First Time Voting in Israel for Mayor and City Council!

           On Tuesday, Oct 30th 2018 was the National Election Day in Israel which we got to take part in for the first time. It is a paid vacation day for the entire workforce in Israel(with the exception of services to the public), so that everyone can go out and vote for their choice of Mayor and City Council. Kids also have the day off of school. It was neat to be able to vote as Isreali citizens for the first time. You get voters cards mailed to you, which tell you the location of where you are supposed to vote. For some reason, we never received our cards, so I had to do some research and in the end I found out online where we were supposed to go. The morning of the big day, after filling the family with blueberry pancakes, we all headed out to the voting station at around 9:30am. The way it works with a lot of places in Israel, is once you get to where the GPS guides you, the next step is to find parking that hopefully isn't to far away from the actual location you are supposed to be at. We thankfully found a decent parking spot and luckily there was a woman who was walking around near the voting area who was very helpful and showed us exactly where we needed to be, and how to to do the voting. We went in and there was only one person ahead of us (so for future reference, morning time is the best time to go if you want to avoid long lines), and only had to wait a few minutes. When it was our turn it didn't take long at all and before we knew it we were all heading back to our car very thankful for the pain free voting experience. All you have to do is show the people your teudat zehut (Israeli ID card) and then they give you your voting envelopes(one yellow and one white). Next, you need to go over to this table and they have the names of the candidates already cut out for you, so you just need to take the name and put it in the envelope and close it, and you are free to go. I also read that you have to make sure your envelope is free of any writing or marks or it invalidates them(which I think is silly, not sure why that matters and is an easy way for people to get away with screwing with envelopes on purpose).

I was so grateful for the painless voting experience and felt like we were real Israeli's. Some things I'm not particularly fond of is, prior to the voting day people throw flyers of who to vote for all around the city to the point of ridiculousness which you can see from the photos. They also go around with huge megaphones in their cars(which is extremely loud and obnoxious) announcing who they want you to vote for. It's tolerable during certain hours of the day, but at night time when you are waking up sleeping kids, it's even more obnoxious and really inconsiderate. Not to mention it's ineffective. Most of the time, I don't even understand what they are saying.

It was a close race and the winner ended up being Aliza Bloch. She is not only the first female mayor elected, but she was not predicted to win over the ultra Orthodox former Mayor, Moshe Abutbul.  There were crowds celebrating by singing and dancing which I loved seeing the videos of. There is a whole history of course of the politics and corruption with the former mayor of Beit Shemesh. In the previous election back in 2013,  there were eight people who were charged with voting fraud. Some of the ongoing issues that really bothered me that were never addressed under the Mayor Moshe Abutbul are, intermittent violence across Beit Shemesh(Particulary in Ramat Beit Shemesh B area), high youth graffiti and vandalism, garbage not being collected resulted in filthy streets and glass everywhere. I think the thing he didn't follow through on that I find most frustrating is, in 2017 there was millions of shekels allocated to install security cameras which he signed for in order to be able to catch people who are doing acts of violence of vandalism and he deliberately failed to follow through. In 2018 he said publicly that there was no reason for not installing the security cameras and yet nothing was done that whole time. Security cameras are desperately needed with all the frequent crazy situations going on in certain parts of Beit Shemesh. There have been instances where a radical charedi man went on  "modesty patrols," and was hitting women with a pipe and telling them to go home because they weren't dressed modestly enough in his eyes. There are "modesty signs" instructing woman to dress appropriately or not walk on a certain side of the street posted in areas which are frequented by radical chareidi men. Modesty signs and graffiti have been a continual issue in Beit Shemesh and often led to violent protests anytime officials try to remove them. The spokesman for the Beit Shemesh municipality said they have spent more than 50,000 shekels trying to remove the constant signs and graffiti. Luckily the part of Beit Shemesh we live in isn't the area where they put all the signs up, but people still want Beit Shemesh as a whole to be a place where everyone is welcome and do not have to be afraid being badgered while living here.

I'm guessing people just got fed up because even a lot of the Charedi had voted for Aliza Bloch. 

