Almost Eden

contact us: morasha.ulpan@gmail.com

"Humans beings who live in disorderly societies or those devoid of laws and mores will eventually regress into primitive conduct matching those of the animal world. Hunger, lack of suitable living quarters, unemployment etc., combine to drive otherwise normal people to perform acts of extreme cruelty beyond the imagination of the civilized mind." I am completely in agreement with that. There's a really fascinating debate that I thought would be of interest on evolution vs. intelligent design going on at http://www.intelligentdesignfacts.com

I've been living in Israel for the past 10 years, I've gotten used to this so much that I forgot how a good postal/customs system is supposed to work. I myself once ordered a PSP from ebay for $100 and ended up paying 300 shekels customs/brokerage fees.
My advice for anyone wanting to import items into Israel:
1. When possible use USPS Priority Mail. No brokerage fees, you pay customs at your local post office.
2. Order small packages. For packages worth less than $50 you don't have to pay for neither customs nor vat(as far as I know). (for clothes its under $75)

Once again, Rav Kahana has delivered another tour de force.

Shalom Isobel,

I have some catching up to do with the blog. We spent our first year in Ma'ale Adumim. We then moved to Ra'anana for a year, and we are now back in Ma'ale Adumim (but in a different apartment). I actually started a blog post about it last night but haven't had time to complete it yet.

Thanks for your kind words.

Tehillah

P.S. Yes, you are a tougher woman than I :D I can handle blizzards and sub-zero temperatures, but not heat waves.

Great post - I especially love step 7!

I'm living in Eilat where the 90s are a cool day - yesterday for example it reached 113F outside (was over 40C in my apartment) but I rarely have the a/c on. Maybe we're just tougher down here (j/k - but I am a fair-skinned redhead from the UK so I think I'm doing pretty well). The lack of humidity makes a BIG difference.

I've been following your blog from the start and it was a great help to me as I prepared for aliyah. I think though I missed part of the story because I thought you were in Ra'anana and then I read the "moving" post. Are you back in your original apartment in Ma'ale Adumin?

If you find yourself needing to say Birkat Hamazon and you don't have a bencher around and it's not a Yom Tov, yet you happen to have an iPhone, iPod Touch or an iPשd, then you can get a best bencher app - iBirkat and recite Birkat Hamazon in a nussach of your choice.

Oh, and here is the link: http://www.appstudio.co.il/portfolio/apps/ibirkat/

Bad, bad, bad. How awful!

Shalom Avi,

These are very personal decisions you need to make and therefore I can only provide you with my opinion.

Your Question 1) Whether or not to leave possessions in storage is dependent on several factors: a) the financial value of those items vs. the emotional; b) how secure (from theft, fire, or other disaster) will your things be in the storage location; c) can you afford to pay the storage fees for the necessary period of time?; and d) do you have someone near the storage facility who is willing and able to take represent you (will probably need a Power of Attorney from you) with the international shipping company you later choose to send the shipment?

From experience:
A) I left my furniture, kitchen equipment, appliances, china, sewing room items, etc. in a 10 x 20 storage unit in California while my family spent a summer exploring other parts of the US to determine where we would settle. We temporarily settled in South Carolina in a furnished rental while looking for a more permanent home. In the meantime, it was difficult to find work comparable to what I left behind (at the time I was earning $65k in CA and was being offered $18 to $20k in South Carolina!) and therefore after about 5 months I had to borrow the money to pay the storage fees. My ex-husband's business failed and wiped out our bank account. Shortly after arriving in NY to stay with family while we got back on our feet, the Northridge earthquake hit and my possessions were destroyed. This all happened on US soil - no complication of being in a different country.

B) Recently a friend of ours made Aliyah and came to stay with us for a few months. She left her possessions in the US. Fortunately she had a friend there who was willing and able to coordinate her shipment to Israel once she found an apartment. However, things didn't go smoothly as the local shipping company didn't correctly estimate the size of her shipment and 1 lift van (7' x 7.5' x 3.5') wasn't enough - they decided she might need 1.5 or maybe 2. This left her friend in a difficult situation as decisions had to be made regarding what not to ship. It put a strain on everyone involved and in the end she accepted 2 lift vans - doubling her expected expense.

We also expected to ship 1 lift van and on moving day were informed by the local company that they couldn't fit it all in 1 and we had to pay for 2. We did not ship furniture or appliances (except for small kitchen equipment like mixer and food processor).

My advice is to sell everything you aren't emotionally attached to, ship only what you need (e.g., clothing, books, family photos, etc.) and buy furniture and appliances here if financially possible (BTW, we were able to buy some used items in very good condition for a lot less than new). Garage sales in the US were extremely disappointing - we did much better selling on eBay and Craig's List.

Your Question 2) Yes, it is possible. I suggest that you get on the chat lists (http://groups.yahoo.com) for the communities you're interested in and ask for specifics there. I know of one very nice and large furnished apartment in Ma'ale Adumim that will be available in October (if it hasn't already been taken) - I would have jumped at the chance to have it but we needed a place in July.

Wishing you all the best!
Tehillah

I am in favor of taking a small lift (1/2 a 20 ft container) and my wife wants to take only the 3 suitcases per person on the plane (and no lift- garage sale everything and re-buy in Israel). Our compromise is that we would put the possessions that we want to keep into storage in the US and when we find a place to live in Israel, we would send the lift ~ 1 year later with whatever we have space for in our Israeli apt/house. This approach would require rebuying necessities (table, chairs, kitchen supplies, appliances, mattresses etc) for the first year in Israel or finding a furnished apt. for the 1st year.

