Tying Tzitzit

Wearing Tzitizit (see here for more info) has become more popular since the war started, at least in the Army. Many soldiers who don't wear them in their civilian life are open to wearing them when in the Army. This has led to a huge surge in the numbers of tzitziot the Army needs. In May, the Army gave out 5000 pairs (a pair = one shirt with tzitziot on the four corners)! The goal is 250,000 pairs and over 118,000 pairs have already been made.

"Strings" in the circle are tzitzit

This is a post I've been thinking of writing since February, when I first tied tzitzit. I had gone last year, after the war started, a few times in my neighborhood. It was always packed and those who didn't already know how to tie the strings (like me) got put on other duties like making bundles of four strings. Not that there's anything wrong with it, but it didn't feel like my presence was so necessary.

First night! With my friend, Becca

Like so many other things, attendance has dwindled as the war has gone on, and, when I went to the one official site in my part of the city (sadly, it's not in my neighborhood anymore) in February, I found that they now give you a shirt and strings and teach you now to do it from almost-start (kids less than bar/bat mitzvah age, who cannot tie until they become bar/bat mitzvah, make the bundles of strings now) through to the almost-end (the Army checks that each pair is done correctly before giving it to a soldier).

I was SO moved by "making" something for a soldier that he would wear during his Army service. As a woman there said once, "we're surrounding them with the protection of the bracha of wearing tzizit". 

Each set takes about 15 minutes to make. I make a few sets during the weekly meeting and then bring 4 or 5 pairs home with me to do during the week (the Jewish/modern version of knitting socks for soldiers!!). I think once a person goes they're likely to get hooked :). Rivka and Jaim, Menashe's mother and stepfather, tie at home every week and Jaim and I say "hola/Shalom/hi" at pickup/drop-off of finished pairs.

Their are two ways of tying tzitziot: Ashkenazi and Sephardi. I know Sephardi (I tried Ashkenazi once and, although it was nice to have a final product that looks like what my husband wears, I found it much more difficult [although I've heard people say Sephardi is more complex, so I guess it's just what you get used to]). I asked once how the Army figures out how to get enough of each type and was told, "When a soldier is handed their uniforms they are asked if they want tzitzit. If they say 'yes', they are handed a pair. They can go try to trade it if it's not the right one for them". Sounded very Army-like :)

The strings are tied to represent the 4 letters in Gd's name, with a double knot in between each of the letters. I take the opportunity to ask Hashem to bless this soldier, and all soldiers, each time I make a double knot ("Hashem should bless you and keep you. You should be protected") and at the last set of double knots, I ask that the soldier should be "blessed with health: physical, mental, spiritual, interpersonal and financial. May your Army service only bring you good".

A few months ago, when flying to/from Boston to visit my Mom, I brought ten pairs to do on the plane. Too bad the weight really adds up and I could only bring ten pairs because it was a GREAT way to pass the time. 

Last Post (for now...) About El Al

 El Al sent this out and I found their metrics very interesting:

And if you, like Damon (hi, Damon!) would like to hear the hold music Dr Avraham listened to for hours and hours on end, here it is (translation-ish: "El Al, the most at home in the world"): 

El Al theme song

Guest Post by Avraham: What it Was Like to be in the US, Rather Than Israel

My friend Sharon and I co-sponsored kiddush at shul this Shabbos to welcome our husbands back from their unintentionally-extended stays in the US. Here is what her husband said when he spoke:

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 First, I want to acknowledge that Sharon intended this to be a surprise for me and therefore, I don't have any prepared comments to read and say [at this point, he pulled out some papers ;)]

So this is dedicated to me to mark and honor my return from three weeks in the United States, but I dedicate this to honor all of you, who struggled and sacrificed and persevered under very trying circumstances, certainly fraught with major uncertainty if not downright panic and fear- so I salute you and give yourselves a well-deserved round of applause.

As for me, all I had to do was to continuously read the news. I usually don't sleep much more than six hours and am awake and moving at 5:30 am anywhere I am, but in those days, the nights consisted of sleep one hour and wake up and follow the reports for an hour- that's how it turned out for me.

Yes, I was focused, concerned and worried. I invested a large amount of time in hours in order to return. I'll now "briefly" tell you the story of how I managed to do that.

I am experienced in canceled and rescheduled flights and getting to the U.S. this time was no exception- there were both cancelations and reschedulings before I even departed from here.

