The Traveling Jew (Article #26) 11/2/2006

We are entering into one of the busiest times of the year for Yeshivot like ours. Each November, recruiting season begins with three weeks of “Israel nights” in the various Yeshiva High Schools across the US. Each Yeshiva has to send representatives to the various High Schools to address the students and parents, telling them something about their Yeshiva and why it is a good choice for them for the upcoming year.

One of my responsibilities is to coordinate our PR efforts, including the publication of our recruitment brochure. In consultation with our administration, I radically redesigned the brochure, opting for a less complex design with more pictures of happy, learning students.

We almost didn’t have the brochure ready on time. The Yeshiva’s graphic artist is my boss’ wife, and I was supposed to work with her on this project during the summer. Unfortunately, he was in the army during the summer, and I felt that it was inappropriate for me to intrude upon her life while she was worrying about her husband.

By the time things settled down, we were late in producing a proof and had to really scramble in order to get the brochure printed in time for recruitment. We actually had the brochures printed in the US and shipped to a few locations since we had very little time available.

Additionally, our Yeshiva scheduled our first major fundraising event (Chicago parlor meeting) for the last week in October. This will be my first major event with the Yeshiva and I am approaching it with some trepidation.

In order to properly prepare for the fundraiser, I made plans to travel to Chicago early in the week. I needed time to make sure that all the preparations were moving forward as needed and to set up some private meetings with our larger donors.

Of course, since I was taking the Rosh HaYeshiva and the Menahel Klali with me for the parlor meeting, the fact that several staff members were also preparing to leave on recruiting trips made our absences all the more difficult for the Yeshiva. While there are always substitutes available to give shiurim, sometimes the lack of available “hands” makes everyday activities more difficult.

I spent the beginning of the week getting ready for my Monday night flight. Preparing lists, packing materials and putting together the least amount of clothing I could, so that there would be room to bring back stuff for the kids. Good thing I did that.

My flight in was much better than the prior one. I definitely prefer the night flight. Everyone is much quieter and you have a chance to sleep (although I gotta find out about sleeping pills because I can only catch 2-3 hours). Arriving in Newark was much, much better than JFK, the process was so much smoother.

There are 3 things that would improve my outbound flights. They are really matters of convenience more than anything. The first is getting to the Gold status of El Al. It will be close for me, since I calculate that I will be within a round trip of getting there by the end of my first twelve months in the program.

However, the Gold status comes with some big perks. I doubt I will get upgraded, but it is a definite possibility. The perks I am looking for are the special check-in counters. Instead of having to wait in line, Gold and higher members of El Al get their own special ticket counters, where the lines move much quicker.

Gold members also get a larger weight allowance. While this wouldn’t really affect me on the way out of Israel, my return trips become much more productive when I have the opportunity to bring more stuff home.

Another thing I am looking forward to is qualifying for electronic immigration control in Israel. Israeli citizens have an option to file their passport information and handprints with the border police. Then, each time they enter and leave the country they can bypass the passport control lines and, using their handprints, electronically register their entries and exits from Israel.

Unfortunately, this option is only available to Israeli passport holders, of which I am NOT one. I know this sounds a little silly since I am an Israeli citizen, but I cannot get an Israeli passport until I have been an Israeli citizen for a full year. Until then, I travel on something called a Teudat Ma’avar (traveling certificate).

The Tuedat Ma’avar is something that is used only by Olim. The Teudat Ma’avar looks just like a passport. Essentially, it is a document that is only used for the Israeli border control; for entry and exit into other countries, the Oleh has to use his passport from the country he came from.

The flight went pretty well, the only glitch was using my cellphone. The flight crew of El Al constantly reminded us in flight that cellphones cannot be used until the cabin doors open. So, as I got off the plane, I whipped out my phone to call Goldie and let her know I had arrived safely.

Apparently, cellphones cannot be used until after luggage is retrieved and you pass through customs. When I got to the immigration officer he said to me, “Sir go back behind the white line and when you approach my station I will have to fine you $1,000 if I see you talking on the cellphone.”

