Navigating the Maze – The Final Steps…Except a Cell Phone

After spending good quality time with friends and having a relaxing Shabbat full of delicious home-cooked food, rest, and being with people who love me and take care of me as if I were their own child, I was ready to put my nose back to the grindstone.  Sunday morning, October 15^th, I went first thing in the morning to the Misrad K’lita, the office of Absorption, in downtown Jerusalem.  One of my friends is volunteering there, so once I went upstairs, I called her up and she brought me right in, no lines for me!  It’s good to know someone on the inside; I guess I’ve always known this, but now I see it in action.  I went in and gave the advisor my bank account number so that I could get the money from my absorption basket, which will be a little over $3,000 over the course of the year.  The money will be put in directly to my account.

After the Misrad K’lita, I took a bus to the other side of town to the offices of Nefesh B’Nefesh.  I took care of some business there, and on my way out saw a cell phone store.  I now had a bank account, so I could go get a cell phone!  I went in and waited for at least an hour, only to find out that I needed to get a form signed by the bank that would allow the cell phone company to draw money directly from my bank account every month instead of billing me, before I could do anything else.  I took the form and left.  My first attempt at a cell phone was not too successful, but I was on the right track.  I found out that someone from the kibbutz was driving back from Jerusalem that night so I called him up and arranged to meet him on a certain corner close to where I was staying.  He picked me up around 11pm and we got back to Sa’ad around 12:15am.  I slept most of the drive.

Navigating the Maze – Israel’s DMV…and Back to The Bank

The next morning, Thursday October 11^th, I woke up around 7:45.  I decided that I would go to Netivot, which is the nearby town, to the Misrad HaPnim, the Office of Interior Affairs, to get my Teudat Zehut, my Israeli Identification card.  At the airport they told me that I could get my Teudat Zehut there, in Netivot.  I got a ride from kibbutz to Netivot and found my way to the office.  There was a sign on the door that said they were closed for the week.  I called the office of the Regional Counsel to find out if I could go to them, and they said that I had to go to Be’er Sheva to get my Teudat Zehut as an Oleh Chadash.  In the airport they had told me I could get my Teudat Zehut in Netivot.  Again, they lied.  I took a group shuttle to Be’er Sheva, where I found the Misrad HaPnim; it was about a 5-minute walk from the Central Bus Station.  I went in, took a number, and sat down.

Here I was, the Misrad HaPnim.  I had finally made it to get my Teudat Zehut, the key that would solve all my problems, at the bank and otherwise.  The Misrad HaPnim is the DMV of Israel.  It is set up the same way, and it is run the exact same way.  You take a number and wait your turn.  After waiting for an hour and a half, my number finally appeared on the screen, and I went to the cubicle.  I took out all the proper documentation and asked her to make copies and take the copies.  Her copy machine was out of order, so she told me to go in the next room and use their copy machine.  I went to the next room but that one was out of order as well!  I ended up having to run up to the 4^th floor, make my copies, and then come back.  I finally got her all the proper papers and passport pictures that she needed.  She sent me to the last window, where I received my Teudat Zehut!  On the morning of Thursday October 11^th, I received my Israeli identification card; I had become an Israeli!

Later that afternoon, I went back to Netivot (during their afternoon hours from 4-6:30) and opened up my bank account.  I don’t think I ever had to open up my own bank account before, so it was all a new experience.  The teller said a lot of things that I didn’t understand – I think even if she said them in English I wouldn’t understand because it was banking language, something I’ve never dealt with.  I would have to come back to get my ATM card and an online access code next Tuesday, but the important thing was that I now had a bank account.  The bureaucracy in Israel really is a huge confusing maze that can be hard to get through, if you don’t have patience or a little bit of direction.  After I finished at the bank, I took the bus back to Jerusalem where I was going to be with friends for Thursday night and Shabbat through Sunday night.

Waiting – The Story of My Life

Waiting is an activity that I’m slowly learning is the key to everything here in Israel.  Every office, every organization, every document, includes an excess of waiting.  From the moment I left Israel at the end of May 2007, I was waiting, waiting to return to Israel and make Aliyah.  And from the day I arrived, waiting has been the name of the game.  And now, I’ll be waiting to get drafted – more waiting.  I have a lot of patience, but sometimes it just gets so frustrating.  I don’t want to wait anymore; I want to get started!  But there is nothing I can do to make things happen faster.  I guess by the end of this process, I’ll have a whole lot more patience that I started with.

