LETTER FROM ISRAEL
Hi all,
So, 18 months since Aliyah, Roz and I celebrating our 37th Wedding Anniversary, our daughter Leah just starting as art teacher at JFS and its coming up to our second Rosh Hashana as Israelis – so I think its high time to give you a bit of an update on how we’re getting on.
Some friends of ours have just made Aliyah and we’ve been able to give them lots of helpful advice which is all very good, but it does make us feel like we’re now quite established here. You have this feeling when you first come that when anything happens, you just don’t have clue how to deal with it. So that feeling has definitely eased as we have become more familiar with how things fly. I could bore you with so many epic Neville & Roz stories about mini disasters and crises that we ultimately managed to resolve, but each one has taught us a bit more, not just about who to call and who can help, but also about Israeli’s and how they fly.
I recently had a test at Laniardo Hospital which is a whole subject for another day, but my doctor asked me to go and ask the for the results in a printout. So off I go to the reception desk in the CT clinic, and I ask for the results. “We don’t have results here”, she says somewhat disdainfully as I have clearly made her day much harder by asking. “You have to go to the next building between 8.00am – 1.00pm and ask them”. So when my son came to stay, he came with me, and we walked up to the same reception. He asked her for my results in Hebrew. With the same, disdainful grin she said, “He already got them”. Not deterred for a moment Adam said, “Just hit Control P, its not hard”. Guess what, 10 seconds later I had my results. Adam explained that she just wants to get rid of you as quickly as possible. So, you have to stand your ground and just be a bit cleverer than she is. Welcome to Israel!
Roz and I have really settled into the flat we’re renting. Those of you who know North Netanya, we’re on Shlomo Hamelech, one row back from the sea front and right opposite Young Israel Synagogue. You can see the sea from our balcony, and we have 4 bedrooms which has proved so amazing. Throughout the summer we were like the local B&B as various children, friends’ children and friends from London all came to stay at the seaside. We are so loving our life by the sea, watching the sun sets particularly is very special.
So we’ve survived the heat of our second summer, definitely hotter than the first. Its still 32 – 24 degrees in the day but ever so slightly easier to walk around and positively pleasant now in the evenings. The worst of the humidity has definitely calmed down and we’re looking forward to the weather through the Chaggim and October time which is generally one of the nicest times of the year. Weirdly, the one seaside thing I miss here is there are no seagulls. You don’t realise how the noise they make really does create the feeling of seaside in the UK. They are pests for sure but we have our fair share of pigeons and creepy crawlies here, but I do miss the seaside feel when I close my eyes and listen to the sound of the seagulls.
We have a big coffee culture here. Barely a day goes by without going for coffee with friends or a work meeting or just to go and sit and read a book with a cappuccino (called a Café Hafuch here) and very small (in my case) cake. It’s a triumph when you can order your coffee and cake with the fact that you want soya milk and you don’t want your cake heated up etc etc in Hebrew!
Work is going well. I still work for Myisrael. We have a real problem just now. For Rosh Hashana we usually appeal for food vouchers and we have nearly 300 families who really rely on us for food over Yom Tov. This year though, due to sensitivities around food and the situation in Gaza, we felt that we just couldn’t do a food appeal – it just would look too insensitive. But this means that we have all these families who really are going to struggle terribly this Yom Yov. If you would like to help please be in touch. Mel’s department will be highly amused that the main part of my work just now is policy writing. Oyvey!!! Its one thing writing policy for an amazing outfit like Camp Simcha but when you’re a much smaller team full of only part-timers, all working remotely…..writing policies that we have a hope of complying with is surprisingly difficult. Still, visiting some of the amazing small charities we support has been so inspiring.
Meanwhile, I have a new client but I’ll tell you more about them next time I think as this update is getting quite long.
We are so, so proud of our daughter Leah who has finally finished all her training and starts this week as a fully fledged art teacher at JFS. She is so excited to be back teaching on the Jewish community where she feels at home and nobody crosses the road to avoid speaking to the Jew etc. She has her own art classroom which is such a luxury for an art teacher. She had to race around a very large school at Ashmole to a different classroom for every lesson. She is a form tutor for a year 9 group. Now those of you who have 15/16 year old kids and are prepared to be honest will understand that of all the years in the school, they may well be amongst the most challenging. Not Leah….she can’t wait bless her. The more challenging the more she loves them. Guess it takes one to know one!!
Both our son and Adam and his amazing wife Tammy are also starting new jobs this year. Adam finally is starting to teach in a new yeshivah. He is teaching young men who have done at least three years in full-time learning and I couldn’t even understand the title of what he’s teaching but there you go and Tammy is going to be teaching in a Sem some you may have heard of called Midreshet Tehilla which is part of the Neve campus. All very exciting.
Also our second grandchild Eliyahu is starting school all in Hebrew for the first time. At that age they pick it up in just a few weeks. We’re SO jealous!! Tammy sent us the most gorgeous picture of all three of them off to school with enormous back packs and even little Hadassah who is 18 months old off to her Gan with a little backpack just like her brothers. So cute!!
OK so last but by no means least – yes, we’re still living in a war zone, and we still get sirens two or three-times week and have to sit in our safe rooms. There are still hostages suffering unimaginably in captivity and please spare a though for my sister-in law who has two sons who are off to Gaza today to fight again. We are terrified as this time, what’s left of Hamas know we’re coming, and you can be sure that lots of our soldiers will lose their lives. You don’t want to hear my political views which are of no consequence, but I can tell you that whatever you see in the press, we see the opposite side here and its truly frightening. Whatever they tell you about two state solutions, don’t doubt that there is a formidable Arab/Muslim nationalist upswell and it will never stop until they don’t just destroy us as much as they can. It’s just so sad that the Muslim propaganda machine is winning the bigger war hands down and popular opinion is falling for it hook line and sinker. Of course, there is terrible suffering in Gaza which is too terrible for words, but you never hear or see the press saying that Hamas is the cause. OK off my soap box.
Having said all that, coming here now REALLY is very safe if you’re prepared to pay El Al’s ridiculous prices. So many people came this summer and unless you got caught during the Iran war, nobody got their holiday ruined and everyone had a great and safe time. We don’t just need you to spend your £’s here but you have no idea how it makes us feel to see people we know and care for, making the effort to come physically and show their support. Please do come and see us. We can offer you a wonderful coffee and our beautiful balcony with a view of the sea – what’s not to like!!
Meanwhile, on behalf of us all here in Israel, can I wish you and your families a K’Tiva Chatima Tova and our payers that you should all have a Sweet Year full of good health and happiness together with your loved ones. Shana Tova and hope to see you next year here in Israel!
Neville & Roz