsequent beginning of the journey to NY and beyond. I am so exhausted...I am so tired...I am so excited...I am so nervous.

And what would this blog be without the countdown:

2 days...13 hours and 45 minutes...TICK...TICK...TICK...!!

Life

Life is very strange. Sometimes we do not fully appreciate it. I got a full dose of that, these past 24 hours.

As we wind down, these last few days were supposed to have focused on closing things up and moving to my parents. As the saying goes, "Man plans and G-d laughs." As many of you are aware, my father was rushed to the hospital on Tuesday afternoon with a condition that was not easily discernible. As the evening progressed, his situation deteriorated more and more. Things did not look too good, so I consulted with Dr. Jerry Noble, the ER doctor (mensch and great guy, and my former Madrich in Mosh!) who suggested Tehillim at this point. I sent out my own plea for Tehillim as did many other people with large lists. My daughters, nieces and some of their friends went to the Shul to recite the entire book of Tehillim. The outpouring of emails, tehillim, phone calls, text messages etc was overwhelming to me. I was hearing from people all over the world.

As the night wore on, I needed to get back home to continue our final stages of packing and to collapse into bed for SOME sleep. Needless to say, I did not sleep very well: thinking about my dad...thinking about finishing up on the house...thinking about the house closing on Thursday...thinking...thinking...thinking. And praying the phone would not ring in the middle of the night.

Thank G-d the phone did NOT ring in the middle of the night. Instead, my sister called in the early morning with some good news...BP was up and he was looking a bit better. However, we still did not know what the source of the infection was!

My day was spent going back and forth to the hospital for short times, visiting the dentist (!) for a much needed repair before Aliya,dropping things off at my parents, bringing things back to the places from where we borrowed items, getting the pants I needed altered (after losing 35 pounds BH...on purpose over the past 8 months), going to the bank...and that was all before 5pm!

As pressure kept building, there was a ray of hope. Seems that the test my dad took mid-afternoon may indeed hold the key. Within an hour of this test (no medical details here), it became clear that the doctors had indeed located the source of the infection and did what was necessary to remove the cause. At present, he is resting comfortably, albeit not doing 100%...but MUCH better than 24 hours ago. (When I told him that the hairplugs the doctors tried to put in did not "take," he managed a smile!)

So...I am praying that the only excitement of the next 24 hours is the closing on our home. I do not think I could handle more than that right now. Then, it will almost be time for our last Shabbat here in Chicago...spent with most of the family...and more than likely a stroll on Shabbat to visit my dad.

I WANT TO THANK ALL OF THOSE WHO DAVENED, SAID TEHILLIM, CALLED, MESSAGED, ETC ETC...I acknowledge all the working of Hashem in this and thank Hashem from the bottom of all of our hearts. May He repay the kindness to you, that you have shown my dad and our entire family.

Uh oh...I just looked at the clock...we are really about to make Aliya! From now, it is another 3 days 14 hours and 4 minutes until we leave the city. TICK...TICK...TICK!!!!!!!