Navigating the Maze – Going Back to Jerusalem…and The Bank

The next morning, Wednesday October 10th, I went to Jerusalem. I needed to go to Jerusalem because I hadn’t gone since I landed, and so for myself, I desperately wanted to go. I also figured that as long as I was going to a big city, I could take care of some business as well. I got a ride from someone who was going to Jerusalem from the kibbutz. The first thing I did was go to the post office, where I registered for national health insurance. From the post office, I had a cup of coffee at the Central Bus Station, and then I started walking to Beit Nativ, the Agron Youth Hostel where I lived last year for the first semester of Nativ. On the way, a young woman asked me for directions, which I had no problem giving. I was happy that I still remembered how to get from place to place. I walked through the Shuk of Machaneh Yehuda to reacquaint myself with the sights, the sounds and smells that I had missed these last few months. I got to Beit Nativ, had lunch there, and then decided to do some more setting-up; I headed to the bank to try and open an account. Little did I know that this would be my first of several visits over the next few days to the bank.

At the airport, the Office of Absorption told me that I could use my Teudat Oleh, the certificate of Aliyah, to open a bank account, that I didn’t need my Teudat Zehut, Israeli identification card. I asked several times about this information and each time they said they were sure it was true. They lied. I couldn’t use my Teudat Oleh to open a bank account – I needed my Teudat Zehut. I learned this the hard way. I would have to wait to open a bank account until I got my Teudat Zehut. After my failed attempt with the bank, I decided I needed to do something for myself and not worry about taking care of business for a few hours, so I set out to go to the old city and the Kotel, the western wall.

I walked down Agron Street and through the Jaffa Gate, as I had done so many times before. Everything was so familiar; it was as if I had never left. I reached the kotel plaza and saw that there was going to be a swearing in of a new class of soldiers. They were from the Anti-missile unite which uses the American Patriot missile defense system. I sat in the back of the plaza and just looked at the people walking by and the soldiers waiting for the ceremony that was to take place that evening. A few soldiers started talking to me, and we ended up talking for a few hours. I went back to Beit Nativ, saw some friends who are on Nativ this year, and then went back to the Central Bus Station to take a bus back to Kibbutz. I was getting tired so I slept well on the bus ride back. The bus is from Jerusalem to Netivot, so I had to get off at a junction and catch a ride back to the kibbutz. I got back to my room and went strait to sleep.

Navigating the Maze – The Kibbutz

Tuesday October 9^th was the morning that would begin my process of settling in and getting myself set up.  This was my first day and I was excited as could be.  My goal for today was to make all the arrangements to set myself up on kibbutz, and I was ready.  Ruti, who is helping me out in the kibbutz, took me around in the morning.  I opened up an account in the office, from which I will pay for food, Internet access, phone calls made from my room, and anything else that I pay for on kibbutz.  It is also the account that my stipend will go into at the end of each month.  My account has a number, and whenever I have to pay for something on kibbutz I use that number and they take that amount of money from my account.  I talked to the man in charge of internet and I had that set up in my room for a small fee of 66 shekels per month.  I tried to get a cell phone through the kibbutz, but the man in charge of cell phones didn’t have any more phones and would only get more in a week or two.  I didn’t want to wait that long, so I decided that I would go get one on my own.  I also have a mailbox on kibbutz, so if I get mail, I go and pick it up from the mailroom.  My mailing address here is:

 

David Landau

Kibbutz Sa’ad

D.N. Hanegev 85140
IsraelSo that was my first day; I had set myself up on kibbutz.  I felt accomplished.

It’s Not Much, But It’s Home

As we drove from the airport to Kibbutz Sa’ad, I couldn’t stop looking out the window at the cars and trucks whizzing by, the endless fields, and the road signs pointing out names of places that have become all too familiar to me.  I probably had the same dumb, ridiculous grin on my face the entire car ride.  I was just that happy to be back.