Here is some victory pictures people were passing around on social media:

You can see Aliza Bloch's full victory speech on the link: https://www.kikar.co.il/295358.html
For those who don't know Hebrew she said: “The people of Israel look at the city of Beit Shemesh and wake up to a new hope. Beit Shemesh decided to cancel the walls and partitions," she said, adding, “Today we have proven to ourselves and to Israeli society that we respect each other and do not create gaps." "As mayor of Beit Shemesh, I intend to engage in finding the good and the common, and together we will become a model for Israeli society, each of whom will live his life in his own way with respect for the other," Bloch declared."(https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/254089)

Despite Beit Shemesh being unfortunately associated to some people with crazy, hateful intolerant people, the cities population is growing like crazy. The Prime Minister Netanyahu said, "I see this city as becoming of the the largest cities in Israel. It's developing at a very fast rate, and it is home to haredi, secular, traditional, Ashkenazic, Sephardic Jews, as well as to new immigrants. It's the first city in which they are actively integrating the general population and the haredi population(israelnationalnews). I know people who are more open to the idea of living in Beit Shemesh now that Aliza is mayor. Thankfully the community we landed in Beit Shemesh is a really wonderful community. It's diverse and filled with kind, generous, good people who are a kiddush Hashem in my opinion. The growth of Beit Shemesh is evident, I've never seen so many cranes and on going construction in my life which is a great thing to see because it means more and more people are making aliyah. I  can't wait to see what the future will look like with Aliza as mayor and am so excited to have been part of making positive changes in the beautiful country Hashem gave us.

History of Beit Shemesh articles under  previous Mayor:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1sRyB1d86vdkI1AfFh6P-lLJblBsgFw35dYNIMjFIYd4/edit
http://washingtonjewishweek.com/7137/beith-shemesh-mayors-bigotry/editorial-opinion/editorial/
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Senior-Beit-Shemesh-council-member-nine-others-booked-in-corruption-sting-553604
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/1318645/familys-modesty-standard-leads-vandalism-attack.html
https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Court-to-Beit-Shemesh-Pull-down-those-modesty-signs-496171
https://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4451390,00.html
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/1464642/shocking-video-religious-girls-attacked-by-young-men-while-walking-through-meah-shearim.html
https://www.haaretz.com/.premium-haredi-men-throw-rocks-at-immodest-woman-and-her-baby-in-beit-shemesh-1.5183372
https://www.timesofisrael.com/threatened-with-death-curse-women-fighting-beit-shemesh-modesty-signs-uncowed/
https://www.timesofisrael.com/eight-indicted-for-beit-shemesh-voting-fraud/
https://www.jpost.com/Magazine/Creating-something-special-in-Beit-Shemesh-571997
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/227678

First experience staying in a hospital in Israel - Ein Kerem Hospital (Jerusalem)

During one of my routine trips to the OB, I discovered that I had to unfortunately go the hospital and be admitted for a few days due to being at risk for preterm labor. I have a short cervix and it was shorter than is comfortable and so they wanted me admitted to monitor me in case I go into labor, which is not good because I am only 24 weeks pregnant. When I was told by the nurse during my appointment that I would probably need to go to the hospital, tears just burst through my eyes. The Ultrasound tech there was really nice, and ended up calling my husband later that day to see if I was okay. In general, your cervix should not be shorter than 25 mm and the day I went to the hospital it was at 19mm and when they measured me again later that same day, it was at 13mm which is scary for it to shorten that much in one day. The timing was of course was "perfect" timing because my husband had just started a new job last week, and now is already having to take time out of work to bring me to the hospital. Thank G-d his job was supportive and understanding and my husband was still able to get what he needed done in a timely manner, along with having to take care of the kids and everything else while I was gone.

One of our concerns going to the hospital was finding where I was supposed to be since they didn't know for sure, but luckily it didn't take us long to find the place I was supposed to check in. However it was a challenge just to get into the hospital. There is one elevator (that we know of anyway) to get into the hospital and it doesn't work very well. There was big line for people to get into the elevator, my husband wanted me to get in, but he would not fit with our wheel chair and stuff so he took it up the stairs otherwise we would be waiting forever just to get into the hospital. Stephan made sure I got checked in and had packed me some survival food and entertainment necessities. After I was being cared for by the nurses, I told him he could go even though I hated to be left alone, but he had just started a new job which took him five months to find, and so there wasn't even any time he could really take off, and we didn't want to risk losing his job over this. We also have kids and I find it easier to deal with things, when I know my kids are being taken care of and that they still have stability. So off he went.

