Welcome to Israel? (Article #12) 7/20/2006

We awoke our first morning as Israeli citizens to the sound of the doorbell buzzing. Our 3 AM family party (jetlag) had morphed into a universal sleep late notice and the cleaning lady was at the door waiting to be let in.

The furnished home we are living in for the next few weeks comes complete with a cleaning lady three times a week (we pay) so that the house stays moderately in order. Although there couldn't have been much mess, it was a good thing she showed up, because without her we'd still be sleeping.

It was especially helpful because we had a 10 AM appointment to register for Kupat Cholim. Health coverage here is nationalized and automatically deducted from each employee's paycheck. However, in order to encourage the providers to provide the best care possible, there are several rival Kuppat Cholim organizations (similar to HMOs) that compete for patients and funds.

We were greeted at the airport by members of Kupat Cholim Meuchedet, whom we had already decided to join. Friday morning, one of them picked us up in her car and drove us to register for their specific organization. At the post office. Well, where else should you register for health coverage?

In Israel, EVERYTHING is done at the post office. Pay your bills? Go to the Post Office. Parking ticket? Post Office. Health Insurance? Post Office. I think you can even send mail from there.

Registering for health coverage cost about eight dollars. For the whole family. We were done within minutes and the local rep took out paperwork with her so she could enter us into the computer right away. Good thing she did because we were in their offices on Sunday.

After returning home we went to the shopping district in Ramat Beit Shemesh to convert some dollars into Shekels and pay for camp. We are paying something like $1,300 for camp. Two kids are going for five weeks and the other is going for two weeks.

Although we had been told to wait a few days so that our information could be entered into the national database, we decided to stop in at the bank and try to open a bank account. Israel maintains a national database of all citizens by their ID number. When they typed our numbers into the computer, all of our biographical information came up eliminating the need for filling out a million forms.

We headed to the local bagel store for lunch where we were presented by the owner with a lovely welcoming gift of treats when she heard that we were new olim and went home to prepare for our first Shabbat in Israel.

It is a good thing that the neighbors here are very friendly or we would have had a very hot Shabbat. Apparently, the thermostat has two settings. "On" and "off". If you program the timer, you must set it to be either on or off. You cannot change the temperature based on the time of day, you can only assign a single temperature and decide if you want the unit on or off.

Better yet, is the fact that the unit blows all the time. The condenser might turn itself on or off based on the desired temperature, but the fan motor is kept continuously blowing no matter if the condenser is making the air cooler or not.

Thankfully, there is a minyan on the block for Shabbat, so I was able to daven on time, even though setting the thermostat took me a long time. That is if there had been more than eight men. In the end, we had to run to a shul around the corner and show up late.

I should mention that we must have gotten 5 different cookie and cake trays welcoming us to the neighborhood on Friday, each more yummy looking than the next. This was beyond the numerous personal visits and calls from people offering to welcome us to the neighborhood.

That night we ate dinner by a cousin of mine who has lived in Israel for over 10 years and is about half a mile from us. The highlight of the evening was Mordechai's response (he is five) to a cousin who kept trying to speak to him in Hebrew. "I don't speak Hebrew," he replied, "I only just got here yesterday!"

After finally getting a good night's sleep, I headed off to shul and ended up at Bais Tefilla (not my intended destination). I felt like I was in the Red Shul or any other very American shul within the 5 Towns. Everything, including the announcements and Rabbi's speech was in English. There was a Bar Mitzva that day, and as a Cohen I got the first Aliyah to the Torah.

As the Gabbai recited the Mi Sheberach, I glanced at the Artscroll Gabbai Handbook and noticed that the Mi Sheberach I was getting had the title "Mi Sheberach for the Oleh"! While they meant Oleh to the Torah, I couldn't help but reflect that I was a double Oleh for that morning at least.

At the end of davening, both me and Rabbi Tzvi Friedman were welcomed as new olim and the entire shul sang Vshavu Vanim in our honor. After davening, it seemed like everyone in shul came over to welcome us to Israel.

