Aliyah 2020

 When we came on August 11th, we had two suitcases for each of us and one carry on luggage piece as well.  For two people moving across the world permanently, we did not bring very much with us because we knew we were limitted to 50 lbs. per bag .  We also sent our household furniture and effects via ship to Israel.  That ship has still not arrived. We've been living comfortably but with little of our own possessions.  The family upstairs (our family) has graciously lent us pots/pans/knives, mixing bowls etc. whenever we've wanted to help cook for Shabbat meals. So this week, we put together some of what we brought with us, arranged for a mover to take it to our more permanent apartment.  We also had the mover bring a high riser bed that the kids were no longer going to use.  We purchased two mattresses to use on the frame to be delivered a day later. That bed (2 singles) will be used in our guest room! 

  The way we recycle plastic in Israel looks quite different than how we did our recycling in Lincoln, Nebraska.  Here we collect all of our plastic bottles, food containers, and plastic bags in our apartment and then walk outdoors and down the block to find a bin with openings like the one shown above.  There is no charge for recycling via a recycling company and it appears that the city picks up from bins like this one several times a week.  The bins do fill up and people do take advantage of separating out their garbage.  There is also no fee charge for garbage collection.  Rather, we take our garbage to a corner collection point as well.  As soon as we move into our new apartment in the city center of Jerusalem, our bins for recycling and garbage will be in a common-use room in our apartment building.  Once again, there is no fee for garbage collection, but I presume that this option is available for the tenants because we will also pay a mont...

 We had heard much about the health care system in Israel, but we had never experienced it except for one time before arriving here to become permanent residents.  At the airport we joined the MACCABI Health care system (one of 4 kupat cholim here).  After we got out of bidud (quarantine) one of our first stops was to pick up a magnetic identification card from the Maccabi health center office.  We also set up an appointment with a family physician who was assigned to us and we were delighted that along with his medical qualifications it also said he could speak English. Charlie had an appointment with our physician about a week later and he was delightful.  Very good at listening, very helpful with setting up a full series of blood tests to be done in the coming week, and very accomodating with making suggestions about Charlie's current medications. So of course, Charlie did get his blood tests done, had an EKG done for his baseline here, and also saw an ear no...

 This is the beginning of our lime harvesting in our garden courtyard.  Shmuel and Charlie ended up picking over 150 limes that are now being incorporated into our cooking.  For Shabbat we made lime/honey grilled chicken, sweet potato salad with lime dressing, limeade, and pareve lime pie made with avocados and lime juice.  When the harvesting was completed and before we used the limes we participated in the ritual of taking terumah and maaser in Israel.  ( Due to the sanctity of Eretz Yisroel there are special obligations that apply to its produce. Namely, before eating the produce we must determine that it is not from shemittah or arlah, 1 and then we separate certain tithes, known as terumah and ma’aser.) Shmuel discovered that if he shook the trees in our courtyard the trees would release their fruits.  Now our son's refrigerator has one fruit/vegetable drawer filled with limes.  It really is special to have this happening right outside of our doo...

 For those who don't know, making aliyah from the United States leaves one having dual citizenship.  It is possible to vote from overseas as a citizen of the USA and as far as I'm concerned it is not only a privilege to do so and a right to do so but also an obligation of each citizen of the country to care and be involved in this manner.  We wake up each day to check on the US news.  We very much want the country to thrive and prosper, to remain a bastion of freedom and democracy for all of its citizens/inhabitants.   Understanding the Israeli political system is not as easy for me.  If Israel ends up having another election before too long, I will have to take a crash course in understanding the many political parties and what their platforms are.

Sukkot in Jerusalem has also been a very different experience for us.  First of all, the weather here is actually warm enough that eating meals in one's sukkah does not require one to wear heavy sweatshirts and all manners of warm clothing!  Our sukkah is tiny but I prefer to think of it as cozy.  It holds 4 nicely around a small table, has an array of functional and decorative lights that allow us to see when darkness descends, and has views of neighboring sukkot on other balconies above and beside us!  We have been davenning in it, eating in it, studying in it and to be honest the pleasure we are deriving from doing these activities in the sukkah is immense.  Although our son, Yehoshua, would love for us to sleep in the sukkah that Charlie and our grandson built, it is not going to happen.  To get up into our sukkah one must climb a winding, metal staircase which would truly be a night-time night-mare for anyone needing to go down the stairs in the middle...