The first nurses that were taking care of me were nice and did a good job. You could tell they were constantly busy doing stuff and trying their hardest to be on top of things. The wait for me to see the ultra sound tech and the doctor wasn't to bad either. After I saw the doctor, they put an IV in me and a steroid shot to help the babies lungs develop, and then told me where I would be staying. I was told to go to the maternity ward on the sixth floor.

Here is a picture of what the room looked like:

The next couple of hours was just getting set up in my room, and hanging out with my entertainment supplies. I was on whatsapp a lot since a lot of people were kind enough to send their concerns, and were wanting updates. I was appreciate because anything to keep my mind busy from worry or negativity was good. I had my laptop also which I was on so I read a lot, and organized our pictures on flickr.  The nurses on the 6th floor were nice too. I asked about meals, and the nurse told me the dining room was on this floor and pointed in the direction it was. Apparently, you just go there yourself and there is a buffet of food there for you to pick, which was nice for hospital food. The food was pretty good too, depending on what they were serving that day. It's still hospital food nonetheless, but  feel like they give better and more healthy options than in the states, where you basically have a few options, and they are all not so impressive or that healthy. Here are the pics of what breakfast, lunch and dinner looked like:

Breakfast:

Lunch:

Dinner:

Dining room:

The hardest part about being in the hospital was not being able to get a good night's rest. It is impossible being in the maternity ward and getting a roommate brought to you in the middle of the night. The combination of crying babies. beeping machines and roommate snoring, forget about it! Also not to sound like a diva or something, but the beds are not as comfortable,  and the pillow is like sleeping on hard play dough or something. Also the room temperature is to warm (i need it to be cold for me to sleep well). I literally got maybe 30 minutes - 1 hr of interrupted sleep my first night there. I thought, sleep deprivation and stress cannot be good for me or the baby. I told a friend what was going on and she recommended I ask to be moved to the 7th floor. She delivered there and she said it's much quieter and it's new. So for the second night I asked my doctor if I could leave early because I couldn't sleep and he said maybe after two days. I talked to one of the nurses and asked to be moved because I couldn't sleep, and she called the 7th floor for me and luckily their was a bed available for me, and they said I was okay to move! So I happily packed all my things and made my way to the seventh floor. My friend was right, the rooms were much nicer and not as warm. The nurses were nice too. Here are some pics of the room:

I started off with a roommate, who was very nice, we chatted for a bit and she told me that her baby is big so she has to decide if she wants a C-section, but there are risks to doing it vaginally and she wanted to go home to figure out her decision with her husband, which the doctor let her go home to do that. Which meant I had the room to myself which I was really looking forward to  because of the real potential of actually getting a full nights rest. However my dreams were short lived. After a lovely four hour stretch of sleep, I was awoken at 3am with the nurses bringing in a new roommate - who was in labor! There was no getting to sleep after that.They were nice but her and her friend were dovening all night, one of them took a shower and there was all the breathing hard from being in labor. I thought to myself, that's it, I am determined to go home today, I can't take being here another night! So, the next morning, I asked the nurses about going home a day early because I was getting terrible sleep, and they said the doctor is supposed to see me today and I can speak to him then about going home. While I was waiting,  breakfast and lunch was brought to me which made me discover a downside of being on the seventh floor. You don't get to go down to get your own food from the dining hall, they bring it to you. Which apparently means you get the shaft when it comes to food. My breakfast was literally some white bread, a hard boiled egg, a couple slices of cheese, a bowl of tomatoes, and a vanilla pudding. At least it made me survive. The doctor didn't come around until around 11:30am and I told him my situation and he asked if I had contractions and how I was feeling, and said it would be fine for me to go home. I would just need to come back right away if I have contractions. I think the issue of not getting good rest at the hospital really needs to be seriously addressed. There are things that I wonder are necessary and could be changed, like is the  beeping that I hear outside my room really necessary? Since I wasn't in labor, did I really need to be in the maternity ward with the other woman and babies? I'm pretty sure stress and sleep deprivation also contributes to pre-term labor so in order to accurately monitor me, wouldn't it make sense to make sure I'm as rested and relaxed as possible? I get that maybe there aren't enough rooms to be able to have your own room, but it seems like it could at least be organized better where patients who do not need monitors on their belly all night and just need to be at the hospital to make sure they don't have contractions, do not need to be in the same room with patients who do need all the monitoring. Anyway, I wish I had more power because I really pity anyone who has to stay at the hospital for an extended period of time because not getting a good nights rest is absolute torture. This is an update, but I was so excited to see it, here is a video from the "Healthcare Triage" youtube channel that I love about the issue of not being able to get good sleep in the hospital and the research done on it:
https://youtu.be/vFclKfulL3w

