Arrivals: David Miller, 42
David Miller and his family encountered both major and minor hiccups immediately on arriving in Israel. The worst was being robbed by a heroin addict who broke into their apartment on their first night in Israel and threatened to kill his two small daughters. The least traumatic was having to change their 12-year-old daughter's name from Carley, which sounds just like the Hebrew for "I'm cold," to Hannah.
A year later, they are now happily settled into a routine in their Kfar Saba rental, with both parents working and the children in school.
FAMILY HISTORY
With a great grandfather who was bodyguard to Czar Nicholas and an ancestor who came to the States with the first settlers from Holland as "hidden Jews," David can trace his family roots far back. His parents were both born in the Salem, Massachusetts, area and later transferred to Houston, Texas, where he was born and raised.
BEFORE ARRIVING
"I've had a varied background," says David. "My father taught me a valuable lesson, to have as many different experiences as you can."
Not too long after graduating journalism school at the University of Houston, he came to Israel for the first time and did some journalism work, stringing for Reuters and the JTA and sending reports back to his local Jewish paper, the Jewish Herald Voice.
"Mostly, though, I had fun, explored a lot and decided to come back at some point and make aliya. I didn't realize it would take me 20 years." Back home he enlisted in the Air Force and saw action as a paramedic until a back injury forced him to leave and he began working at a local TV station. At the same time he and his wife ran a travel agency in Denver.
Then 9/11 happened.
"It changed the course of my life in many ways and solidified my desire to make aliya. As a Jew I felt a strong calling to Israel. It's difficult to sit in the Diaspora and watch your own people suffering so much terror."
They began their preparations and eventually made aliya through Nefesh B'Nefesh.
UPON ARRIVAL
Having put out e-mail feelers he knew there was a strong possibility of work with Israel National News, so the family immediately moved into a rented holiday apartment in Tel Aviv near the beach. Having just flown in they were all jet-lagged and went to bed.
"At about midnight I couldn't sleep and I went into the living room and began working on my laptop. I became aware of a man standing behind me and when I turned he grabbed my wallet and fled. The girls were in the hallway crying. The man had got in through their window, threatened them – in English – not to make a noise and Carley had the presence of mind to obey him. She was more worried about protecting Mollie, the seven-year-old, than anything else.
"The police came and took fingerprints; we looked at mug shots but couldn't identify him. By this time it was 3 p.m. and we were all in a state. I suggested we go down to the beach. As we approached a kiosk on the sand, there he was, our thief, sprawled out in a drugged state. I wanted to throttle him but my wife's cooler head prevailed. The police came and took him away and he later confessed."
The episode caused both technical and psychological problems with all their papers gone and the girls understandably upset. But now, a year later, they seem to have overcome the setback. David began work as an anchor and producer at Israel National News, an Internet program under the aegis of Arutz Sheva, in Petah Tikva and the family moved to Kfar Saba.
LIVING ENVIRONMENT
They chose Kfar Saba because Claudia, David's wife, had some family who lived there and it was near enough to Petah Tikva to be convenient for work. They rent a five-bedroom, three-floor apartment with a roof where David keeps his all-important barbecue – on his CV his chef skills rate almost as importantly as his journalistic ones. They like the quiet street with plenty of areas around to walk Coco, their pure-bred Jack Russell terrier who made aliya with them.
"We're both city-dwellers so it's been an adjustment, but it's not that far to Tel Aviv for culture and I like the feel of Kfar Saba."
LANGUAGE
"My Hebrew's not great. I'm an ulpan drop-out and I'm not sure the method is suitable for me. And the older you get the harder it is to learn a new language. But the important things you figure out. I can order a shwarma like a native! I use English and work in English and if I'm really stuck my 12-year-old acts as my translator."
ROUTINE
"It depends on the assignment. Often I can bypass the studio and do a self-contained field report, operating the camera myself. I've spent a lot of time in the Knesset and interviewed everyone from Ariel Sharon to Ahmed Tibi. INN has been very involved with all the issues related to disengagement so I've spent plenty of time in Gush Katif. We also do a series on different architectural sites which gets me around the country.
"After work I often pick up the kids from school and naturally, being a chef, I often help my wife prepare the evening meal."
They barbecue two or three times a week.
"I grew up in Texas and it's required by law that you learn to barbecue as soon as you're tall enough to reach a grill!" he quips. "My mother, bless her, could burn water although my father is a respectable griller.
"I took cooking classes and also taught and have been in the team which won the BBQ championship in the Houston Rodeo."
He likes to play guitar to relax.
FINANCES
"It can always be better but we are both working and I don't have to dip into savings too much. We have a decent apartment, a car. But I'm entrepreneurial by nature and I'm looking for other freelance media work."
CIRCLE
"We have been really blessed. We joined the Masorti Conservative congregation of Kfar Saba, Hod v'Hadar, and we've met lovely people. We entertain and dine out a lot and the children have made many friends at school. We've become friendly with their friends' parents, too. It's a mixed bag – Anglos, but also Israelis."
IDENTIFICATION
"We don't feel totally secure as Israelis yet. It's such a different lifestyle. You can read all you want about aliya in the abstract but until you go through it you're not really prepared and you have to make a commitment and put up with things you don't necessarily like.
"I'm disappointed in some things. In general the Israelis don't seem interested in bettering the country or themselves. They go through the motions... That's why aliya is important – to breathe new life into the country."
FAITH
"I was not raised in a very religious environment. I had a bar mitzva, sent my children to Jewish day school and here I attend synagogue, but it's more a social than a religious thing. I find it frustrating to see the divisions between the secular and religious in the country. And I think of religion as a guide to life, not life itself."
PLANS
"To continue to build my career. If CNN called, I'd be there. Perhaps to do something with my cooking skills, either teach or write. And to survive our first year intact knowing that in spite of the bad start, we've been able to do what we wanted."
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