When I retuned from shul to head off to lunch, I discovered that the jet lag had not yet totally run its course as the entire family had slept in until 11:20, ten minutes prior to my arrival home.

We ate lunch that day by our next door neighbors. Simon and Aliza Baum moved to Israel from London, where Simon continues to work three and a half days a week. Although they did not know us at all, they were quite happy to invite all seven of us for the meal, in addition to their other two guests whose families were overseas.

Over the meal we had a very lively discussion on the various benefits of making split Aliyah (one parent makes Aliyah – the other doesn't), full Aliyah or no Aliyah. Essentially, we agreed that split Aliyah is really only beneficial if you work outside the country and can therefore avoid taxes at Israeli tax rates (50%).

Interestingly, in our neighborhood there is an unofficial policy that the children cannot play outside until 4 PM on Shabbat afternoon. You might think that parents wishing to take a nap would want the kids out of the house because you can hear everything inside the house here. Apparently, when they are outside it is even worse.

The kids all disappeared that afternoon with their new friends. Mordechai could not be found for two hours late in the afternoon. When he turned up he told us that he went to shul with his friend and his friend's Abba. No biggee here, apparently it is fine for them to just go.

By Shabbat morning, our oldest daughter Chaya (who had begun complaining of homesickness on Thursday night) reported feeling ill. We had a sneaking suspicion that her homesickness and moodiness that we had originally attributed to the move was actually due to illness. So we made plans to have her checked at the doctor the next morning after I went off to my first day of work.

That night I tried to access the internet and setup my VOIP phone connection. I had gotten an internet phone from Broadfone in Cedarhurst and they had even transferred my old home phone number to that account so that people could still call us on that number.

Internet here is totally different than in America. It took me (literally) 3 days to get the internet working and another 3 to discover that the modem that is in my house is totally incompatible with VOIP. If it was my house, all I would have to do is switch to a more modern modem. However, since the owner of the house's computers are all set to the current settings, I have no choice but to grin and bear it.

Debbie Rothman (of Broadfone) was terrific throughout the whole process. When she realized that there was nothing we could do, she got our incoming calls to automatically call forward to our Israeli phone number, so that we can now get our incoming calls. When we move to our long term rental, we can get the proper equipment and have everything in order.

Sunday morning, I got a ride in to Yerushalayim and headed off to work. Goldie walked with Chaya to the local pediatrician's office to be checked for strep. She waited in a waiting room as the doctor saw one patient at a time. There was no nurse to prescreen you or weigh you or anything. When it was her time to enter she just went straight in to the office where the doctor was waiting.

Israeli doctors do everything for themselves. All the kids information is on the computer in front of them and they enter in any changes or needs. For instance, Chaya was tested for strep, the test went into the computer and a prescription for antibiotics was issued.

Some interesting things about our Kupat Cholim: They have a 24 hour hotline for you to set an appointment in case your kids get sick at night. They have non jewish doctors staffing the local clinic for 17 out of 25 hours of Shabbat in case your kid gets sick.

Here comes to cool part. Goldie took the prescription to the local pharmacy. It really wasn't needed because all the info was in the computer. Yet, she took it anyway just in case. When she got to the drugstore, the pharmacist took a brief look at it, opened a drawer and removed a box of medicine, handwrote some instructions on it and passed it across the desk in exchange for 12 shekels (less than 3 dollars). Time of transaction: thirty seconds.

That was it. No waiting in line for the pharmacist to take the prescription. No waiting for the pharmacist to check 400 things in the computer and print out a specialized label, then fill the prescription and finally to get it to you twenty minutes later. No signing a release that says even though I didn't actually speak with the pharmacist and have no clue what I am buying that I agree that I got "counseling" about my medication. Just buying medicine like you would buy a pack of gum.

The littler kids all started day camp that day and came home thrilled. Although everything is conducted in Hebrew, they had so many English speakers around them that they got along very well and continue to do so.