 

We pulled in to the gate of the kibbutz and drove to my building where I lugged all my bags upstairs to the second floor where Ruti opened the door to my new room.  I was a little taken aback by how small it was.  I didn’t think that I had any expectations, but I guess I did.  One of my friends who met me at the airport came back to kibbutz with us to visit a friend, so her and her friend helped me to set up my room and unpack all my bags.  It was so nice of them to help me, and it was even nicer to not have to worry about unpacking everything after hours in transit.  After I made my bed, and while my friends were going through my bags, I took a shower.  Traveling makes you feel so dirty!  I got in to the bathroom, which is the size of a small closet, and I was afraid to turn the water on too hard for fear that it would get the toilet all wet.

After I cleaned up and changed my cloths, I called my parents from Ruti’s phone to let them know that I had arrived safely and that I was setting myself up on kibbutz.  Then I had dinner with my friend and her friends from kibbutz.  I was so tired that I had to come back to my room around 10pm and just go to sleep.  Sleep – what could be better than sleep after more than 24 hours of being awake?  I do love my sleep, but I also love meat, Shwarma.  My friend who lives here on kibbutz came back around midnight from classes in Jerusalem, and brought me my first Shwarma as an Oleh Chadash, a new immigrant.  She came to my room and woke me up for a little midnight snack.  It was delicious!  I couldn’t have finished my initial move-in any better: a shower, a little sleep, friends, and a Shwarma.  And all was good in the world.

Houston, The Eagle Has Landed

I was sitting in an isle seat of the middle section of the plane.  Next to me sat an Israeli mother with her sixteen-year-old daughter who were on their way home from an organized tour of the west coast.  The mother started talking with me before we left the ground in LA and asked me where I was from.  The question caught me off guard.  My initial response was, “I’m from Los Angeles,” but then after thinking for a moment I added, “but not anymore.  I’m making Aliyah.”

I landed a week ago.  One week ago, today, I arrived in Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.  My flight was long – 14 hours from Los Angeles to Tel Aviv without any sleep, plus a 9-hour time difference, was absolutely exhausting.  I just couldn’t bring myself to sleep on the flight though; maybe I was excited.  I read a little from the book that I’m currently in the middle of reading, Exodus.  It seemed to fit the occasion.

I didn’t feel as excited as I expected to be, or rather as I thought I should be.  For most of the flight, I kept my eyes on the screen with the map that tracks the location and progress of the flight.  I guess I was excited, but for different reasons.  I had an overwhelming feeling of returning, the feeling you get when you’re going home after a long vacation.  It wasn’t a feeling of newness and fantasy; I was going back to what was familiar, but within that familiarity laid a reality, that this time I was coming to stay, for good.  For so long, the single strip of land in the entire world that I can call my own had been just an acquaintance.  After this past year, I can say that I have grown to know her, and now I’m returning to her, in a much deeper, real way. After I landed, I went to the Office of Absorption in the airport.  There, I received my certificate of Aliyah (which looks like a passport), my first payment from the absorption basket, and forms – for opening a bank account, getting an Israeli identification card (Teudat Zehut), and getting healthcare.  They also gave me some incorrect information, which ended up making things just a bit frustrating later on (which I will explain in a later post).  From the Office of Absorption I went down to get my passport stamped, and I went to get my overweight bags.

When I came out, there was a small group of friends waiting for me.  They were so excited to see me, and I was excited to see them as well.  I said the bracha “Shehechiyanu”, the prayer said when doing something for the first time, or for the first time in a very long time.  I had arrived!  I was so relieved to finally have landed and be standing in Israel again.  Ruti, the woman from Kibbutz Sa’ad, where I am staying, came to pick me up from the airport.  I loaded my bags in the Kibbutz car and we drove back to Sa’ad.  I had arrived, and now the real fun was about to begin…

The Problem Is Not How to Get In, But How to Get Out

I woke up on Sunday, October 7, 2007 at 9:15 in the morning.  I was excited and could only think about getting dressed, loading my car with all my things, and making my quick stop at PKD (Pico Kosher Deli) for a Turkey Club to take with me on the plane.  For those who know me well, I love the Turkey Club from PKD, and there just isn’t anything to compare it with in Israel.  So on my last morning in America, all I could think of was my last Turkey Club.  I got my sandwich wrapped and set off the pick up my mom.  My dad and my brother had taken a separate car.  I got my mom and we headed off to the airport.  No goodbye to my bed, my bathroom, my room or my house – just my Turkey Club and me.

