Stephen Leavitt of Webads has sent all of us bloggers an e-mail urging us to nominate a fellow blogger to fly to Israel on September 7 on a Nefesh B'Nefesh flight and report back about some of the brave souls who have decided to start their lives anew in Israel. To him I say:
Steve, my good man. Have I got a girl for you! She's smart, she's articulate, she's compassionate, and most of all- she's a living, breathing advertisement for
Nefesh B'Nefesh.
The very brave Baila first arrived in Israel on the September 2007 NBN flight along with her handsome husband Isaac and her three charming young daughters. They left their family, friends, and comfortable Long Island neighborhood behind, which (as any oleh can tell you) is devastatingly difficult to do.
Since then, Baila and her clan have successfully faced the challenges of settling into a new home, a new neighborhood, new jobs and new schools; making friends with people whose cultural background is way different from theirs; dealing with the absence of Target stores
(Jameel will explain it to you); learning how to roll their tongues when making the
raish sound; and developing an intense love for their new country while coping with the heartbreak of being so far away from the people that they love in their old one.
If I were an excited, scared, nervous new oleh boarding my flight to Israel, whom would I want sitting next to me? Someone who I could talk to, who would listen and understand and sympathize and reassure me that it's going to be all right. Someone who's been there and done that and made it through to the other side.
Those poor people are scared enough as it is, Steve. Show them some compassion. Send Baila over with them to help ease their way.