In my subsequent discussion with him, I discovered that they always seem to have cellphone issues with El Al passengers, and when I told him that the flight crew gave us erroneous information, we both realized why. Although I am not sure exactly why this rule is in effect, after all what can we do with a cellphone between the time we get off the plane and the time we get through customs – I wish the US officials would notify the airline what the policy is so that people could avoid trouble.

I had scheduled a ten hour stopover in NY, in order to have meetings with some potential donors. Since I would be in NY, Goldie’s mother took the opportunity to “fill my suitcases”, which she did. By the time I got to the airport to check in my bags, I was glad that I had packed lightly, since my bags came in only one pound below the airline’s weight limit.

Of course, since I had only slept three hours on the plane from Israel, and I had spent the entire day running around NY and was extremely tired, it only made sense that my flight to Chicago would be delayed two hours. By the time we got on the plane I was totally exhausted and once we were in the air, I fell asleep until ten minutes before landing.

Leaving Israel is weird. There are so many mental adjustments I have to make. There is no Bircat Kohanim each day. The day seems so much more rushed in America. But the biggest adjustment has to be the change in temperature. It is so cold in America. Each time I come here I am astounded at the differences between our climates.

Meanwhile, as you would expect, my absence from the house was a perfect opportunity for things to go wrong. By the time I got to America two kids had strep throat and the hot water heaters stopped working. Of course, by Friday it started to rain heavily and there were three leaks in the house (expected when you have new construction) as well as a ton of mud for the kids to play in since our grass has not yet been planted.

Chaya (age 13) needed to have a tooth pulled, and will be going for new braces next week. It seems like we will never be free from braces; Chaim’s braces were removed just last week after three years.

The kids of course knew that I was gone and they tried to push Goldie as hard as they could. They assume that she is too busy and lonely to notice that they are trying to take advantage of her. I feel bad, because this makes my trips that much harder for her to handle.

It is during these trips that the inevitable homesickness for America hits one of the kids. This time it was Mordechai’s turn, coming home crying that he doesn’t want to go to school in Hebrew, he wants to be in America and play with his best friend Gabey – IN ENGLISH! While that moment passed, and he went to school and got back to normal, these things do pop up from time to time, and we will most likely be dealing with them for the next few months.

She also has a much harder time sleeping with me out of the house. She says that she feels unsafe without me there. It is flattering to me to hear it, but I hate how tired she sounds when I talk to her.

We expected things to be like this. After all, I specifically looked for a job that had a major travel component, so that I could visit our family and friends on a regular basis. Yet, I wish there was a way I could make it easier for her.

On the other hand, having the ability to buy certain things we could not possibly get in Israel is a definite benefit. Despite the overwhelming amount of stuff my mother in law got us, I still needed to get some (more) paper blinds, and some toiletries that are not sold in Israel (somebody should import those blinds – they would make a killing).

I spent a very nice Shabbat with my cousins in Chicago. Thankfully, my family is very supportive of our Aliyah and we enjoy spending time together. I know that one of the only things our kids express about wanting to come to NY or Chicago is so that they can see all their cousins.

On Motzei Shabbat I had the opportunity to visit with Steven Kirshner, one of my oldest friends from Chicago. Steve was in Chicago visiting his family, and although he lives no more than a half hour drive away from us in Israel, this was the first time we had seen each other since we made Aliyah.

Steve works on the other side of Yerushalayim from our Yeshiva, and since we have been so overwhelmingly busy trying to not be busy, we have had very little time to actually get away from the house to visit people since we moved. Every night is a school night, and just when things look like they are about to calm down, I go on a ten day trip overseas.

Hopefully, this will be my last trip until we change the calendar. Goldie is scheduled to be in NY (for an accounting audit with the school she worked for in America) for a week in December, so we will still have some topsy turvy time next month, but we are hoping that by Channuka, even the overseas trips will cease being a novelty and we will finally have our lives at an even keel.