I pulled up to the curb, unloaded all my baggage and my mom to watch my baggage while I went to park my car.  Meanwhile, my dad and brother had already parked and were on their way to wait with my luggage as well.  I parked the car and came back to my family and bags where my brother had already rented a cart.  I loaded the bags on and we strolled in to the International terminal of LAX.  We made it to the line for the ELAL check-in counter and after some waiting and a few security questions, we got to the front of the line.  I was allowed to check 3 bags that could weigh 23 kilograms each.  I had 3 duffle bags, each one weighing well over the 23-kilogram limit.  The fee would be $215 total for all of my bags (they even checked in my guitar as a 4^th bag at no extra charge!).  My parents and I looked at each other, but it was no time to start going through all my things.  So after putting down $215 in cash, the man working the counter came back with $145 saying that we get some money back!  I think it was because I was making Aliyah, but I didn’t ask.  So for $70 I was going to get my bags on the plane.

Saying goodbye to my family was hard.  I don’t know when I’ll see them again – I don’t have plans to come back and visit and they don’t have plans yet to come to Israel either.  It was especially hard to say goodbye to my brother, Meir.  After our quick goodbyes and handing my car-keys over to my mom, I started my way through security and then to the gate.  Handing my ticket to the lady at the gate, walking out onto the tarmac and then taking the bus to the plane, boarding the plane itself, all these simple actions that I do whenever I fly took on new meaning with this flight.  I was leaving America, saying goodbye to the place where I was born and raised, and going to Israel, the place where I belong.  It was a very surreal experience, but if ever I was ready to make this move, this was the time.

Leading Up to the Big Day

October 7th is the big day, the day after Sukkot: I leave for Israel!  I have a direct flight from LA to Tel Aviv on El Al, which I’ve heard is about 14 hours.   I’m so excited – I’m counting down the weeks.  I’m getting really excited to go…less than two weeks to go!

But for now, I’m still in Los Angeles. I have to start going through all my things, packing up what i want to take and figuring out what to do with the things I don’t want to take. It’s a lot to do in not a lot of time – I’ve kind of been putting it off.

So where will I be staying when I get to Israel?  I have a room on Kibbutz Sa’ad, a religious kibbutz in the south located between Sderot and Netivot.  There are about 140 families that belong to the kibbutz and about 700 people who live there.

I will have one roommate who I will meet when I get there, and I’ll be working on the kibbutz, hopefully in the fields, to pay for my room and food.  I will also get an “adopting” kibbutz family.  During my free time, I’ll probably have to go to a lot of offices and meetings to take care of settling in.  I also want to travel, hike, and see friends around the country.  Once I get to Israel, I’ll start working on getting drafted into the army right away.  I’ve heard it can take anywhere from 3-5 months to get in, but I’ve spoken with some people in Israel and in LA who can hopefully make a few phone calls and help me push through the process and the bureaucracy.  Once I get drafted in the army though, the army will pay for my room on kibbutz because I’ll be a Chayal Boded, a lonely soldier, meaning I have no immediate family in Israel to go “home” to, to get my laundry done or to have a home cooked meal when I get time off from the army.  So I’ll have my room on kibbutz to go to.

As a lonely soldier, the army gives you one month off every year to go and visit your family.  So I probably won’t be back in the states for at least a good year and a half.  The move is going to be hard for everyone, but I think it will be hardest on my mom and my brother.  My mom, well, because she’s a mom and my mom at that.  My brother and I are the only two kids. We have gotten very close over the last few years, especially this last year when I wasn’t home, ironically enough.  He jokes around with me a lot about my move.  He’s convinced that I’m going to be a cook in the army, and that I’ll be serving linguini to the combat soldiers!

Sometimes its hard, knowing that I’ll be so far away from my family and friends, that I can’t just hop on a plane for a few hours to see them, and that it will be quit some time until I see them next.  But at the same time, I also know exactly why I’m doing what I’m doing; Israel is where I belong and it’s where I want to be.  Even though I’ll be on my own, I’m really excited to make Aliyah.  It’s been something that I’ve wanted to do ever since I can remember, and now, I finally have the chance to do it.

May the coming year bring us all only good things!  Chag Sameach and Shanah Tova!

My First Post!

Hello and Welcome!

This is my blog, the place where I will post up-to-date information on my journey, a place where you can write messages and respond to my posts, and an overall great way to keep in touch.  Hopefully, I’ll even find a way to post pictures as well!  So here it is, my blog!  I hope you enjoy and please keep in touch.

David