As soon as the doctor told me I was able to go home, I was overjoyed and told my husband right away. He was coming anyway that day to to visit with the kids because the kids get out of school earlier on Tuesdays. They came and we all ate dinner at one of the restaurants at the hospital which was so nice considering the meals I had eaten earlier that day. One of the benefits of living in Israel is you actually get to eat at the restaurants at the hospital, because most (if not all) are Kosher and there are a variety of different restaurants for your choosing. We also took some yummy things from Roladin home for later. It was so good to see them. That night I went home and had my first shower/bath in awhile and had my first full nights rest in my amazingly comfy bed(all things I realize we take for granted) and the next morning I woke up, I felt like a million bucks! There really is no place like home!

Something that made this whole experience more bearable was the amazing community support we received throughout all of this. There were two communities that helped us, the one we live in now and the one we used to live in when we first made aliyah.  I really believe prayer in cases where you don't have any control, is the first thing you should do when you are in need of help, and so I had asked some friends from the old community we were at for their tefillos(prayers) and I also told a couple friends about our situation in the current community we live in. To which, my friend I told organized meals for us for the rest of the week, as well a few meals every week that I would be on partial bed rest, and organized a tehillim group, and even offered to watch our kids to let Stephan come be with me more which was amazing. I had friends and my sister constantly checking up on me and asking how I was doing and sending their best wishes and prayers. I had friends (and people I didn't know before) tell me about their experiences with their preemies and how everything turned out okay, which is one of the most comforting things to hear because they have gone through something similar which gives me more objective hope.  Another thing that really blew me away was the community we first started in (Nofei Hashemesh) our first year here in Israel, a friend of mine there wanted to help us out (despite us not being local anymore) and asked the community if anyone wanted to chip in to give us a gift certificate to OrderApp where you can order food and have it delivered to your house. She ended up giving us a gift certificate of  1400NIS to orderapp thanks to the additional support of the community. We were speechless and so touched by the amazing chesed of the community, it was such a kiddush Hashem and made us feel so blessed to be Jews.

Why We Stopped Using Facebook:

I still remember the first time I was making my Myspace profile back in around 2005. I was in the Air Force and had just moved to Montgomery Alabama from Japan. I was sitting in  a community center for young people in the Military called "The Lookout," and fiddling around making a profile. I thought, "What fun!". I get to pick my own music and create my own background along with listing all the things about yourself. That was the beginning of my life in the social media experience. I'm not sure why I ended up switching to Facebook because I like the features of Myspace better, but it happened nevertheless. Fast forward to my life now in 2018. Life could not be more different. I wasn't a Jew back then for one thing, and was in the United States Air Force in Japan. I've had so many different experiences and along the way have met so many different people who I, of course, end up collecting on Facebook. After many years of the Facebook experience, I think I've realized how Facebook has effected my life and many others. While I think Facebook can be used for good, I think for us it's time to say goodbye to it and here are the reasons why:

First I want to say the things I like about Facebook and will still be using. My favorite thing is actually the Facebook groups. I think they are so useful, for example some of the groups I belong to after moving to Israel are "Dogs for Olim" is a group for people new to living in Israel and who want information on where to get a dog. You get updates on dogs that need homes, or when they are having adoption days. Another group I belong to is the community I live in group which allows you to get information on what is happening specifically in the community,  and ask questions to the locals everything from hours to stores, to getting an onion because I don't want to go all the way to the grocery store, and instead just go a few houses down to a friendly neighbor who is willing to give me an onion. If you have a business, Facebook is a great way to advertise and get connected with people. Keeping people informed and keeping people connected who you might not other wise be connected over the decades I think Facebook is great at.

