Hi. I would
like to introduce my family to you. My husband is Alan
Halpert, I am Nicky, and we have four boys: Yoni, 12, Eli, 10,
Ori, 5, and Kovi, 2. I was born in South Africa and everyone
else in Toronto. We made aliyah from Toronto. Below is the
story of our first 100 days in Israel. I hope you enjoy it.
One
hundred days in Israel.
No
family and close friends to see each and every day; we have
left them behind.
Every day we
all wake up in Israel, in the land Hashem has given to us to
love and to cherish and for us to think, read and learn about
all the time. It is truly a miracle to have been able to come.
Hashem we are eternally grateful and pray that you continue to
guide us on this path.
Home is
Rehov Hatena #2, Hashmonaim, a friendly, warm community, an
observant community that closes down for Shabbos and lets our
children feel the true meaning of Shabbos.
Unemployed
and have no car!!!!
Nice
neighbors and friends, for us and the kids. But especially the
kids: we can't keep them at home. They are off biking, playing
basketball, or going to parks, or to play capture the flag, or
soccer, or off to survival chug (after-school program),
computers, rollerblade hockey, homework tutors and the list
keeps going….
Drivers'
licenses we have. We got them easily and quickly. Yeah,
Halperts. Go! Now we just need to be able to use them.
Room for all
our stuff and then some in our new house. Just as well, we
certainly shipped enough.
Excellent
junk food and the weight on my hips - need I say more.
Dozens of
emails to read and still to answer so please forgive me.
Days of
shopping, cleaning and laundry come and go. Just like in
Canada or anywhere else you may be.
Alan has
been doing the car hunting and schlepping from one end of
Israel to the other. He is the one working for money
sometimes; thank goodness one of us is. He also washes dishes,
cleans the floors, plays with the kids, puts them to bed and
all the other fatherly things he's suposed to do. I do love
him. I just want a car!! and a fence, and a shed, and some
plumbing fixed etc.....
Yearnings
for things familiar: I want to shop at Sobeys. I want Aish
HaTorah’s family minyan back. I want my favorite butcher’s
boerewors
and
biltong. I want Netivot’s (our kid’s old school) schmooze in
the parking lot. I want my old neighbors on my street; we had
such fun. I want to understand what people are saying and I
want to be able to read what a sign or paper or billboard are
advertising. I want to be able to speak on the phone or hear a
recording that I understand, even though I hated them in
Canada. The list will go on and on and on....
Singing at
our Shabbos table: it brings joy to the soul and warmth to my
heart.
Inviting
guests to our sukkah was very special, and so was our
sukkah.
Nothing will
stop us now. We are here, and we will take each day as it
comes. Even the lines at (nearby supermarket) Rami Levi will
not stop us. Even the people who leave their carts at the
checkouts, letting you believe you have a short line, only to
find them running back and forth to fill their carts, not even
they will stop us. Not even those flashing yellows at the
traffic lights that have people beeping so you can rev those
engines and be ready for take off as the light changes and G-d
help you if you don't, not even they will stop us. Not even
the Hebrew will stop me, not even my endless hiking trips up
that stupid hill will I be stopped......
Israel, the
land to be for all Jews.
Six
o clock wake up calls, lunches, water bottles and backpacks to
be done. And then the kids are off to school. It's a whirl
wind before the sun rises here. School is so early, but you
definitely get a lot done if you can stay awake after they've
all gone to school.
Real life,
real people, the struggles they've endured to keep our land
with G-d's help. We need to be so grateful we can come home to
this real place.
Air
conditioners that need to be cleaned! Well if I hadn’t see it
with my own eyes I would not have believed that a hose pipe
was poured into my air conditioner in my living room and down
came a Niagara Falls of water and dirt. I was in full gear
with the squeegee and mop, pushing the stuff out my front
door. It was beyond belief.
Eilat, what
a sight, the fish, the water, the desert and all. It was
amazing; we loved it, and want to go again. We had an amazing
holiday, one we will never soon forget, especially since I
thought we might not survive our jeep ride.
Love it,
like it, long for home, but we have come this far and we will
see the next 100 days through as well.
The
Halpert family and hundreds of others from North America are
making aliyah through the organization Nefesh B'Nefesh , founded several years ago to
improve and increase aliyah
