Elul and I are so excited. Two days ago, we received our Aliyah visas so we can move to Nahariya, Israel. It was a long journey leading up to this point, starting more than two years ago when we lived in a small town deep in the American Southwest. While we were reasonably comfortable and in work, we were disturbed by the crash of the economy and the increasing nastiness of the political rhetoric flying around. We wanted to be part of a country that we felt needed our presence more.
I am in my mid-forties, and my husband Elul is in his late fifties. I don't have children, and Elul's children are young adults now; one son is in his third year of university, the other is a junior in high school and lives with his mother across the country. While moving to Israel is usually something people do when they are either quite young and just starting out in life, or completely retired and looking for a different way of life, we are doing it now. Frankly, we have little to lose at this point. Elul was laid off from his job last year, and a week after the layoff, his father died. We moved across country, to Southern Florida, in a hurry. I resigned from my job and we delayed making Aliyah for approximately six months, while we helped Elul's mother adjust to her new life as a widow. Fortunately, Elul's sister lives in the same town, so she will continue to be near my mother-in-law.
The entire Aliyah process is something I'll have to go into in subsequent posts, as it was fairly complicated and had quite a few twists and turns along the way. But the punchline is, as I've already revealed, that in the end we did manage to get our visas, Category 4-B (Law of Return), and we're going at the end of December!
Now, I must consult my English-Hebrew dictionary and see if there's a translation for "woot"!
I am in my mid-forties, and my husband Elul is in his late fifties. I don't have children, and Elul's children are young adults now; one son is in his third year of university, the other is a junior in high school and lives with his mother across the country. While moving to Israel is usually something people do when they are either quite young and just starting out in life, or completely retired and looking for a different way of life, we are doing it now. Frankly, we have little to lose at this point. Elul was laid off from his job last year, and a week after the layoff, his father died. We moved across country, to Southern Florida, in a hurry. I resigned from my job and we delayed making Aliyah for approximately six months, while we helped Elul's mother adjust to her new life as a widow. Fortunately, Elul's sister lives in the same town, so she will continue to be near my mother-in-law.
The entire Aliyah process is something I'll have to go into in subsequent posts, as it was fairly complicated and had quite a few twists and turns along the way. But the punchline is, as I've already revealed, that in the end we did manage to get our visas, Category 4-B (Law of Return), and we're going at the end of December!
Now, I must consult my English-Hebrew dictionary and see if there's a translation for "woot"!
Nice introduction to all that will follow in your blog. Mazel tov on getting your visas. I'll probably never get there and am very happy for you. I also like your comment form message. It inspired me to do one for my own site.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Key Player! It's great to see you here. People sure can get passionate about the subjects of Judaism and Israel, can't they? To say the least, LOL! Selah
ReplyDeleteSounds like a blast and great adventure for you two! Seems like deja vu for me except (including the revisting religion) I plan on heading west for adventure - FL is a remote possibility with family there. I am doing okay at the moment and fixed up my condo but want to see more than trees and traffic as we do here in DC and looking for some pioneer spirit too - AZ mountains for now. I am about 20 years older than you but healthy to make a change and do more hiking. I miss those vistas and great sunsets. I wear a pedometer and try to stay in the 12,000-18,000 steps a day but need formal gym stuff as winter approaches. I plan on a move now in about a year. Let's see how each of our plans work out. Best wishes for you both!
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