B"H They have lots of parks in Jerusalem

B"H iPhones and other important electronics

Cellular phone stores in Israel charge about $20.00 to make an American iPhone work here.  A sim card is then purchased seperately from one of the cellular providers for another $20.00 and you can pay by th eminute (about 15 cents) or you can get into a plan, as in America.  They don't yet have the iPhone 4G available, but soon enough they say.  My old 2G iPhone seems to  be  working well, but I'm still fine tuning the Skype.  Perhaps the issue is that the software said it really doesn't run on my antique model.  More to come, in this regard.  If you decide to reside in Jerusalem there is a cellular company named Orange located on the main strip on Ben Yehuda Street.  Hadar is an English speaker that has helped me to get the cell working and arranged for my home internet service as well.  You can get a three month contract for a wireless usb card, just until you get on your feet. This is ready in one day, as compared to waiting for the installation of the home internet which is going to be done on two seperate days.  One day is by a company called Bezeq that installs the hardware through the walls and the second day is by the provider...in our case, Orange.  There is also Hotz and Smile123.

B"H Busses and Info in English

Egged is the the leading public transport operator in Israel, established in January 1933, when four public transport companies were merged into on. Egged provides about 55% of public transport services throughout the country. Egged is divided into two divisions, Operations and Head Office. The Operations Division is divided into three main branches: Northern Operations, Southern Operations and Jerusalem Operations.  To learn about routes go to their website Egged Bus Line.  There, you can see the basics and even use their fields to plan a trip.  To make sure you are doing it correctly,  you can call the bus station English speaking hotline. +97236948888 then press 3 for the English Speaking attendants.  Just explain where you want to go and where you are, and the rest comes easy.  I would suggest arranging for a temporary phone at the airport through IsraelPhones, but if you have a laptop.... you can use Skype on your computer to make the call. For pennies a minute you can call Israeli numbers, whether cell or home lines.

B"H Our Friend Shlomo

Once, a long time ago, in a land far, far, away, our friend Shlomo inisted (without giving in at all) that we needed to make Aliyah.  While many things ultimately led us to make our final decision, he needs to be credited for his efforts and unrelenting opinions regarding why Israel was the right choice.  In Israel, he has helped us to rip up carpets and to prevent being ripped off on take-out.  He is the owner of a Jewish Video Site called WeJeW which incidentally, is spelled the same way backward and forward.  Check it out to see thousands of really cool videos.  Please Hashem, bless Shlomo in all of his ways.

B"H Did I mention Shabbas?

On Friday night we went Shul Hopping.  Bli Ayin Hora, My two oldest boys Yacov (5) and Ori (3) with Rabbi Cantorman, his twin boys (12ish) and brother in law Eli.  Asher Kaplan as well.  We went to one real nice quaint shul, where the davening sounded kind of like Chabad, and the Rabbi spoke a nice D'Var Torah rthat I barely understood.  A call was made to go to the Jerusalem Great Synagogue that is dedicated to those who perished in the Holocaust. (May Hashem Always remember their sacrifice).  The Shul had a beutiful male only choir that sang for a jam-packed audience of what appeared to be thousands.  Afterward, we were invited back to the Cantorman's (who live in our building) for our Friday Night meal and also, Thank-G-d Shabbas Day meal as well.  We didn't make it to shul Saturday day..a combination of jet lag and poor sleep due to the air conditioning issue addressed in an earlier post.  Our neigbors and landlord have showered us with gifts/Shabbas treats and we really feel at home.  We hope to have an oven soon, so that we will be able to invite others and share in the hospitality we have been receiving. 

B"H Busses, Banks and Below Priced Health Care..Not caught up yet, sorry.

