My Aliyah Journal

I was so much indebted to these heroes; what more could I do to keep their memories alive?

Before calling the municipality to arrange a special pickup of furniture or large appliances, residents often post pictures of these items on Facebook or WhatsApp groups with the simple message of "limisira b'ahava" (for donation with love).

In New York, you can walk into a showroom and examine a range of models; here, most stores carry a few show pieces and otherwise direct you to look through their catalogue to see if you like anything.

Perhaps the hardest questions have related to the political issues here in Israel.

Not a day goes by here in Israel that we don't think about water.

My husband and I debated what was best for the kids. We wanted to do whatever we could to keep them safe, but we also wanted to give them their best opportunities to grow, learn, and have fun.

Every gift came with a personalized note, letting the recipient know that her Secret Maccabee was thinking of her.

Despite the chaos, it's clear that the government is committed to trying to keep us safe while allowing life to continue as much as possible.

While we were cleared to leave the mamad 10 minutes after the siren ended, we continued to sit there long after, trying to process what had just occurred.

At a loss, I thrust my American credit card into her gloved hands and explained that we were new olim and did not understand. Could she please just charge us for the shoes?

I spent the rest of the day wondering how he was doing. When I arrived for pickup, I was relieved to see his smiling face.

As I approached the school along with tens of other children and parents, the excitement was palpable. The principal stood at the gate of the school, greeting each child with an elbow bump and a smile.

While my children and I did not attend shul this year (my husband attended a very small, very early morning minyan), we did manage to have a special davening experience.

Her eyes, however, were wide open, taking it all in. She was fascinated by the surrounding babies after our long indoor confinement.

As my kids and I have taken daily walks for a month now, it is not an exaggeration to say that we literally know every crack in the sidewalk within our allowed kilometer.

In true “Big Brother” fashion, the Shin Bet finds contact points between Covid-19 patients and others using cell phone tracking systems generally employed for counterterrorism operations.

My husband Tzvi has settled into working remotely, and the kids love being able to drop in to supervise his work.

As we’ve learned time and time again through this aliyah process, ultimately everything is in Hashem’s hands.

As I watched my family devouring their ice cream cones on the walk back to the car, one thing was clear. My family was really enjoying their time in Israel.

Admittedly, the lift included some items we had planned to leave behind and others that we had wanted on flight, but while packing had not gone as planned – a running theme in our aliyah – it would have to do.

Indeed, I could not believe how grown up she looked at her party. Sitting on her birthday throne, crowned in a wreath of flowers, bedecked in her best party dress, she looked like such a little lady!

From our first appointment, which was with a social worker, I realized that we were going to be facing a challenging experience.

Living for years in American apartments with either no laundry machine, or a shared laundry room, we had gotten used to planning our weekends around doing laundry.

The items wouldn’t be replaced or refunded. I was informed that they had been delivered by their use-by date and that I could have frozen them.

There is actually a fantastic Facebook group – “LoveLoveIsrael-Tried and Tested” – where you can find everything you may want to know about visiting almost anywhere in Israel.

Generally, orders arrive in a matter of weeks. Little did I realize that due to coronavirus-related postal delays, our lift would arrive weeks before the books I ordered from this site!

One year later, we are free from lockdown, but still unable to celebrate a seder with family, as it is currently nearly impossible to travel between Israel and North America.

Making aliyah is never easy, let alone in the age of coronavirus.

While the chag was still nice, it just wasn’t the Adar excitement we had expected. Reflecting on this over Shabbat, my husband and I decided we still had time to make this holiday special.

While I generally had a lot of fun on these interviews, I still am embarrassed when I recall our first in-Hebrew television interview.