Now for the downsides. One of the biggest reasons is how Facebook can affect your emotional state. There are a range of emotions you can feel while using Facebook, and feeling good and happy isn't always the primary emotion.  In fact more often than not, it can actually bring the opposite of happiness. Studies have shown that Facebook can make people jealous, angry, depressed, annoyed, and sad. The Facebook feed is good when you find out things you want to know about people, and bad when you find out things you wish you never knew.  It can lead people to be less satisfied with their lot in life. It's the grass is always greener syndrome. Most people do not post their dirty laundry on Facebook (thank G-d), however there are always exceptions. One of the reasons Lashon Haro (negative speech) is so bad is whatever it is you learn about someone, it can change your perception of them for the bad. For example, I've seen some people post their dirty laundry for everyone to see, men posting offensive posts about women's body parts or something, people's political views and how they speak to other people who disagree with them, or public shaming posts. All of these is most of the time are either TMI(To much information), inappropriate, or just annoying and offensive. Jealousy is also a huge reason for unhappiness. I know people who have unfriended people because they saw they weren't invited to a party or something from a "friend" they thought they were close to, and were to hurt by the fact they weren't invited they unfriended them.  There is no end to the amount of things that can make people feel bad and jealous about. https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/2b71df56-1cdb-46a1-9122-4e3d7ed98e59

If adults are experiencing all these negative side effects, then should kids (who are even more prone to the side effects) be using Facebook? This is another reason I am letting go of Facebook. Since I don't want my kids using it, I think it's best to be an example and not use it either. Studies show that teens who use Facebook had more feelings of anxiety, depression and loneliness. Since they are still developing they are still learning how to cope with all the different things they go through, it doesn't make sense to give them Facebook and make it even harder for them than things already are.
https://childmind.org/article/how-using-social-media-affects-teenagers/

 While it's nice to be to able to look at all the statuses of all the people you know on the Facebook feed, I don't think it is really a necessary thing for us to do on a daily basis. Even with the people closest to me, I don't need to know what they are doing every day of their lives, nor do I need to inform other people my daily status. Judaism teaches that every person was put on their earth with their own unique mission that only they can fulfill on this earth. It's up to them to carry it out and help make the world a better place and bring G-d's presence into the world. Facebook can be a tool to help communicate, and it can also be used a a huge distraction from using the precious time G-d gave us in the way that we should. My husband and I are going through the book, "Chesbon Hanefesh," which is about how to improve your character traits. One of the character traits it lists is "diligence" and a short description of it is, "Always find something to do, for yourself or for a friend and don't allow one moment of your life to be wasted." Diligence means using every second we have been given on this earth the best way possible. Every time you waste time you mark down how many for that day and then count up the total for the week. I noticed the most demerits I got were because of Facebook. It's so easy to spend to much time on it and there are definitively more productive ways of using what little time Hashem gave us on this earth.

Not only can going through the Facebook feed by a waste of time, after thinking about the effects of Facebook I realized that it doesn't even really bring me that much joy. If I was going to spend some leisure time doing something that really contributed to my happiness, Facebook does not make the list of one of those things.

Results in poor communication:

Often people will use Facebook as their primary way to contact us, which is fine if you have no other way to contact us because we just met or something, but if you are a close person to us, Facebook should not the be primary way to communicate with close family and friends. People find out family members have died on Facebook rather then people calling them personally to deliver the news.

Negative things Facebook as a company has done:

Facebook is run by we all know the famous Mark Zuckerberg, another fellow Jew. Yet for some reason he does more to protect terrorists than his own people. As well as his new "censorship" of news.

• http://www.newsweek.com/why-cant-facebook-take-down-all-terrorist-content-782598
• https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/17/facebook-and-fake-news-controversy-in-philippines-around-rappler.htm
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DiD-pZ1mViY
• Inciting violence against Jews:
• Video: The Big Facebook Experiment: One page incites against Jews. One page incites against Palestinians. Which page will be closed by Facebook?

In the end Facebook is just another tool and we can decide how we are going to use it, like with most everything else in life. I think everyone could benefit by asking themselves,"If life is short, how much should Facebook be a part of it?"

References:

• Quit social media | Dr. Cal Newport | TEDxTysons
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3E7hkPZ-HTk
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CcPWvnlVBY
• way:https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/108390/jewish/What-is-Lifes-Purpose.htm
• http://etzion.org.il/en/you-shall-not-place-stumbling-block-blind-chazals-metaphoric-approach
• https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2018/10/01/loneliness-felt-intensely-young-people-study-finds-turning-facebook/
• https://www.marketwatch.com/story/new-study-claims-facebook-instagram-and-snapchat-are-linked-to-depression-2018-11-09

Conversion process - Kosher Home part 1: Mezuzas:

Moving into one's first new house is one of those big adult milestones that one looks forward to. We had an additional milestone: we were also were creating a Jewish home. Who knew there was such a thing, but the more we went through the conversion process, the more we learned just how many distinct things you have to do as a Jew that sets you apart from the rest of the world. Orthodox Jews really do embody being, "in this world, but not of this world."

