Going, Going...... (Article #6) 6/1/2006

In December of last year, we took a day off and made a special trip to the Jewish Agency to open our “Tik Aliyah” (Aliyah file). Any Jew is entitled to automatic Israeli citizenship should he so desire. The Jewish Agency is responsible for the evaluation of each applicant to determine if they are indeed Jewish and thus entitled to automatic citizenship under the Law of Return.

We met with our Shaliach Aliyah, Yonati Greenfield to discuss the various issues facing our family. She was extremely helpful to us in finding information and in wading through the red tape. Quite frankly, of all the current Olim I have spoken to, it seems as if our processing was as simple as it gets.

Right off the bat, we discussed our oldest son. At age 15, we feel that it is unfair to force him to become an Oleh and Israeli citizen, especially since he has already mapped out his schooling and career choices for the next ten or so years. In third grade he announced that he would be attending Harvard Law School (recently changed to Yale) in preparation for becoming the youngest partner in his law firm’s history.

While we will certainly encourage him to follow our example (and hope that his friends will do so as well), we feel that he is entitled to make his own decisions in life and we therefore made it a priority to arrange for the choice to be his. This will happen when he turns 18, the age of adulthood. Our other children, being younger, will not have a choice in this matter; they will be Israeli citizens from day one, with all the obligations and benefits that come with citizenship.

This is the plan that we felt worked for our family. As I have said before, I do not believe there is a right or wrong. Each person and family have to make decisions based on what they think is best for themselves and their families.

With that settled, Yonati carefully reviewed the documents that we had prepared (our passports, original birth certificates, marriage license and a letter from our Rabbi certifying that he knew both Goldie and I as well as our families and that he could vouch for our being Jewish). She noted what documents were not originals and then reviewed all the paperwork we needed to prepare to qualify for Aliyah.

Applicants for Aliyah under the Law of Return are issued a specific Aliyah visa in their foreign passport. Essentially, the paperwork is required in order to apply for an Aliyah visa. When the paperwork is approved, the visa is issued.

Each adult has to sign waivers and consents that they understand what the paperwork is for and that they indeed are applying for Israeli citizenship. Each member of the family (or their parent/guardian) must sign a medical form certifying that they are in good health.

I found the reason for the medical form quite interesting. As you may know, Israel has “socialized” health care, with full coverage for every citizen. Apparently, in recent years there have been olim who have moved to Israel in order to get coverage for expensive medical procedures for which they have no medical coverage in their home country, after which they return to their country of origin. This same thing is also done by Israelis who have left Israel, which has resulted in the Israeli Government legislating a mandatory waiting period before returning citizens can get medical benefits.

In addition to the Medical form, each person who will be making Aliyah must complete and sign a visa application. In duplicate. Many of the forms included a listing of the names and ages of all siblings, so they took quite some time to prepare.

With 5 children making Aliyah, this meant that we needed to fill out i) two waivers, ii) two general Aliyah applications, iii) seven medical forms and iv) fourteen visa applications.

We set aside 2 hours on a Motzei Shabbos to go to my office in the Yeshiva and prepare the forms with no distractions. About ten minutes before we completed filling out the final set of forms I realized that we probably could have saved ourselves a ton of writer’s cramp had I simply scanned the forms into the computer and just edited the information for each child. Too late.

We ordered certified copies of our missing papers and in late January we returned to Jewish Agency to give all our papers to Yonati for processing. Thankfully, we had actually prepared the forms correctly and within ten days we received notification that our Aliyah was approved.

I can tell you that many other Olim have a much harder time getting their paperwork processed. Although we were not required to (and I have no idea why), there is a certification known as “Apostille” certification that many people are required to have put on their birth and marriage certificates. This is a specific type of certification that can only be ordered through the City or State, and we have been told is a pain to arrange for.

Additionally, we know some families in which a grandparent was an Israeli citizen which made one of the spouses intending to make Aliyah an Israeli citizen as well. This puts them in a totally different category of Oleh, requiring not only a different visa but also the issuance of an Israeli passport for that particular person.

Other people have had difficulty getting birth certificates, marriage licenses and even acceptable letters from Rabbis who can verify the lineage of both parents as Jews. Thankfully we had none of these issues and we were approved very quickly without any issues.

With the notification of our visa approval, we were also given instructions of how to get our visas processed and put into our American Passports. Additionally, we had to notify Nefesh Bnefesh that our visas were approved and get them a copy of our visas once they have been issued, so that we could get scheduled on an Aliyah flight.

Before NBN, the Jewish Agency would schedule flights for Olim on regular El Al flights. Upon entering the country, Olim would first enter the country in the foreign passport control area and then proceed to a special office where they would wait (seemingly for hours) for their Visas to be processed. NBN has streamlined this process tremendously.

There is a common misconception that Nefesh Bnefesh is actually paying the costs of the charter flights that are leaving for Israel twice a month from JFK this summer (as well as flights from Canada and England). In truth, the cost of a one way ticket (except for a $50 processing fee per ticket) is paid by the Government of Israel for each Oleh as part of the Law of Return.

What NBN does, is assemble all the Olim together in group flights that the government pays for. They also arrange for officials of the Interior Ministry to be on the plane to process each Oleh’s paperwork inflight, saving countless hours of waiting in the airport upon arrival.

