And on we go...

Hello! I remembered that I'm supposed to be blogging (thanks Benjy for the reminder!). Where was I?....Ah yes, Israel.

For my second Shabbat I headed down to Efrat to stay with my cousins. It was really nice to be back there. It's so peaceful and quiet, which is ironic when you are led to believe that it in the midst of a heavily volatile "West Bank". My cousin, Esty, who was enjoying her last Shabbat in Israel before returning to England post year off, also came and it was really nice to spend Shabbat with so much family.

Sunday of course is Monday in the rest of the world, but it wasn't as weird as I thought it would be getting up. Truth is life at the moment is a bit of a bubble. It's so far removed from what I left behind that it's sometimes hard to understand even what day of the week it is! I also decided to move to Kittah Gimmel, which to be honest is much better for me although still got plenty of work to do on the old DikDuk (Grammer). Mind you, I've still got plenty of work to do on English grammer so the problem is exacerbated!! lol

Tisha B'Av was hot here, but not as bad as I thought it would be. Well, I didn't dehydrate so that's a plus in my book! I went in the evening to hear Eichah in the Old City, and to enjoy a Shiur by none other than me old mate, Alex Cowan, which was really good. Afterwards I headed down to the Kotel, and it's weird as the place was packed and it all seems a bit too social for what is supposed to be one of the most tragic days in our history. However, being at the Kotel is an amazing experience on Tisha B'Av, and I can honestly say that for the first time I emotionally felt the loss of the Beit HaMikdash even if it was only on a very basic level. I know, 'whoa Chaim, don't go all spiritual on us', but I really did feel a sense of loss even if I can't fully appreciate what the loss is. During the day I mainly split my time between davening (where I bumped into Benjy Behrman!), Shiurim (very weird, at a place round the corner called Pardes, although i did attend an excellent shiur on whether or not we should say the special Tisha B'Av prayer, Nachem, either entirely or with amendments, which yet again cranking up the randomness was given by Rabbi Gideon Sylvester!!).

Wednesday and Thursday was spent mainly washing the mountains of dirty clothes that I had amassed over the two weeks in Israel. Not a bad job, if I do say so myself. Nothing went purple, nothing shrunk. Maybe next time...

For Shabbat, I was in the Ulpan, and Friday night was quite an experience as Saranne and I were really the only two Dati people at dinner. Meant that I had to play Daddy for everyone and make Kiddush and Motzi, although the former was in conjunction with an Italian who had all Kiddush in his head or so he'd thought! I davened Kabbalat Shabbat at a shul called Ramban, which is just off Emek, and apart from bumping into the great Jonny Lipczer and also Jonny Steel, I also discovered in this not particularly Anglo of shuls, there were about 6 or 7 copies of the new Singers Prayers Book. This country is a hive of randomness.

Shabbat lunch I was in town at Ilana (nee Gilbert) and her husband Josh, who made a goodbye meal for Rachel Smith who's off to Australia for 2 and a half months of Shlichut in Perth. Good luck, Rach. Saranne and I decided that the best way of getting up to town would be to avoid the heat of the day, and go early and daven in The Great on King George. The place is spectacular even without air conditioning!! We were treated to three and a half hours of Chazzanut and Choral singing courtesy of Chazzan Naftali Hershtik and the Choir. Ironically enough there was a Aufruf in that week from..........Finchley (Kinloss). So Rabbi Mirvis was there, as well as Rabbi Sudak from Edgware Lubavitch. How weird is that? After lunch we went back to Julia's (parents') gaff, which is wonderful with a superb view over most of Jerusalem. I also took the opportunity to have a quick shluf as well. It was really nice...that's the time at Julia's as opposed to the kip, which I suppose was also quite nice...hmm... Thanks again Julia!! I also bumped into my cousin, Jonny Roodyn and his son Dovid whilst out at Mincha so that was also very nice.

That brings us back up to date. Give me a chance and I'll get to grips with blogging and I won't keep splurging weeks into a blog!! (Shorter and funnier was one piece of critique given. Thanks for the feedback, but as you know I ramble so....I unintentionally ignored that). Until the next time, over and out.