One of the first things you have to do when you move into a new place, is to make sure you put up a "mezuzah" on every door way with the except the bathroom. This is one of the 613
mitzvos(commandments) that Jews are supposed to do, which comes from Devarim 6:9;
"Write them on the doorposts of your house and upon your gates." There are many things that Jews do that are reminders of what we are supposed to do and what life is all about. The mezuzah is one of those symbols. It is a scroll inside a decorative. The important part is what is inside the casing which is probably the most important Jewish statement reminding us that there is only one G-d. The Shema says: “Hear o Israel, the L‑rd is our G‑d, the L‑rd is One.” It is written in Hebrew on parchment paper.  The Shema is one of the first sentences Jews teach our children and is said every night before we go to sleep. We started saying it when we put our son Cyrus to bed once he was old enough to talk. We must have told him what was inside the mezuzah because when Cyrus was watching Stephan put up our first mezuzah he pointed at it and little two year old Cyrus said the Shema. We had our sponsoring Rabbi and community Rabbi come and check and make sure that we had a Mezuzah in all the right places. Some places need a mezuzah, such as the entry way to our living room even though it's technically not a door way ,which is the part where a Rabbi can help make sure of. A tradition the Jews have is to kiss the mezuzah everytime one enters or leaves the place where a mezuzah is, which I think is because it helps the person with the second part of the mitzvah which is to remember the content inside the mezuzah. The Rambam writes at the end of Hilchos Mezuzah, "Every time that a person enters or leaves he will encounter the Unity of G-d, the Holy Name of G-d." "A person is obligated to be extremely cautious about the mezuzah. (Shulchan Aruch, Yoreh De'ah, beg, ch 228)

The scroll:

The scroll is what is rolled up inside the Mezuzah case.

The versus are from 6:4-9 and 11:13-21:
Hear, O Israel, the L-rd is our G-d, the L-rd is One.
You shall love the L-rd your G-d with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your might. And these words which I command you today shall be upon your heart. You shall teach them thoroughly to your children, and your shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, and when you lie down and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be a reminder between your eyes. And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and upon your gates.

And it will be, if you will diligently obey My commandments which I enjoin upon you this day, to love the L-rd Your G-d and to serve Him with all yhour heart and with all your soul. I will give rain for your land at the proper time, the early rain and the late rain, and you will gather in your grain, your wine and your oil. And I will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be sated. Take care lest your heart be lured away and you turn astray and worship alien gods and bow down to them. For then the L-rd's wrath will flate up against you, and He will close the heavens so that there will be no rain and the earth will not yield its produce, and you will swiftly perish from the good land which the L-rd gives you. Therefore, place these words of Mine upon your heart and upon your soul, and bind them for a sign on your hand and they shall be a reminder between your eyes. You shall teach them to your children, to speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, and when you lie down and when you rise. And you shall inscribe them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates-so that your day and the days o your children may be prolonged on the land which the L-rd swore to your fathers to give to them for as long as the heavens are above the earth.

These versus from the Torah are written with a special quill pen by what's known in Hebrew as a Sofer(specially trained religious devout scribe) on a handmade parchment from a kosher animal. The Sofer has to be extremely careful because there are thousands of requirements that must be met in order for the mezuzah to be written in accordance with the laws. For example, the mezuzah is invalid if even one of the 713 letters is shaped incorrectly or one of the letters is missing(see links below for more details on what makes a kosher mezuzah).

Judaism has all kinds of things that we do in to remind us I think of what our life's purpose is, and what life is really about. One of my favorite things going through this process is seeing how kids act being brought up as Orthodox Jews. I see kids at Shabbos tables acting rambunctious and crazy with their friends, but on the way home from school I see one of those boys kiss the mezuzah before he goes inside the house, which is an amazing thing to see. Having kids, I see how they get so caught up in what they are doing that they forget about everything else (which adults can relate to as well), and yet seeing a mezuzah can snap an 8 yr old boy out of his daydreams and brings him back to the present, where he thinks about what he is doing. We all need reminders like that in our life, and I'm so grateful for the many that Judaism has to offer.

