Yizti makes friends, Tremping with Sruli, Jerusalem with Goldie and Sarala's Screaming

First, I want to thank everyone for the feedback on this blog. I hope I did not sound too incoherent since the lack of sleep before leaving Hollywood and the excitement of getting set up here in Israel does not make for the best of clear thinking. For those interested in where this idea to write about Israel came from, the answer is a book written by Laura Ben David called Moving Up. Laura wrote a book based on her family's Aliyah experiences in 2002. I highly recommend that book for anyone out there even remotely considering making Aliyah. While I have no plans for writing a book, upon landing in Israel and seeing the impact it has had so quickly on everyone I felt I did not want to go to bed that night without documenting some of my thoughts. 


So, we are now 3 days into our new lives as Israeli's. The sound of that still makes me smile and laugh a little since I am the last person in the world who would fit into my own pre-conceived notions of what an Israeli really is. What is a modern day Israeli and where does this fit into my family's universe? To try and answer that question I want to relay three episodes with our kids that I think gives a glimpse into what it means to be Israeli. 1. Yitzi - On the top 5 list of why to move to Israel for us was so that all of our kids and most of all Yitzi could live as a proud Jew, in a Jewish land and have close friends. We also wanted him to have a first class Jewish education while at the same time learning skills that will make him competitive in today's global economy. So, tonight over dinner Yitzi had two new friends over. These were kids who's father made it a point in Shul to inquire as to who I was, the ages of my kids and then go out of his way to introduce his kids to Yitzi, take them to play baseball and then for slurpee. Now there are a lot of slurpees where we came from. BUT BASEBALL AND YITZI? No way! A typical "play date" would involve 3 kids sitting in a room all glued to video games. No talking, no laughing and certainly NO EXERCISE. So, to say that Mimi and I were excited that he is playing outside with good kids is an understatement. 


As to the education here, I know for a fact that I am comfortable that Yizti will receive a very good Torah education. But as for learning global skills?? So let me take you to a conversation I had with one of his friends this evening. ME: So what do you like about living in this part of Efrat? FRIEND: (Name Changed to protect identity of under aged child) Well, I like Efrat because I feel it is a very Green City. ME: Green?? You mean there are a lot of trees and grass and stuff? FRIEND: No, they recycle and things. 


I think that is a very interesting encounter to have with an 11-year- old. Not one that I have ever once had with any friend Yizti has ever brought home before. Very encouraging and I think it speaks not only to the type of parenting that goes on here but also to something the schools must be touching: RESPONSIBILITY. 

2. Tremping with Sruli - 

To tremp is Hebrew slang for hitchhike, but English speakers in Israel will still say tremp instead of saying hitchike in English conversations. I am not someone who has a lot of patience. I am also someone who is not accustomed to traveling in style,  via bus. So, if I am going to go somewhere by bus the bus better be there when it says it is going to be there. As it turns out the 44 bus which runs inside of Efrat is a fairly new route and it still does not run as "regular" as the other buses. My younger son Sruli is a lot more into Thomas the Train than Egged the Bus but after a little convincing he was ready to take a ride with me to the local municipality to pick up some info on the community. After about an hour of sitting out at the bus stop in the heat I got fed up and decided to flag down the next car I saw and ask for a ride to the place we were going. Sure enough it worked and within 5 min we were at the pizza shop getting a slurpee and then onto the municipality. So, lesson learned???? NEVER WAIT AN HOUR FOR A BUS WHEN YOU HAVE PEOPLE WILLING TO GIVE YOU A RIDE. FOCUS ON THE DESTINATION NOT ON HOW HARD IT IS T GET THERE. 3. Goldie goes to Jerusalem - Today was a very meaningful experience for me. I took my older daughter Goldie to pick up our Teudot Zechut - Israeli ID cards. What was so meaningful was that she was so excited to go to Jerusalem because Uncle Moishy sings a song about it. So we took two buses to get to the Ramada Renaissance Hotel which was the first hotel I ever stayed in when I came to Israel the first time. The whole way there Godlie made me sing that song to her. So again, in one sense it was hard to get there. On the other hand  I spent over 2 hours singing with my daughter and walking the streets of Jerusalem. That is a very powerful idea to me. 4. Sarah - as I was walking back from Shul last night I ran into two couples who lived in the building we are renting in. Sarah has had the worst case of jet lag and our nights have been filled with the sweet melody of Sarah crying or rather screaming. I jokingly asked the couples if my daughter had kept them up. They laughed and said they honestly thought something was wrong. I was a little worried that they were mad but they then offered to come over and baby sit since they have many grandchildren and if Mimi and I need to just take a walk they would come over.  So what is the point I am trying to make here? I think it is that my initial thoughts on society here are that people here are not about the process, they are about the results. They are not about wasting time trying to figure out what is important. They already know, and the rest is just details of how to get to the destination. Welcome to Israel!! Anyway, I hope this has interested some people and I look forward to your feedback.