Olim are also entitled to free transportation to their Israeli destination upon arrival in Israel. Arrangements for taxis/transportation for all their Olim is also a service provided by NBN (among the countless other things that NBN does for Olim).

As NBN Olim, we had much less to do with the Jewish Agency than other Olim. Two weeks ago we presented our passports at the Israeli consulate for processing. We assumed that the consulate was in its own building, with soldiers posted outside guarding it. Turns out, that is the embassy.

The Israeli consulate occupies a floor in a midtown office building. They have a special elevator which is guarded and additional security outside the elevators on their floor. When we passed through security we entered a room that could have doubled as a bank. There were 20 or so bulletproof “teller” windows manned by consulate employees.

This of course being the Israeli consulate, we had to wait in line to see which window we would need to go to wait in line at. When we got to the “Aliyah visa” window, there was no one on line but we were still told to take a seat until we were called. I have no idea why.

Once we were called and organized our visa photos (we need something like 10 passport photos for each person to attach to the various forms we will have completed by the time we get to Israel) and documents, we were told to return in no less than ten days as there was no way we could get the visas stamped into our passports that same day.

This week we will go back to the consulate to pick up our passports with visas (and will have done so by the time you read this). We will copy the visas and send the copies to NBN, and they will literally make all the other arrangements for our flight on July 5.

In other areas, we hope to get a copy of our lease this week. We might actually have someplace to live (more details to follow once the lease is signed). We packed a few more boxes – our current total is 26. We also signed up to march with Nefesh Bnefesh Olim in the Israeli Day Parade this Sunday.

This past Shabbos a friend of our daughter came by the house. Her family is also making Aliyah on July fifth. When she saw me she excitedly announced, “Mr. Katz – 39 days!” I remarked to her mother later that day that it is almost like we are in a reverse sefira, counting down the days until we make the big move. Only 5 weeks left.

Approximately seven and a half weeks ago I got a phone call from Larry Gordon, the editor of the Five Towns Jewish Times. He had an idea for a new column that he wanted me to write. He told me that there are more and more people making Aliyah from the 5 Towns, but there are surely even more who are considering it and may be on the fence. Furthermore, while we often hear about people making Aliyah, once the people leave, there is very little personal connection that we here in America have to them in understanding the experience.

Larry asked me to write an Aliyah Journal (the Aliyah Chronicles) about our experiences. His idea was to personalize the process of making Aliyah. His only instruction to me was to try and make the reader feel as if he or she were standing right next to us as things unfolded. He felt that this might encourage others to consider Aliyah or at the very least give them a greater understanding of what Olim go through. “Who knows,” he told me, “this just might be the thing that gives someone the final nudge.”

This past Monday night, a group of adults got together at the home of Robert and Jennifer Airley in Cedarhurst. Each one of those attending will be moving to Israel this summer. (There will be another get together in mid-June, if you are moving to Israel this summer and would like to join us please send me an email)

As Goldie and I entered the house, I saw a very familiar face. I have known one spouse of this couple since college and our children have played together over the years as well. As far as I knew, this family had no plans to make Aliyah in the near future. Yet, here was the husband at a get together for Aliyah bound couples.

So I turned to this fellow and said, “What are you doing here? Are you making Aliyah?”

To which he replied, “Yes we are – and it is all because of you!”

I didn’t really believe him, but our hosts assured me that this couple was indeed planning to make Aliyah this coming September. Jennifer Airley even mentioned that she had been waiting for weeks to see the look on my face when I heard the news. I cannot describe the emotions I felt at hearing his words.

I was absolutely stunned. The thought that this family would even jokingly imply that I had something to do with their decision was overwhelming. I was literally moved to hug this fellow and I was trembling from nervous excitement.

I had no idea that this family was even considering Aliyah, and here they were talking about their post Shavuos pilot trip to find a community to settle in. Obviously this was something that they had considered over time, and clearly I had nothing to do with the process. Which is what I told him.

He assured me that I was wrong. This is what he told me.

He and his wife have talked for years about making Aliyah. They have talked about the need for parnossa and how to make Aliyah work for their family. Their children were encouraging them to make the move. But the task seemed too daunting to them; without a job they didn’t really consider it an option.

Then they started reading these articles, and it didn’t seem so overwhelming (it really is – but once you put your mind to it things just happen). So they gave Nefesh Bnefesh a call and they talked about jobs. After discussing it with his boss, it seems that commuting for 10 days a month will work for them, and all of a sudden here they are planning a September departure to join us this year. If all goes well they will make it official 2 weeks after Shavuos.

Even now, as Goldie and I talk about this, we are literally close to tears as we consider the profound impact our words have had on this family. Goldie even feels a sense of responsibility that their Aliyah be successful, as she would feel terrible if we were responsible for a negative outcome.

I wish I could take the credit. But the credit really goes to Larry Gordon. He came up with the idea for these articles and he is the one who thought that this very result would come from it. So I wish a Yasher Koach to Larry Gordon for coming up with the idea for these articles, and I hope to be able to wish an official Mazal Tov to this family in 2 weeks or so. I also hope and pray to be wishing many more Mazal Tovs in the near future.

Until then I wish you all a Gut Yom Tov and may we all be zocheh to celebrate the rest of our Chagim together in Yerushalayim, the capital of our holy land - Eretz Yisrael.