References:
http://www.chabad.org/parshah/article_cdo/aid/704621/jewish/Mitzvah-Mezuzah-or-Just-Mezuzah.htm

http://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/256923/jewish/The-Mezuzah-Scroll-and-Case.htm

https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/256915/jewish/What-Is-a-Mezuzah.htm

Welcome to Beit Shemesh:

After about an hour-long ride, we arrived at our final destination from the Ben Gurion airport to our house in Beit Shemesh. We got out of the car and started hauling out our luggage from the vehicle.

The driver left, and there we were, all four of us, two cats, and twenty bags of luggage standing outside in the garage of the house and couldn't wait to get inside and crash after not sleeping for 48 hrs. We waited with anticipation as Stephan put the keys in the door hole  and tried to open the door with the mounds of keys he had been given to the house. After many tries he realized it wasn't working and we needed a code. Now what were we going to do? Here we were on a day so hot in Israel they issued a heat warning and were trapped outside with two little exhausted kids and cats. I was about to breakdown right there in the garage but just before I was about to lose it, a car pulled over and stopped. Someone from inside it rolled down their window and said, "Hi, we just wanted to introduce ourselves." We told the nice couple about our predicament and B'H they happen to know the people who used to live in the house before us and knew the code of the house and let us in. There are no words for how relieved and happy we felt. We brought our stuff inside and the next thing on my mind was I wanted to find out was how to turn on the AC. They showed us how to do that also and also had food and water for us.

The first thing we did was pull out the inflatable mattresses and made the kids take a nap because it was still morning time and they needed to rest a bit if they were ever going to get through rest of the day until night time. The rest of the day people from the community stopped by our place on and off introducing themselves, and bringing us welcome gifts like home baked goods, water, and the hospitality committee organized a family to cook dinner for us! Our amazing next-door neighbor offered one of her fold out tables and chairs to use until we got our own, and set us up with a mini fridge right away(I didn't even think of that). She even offered to take me to the grocery store so I could get things and she said she would tell me what things were what since so many products have Hebrew writing on them. I took her up on her amazing offer which was so helpful since we didn't have a car yet. It was such a warm and inspiring welcome and made us feel we chose the right place to land in Israel.

Ulpan Experience:

One of the amazing things about Israel is they give new Olim(Immigrants) five months of free Hebrew education which they call Ulpan. Not only do you get to learn the holy language for free, but it's a great place to start out with because you are usually among people who are going through the same thing you are and can be a good support system. It's also a cultural experience because you get to meet people from all over the world. I met people from England, Russia, Australia, Poland, Yemin, and even a Pakistani couple. It was a diverse group of people from all different religious backgrounds so you learn about people's different view points of things and where they come from. They also take you on trips around Israel with the group which is another chance to bond with everyone, as well as experience Israel.

There were some challenges that I faced during Ulpan. One of the challenges was the intensity of it. It is hard for me to sit for four hrs straight learning a language (and a hard one at that). There was a quiz every week, and homework. It's hard balancing having time to study and do homework, while having to raise kids and all the other things that come along with moving to another country. Time is something that I felt I never had enough of and felt like I was always running. I was placed in Aleph which is the beginners class. Beginners class in my eyes is starting from scratch like learning the Aleph Beis and learning to read with vowels along and going from there.  However that's not what they mean by beginners. In Aleph, they already expect you to know how to read Hebrew and write in script. I knew how to read Hebrew (not like a pro though) with vowels, or read without vowels (which is what we did through the whole class) but did not know script, and they tested us on script on our first day. The next day the teacher spoke me and told her I need to retake the test. So I studied hard, and in two weeks I was able to retake the test again, and this time I passed! While it is mentally challenging to the point where at the end of class we all usually let out a simultaneous groan from a hard day of work, the class does motivate you to work harder than you normally would on your own. There is a lot of reading out loud in class and the teacher often will ask you what the answer is to a question on the board, so you need to be paying attention or you won't get it. You also speak to each other in Hebrew and are expected to know how to ask the question and respond back appropriately.  Even if you are someone who is on the lazy side and wouldn't normally do all the homework, your ego will probably get the best of you and make you study because you don't want to sound look like a noob in front of everyone.