My first few days of work were somewhat interesting. They bought me a new computer with Hebrew only windows. Every time I got an error message I was ready to jump out the window (I work on the first floor). Is this a network problem? A hardware conflict?

By day three of having to translate errors for me, my boss had had enough and I took the train to Rishon Litziyon to have the Hebrew Windows replaced by a Hebrew/English version. It was a tremendous relief to have it done so that I could finally understand what I was doing.

Having been in Israel for all of 6 days, I had a true pleasure to join in a simcha at the Kotel in the first week I was here. Elazar and Estelle Aryeh and his sister Debora and Mitchell Ozeri had a joint hanachat Tefillin for their sons at the Kotel Wednesday morning. Although it took me forever to get there, I still managed to get there before davening and it was a real treat to join in a simcha of families that I knew in the 5 Towns.

Thursday afternoon I left work early to make my way back to Beit Shemesh for an appointment at Misrad Haklita (the absorption ministry). Although we had received our initial payments for becoming Olim at the airport, we needed to register our bank account with them in order to get continued bank transfers into our account.

The absorption payments last for 7 months. The theory is that they give you these funds in order to support you while you are learning Hebrew in ulpan, after which you should be able to move right into the work force. After that you can get rental assistance as well as minimal unemployment payments if you have not found work.

The government also pays you just for having kids. We will be getting a monthly bank transfer for each child until they turn 18. It isn't a ton of money, but it will certainly help pay the bills.

All our other benefits are also arranged through the Misrad Haklitah. They gave Goldie her Ulpan payment certificate and the lady even tested her Hebrew for placement purposes (she said that Goldie's Hebrew is actually very good but she isn't confident enough to use it). They also explained how all our services coordinate (in theory) like public schooling and how to get it and things like how to start getting our Israeli Driver's Licenses. They are basically supposed to be our advocates as we absorb into Israeli society.

Of course, it is impossible to write about being in Israel without discussing the dramatic changes in the security situation over the past two weeks. My brother Ely made Aliyah five or six weeks prior to the beginning of the intifada. When I spoke to my father last week he said that there must be something about the Katz boys that stirs up so much trouble when they arrive. It almost makes me want to tell our youngest brother not to come. Almost.

When we left for Israel, Gilad Shalit (May Hashem grant him a speedy and safe return to his family) had just been captured and the army had just invaded (how it is possible to invade your own land is beyond my comprehension) Gaza in the desperate search for him. The attention of the country was focused on his well being.

On Wednesday morning, as I rode a taxi to the Kotel to join the Aryeh and Ozeri families for the Hanachat Tafillin celebration for their (respective) sons, I heard on the radio that 2 more soldiers had been captured by Hezbollah and that the army was trying to destroy all the routes by which they could be taken out of the area.

My boss, who was due to travel to the US that night, got a call that his unit may be called to duty. He is a paratrooper and there was talk that they may be called upon to spearhead an invasion into Lebanon.

I spoke by phone (on Friday) with Wily Nathanson who is here on vacation with his wife Fern, and he told me about being in Rosh Hanikra (literally on the Lebanon border) when the initial fighting broke out and he described to me how initially his tour guide told them not to worry, gunfire would sporadically break out at the border. However, as the sounds of fighting began to escalate, their guide would eventually yank them all back to the cr (literally grabbing children off of the cable cars) and evacuate them from the area. He added that as they drove south they passed a smoke plume that they discovered was the ruins from a Katyusha rocket.

At that time, I – among many others – thought that we would continue the same stand by and wait attitude that our army had become famous for, with limited, focused air attacks on highly visible Hezbollah and Hamas target until a backdoor negotiated deal was reached. I was wrong.

The next morning my ride into Yerushalayim was totally occupied with the news that we had either destroyed the Beirut airport or some of its runways and were continuing to consider other targets in Lebanon. As the rockets began to fly back and forth, we began to realize that we were really at war.

