9 weeks to aliyah - “This Land Is My Land”

I just arrived this morning in Israel for a brief stay to take care of a few items, including some job interviews and to start some of the shiputzim (home repairs) that need to be made. This was a last minute decision as far as these things go (that is, we decided one week ago, which is about as “last minute” you would want a trip to be, considering all of the arrangements that need to be made) so I don’t have all of my schedule worked out yet, but it is certainly starting to take shape.

We have taken many trips here in the past and this started out feeling no different from any of those. The flight was uneventful, the choice of movies was not too bad, unlike the taste of the food, and I slept very little on the plane, which seems to work for me anyway, so I am not complaining.

I picked up my car rental and left the airport heading East on Route 1 as I have done so many times in the past. On previous trips, I always felt a bit anxious knowing that, although I was certainly there for a vacation, I was usually going for a purpose with goals to accomplish and knowing that my “regular life” was awaiting me back home in just a few days. As I started out on Route 1 and saw the familiar landmarks, that twinge of anxiety started seeping in this time too.

But then, something strange happened. Those familiar landmarks looked a bit different this time. A very peaceful feeling seemed to descend on me. The fields on the side of the road looked familiar but in a different way. On my previous visits, I always knew that although this is my country as a Jew, I was just a tourist here. I would be heading home all too soon. But this time contrary to the stamp in my passport, I was not here as a tourist. This is the country that I will soon be moving to. The fields are my fields now and I will soon be a citizen of this great land, just like the people around me on the road.

Although I know that this time too, I will return “home” in a few days, I feel different this time. There is a certain primal emotion that you feel when you put that key into the door of the home that you own. You know that you really, really, REALLY are finally home.

10 weeks to aliyah – “This day will fade away, the sun will set and be gone – let us come to Your gates.” (Yom Kippur Ne’ila service, cf: Psalms 100:4)

There are so many things in our lives that have “soft” deadlines. That is, we know that we want to take care of it “someday”. Sometimes we get around to it and sometimes we don’t.

In the last few weeks and months there have been a lot of deadlines for us to deal with. Some are deadlines that we set for ourselves, for instance getting our visas, organizing the lift, putting our finances in order, etc. and some are deadlines that are being thrust upon those around us. For example, we have lots of friends and relative who have wanted to get together with us over the years or wanted us to look at or address something for them, but nothing has ever pushed us in the past to set the dates. Well, now we have a hard deadline to work with.

Even aliyah in general works this way. Pearl and I have talked for decades about making aliyah, but it was so easy for us to say that we would like to do it “someday”. It only actually happens when you set a real date to that “someday”.

Aliya is something that takes a lot of planning and organization. There are a 1000 decisions that need to be made and lots of research to do. You find yourself working on 100 projects at once, many of which cannot be completed until a later date, but you have to keep on top of every one of them, following through with people who do not return phone calls or emails as responsibly as you would like. (By the way, employers, these are skills that are very applicable to the job that I am trying to get – hint, hint…). And you have to do it all in the right time-frame or it just doesn't get done.

Don’t get me wrong – this is not a complaint. Aliyah could be a real simple and easy thing for some people. But we happened to have made our lives rather complex at this stage of the game, so there are just a lot of factors that we have to address. I wish that people could look at our experience and say “look how easy it was for the Friedmans to make aliyah”. Although it is not always easy, aliyah is very doable if you make it your priority.

11 weeks to aliyah – This post should “lift” your spirits

First of all, I want to wish a Happy 65^th Birthday to Israel. May we celebrate many, many more of them, but TOGETHER from now on.

Choosing a company for your lift is not as simple as it might seem at first, partly because there are so many good companies out there and the rates tend to be pretty close, one to the next so you might be inclined to just randomly choose one and be done with it. But there are certainly differences between the various firms and your personal preferences in prioritizing those differences could help you make the decision that works for you.

Some of the costs that are involved in moving are pretty static and tend not to be all that different from one firm to another. For example, the cost of materials for packing (boxes, tape, padding, wrapping,

Zim Container ship in Haifa port

etc.) probably costs each firm pretty much the same so if one company expects that cost to be especially low, you might wonder if they are skimping on some materials. Also, they probably are all charged pretty much the same for a 20 or 40 foot container, so that price just gets passed along to you.

On the other hand, you will find differences in the size of the company, the number of years that they have been around, their reputation and local references, where they are based and insurance.

There are a few sites that allow people to post their experiences with the moving firms, for example this one: http://goo.gl/Qri8T (that is where the responses are posted). When reading the reviews, you have to be careful to give some of the companies the benefit of the doubt and take some of the comments with a grain of salt. Some complaints seemed rather petty to me and others seemed to be out of the shipper’s control. I noticed that 3 of the largest shippers had only positive comments so I started my search with them. I also include two firms that were recommended to me by people who had used them.