It's was my first time being taught by an Israeli, which was a cultural experience also. I didn't know what to expect because Israeli's are described as the people who are like the prickly pear that grows in the dessert. The plant is hard on the outside, but soft and sweet on the inside. My teacher was not even hard on the outside, she was a very kind and patient person and I loved having her as a teacher. I thought she handled herself very well with all the different questions coming at her and all the people from different backgrounds bringing up controversial topics (not always having to do with Hebrew) but she handled everything very gracefully and with a sense of humor. I feel blessed to be able to have had her as my first Israeli teacher. I think teachers here are more chill and open than I'm used to in the States, which is why I think she handled the controversial questions and comments well because in Israel she said they speak about these things with their students. They can speak about things like religion, politics, and other serious topics. If people learn new things that are true then it's great, however if teachers are teaching things that are not true, it's a problem which is why there are good and bad things to being so open in a classroom.

One of my fellow students blew me away with another cultural experience. He joked a lot and did the Asian squinty eyes thing at me at least twice. When I told people I used to be in the Air Force he asked if I was part of the Kamikaze's and another person in the group also did the squinty eye thing and laughed. I was blown away at how insensitive they were, I wasn't offended but more shocked than anything, because I really don't believe they were doing it with malice. I just think they didn't think about how that could be taken in an offensive way. Maybe because they were from different countries their culture isn't sensitive to things like that I don't know but that was another experience.

At the end of Ulpan, you get a written test and an Oral test. I actually passed my oral test, which was a huge surprise because I said not long ago that I doubt I would pass this class. Every time I succeed in doing something that I found to be really hard, I feel like I experienced just a hint of what it must have felt like for Chris Gardner in the movie "Pursuit of Happiness," when he was told that he got the job he had been working so hard to get. I didn't have time to practice more than an hr a day, and some how made it through. I would practice more before quizzes or tests. There was one quiz every week usually. It feels so good to have completed Aleph, but I will miss the people, and feel so grateful to have had this opportunity.  I plan on working with a tutor about twice a week to practice reading and speaking and having her work on pronunciation with me, and I will continue to practice the things I've learned to make sure I retain the foundation of this amazing language and hope to one day G-d willing be fluent!

Getting off the plane - Thank You Nefesh B'Nefesh!

I gotta hand it to Nefesh B'Nefesh(NBN). The organization was founded in 2002 with the mission to help people make aliyah as easy as possible, and that is what they did for us. They actually pay for people's flights who are making aliyah, along with so many other helpful things which you can check out on their website: http://www.nbn.org.il/nefesh-bnefesh-history-milestones/ A neat thing about flying on a NBN flight, everyone on the plane is making aliyah along with you so there is a huge sense of camaraderie and comfort in being with people who are all going through something similar. As the plane was landing the pilot made an announcement saying after we land we will be entering Israel as Israeli citizens for the first time.

When we finally got off the long 10-11 hr flight from New York, we started our walk down the stairs from the plane. We saw the NBN crew and reporters filming everyone and taking pictures. It's probably the closest thing we will ever experience of what it must feel like to be a celebrity. After everyone got off the plan we all had to get on a bus to go to another location which is where they hold a big welcoming ceremony for new Olim. It is such an amazing thing to experience. Once you get off the bus, there are loads of people singing and cheering for everyone who made aliyah and holding up signs. There is a band playing music, people dancing, and usually The Prime Minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu makes a speech but that day there was a warning for how hot it was so they didn't have the usual speeches. I  I was actually relieved because I heard that the speeches were long and all I wanted to do after not sleeping for 24 hrs and being on a plane, was go to our place we were renting and collapse! Words cannot do the experience justice. Check out the video to see for yourself:



When the ceremony ended we were taken to the airport and the process of paperwork began. I was dreading it because there were so many people who had to get processed and most had kids so we had to figure out how we were going to entertain them for who knows how long and we were all tired and hungry. Fortunately NBN was awesome and had a little play area for the kids and had another room set up where they could watch a movie. They also gave the kids this big welcome bag full of toys and candy. They had a food and drink spread of sandwiches, chips, cookies, coffee and water. This made the whole process so much easier to get through, and we didn't even have to wait that long. After about an hr there we got through the paperwork part which was all organized and ready for us, and we were finally taken to our transportation (which was also set up by NBN), we saw all our bags, as well as our cats all ready for us (the kids were so happy to see the cats). Now it was time to head to our final destination, Beit Shemesh here we come!