So much has happened since I posted my first entry that I realize I’m going to have to write more often if I’m to have a hope of keeping folks up to date and really sharing what’s on my mind. But I’m happy to report that our first week in Israel was a good week.
One word that people in Israel kept using when we talked to them about how we were deciding where to move (i.e. lots of English speakers, close to a city, and good services for special education), a phrase we often heard was “soft landing,” as in “that will be a good place to make a soft landing.” And I have to say, it’s been an apt metaphor. On the very first day we arrived, when we arrived at our apartment building, we were delighted to see a group of neighbors had gathered to welcome us and help us get our bags off the cab, which was packed with our 21 trunks and numerous carry-ons and personal items. Over the first few days, many people stopped by, including Avichai’s homeroom teacher, an old acquaintance of mine from college, and numerous new neighbors. Our friend Jodi, who lives across the street, organized a meal train so that we did not have to prepare dinner our entire first week living here. And another friend, Tali, lent us her car for the week. This all made the landing very soft.
But that’s not to say there hasn’t been a lot to do. This week was full of unpacking, organizing the apartment, transferring our American phone numbers to an Israeli phone company, acquiring items we needed that had not made the trip, and getting the kids ready for school. On Monday, Shira and I took Benny to the IKEA in the town of Beit Shemesh to buy some furniture, including a set of shelves to store our shoes so our entry hall wouldn’t look so messy, some night stands for us and the kids, and a rocking chair so we’d have someplace to sit in our living room.
When we arrived, Benny told us he was hungry, so we had the novel experience of enjoying a kosher breakfast at IKEA. They actually have a meat and dairy section, both strictly kosher, but the meat lunch counter wasn’t open yet. After the meal, we picked some items we lost and then meandered our way through the twists of the IKEA layout through their marketplace, where we loaded up our cart with all kinds of small things we needed. Finally, we came to the warehouse, where you’re supposed to pick up the disassembled version of the furniture you want, only to find that some of the items were not available in the style we wanted and others were not at all. Shira equated the IKEA experience to going to a casino, where they shut out the sunlight and make it confusing to pass through efficiently so that you stay longer than you planned, spend more than you intended, and – like in our case where they don’t even have the thing you wanted – you feel like a bit of a chump.
On Tuesday, we had a meeting at Avichai’s new high school, where he got to see his class, learn about the schedule, and meet the principal and guidance counselor. They seem very committed to helping him acclimate, so I hope that it goes well. Then we had two appointments that characterized my new philosophy of trying to take the path of least resistance. The first was an appointment to open our Israeli bank account. Instead of trying to find the best bank with the lowest rates and best benefits, we went to the local branch around the corner and spent an hour and a half signing our digital signatures. We had been led to believe that this would be the height of bureaucratic tedium, but it really wasn’t too bad. The banker, a man named Haggai who lives in a town called Beit Haggai (literally Haggai’s house, for those of you who don’t speak Hebrew), was a very pleasant fellow with good English who did a good job of walking us through the process. Again, soft landing.
Then we went to the local arts and crafts store, where they helpfully have a list of school supplies for each grade in each school in the neighborhood, so you can come and tell them what class your kids are in and they will help you put together a basket of exactly what you need. Again, in the States, Shira would have shopped around between Amazon and Target and Costco to get the best deals on school supplies, but this year we spent a bit extra to support a local business and get it done in one stop.
On Thursday, we had a visit in the morning from Shira’s sister, Abbie, and two of her kids (my lovely nieces, Annael and Revaya). While that was happening, a mover we had paid to do a job was picking up some furniture that one of Shira’s cousins was getting rid of in the course of a move to a new house. They don’t seem to have UHaul here in a big way (business idea!), so I needed to hire both the man and the van, but it saved some effort, as Shira and I would certainly have done it ourselves had a suitable vehicle been easier to come by.
In the afternoon, we went to Jerusalem with Benny and Betzalel for a meeting of the South Jerusalem Friendship Circle, the support network for families with special needs kids. They had said they were having a barbecue with a bounce house in Baka (in my experience, a leafy suburb) so I was expecting something in a park. It was actually on the second floor of a synagogue and the location seemed to be more Talpiot, a more industrial area. Nevertheless it was very nice, and they even had some inspirational words by the Jewish basketball player, Tamir Goodman, which was interesting.
In addition to pointing out how nice it was to find this support network in our first week, I bring this up because something sort of funny happened. After an hour or so at this gathering, we got a call from Abbie, who had stayed back at our apartment to let the movers in, that the sofa they had schlepped up the stairs would not fit through our door and we needed to figure out what to do. We hustled back home and I got out of the elevator to find a long, red couch looming over my head. Thankfully, with a little maneuvering we got the couch in the apartment and no one had to bring the couch back down the six flights.
Thursday was finalizing details for school prep and today we felt ready enough that we took the bus into Jerusalem for a trip to the shuk, the marketplace that is crowded and crazy and delicious on a Friday afternoon, for a lunch shwarma and some prepared delicacies for Shabbos dinner tonight.
I have to run to synagogue but I had hoped to write more of the crazy juxtaposition of our “soft landing” with the continued war and the miraculous preemptive strike against Hezbollah in Lebanon and the liberation of Farhan al Qadi from Gaza, but needless to say we live with a strange tension. Hopefully I will get the chance to say more next week.