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Last week I got an email from the editor of the 5 Towns Jewish Times asking why I hadn't written an article for the week. I admit I myself was perplexed why it seemed that I had no time anymore – not just for writing, but for other work that I had been accustomed to getting done on the computer like our Yeshiva's monthly newsletter.
Then it hit me. With Goldie's inability to drive, I have been driving to work every day. It saves time (about a half hour each way) and also gives me the freedom to run errands for the family during the day and also on my way home. With all the groceries and sundry our family of eight goes through on an average week, there are a lot of errands to run (and a lot of things are actually cheaper in Jerusalem).
So I haven't taken the train. I have waxed poetic in these pages about how much I enjoy the train. It relaxes me and gives me an hour and a half each day of solitude and serenity (no cellphone signal for a large portion of the trip). The scenery is great. Yet the biggest difference is in my work.
I had taken to doing most of my writing on the train. With my headphones on listening to either the Sameach Music Podcast or the various ESPN radio and WGN radio podcasts I subscribe to (for free) I sat on the train and wrote. Emails. Articles. Newsletters. General correspondence for the Yeshiva. I sat with my laptop and really made the most of that time (OK – so I occasionally watched a movie or video on the laptop, so what).
I hadn't realized how fundamentally different our lives have been for the last few months. We have (once the initial shock and panic wore off) begun to adjust to our new circumstances. We have been told that although the vision problems are not representative of a major health issue, it could take up to six months for her symptoms to abate. Basically, although they continue to test and monitor her on a regular basis, we just have to wait it out (like a virus).
So we have adjusted the way we get things done and have reapportioned our responsibilities accordingly.
Sometimes I get frustrated because I have to do the running around. Other times she is at her wits end because she feels confined and limited in what she can do. Yet, we are (thankfully) managing, and the kids have been great at helping out as well.
Israeli schools go on what they call their "Tiyul Shnati" (annual trip) in this season. Depending on the grade level, they go to various places of interest (mostly hiking in a riverbed or up a mountain) and stay one or two nights in a youth hostel or dormitory of a Yeshiva that is on vacation. Aliza had a tiyul shnati this year in the Northern Negev, with an overnight stay in Yerucham (a Yeshiva town in the middle of nowhere).
She has really acclimated to being here. She is our second best Hebrew speaker (Batya is amazingly the best of the bunch – she reads Israeli fiction in Hebrew on her grade level in 2 nd Grade) and is exuberant about everything she does. She got into the three middle/high schools she applied for and is really doing quite well.
Chaya was supposed to have gone on her tiyul at the end of the week, but a forecast of heavy rains in the northern regions of the country caused the school to cancel the trip. Not a happy day in our house.
The day after Aliza got back, Goldie and Aliza together joined Mordechai for his birthday party in Gan. Happy Sixth Birthday Mordechai. We had a joint party with "Akiva," another new Oleh whose birthday was also that week.
Discounting the fact that it was in Hebrew, the party was uniquely Israeli (Aliza who is reading this as I write says that is was "so much cuter than in America") with special crowns for the birthday boys, games, a cake, drinks and so on. They make a special table for the boys, with thrones for them and special chairs for their mothers. There is music and dancing and the party lasts for well over an hour.
Although we had heard it before, Goldie was amazed to see how well Mordechai is getting on with his Hebrew. The Gannenet (Morah) would tell him what they were going to do and then say to him, "Now tell Akiva in English." He really is the translator for some of the kids! Pretty good for a kid who got nauseous every time he heard Hebrew.
The day after his party, we had a nasty stomach virus (that has apparently hit a lot of Beit Shemesh) begin its run through the family. In Mordechai's case it was so severe that he woke up dehydrated and needed two IV bags at the doctor's office to make sure he was ok. They actually thought he might have had appendicitis.
That night, in a routine follow up with her private doctor, we were pleased to see that one of Goldie's symptoms seemed to show slight improvement. While we were warned not to read too much into it, we still were encouraged. The doctor, apparently feeling that we had too much free time on our hands, scheduled her for yet another barrage of tests.