1) Do you think the compromise is feasible-- practically and financially?
2) Do you think it is possible to find a furnished apt for the 1st year in Israel? We are interested in the cheaper areas of Gush Etzion, as well as Maale Adumim and Kochav Yaakov.

this really helped me today, when I deposited a check at the atm for the first time. thanks! and I've got the getting cash out thing down too. And Bank Hapoalim gives you an option for English, but Leumi doesn't- go figure. Hapoalim, I am told, also doesn't have any branches in Judea or Samaria. So like I said, go figure...

Hi Daniel,
For such a high-tech country, one would expect to find e-mail contacts for them but unfortunately - to my knowledge - they don't use them. I managed to find one last year for the ulpan in Ra'anana and sent them a message. They never responded. When I inquired of the director she told me they don't use it! I'm sorry but all I can offer you is their phone number 972-2-628-1032.

Kol Tuv,
Tehillah

My family is researching various ways to study hebrew in the Land.Is there a possible email contact for Morasha?

Tehilla, may I repost this on my blog?

Personally (me-Tehillah), I disagree with the anonymous comment when s/he states:

"the "State of Israel Corporation" (currently in power by the grace of the United Nations) is not related in any way to any aspect of the Positive Commandment mandating "Yishuv Haaretz"."

The current Israeli government has nothing to do with the commandment of "Yishuv Haaretz". The command stands regardless of who is in control of the governing body. The Land is still the Land of Bnei Israel.

In my opinion, if all religious Jews in the world were to return to the Land (all of it) that God promised to the descendents of Avraham Avinu, then people's complaints about the type of government in place in Israel would be invalidated. How? Because if the demographics of Israeli citizenship were to shift to that of a majority being religious, then the "laws" of the Land would be changed to those in line with Torah.

By refusing to make Aliyah and participate in the rebuilding of our great nation, Jews in the galut are turning their back on the most important Torah commandment (one that is stated to be equal to the performance of all others combined) and causing disunity. And according to the great Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, tz"l:

“We have more Torah today than ever in the history of the Jewish people. We have more Chesed in the Jewish world than ever in the history of the Jewish people. We have more Kosher food then ever in the history of the Jewish people. The one thing that we are missing is unity, and that is what is holding back the Moshiach from coming!”

This is a follow-up from RABBI KAHANA:
Dear Friends,

Below is a comment I received on what I wrote on this week’s parasha, which leads me to believe that perhaps I did not state my intention with the necessary clarity, and others might have misunderstood what I meant.
the comment:

"Eretz Yisrael" is not synonymous with "The State of Israel".

It seems to me that the "State of Israel Corporation" (currently in power by the grace of the United Nations) is not related in any way to any aspect of the Positive Commandment mandating "Yishuv Haaretz".

I do not mean to question your "direct line" to God’s inner thoughts, but I do not see how you know that the God of Israel actually "considers" anyone that does not support the current political system and the reigning courts of the State of Israel ("right or wrong")as an "outsider".

(Just for clarification: Does "outsider" mean "karet" or just "stam a goy"?

…this is NOT a rhetorical question, please tell me what God REALLY thinks on this one.)

… maybe as an act of "patriotism" we should abandon our homes and follow the advice supplied by Helen Thomas…why burden the STATE OF ISRAEL with the kind of expense and trouble caused by Jews in Gush Katif when we know that it is in the interests of the STATE OF ISRAEL to demolish Jewish presence in Jerusalem, Haifa and Jaffa?

WHO DECIDES?

BY WHAT AUTHORITY?

Shabbat Shalom

My reply:
I am highly critical of many decisions my government has taken and takes, although I will never voice them to people who live in the galut. There are plenty of "miraglim" who can do that better than I.

I simply say:
When the Cossacks of the global village are planning to set fire to the village ghetto, called "The State of Israel," it is not the time to check if the Jewish firemen are wearing tzitzit.

In normal times, we have the right and even responsibility, to criticize non-Torah governmental decisions. But today, when the Medina is under an hysterical blitz of hatred, we have to join together and announce "My Medinat Yisrael - right or wrong".

Shabbat Shalom ve’Chodesh Tov

Nachman Kahana

Excellent! we are starting in the begginning of June. This is a big help. We have been studying Hebrew for a year now pretty consistantly. Is it possible to reach fluency in these classes?

HI RABBI NACHMAN KAHANA,

I LOVE YOUR LETTER TO PRIME MINISTER NATANYAHU, I HOPE HE READ IT. HOWEVER, IF HE DIDN'T IS BECAUSE HE GETS THOUSANDS OF E-MAILS EVERYDAY FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD. I USE TO WRITE TO HIM
AND I MET A KNESET MINISTER WHO TOLD ME THAT. HOWEVER HIS SECRETARIES READ
HIS E-MAILS. WHATEVER SEEMS IMPORTANT, HE READS THE MESSAGE.

SHALOM,

JACK EISENKEIT

Thank you for writing this blog! We are planning aliyah this fall (2010) with our three children. The two older ones are very worried about all they will be leaving behind. We're going to Raanana, and you've given a wonderful description, with pictures, about all they will find that is familiar to them.

Awesome. Thank you so much for writing this and re-posting it. I have always answered my daughters questions of "when will Mashiach come" with "When we rely only on Hashem and stop relying on the US." Kol Hakavod to you.