בנשמה

"Happy Thanksgiving!," our 8 year old chimes as he wakes up Thursday morning and asks to take a fresh pumpkin muffin from the baking tin. Israel adventures and aliyah realization number 143 (I joke) - - this is another one of those holidays very specific to the United States that it doesn't exactly transfer over. There are many Israeli or Anglo families that feel strongly to continue the tradition, and celebrate the dinner on Friday night (instead of your turkey leftovers, 2x). Others, choose to embrace their new Israeli roots and detach from the holiday altogether (it is a national holiday, not Pagan but haven't found large turkey for sale here).  For the Vogel clan, we decided to mark it super low key with an easy dinner that includes turkey deli, corn, baked beans, jellied cranberry from a can and as noted above, muffins. Pumpkin puree is available in Beit Shemesh, at super hatzlacha. Not sure I could find it on Shupersal.  It feels slightly funny (I wo

It's been a long week. But it passed by quickly all the same.  A repeated theme throughout many conversations during shiva was how my mother was desperate to return to Israel. Claiming not to be phased by the stage of the cancer, she turned out being too weak where matter was controlled over mind.  A mother, waiting to be with her daughter and the daughter waiting for her mom to live up to a final dream.  Another theme was her emunah (belief) and love of us. We were reminded how she'd say "Life isn't fair" and other remarks so true to her character - - to accept life as it comes.  As we walked up to the front door of 1219 Pinecrest circle, on Wednesday, I was sad.  Losing two parents feels empty. Like taking a vaccum and sucking every particle.  What made me feel like a knob being twisted in my gut was the front door being opened by a familiar and kind community member. It wasn't my mother, who with what I remember as a little girl, had thick, blac

July of 2019 A discussion with my mother as to the anxiety that comes with transition to a new country. This was the first time, after moving, that I went to visit my father's grave and that she asserted that my soul is Israeli.  It was the first time I felt that my mom was proud of our decision, as she didn't clearly state it prior. As the disease progressed she said to me: אני לא רק גאה שאתם בארץ; יש לי אושר רב

My mom, a beloved Savta and mother in law passed peacefully Friday night, November 15. Two days shy of her 69th birthday, where perhaps she knew we would have tried to celebrate it at best, yet underlyingly bitter sweetly, her burial in Israel was commemorated the same day as her father's yahrtzeit who passed away 28 years ago. This was our second experience burying a loved one in Israel. Walking up to the cemetary, seeing the freshly dug up grave with hard and dry rocks around, I felt my heart pumping in my chest, and rather quickly. It's a beat I notice when I'm anxious or very upset. It is wildly unpleasant and reminds me of my own being - - the inner life of our own bodies that we forget has a life of its own.  An inner life that went so out of wack, it wreaked pain on the outside, empathy, exhaustion, fear and uncertainty. For two years.  Rather focusing this post on loss, I'd like to focus on gain, measures of support and divine intervention.  1) We ha

For those looking for seasons in Israel, Efrat should definately be a consideration. Coming from Boston, where there's now 17 degree weather and snow, it was both refreshing but also shocking to feel wind in the face and sleep with down covers. Efrat has grown tremendously since we were both last there 15 years ago. There are new areas of the Tamar, Dagan and the Zayit. The yeshuv is now a semi city, boasting two pizza stores, a burgers bar, an emergency room, schools such as Orot Banim, Orot Banot, nice parks, Pat be Melach and a variety of homes - - mostly semi attached. There's plans to build more on two hill tops.  But if you don't like cold weather or are seeking a smaller community, or living in the shtachim makes you nervous, then lucky you, there's plenty more neighborhoods in Israel to choose from. It's amazing to see how much has changed and thank goodness, to see God's land grow. And in that, faith that there's a place for everyone. 

Husband here. I’ve often said that there is no doubt in my mind why Hashem (God) chose this piece of land as the homeland for His People. Throughout an area the size of New Jersey, several different climates can be found. None of them are large (ok the Negev desert is pretty large) but adequate in size enough that you can get a taste of the real thing (e.g. skiing in winter, forest hikes, rivers, oceans, fresh water lakes, a top-10 in the world saline lake). Here in Bet Shemesh, we’ve been smack in the middle of a windstorm for the past 48 hours. Like our son’s fever accompanied with no symptoms last week (ended up being roseola infantum) the windstorm has nothing along with it, no clouds, no high-levels of dust, no rain, and not even cooler air (that will come at the end of the week). What it does mean is that as our home is perched at the top of a large hill, with no surrounding structures to impede or slow down the wind, the wind has been howling loudly for that entir

We had a beautiful shabbat with friends from Sharon, MA who moved to Tzur Hadassah a couple months before we made aliyah.  South East of Beit Shemesh, the city is slightly smaller population wise (12,000 vs 100,000 here) but growing and building rapidly. Once a non observant (chiloni) community, more young couples (in their 30s) and older families live in this desireable neighborhood that boasts new construction, gorgeous views, close proximity to Jerusalem and a mix of Israelis with Anglos. Tzur Hadassah only recently started to attract olim as a destination. That means that you hear more Hebrew but there's certainly English too. The vibe just feels more Israeli, if you're looking for that.  A rental house of 180 sqaure meters, 5 bedrooms, 2.5 bath, mirpeset and garden costs approximately 5000 shekel/month. Though our rental is the same in terms of bedrooms, and more square meters, each house has roughly 2 or 3 meters between each home, and the layout very thought

There's a saying that you make aliyah for your kids and your needs come next. This is true for some. Perhaps many, though they fear sharing their feelings because it is such an amazing merit to be here.  We've found that thankfully, our kids transitioned very easily, perhaps due to age but character as well. They are also very flexible when we tell them of the communities we will be visiting to seek a longer term option (the owners of our current rental are moving this summer) and where we will truly put down roots for long term (thinking in regards to high school, community demographics, hashkafa, vibe, etc). The next step will likely be a rental in a community we want to stay and then buy, we hope. Unlike the United States where you can put down 5-25% or more (maybe less), getting yourself into trouble, here the banks don't allow it without a standard.  Let's be honest about transitioning to Israel and our being back to reality (it's only been two weeks!).  Today