The next week was another series of medical tests and follow ups. We went to the hospital for a check up with the head of the department (who was Goldie's attending physician when she was in the hospital as well). Interestingly, he did not notice the improvement that her private doctor had seen, but instead noted a strengthening of her eye muscles which should (hopefully) eventually result in the return of her normal vision.
Chaya went on her rescheduled tiyul shnati to Northern Israel and the Galil. Chaya is not necessarily the most outdoorsy of our kids, so we were interested to see how she would respond to the trip.
Her first day went well, with Kayaking down what she termed a "dirty, smelly little river" (we have no idea which one) and then to visit the kever of Rav Meir Baal Haness. The next day Goldie got a phone call from her while she was in the middle of a six and a half hour hike. Her only words? "I HATE NATURE!"
However, she did have a really terrific time. It really wasn't what she was doing, since she didn't like what she was doing. But she and her friends had a really great time bonding together.
Chaim started his own team in the Israeli Flag Football League. He had been on a team that was disbanding and wanted to make sure he would play the second season, so he decided to make his own team. He contacted all the players for the team, and since a couple of his classmates were playing on the team, he went to the Director of his program and asked if they would sponsor his team.
They agreed.
So he is the captain of the GMAX team in the High School division of the football league. It is amazing to see his growth. Aside from the growth that you would normally expect from a teenager, the culture here really expects a lot of independence and responsibility from our youth and Chaim has really taken to that message.
Even the younger kids are much freer here than they would have been in America. We have an eight and six year old taking our two year old a few blocks to Gan on their own. They walk to the supermarket (about half a mile) by themselves to go to after school activities and routinely disappear on Shabbat afternoon to be with their friends who live throughout the neighborhood. We often don't see them for hours at a time as they wander in packs from house to house.
I had been looking forward to going to our first Israeli wedding. On Wednesday night of last week, we thought we were going to get our chance. We attended the wedding of Elisheva Lipkin, the daughter of Menachem and Randi Lipkin (they have appeared here before), our neighbors from down the block. We were really very excited to go to our first Israeli wedding, albeit in Bnei Brak.
Well, we still have more waiting to do. The wedding was awesome, but we could've been in Brooklyn. Very American. Not that Israeli means bad, but we could tell that this was an American wedding from the minute we walked in. It was a lot of fun (especially when the band started playing "Mission Impossible" and then moved on to various cartoon themes) and a nice break from the ordinary.
For the Shabbat Sheva Brachot we hosted the Chatan's uncle and aunt, Shimmy and Shirley Storch. As soon as I heard their names I realized that they were Eli Storch's parents (Eli is a Rebbi in DRS and he and Yaffa lived a block away from us in Woodmere where he was a regular in the Motzei Shabbat Maariv Minyanim in my basement). Right before Shabbat, as the Storch's called America to wish Shabbat Shalom to the Woodmere contingent, we had a chance to say Hi, which was nice.
Interestingly, the Chatan's sister Miriam is a student in TMM, the high school that Chaya would have attended in Far Rockaway and where almost all of her friends go to high school. So, even though they had never met, they had a chance over Shabbat to "catch up" on what is going on in America.
As Pesach is fast approaching and we are all preparing for the chag, I want to wish all of you a wonderful Pesach. May you share it with family and friends and may we have the zchut to have you join us here in our Holy Land next year for Pesach in a rebuilt Jerusalem, sharing the Korban Pesach (Passover Sacrifice) at our Seder in the time of the ultimate redemption.
And in the off chance that we are still in galut (exile), you should still be here.
For those of you who will be in Israel over Pesach, our family will be participating in a special program delivering Pesach goodies to the soldiers who put their lives in jeopardy every day to ensure our safety. This program is run under the auspices of STANDING TOGETHER in conjunction with FRIENDS OF THE IDF. To join us or for more information on how to support this effort, please visit www.stogether.org or email Miriam Gottlieb at info@stogether.org
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