The First Week or So

Greetings from the Holy Land. I’ve been advised that instead of emailing you insanely long emails, I need a better vehicle for my ramblings. “Blogging Chaim”, they said, “It’s the future”. Bit like Garlic Bread I suppose. Oooh, taste sensation! That should separate the Peter Kay fans among you, from the regular hoi paloy! Anyhow, I’ve drifted (you should be used to it by now).

So here I am wondering if I’ve really just made Aliyah or am actually on some weird holiday! Let’s cut to the ‘brass tacks’ as they say (I don’t know who they are either). Wednesday was very emotional. It’s hard to say goodbye to everything and everyone I’ve known and loved. However I see it as L’Hitraot, more than goodbye. Please G-d, I will see you all either here or back there, and so I’ll forgo the finality. Right, serious-ish stuff over, let’s go back to where I was. Flight was good, and it felt strange to be wandering around Ben Gurion after midnight, and do official processing stuff with Nefesh B’Nefesh (NBN, if I refer to them again from here on out). Once we’d got all the processing out the way, done what we need to do, and picked up our cases (bend with you knees, bend with you knees!!!), we went through departures, where Saranne’s brothers, Julia, and Tami G (here on an extended holiday) were there to great us. Well not the whole plane, I mean that would be silly. Hmmm, maybe…Anyhows, it was really nice, and Saranne’s bros had made T-Shirts for themselves and her to wear, and Julia and Tami had made us nice glittery signs, which was really, really sweet (Thanks guys!). Saranne went off with her brothers to head to Modiin, and I went off to get my (free) taxi ride. Now you have to picture the scene. There are loads of people standing around waiting for their ride. I rock up give them my slip for the free ride, but also wonder if i can give Julia, Tami, and Julia's friend, Danni, a lift at least to my destination. However I'm thinking what does this look like. I've arrived in Israel and the first thing I do is pick up 3 pretty girls and take them to a hotel in Jerusalem! Long and short, they didn't have enough room, so I went in a free sherut, which dropped a few other olim heading to J-Town. However this was no ordinary sherut. No my first real taste of Israeli bureaucractia arrived when they wouldn't let the driver leave the airport complex until he'd paid his airport tax. To do this he had to head all the way back to the terminal, pay, get a slip and then drive back again. All this at 2 in the morning! Having gone through this the driver proceeds to tell us that we would pass a spring set into a hill side where you can go and fill your bottle with the purest waters in Israel. Yep, you guessed it. Cue another stop! I eventually got to the hotel about 3.15 in the morning, and basically checked in and flopped out. Over the first few days at the hotel, I took the opportunity to do a bit of the initial admin stuff, so I went with Saranne on the Thursday and opened a bank account (only after having been told in the morning that our Teudot numbers weren't yet on the system!).

For Shabbat I went to my sister's best friend, Sharon Blumberg, who lives in Modiin with her husband, Roi. Cue another story. Sharon told me that the main bus to Modiin left at either 3 or 4. I of course, didn't move quick enough for the 3 o'clock bus and so go to find the 4 o'clock one. Long and short, i was pointed to the wrong stop, and missed it. This meant that in the end Sharon and Roi had to come and pick up their Shabbat guest! (Thanks again Sharon).

Sunday, I checked into the Ulpan, which as is becoming obvious with Israeli bureaucracy, took the best part of the day before I got my room. I'm sharing with two English guys called David Brummer and Alex Zyslbalt in a room not much bigger then my one back in London!

Ulpan, in terms of lessons, didn't really start until Tuesday, so Sunday and Monday was spent doing more bureaucracy, medical insurance, doctor, etc etc.

Yesterday (Tuesday), lessons began and it's scary how much of my Ivrit I've lost. Please G-d, it will return soon!

So that's me done for the mo. I'll try and blog again soon. Hope you're all ok, and L'Hitraot, I'll see you all soon.