Monday, August 8, 2016

Welcome all to our blog.  We’ll try to post once a week for those interested in updates on, as Hannah likes to call it, #Korelitzfamilyadventure2016. (Soon to be renamed #Korelitzfamilyadventure2017. Or #Korelitzfamilyadventure5777 if you want the more Jewish approach).  As you probably know, we’re stay-at home-kind of people usually, so this really is extending a bit beyond our normal comfort zone.  I can’t promise any great insights into life or the human condition (certainly not from me), but if you are interested in the day-to-day goings on while we are away this might be the place to check.


So here we go!


Just getting packed up and out of the house was travail enough, but since that isn’t strictly part of the adventure I won’t bother you with any of the  details other than to give a shout out to Julie Sherizen, who graciously agreed to schlep us out to Windsor on Monday morning.  Flying out of Toronto (via Windsor) for the first time, we really appreciated not having to recheck our bags and being able to get kosher food at the airport.  We also ran into Paula Katz from YIOP (Mazel Tov on the new grandson!) and spent the time waiting to board with her.


Although Hannah had told us she wouldn’t be able to get off work to greet us at Ben Gurion, I still harbored some hope she would be there.  Still, it was a wonderful surprise and joy to see her smiling face as we exited customs!



It was an easy trip to our new apartment (maybe more on the apartment itself next week), and Hannah let us in with the keys she had picked up for us the week before.  It's a bit weird moving into a new place -- everything feels a bit off -- but it will feel like home soon enough.  Hannah’s staying with us for a good part of August, so we really are all together again as a family.  The hardest part  for me may be getting used to sleeping off a (fairly) major thoroughfare.  It's been a while since I've done that, and the traffic definitely woke me up a few times.  (Actually, had pretty bad jet lag and it took a week before I actually put together a real night’s sleep). But like the apartment as a whole, I'll get used to it and soon enough it will just be background noise.


The next day Hannah went to work while the rest of us walked to the mall ten minutes from our house to do some more shopping.  Our main activity, though, was signing up for bus passes (a Rav Kav).  Hannah had clued us in to a great bus app (looks like you can use it just about anywhere in the world) called Moovit, which is great for bus stop to bus stop, but not so great on the walking directions to your location after you get off.  Stick with Google for that!  Another interesting fact: unlike what you might expect, Israeli bus drivers are NOT necessarily a good resource for their routes.  More than once already we’ve experienced a driver not in possession of the basic information you would expect them to have.  Evidently, drivers can be given a route without even learning it.  (You can ask Hannah for some funny -?- anecdotes about drivers turning to the passengers and asking which way to go!)  But between Moovit and friendly passengers we’ve done ok so far.


On Thursday we went to visit Zoe’s new school, Horev.  This was our first real encounter with getting lost after getting off the bus, and we stopped into a makolet (basically a convenience store) where the clerk was about as helpful as a bus driver: no clue.  Fortunately, Sheryl spotted a cabbie and asked him.  He offered to take us there and I asked him how much. “No,” he said, “I’ll just take you there.”  I tried to give him some money, but he said it was a mitzvah.  Way to go Shimon the cabbie!


Our time at Horev was pretty short.  We actually spent almost as much time speaking with an 8th grader and her mom as we did with the Head of School, Rabbi Meizlish.  He and Zoe spoke for a few (he thinks her Hebrew is fine, by the way!) and then a bit more with all three of us.  I think Zoe has learned what she needs to know in order to start from friends and acquaintances who already go to Horev, but I’m sure we’ll all be learning more soon.  


We ended up that evening going out for dinner in the Shuk with Eli Sherizen.  It’s our goal to go out for dinner every Thursday night (sort of the equivalent of Saturday night in the States), so at this point we are one for one.  Our choice was a new Mexican restaurant Burrito Chai, opened by a husband-wife team.  She’s American-born, and it seemed the entire wait staff was, as well.  The service was good and super-fast.  Even better, I think it might have been the best burrito I ever had!  The churros (Mexican donuts) were perfect!



The highlight of dinner, though, was a classic Eli Sherizen story.  (Used here with Eli’s permission).  Dinner’s coming to an end, and with no fanfare whatsoever Eli reaches into his wallet, takes out a card, turns to a guy leaving at the table next to us, and says “here you go.  Here’s his card.”  The four Korelitz’s were bewildered.  Evidently the guy had been saying he needed a massage, and his dinner companion said he needed to go to some masseuse named Sruli.  


Whose card Eli just happened to have in his wallet.


The guy loved it.  Said how he had just made Aliyah, was already anticipating some struggling, but these “only in Israel” kind of events made it all worthwhile.  We all smiled, but didn’t have the heart to tell him this wasn’t really an only in Israel kind of story.  It was more of an “only Eli Sherizen” kind of story!


Have you ever gone grocery shopping in Jerusalem on a Friday afternoon? Don’t!  It is the definition of balagan.  The mall near us has a grocery store called Osher Ad, which is not quite Costco but bigger than average.  My favorite part is watching what happens in a grocery store (all of them in Israel) where they don’t have any little bar to separate the groceries of one shopper from those of the next.  Most times the cashiers don’t ask and you end up having to yell to them to stop and to take off that unwanted item, which actually belongs to that person after you.


Fri. night we went to shul at a place called Nitzanim.  We’ve been there before and liked it, and it’s probably the closest place to our apartment.  It also happens that the father of a friend of Zoe's is the new Rabbi there, so that somehow seems a plus.  Besides Zoe’s friend (Edya) we also ran into a few other people we know there, including Neil Schloss, Ari Eizen, and Miriam Barth.  Came home to a lovely dinner, some of which was take-out (there are abundant providers of this in Jerusalem on a Friday).  I’m sure the high point for me was being able to give both my daughters their blessing.


Shabbes morning we went to another favorite shul of ours, Ramban, which although a bit further than Nitzanim, is still closer than anything I have from my home in HW.   Afterwards we had a delicious and all-around fabulous lunch with our friends the Pollocks.  (And another friendly face from back home, Eden Gilan!)  The Pollocks have been (emphasis on the present tense) a great help every step of the way this journey and I honestly can’t imagine it having started off so smoothly without them.  


So ends week one.  Hopefully all the Korelitz’s will take turns,  from their own perspectives, sharing highlights from #Korelitzfamilyadventure2016


What happens in Israel…

Seth

6 comments:

  1. Great post! I almost felt like I am in Israel. Which neighborhood is your apartment in?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wow. You should look at travel blogging has a potential career. Not only did you relay the information, but you added color, spice, and life to the description which makes me think… It's time it's time for our family to take a trip to Israel as well. for us to take a family trip to Israel as well. Looking forward to future installments. Safe travels to all.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hey Korelitzim...wonderful to hear (read?) you're all settling in. xoxo The Goldies!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Sounds like a great beginning to what I hope will be a wonderful year! We at Hillel miss you already.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Didn't realize you'd already left--I look forward to hearing more of your adventures! Hugs to all!--The Haus House

    ReplyDelete
  6. The New York Times says "The Korelitz Family Adventures" is a stunningly written book". It will make you ask "Gee, how come I don't have a family like that?" You will not want the book to ever end. Filled with much soul, laughter, love and did I mention adventures.

    Pick up a copy now or order it from Amazon.

    Love you guys,
    Auntie Debbie

    ReplyDelete