Proud of an Israeli Soldier I Never Knew

     It is the Jewish Press' 25th Anniversary here in Tampa and as I read an article in the paper I began to cry.
The article was about a Tampa Bay "Solidarity" mission to Israel during the Gulf War.  The Tampa mission was the ONLY group to go to and remain in Israel throughout the Scud missile attacks.  The part that made me tear up was when they told of a terrifying moment in their trip.  The 12 American Jews from Tampa, were seated at dinner.  The alarm of an impending missile strike went off and they were forced to abandon their meal and seek refuge at the highest point of the building (to avoid nerve gas).  They all donned their gas masks with one exception.  There was a very young girl, not much older than 18.    She was a soldier in the IDF.  She did not have a gas mask.  Many in the room offered their masks to her.  She refused, choosing instead to potentially offer up her own life to spare the lives of civillians.
     To me THIS IS Israel, Israelis, and every IDF soldier.  To me... THIS is what they stand for.  This is the mentality of the people there.  They would sacrifice anything to spare an innocent life, even if it meant offering up their own instead.  This is what I saw when I lived among them.  These people are kind, and incredibly giving.  They would give you anything they could if you were in need.  I love that about these people.
    Israel, and her people, give hope to the meaning of humanity, chivalry, courage.  They are a people to be truly proud of.  And as I do hold an Israeli citizenship... I am VERY proud to count myself as one among them.
     I may have only been a child of 6, not even an American citizen yet, when this soldier made such a brave choice; but her heart means as much to me now as it did for those 12 American souls in that room in the heart of the Gulf War Crisis.

Happy 25th Anniversary to the Jewish Press here in Tampa!  And thank you for sharing such a touching story.  It was a reminder of the good people I left behind in the land I call my home.

I Got Delayed

     Sorry I have been M.I.A.  My new job doesn’t leave me much room for personal writing.  Plus so much has happened… Like I got my Israeli Citizenship!  WOO HOO!

So I will be writing another blog to update everyone on what’s been happening but I wanted to let you know that I got a taste of Israeli bureaucracy today when I was informed for the first time that one office that I already met with was supposed to give me a document in order to be seen by another office in order for the first office to process my benefits.  Did you get all that?  Yeah… I almost didn’t either.  But I’m nothing if not thorough so I’m off to the Misrad HaPanim (the government and citizenship office, like the DMV) to get my Passport entries and exits so I can be seen next Sunday by the Misrad HaKlitah (new immigrant office) to get some information on my benefits, be processed for those benefits and get another paper that I have to take to my bank, the post office (to sign up for healthcare oddly enough), and several other places.

Whew…. Being a new citizen is a full time job all on its own.  I hope my other jobs don’t fire me.  Soooo much on my head at the moment.  Not to mention that I have family in town AND my friend from Tel Aviv came to stay with me at the worst possible time for a week long vacation in which I was the personal tour guide.

This Aliyah thing is harder than they make it sound in the brochure. 

My First International Experience

     Getting to JFK in New York proved to be quite a pain.  After a 4AM reschedule of my already cancelled flight, I figured I would be ok to get to New York.  I was WRONG!  Due to the cancellations and some unfortunate weather in Atlanta, I missed the second flight.  I had to run to Jet Blue and shell out an additional $320 for a one way direct flight to JFK.  In the end I made it to New York and enjoyed the Jet Blue flight.

     Wow, this EL AL flight is LONG!  Sleeping is extremely difficult.  It is made drastically worse by the two twin babies who have been having a screaming competition in the row in front of me for the last 6 hours.  I can already feel the difference from America.  From seeing men and boys alike meeting to pray in the back of the plane, to the Israeli flight attendants speaking to me in Hebrew.  Security was quite a change too.  The 15 minute interrogation before I was even allowed to check in was a new experience.  They asked a lot of questions about my relationship to my husband.  It was not aggressive though.  It was like a semi-formal conversation. 

     I had an aisle seat on the plane which I hate but I’m making the best of it.  I couldn’t take any fly over pictures but I had some friends on the plane take a few for me.  About an hour before we landed in Israel a calm came over me, a peace of sorts.  It’s a great feeling knowing I’m almost home!