So its now Tuesday at 12:55am,  We didn't get home until nearly 10pm, tonight, but we did learn how to use the busses today, albeit poorly.  We learned that people waiting for the bus are actually quite nice, they are just hot and want to get on right away.  The busses come to various points every 15 minutes, and saved us money on taxi fare.  The complete truth is that we were told we couldn't ride in a cab anyhow, because there were too many of us (bli ayin hora), but I guess that was G-d way of saying, get back to the bus, like everyone else.  They have passes that one can but that reduce the fare from 6.20 NIS (Hereinafter New Israeli Shekels) per person, to 49.90 for 10...which is 4.90 NIS a trip.  You can also use your receipt/used ticket as a transfer, as long as said transfer is done within an hour.  One needs to maker sure they are on the correct side of the street when they are trying to catch a bus, or else you'll be going the wrong way.  Also, kids under 18 pay one price, and kids under 5 pay another reduced price.   We used the baby bjorn style carrier today, rather than the stroller, which was significantly easier than attempting to manage the stroller on the bus.   Whew, that was alot of bus talk....without even mentioning where we went.  From 2-4 we were at the .Nefesh B'Nefesh (Hereinafter "NBN") get your Israeli ID and meet vendors party.  Another class A event, with a bouncehouse and buckets of candy and snacks to keep the kids busy, while my wife and I opened up bank accounts and learned that the highest level of health insurance (we could have chosen lower) was going to cost us about $45.00 a month total for the netire family.  We couldn't resist the deal, and we were transported (at no charge) to a post office, where we finalized the non-final decision.  What I mean is that we can change from the plan to another two times a year, but we hope that we will not need to.  The gold plan of Leumit Health includes the costs of giving birth, with no co-pay and the baility to go to specialists without needeing to see a primary.  Hospital stays are apparently free (as long as it was a true emergency) and you can go to unlimited holistic medicine visits with minimum (something like $15) copays.  More info to follow, G-d willing.   We also decided to join Bank Leumi, which had no minimum beginning deposit, and costs approximnately $11 a month to operate.  The Branch manager David was kind enough to pull out his magic stamp, which reduced our costs in half, so we pay $5 and change now a month, for the first year.  Transfers of about $2k cost $20.00 plus a small percentage to convert the money to NIS/Shekels. 

B"H Catching Up

So its now Monday at 12:00am, but for the rest of the Northeast, its 7pm.  I have lots of catching up to do, to fill you in on whats been happening.  While going back in an orderly fasion is definitely the way to go, don't expect to see it here.  


The family is sleeping in the living room, because the one and only air conditioner we have, is there.  Its a nice unit, thank G-d, that looks like a 4 foot long by one foot smiling mouth, that blows cold air through its rotating teeth...except on Shabbas when it turned into a fan only, and then none of us were smiling.   Lesson, learn how to use your air conditioning before Shabbas, and be grateful if you even have one, because many folks do not.  A fan or two will be purchased soon, at all costs, for the other other rooms. 


There is also a fridge in our living room.  That's because the entrance to the kitchen is smaller than the fridge, even when most of its external parts are removed by your handy friends during their weekend off from the IDF (Asher) and the Chabad Shliach from upstairs' Brother In Law Eli.  The fridge is just a loaner, from the Cantorman's from upstairs, but it has really helped make our landing a soft one.  


I mention these issues early to help those who follow us to the Holy and not to complain.  Our family simply wants you to learn how to make your landing a soft one.

Speaking of soft landings, Nefesh B'Nefesh deserves a prize.  From the two minivans they rented for us to carry all of our housewares to our new apartment, to the El Al Flight they chartered for the Olim (Someone who "makes aliyah" is called an oleh (m. singular) or olah (f. singular); the plural for both is olim. [Wikipedia]) they have gone out of there way to make everything real nice and easy.  Millions of little things that go along way...for example....all the kosher food I wanted on the flight at no charge, offers of free beverages every 20 minutes, free movies, headphones, kids T-shirts, baseball hats, drinks and cake at the airport in NY.    When we landed there were thousands of people, soldiers, citizens, friends, (Moshe Baruch and Yochevid Zemel, the Firestone Family, Asher Kaplan) all jumping and singing for us.  We became dual citizens of Israel on the plane, we didn't have to go through customs, all of our luggage was stacked up for us and waiting when we landed, they had free airport luggage carts and people to help us get our stuff on the minivans, as mentioned before.  They really know how to say "Welcome Home." 


Click here to see video of our arrival in the Holy Land


Ok, where was I. Ok.  Shabbas. But first, back to Thursday. As I mentioned we landed on Thursday.  We got to our apartment mid afternoon, which we had only seen via emails, but we were extremely happy.  While Men can generally survice in a fraternity house environment, my wife didn't want to...and the apartment is great, bli ayin hora.   We are on the 4th floor of a 6 floor apartment.  There is an elevator that hustles, and a clean and secure lobby in the front.  The Street is called Shalom Aleichem, which is nice because everytime we tell someone where we live, we are also giving them the traditional Ashkenazic greeting literally meaning "Peace be upon you." The appropriate response is "Aleichem shalom," or "Upon you be peace." [Wikipedia]  We have been building up our circle of friends, allowing us to feel more comfortable daily, especially the kids.  

B"H To The Wall From Our Apartment - 21 Min. Walk Per Google Maps (Press View Larger Map on Bottom Left for Clearer Street View.)

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