My two children who recently made aliyah are going to spend this Shabbos in Elon Moreh! I am living vicariously through them and think that it must be awesome to be in Elon Moreh which is mentioned in the Parsha this week on this particular Shabbos! My oldest son, who left a bit late wasn't sure that he would be able to get onto his bus because there were so many people trying to get there for this special Shabbat. This Shabbat will also be nice for me in chutz la'aretz as it is my eighteen year old's bar-mitzvah shabbos and he will be laining tomorrow.
Wishing everyone a Shabbat Shalom!
Friday, October 19, 2007
Saturday, October 13, 2007
Lech Lecha
In honor of this week's Parsha I'd like to continue with my amazing positive stories of Eretz Yisrael and my children's aliyot. My daughter is having some difficulty adjusting to the University as she is now in a place that only uses Hebrew and she is the only student who isn't 100 percent fluent in the language. Someone must have noticed her struggling because one of the heads of the university called her into his office to talk to her.
In essence, he told her that the university is honored to have her in attendance and that they are so proud of her decision to make aliyah. He told her that it was their responsibility to help her to succeed. In that vein he explained that he would see to it that she had a buddy assigned to her in each class who would copy their notes for her so that she wouldn't miss anything. There would also be girls who would use some of their "chesed" hours to help her develop her Hebrew language skills.
She told me that one girl who was quite good at English had offered to help her with an exceptionally difficult passage for one of the courses. For two hours they sat and worked it through. When they were done the girl thanked my daughter profusely telling her that because of their time together and through her explaining she now understood the material so much better!
My daughter has also received at least five different invitations for Shabbat in various places! Yes, the transition hasn't been all easy for her, but I cried tears of joy as she related all of the chesed that is being done from the heart to make her feel welcome, comfortable, and successful. Ein Keamcha Yisrael!
In essence, he told her that the university is honored to have her in attendance and that they are so proud of her decision to make aliyah. He told her that it was their responsibility to help her to succeed. In that vein he explained that he would see to it that she had a buddy assigned to her in each class who would copy their notes for her so that she wouldn't miss anything. There would also be girls who would use some of their "chesed" hours to help her develop her Hebrew language skills.
She told me that one girl who was quite good at English had offered to help her with an exceptionally difficult passage for one of the courses. For two hours they sat and worked it through. When they were done the girl thanked my daughter profusely telling her that because of their time together and through her explaining she now understood the material so much better!
My daughter has also received at least five different invitations for Shabbat in various places! Yes, the transition hasn't been all easy for her, but I cried tears of joy as she related all of the chesed that is being done from the heart to make her feel welcome, comfortable, and successful. Ein Keamcha Yisrael!
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Rishon, Sheini
Two of my children made "aliyah" in the past two months, and it has made me so proud, yet it has been such a bittersweet experience for me. In the words of our Rabbis "maasei avot siman labanim." My father always tells the story of the time that he took two of his daughters' (not me) to the airport with their families in order for them both to make aliyah. I now personally experienced the feelings that he had when he said "I brought you up your whole lives to love and believe in Israel and how could you do this to me?" While he said these words in partial jest, these true feelings ran deep inside of me for the past few months.
Though it is hard to let go, I think that it is a parents' responsibility to trust their children to make mature decisions even if we have some concerns about the outcome. I pray that H.K.B.H. will watch over them and take good care of them in the merit of their brave choices. Each one of them had a story that I would like to share, because I think that we hear so many negative things about the bureaucracy in Israel and in the media.
So, first...my daughter. When I asked her how school was, aside from telling me that it was hard, and the language....she spoke of how beautiful it was that her education courses were being taught using examples from Rav Kook and learning things from the Tanach. Wow....that really impressed me.
My son left this past Sunday without even having a place to live. The dorm at the University where he would be learning was full and all of the apartments that were being advertised in the area were looking for girls. So right before Yom Tov, I emailed the head of admissions and told her that we were quite concerned. After all my son would be a new Oleh without his family and what would he do if nothing turned up? The answer that I got shocked me. It began with a statement that his anxiety was normal and that he shouldn't worry. But here's the amazing part...it went on to say that he was welcome to live in HER house (her children were grown and away) until he found a place. Next came her cell phone number and a directive to call her as soon as he landed! We are an amazing people! Could you imagine that happening in an American University? Of course, he has no plans on taking her up on her offer. It isn't his style, and we all have bitachon that something will work itself out. B.H. we have loads of relatives there so he won't be homeless even though he'll have an enormous commute until he finds something.
So...when the tears come and that pain of having a piece of my heart missing when I think of them being so far away, I just conjure up these stories and know that THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME! May we all be zochim to follow in their footsteps!
Though it is hard to let go, I think that it is a parents' responsibility to trust their children to make mature decisions even if we have some concerns about the outcome. I pray that H.K.B.H. will watch over them and take good care of them in the merit of their brave choices. Each one of them had a story that I would like to share, because I think that we hear so many negative things about the bureaucracy in Israel and in the media.
So, first...my daughter. When I asked her how school was, aside from telling me that it was hard, and the language....she spoke of how beautiful it was that her education courses were being taught using examples from Rav Kook and learning things from the Tanach. Wow....that really impressed me.
My son left this past Sunday without even having a place to live. The dorm at the University where he would be learning was full and all of the apartments that were being advertised in the area were looking for girls. So right before Yom Tov, I emailed the head of admissions and told her that we were quite concerned. After all my son would be a new Oleh without his family and what would he do if nothing turned up? The answer that I got shocked me. It began with a statement that his anxiety was normal and that he shouldn't worry. But here's the amazing part...it went on to say that he was welcome to live in HER house (her children were grown and away) until he found a place. Next came her cell phone number and a directive to call her as soon as he landed! We are an amazing people! Could you imagine that happening in an American University? Of course, he has no plans on taking her up on her offer. It isn't his style, and we all have bitachon that something will work itself out. B.H. we have loads of relatives there so he won't be homeless even though he'll have an enormous commute until he finds something.
So...when the tears come and that pain of having a piece of my heart missing when I think of them being so far away, I just conjure up these stories and know that THERE IS NO PLACE LIKE HOME! May we all be zochim to follow in their footsteps!
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