I am so excited, the countdown to my "Pilot Trip" to Israel is on. We (my DH and I) will be leaving this Sunday from the SF Bay Area to Los Angeles, and the next day we will be leaving from LAX to Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
I cannot believe it has been 5 years since my first trip to the Holy Land. Ever since the first time we were there, I could not wait to return. I guess a Jew's neshama (soul) is most at home there. I know that from the moment we walked out of the airport and into the beautiful sunset and the smell of the Mediterranean Sea in Netanya where we stayed . . . I have been hooked.
We will take the train to Nahariya and stay there with a group from Nefesh b'Nefesh. The pilot trip with NBN will only last for 3 days. During that time we will visit various areas in the North and will attend meetings discussing everything from health insurance to jobs and housing.
After the official Pilot Trip is done, we will be off to a rental just outside of Jerusalem for our vacation. We found a wonderful little rental, in the country. It looks so soothing and relaxing. I'm so excited to get there and spend a couple of days just unwinding after the whirlwind of the Pilot Trip.
We are very excited, as we really want to move to Israel and make 'her' our home. The Go North Program sponsored by the Jewish Agency and NBN caught our attention from the time that we came back to California in 2005. We have been going through the tedious process of aliyah. Believe me if you are going to even think of making aliyah, you have to have dedication and persaverance. It isn't for the faint of heart, and if lots of red tape and paperwork freak you out, you may have to reconsider. I almost did a few times.
But . . . I am determined to go home. Home, what a wonderful word. Not that I think that it's going to be easy, or be like living in the U.S. I know it's different, I know that I am going to have struggles and it is not going to be easy. Especially since I will be leaving behind my 3 grown children and my one and only grandson, who is so special to me. So people ask me, "How can you leave your children, and your grandson?" Well, I have agonized over this, believe me when I say, "It isn't going to be an easy thing to say good-bye to all of them." It's hard to do, but in my heart and in my DH's heart we know that we need to do this. We have recently had great financial setbacks due to the change in the economy, we had to do a shortsale on our home of over 20 years, but it was really for the best. So, we need to start over, and at our age it's not an easy thing to start over. Israel is giving us a chance to start over. We will receive financial help to re-settle, and help with finding housing, and jobs, etc. so even though it's a calculated risk, we feel it's one that is worth the risk.
The other question we get alot is . . . " How can you go live in such a dangerous country? Aren't you scared?" Well , yes on the one hand I am scared, but really no more scared than I would be moving to New York, or Los Angeles, or anywhere else. Do we ever have any guarantees in life? Do any of us know what is going to happen tomorrow? I feel that our lives are in the hands of HaKadosh Baruchu
(The One Holy G-d). He is the only One who knows what the future holds for any of us. So I go forth with my faith into the unknown, that is all I can do.
I think my faith in G-d and my personal experiences with the paranormal in my life have helped to convince me that there is much more to this life than meets the eye. We are here for a very brief time, and then we go on to the Olam Haba (The World to Come). We don't really live for this life, but for the next one. This life is fraught with the unknown, and trials and tribulations. We are in this world only to prepare for the next.
So I am a sojourner in this life, and I feel the pull of Hashem saying to me, it's time to come home to where you belong. My children at this point in there lives do not share this feeling. So maybe Hashem has another path for them to walk. Maybe it is meant to be, and maybe at some point they may need to come home to Israel, and we will have prepared the way for them to come.
So anyway, I am going to go with the flow and enjoy this time in Eretz Yisrael. I just hope that G-d willing, it all turns out for the good. As my Rabbi in SF used to say, "Gam zu'la'tov!" (This too is for the good!) Kol Tuv to You All.