One factor that made a difference to me was where the company is based. Several of the firms used the same mover here in the NY area since they were based elsewhere in the US or in Israel so I figured that this aspect was all the same for those shippers and that local mover was probably pretty good. I wanted to focus my attention on a shipper that is based in Israel because I figured that might make the processing on that side a bit smoother.

Another factor that I considered was that one of the firms was self insured. That allowed them to reduce the cost of the insurance for me while also lowering the deductible. I interpreted this (for better or for worse) as a sign of confidence that they have in their ability to safely and reliably move my goods (although it could also be a sign of their reluctance to make payments on claims, but I tend to doubt that).

Some firms were unable to give me local references even though I know other Staten Islanders who had used them. The fact that they couldn't or wouldn't bother to try did not increase my confidence in them.

Whichever firm you choose, I hope that you have a smooth and worry free experience.

12 weeks to aliyah – “And now, a word from our sponsor”

Whenever I mention that we are going on aliyah, inevitably one of the first questions that people ask is “are you going with Nefesh B’Nefesh?”. I am not sure if people understand the role of Nefesh B’Nefesh in the aliyah process so I thought that I could at least talk about our personal experience to help shed light on what they have done for us at least.

NBN is here to help and encourage people to move to Israel, mostly by providing information, streamlining the aliyah process and providing contacts and other resources in so many areas associated with aliyah. In some cases, they also provide some financial assistance.

When we first started planning our aliyah, we turned first to the NBN website to start our research. They have an aliyahpedia that provides information on practically anything that you might have a question about. They also have a yahoo group that allows you to ask questions and get answers from many others who have made aliyah, from NBN representatives and from professionals offering services and advice.

You practically cannot make aliyah without going through NBN. If you try to go directly to the Jewish Agency I would assume that they would send you back to NBN to help you organize all of the papers that you need prior to going to the Jewish Agency and to tell you exactly what to bring. When you are ready to make aliyah, you schedule an appointment with NBN to go over the entire process and register with them. They then set up a webpage for you so that you can track the progress and see which documents to provide.

NBN provides webinars and consultations for specific areas relating to where to live and how to find a job and so much more. Their representatives are knowledgeable and pleasant to work with. They also conduct their “Mega Event” each year where they have numerous information sessions and provide you with an opportunity to meet with vendors such as shippers, insurance companies and the various medical programs. And of course, they sponsor events like this wonderful contest that will hopefully directly result in one or more people landing jobs.

Finally, when all of the paperwork is done and you are ready to select a date, you arrange your aliyah flight with NBN as well. They are then with you on the flight (depending on the flight that you choose) and when you arrive to help you through the red tape in Israel.

NBN has been very helpful for us in our aliyah. It seems hard to imagine making this move without the abundance of resources that they have provided us. They have undoubtedly provided the resources that has resulted in many thousands of people making aliyah who would not have done so without them.

13 weeks to aliyah – Friends and family

Around a year ago we started cleaning up in earnest. I went up to the attic and brought down a room full of boxes and other items to throw out or give away. Pearl worked on clearing out cabinets and bookcases filled with toys, games, books, papers and other paraphernalia. We filled the cars with items to give away to friends and family members.

When I brought some of these to one of our friends they were shocked and said something like “so I guess you really are moving to Israel”.

When we first decided for sure to go, we agreed that we would not keep our plans secret for a number of reasons. Not wanting to surprise anyone was high on the list, but also we thought that it would help galvanize us to ensure that we would not chicken out and it would also perhaps give others a certain degree of “chizuk” to encourage them to go as well. There were practical reasons too – we had to sell our house and to do so, we needed to get the word out.

Yet even though our plans were quite public and most of our family knew that we talked for a long time about moving to Israel, the reality of it seemed to come as a surprise to some. I guess they were a bit more in denial about our move than we had been over the years. Closure is very important for most people - our kids wanted to see the house that they grew up in "one last time" and I am sure that our friends and family will want to throw a big bash for us before we move ;-)

The world is a lot smaller today than even just a generation ago. When my family went for the first time to Israel in 1970, it was a major expense that took a long time to plan and to save up for. A domestic long distance call was expensive and an international call was a major event. Now, we can call for pennies using a calling card or free from Israel with most of the cellphone plans. Skype, MagicJack and VOIP are ubiquitous and even annual trips to Israel are common for many of us. All of this lessens the pain just a bit of moving so far away from the ones that you love, but nothing can remove that pain. We just hope that they will all follow us there some day very soon.