Then news came that Nahariyah had been hit by rockets and that they were beginning to come in with alarming frequency. We spoke to our nephew who is here with Bnei Akiva's Mach Hach Baaretz program and he told us how his tiyul in the Galil was cancelled and that they keep moving more and more south, eventually ending up in Maalei Gilboa.

Another nephew (my sister's son) had been visiting relatives up north in Acco and told me on the phone how he could not sleep all night because of the IAF jets flying overhead on their way to Beirut.

Thursday night I spoke with my sister to find out how all her in-laws who live in northern Israel are doing. She excitedly told me that one brother in-law had called to report that a Katyusha had landed down the block from his home in Haifa. Then, minutes before she had gotten another call from a brother in-law in Shlomi in whose backyard a Katyusha had landed!!!

All the windows in his house had been totally blown out and their neighbor's water main had burst, flooding their house. Thankfully everyone came through it fine, but they were absolutely scared to death (as well they should be).

We entered Shabbat wondering how far this would go and with the concern that ground forces would be called upon to invade Lebanon and clear Hezbollah out.

Interestingly, Shabbat passed in a total news blackout. No one gets the paper (there is none) and in this neighborhood there is not a radio or TV to be heard until Motzei Shabbat. We had no idea about the rockets hitting Tzfat and continuing to barrage Haifa nor any of the bombings done by the IDF until we went online.

Sunday I had an all day conference in Beit Hatfutzot on the campus of Tel Aviv University. While at the conference, a coworker got a call from his wife, telling him that they just issued a warning to all of those from Tel Aviv and all points north to be prepared to enter their bomb shelters with one minute's notice.

That made me pause and ask where the shelters are. The response? Just follow all the running people.

I must admit that at that time I was a little wary. When had I ever had to figure out where the nearest bomb shelter was?

While you may think that the entire country is cowering in terror based on the information provided to you by CNN, the actual truth is that without the newspapers and internet, we would have no idea that there is anything going on.

Each day I head off to work, just like every other day (well – ok, only for the last week or so). I check my emails, make phone calls and go about my average day without any changes to what is becoming my routine. I head home and spend a couple hours with the kids before they head to sleep then continue planning with Goldie what we need to get accomplished as we keep moving forward.

Yes, we are extremely concerned about the situation. Our soldiers are being used as bargaining chips by the murderous thugs that our government (until recently) was busy considering giving more and more territory to. Our borders are under attack and they are shelling our countrymen. Of course we are concerned.

This is of course not even considering that our lift is due to arrive in the next couple of weeks by boat. To the port of – you guessed it, HAIFA!

Yet, life goes on. Since we are somewhat disassociated from the fighting, we are not concerned for our personal safety, only the safety of others. This allows us to continue moving forward with our absorption and settling into Israeli society.

I am sure that many of those who have made Aliyah to Northern Israel, especially those who were on our flight, have questioned their decision. They are literally in the center of all the action, and are literally being shelled day and night. I cannot comprehend what life must be for them.

I also wonder what must be happening in the Nefesh B'Nefesh offices. As those people who had planned to make Aliyah later this summer watch CNN and begin to worry rethink their plans, I am sure that there will be cancellations (as of this morning, NBN was reporting ZERO cancellations to date). It is hard to imagine people canceling, but think for a second if you were supposed to move to Tzfat or Haifa or even Teveria. If you had plans like that – you too might reconsider.

As I have said before, our Aliyah has (thankfully) been atypical. We have had things seemingly fall in to place as we needed them to, and have been fortunate so far. Yes, there are many trying moments, but overall I cannot describe how much we are enjoying our experience here in Israel and how welcome and loved we have felt since the day we landed.

We can only hope and pray that Hashem protect us and our brothers and sisters here in Israel, that he look over our servicemen and women and see to their safety and security as they see to ours without the need for further bloodshed and suffering and that he return not just the three servicemen seized these past few weeks, but all the servicemen who have been missing as far back as the early 1980's.