From the moment that the encounter with Iran started (one night after my arrival for a two week visit), we knew that my Delta and KLM flights were doomed. But it was several days until I decided and actually purchased a one way ticket on El Al, but for a full three weeks later- scheduled to arrive yesterday, 4 July, two hours before sundown.

Then started the attempts to obtain a spot on a "rescue" flight- that occupied a significant amount of time and became my nightly routine from 2am to 4am, which correspond to the primary working hours in Israel- no- don't worry with the math and calculations- I'll tell you: that's 9am to 11am here.

I was not accepted on a "rescue" flight because it was only for El Al passengers whose flights had been canceled and mine was for three weeks from then. They would not interested in and did not accept that my Delta/KLM flights had been canceled.

I asked my medical administrator [Avraham is a general practice MD] to write a strongly worded letter stating that I was essential medical personnel for a vital national interest. National Maccabi personnel and human resourced got involved. I established personal contacts and interactions with Ministry of Health officials. I was even given a unique voucher number from the Prime Minister's office and told that I could use it for any airline, but El Al refused to hear of it.

Eventually, my request for early repatriation based on medical need was rejected by El Al.

In despair, I gave up but one morning, I decided to give it one last two and a half hour on hold wait until I found a representative who was sympathetic to my story and agreed to advance my flight, so here I am.

Two and a half hours on hold every time- can you imagine how many times after that I had that tune אל על הכי בבית בעולם ringing in my ears? [at this point, everyone at kiddush sang along to the El Al theme song because we have ALL been on hold with them at some point or other....]

So what was it like to be there in the U.S. during this Iran War? Not palpably different than other times- people did express more concern and worry, but life continued. The three synagogues that I attended all addressed the current events as central parts of sermons and speeches and recitations of Psalms. We who live here were referred to there as "our Israeli brethren." One rabbi insisted on hugging me because I was an "Eretz Yisrael Jew."

A number of times, I thought and articulated to those close to me that I was fascinated and maybe even confounded by my earnest and eager desire and attempt to enter a war zone. Why?? Who would want to do that? And why?

And here is what I realized: in my thoughts then and there, I connected consciously to something that usually lives under the surface, and that is that I have a dedication and a mission and a purpose: to be here in time of need, and... to serve- family and others.

Way to Avoid the Pop-Ups When This Blog Comes to Your Email

 Sorry, gang, that Blogspot changed their email delivery system a few months ago and now everyone gets this blog via follow.it with its pop-up ads. An easy way to avoid this is to bookmark my blog and then just use the email notification as a tip that something new has been written and go to the blog. Voila--no pop-up ads! No "click here" notifications. Just "We Made Aliyah" ;)

Aaaaand—he’s home!!!

 B”H after an extra week in the US and lots (and lots and lots) of time with our kids and cousins in NY, Shalom Shachne made it home last night! 

We were hoping he’d get to visit Barbara, his stepmother, in  FL, and my mother in Boston with the extra time, but the travel agent told him he had to stay in NY, since if he was offered an El Al flight and wasn’t there to take it, he’d be at the bottom of the list for the future (and since the original estimate of his arrival home was July 7, we weren’t taking any chances).

Airport was Covid-esque in terms of small crowds (and great parking spots)

Beyond thankful that he is back!!!

After Twelve Days....

 Please Gd, this is over. Yesterday, a cease fire with Iran was announced to start at seven in the morning. Starting at 5:13 a.m., we got five pre-warnings that missiles were on the way. B''H they skipped over our section of the country, but unfortunately, four people were killed in Be'er Sheva.....

Best armchair quarterback analysis I heard was that Trump announced the cease fire on his own. Worked for Israel because we've accomplished what was necessary there. Worked for Iran because they were looking for a face-saving way out. If the cease fire sticks, Trump gets to play hero and maybe even get that Nobel Peace Prize he seems to want. If not, he's got an excuse to further pound Iran. While I have no idea if any of that is true, it makes sense to me.

Penina and I went out for dinner to celebrate (poor Menashe had already gone back to Jerusalem. #IOweYouDinner!). This is what the mall looked like at 8 PM on Tuesday evening:

And the big "welcome" sign at the entrance was directions to the nearest safe room in the mall:

HomeFront Command lifted most restrictions right around when we went out.  Crazy hard to find a place that was open, as the previous guidelines had only allowed restaurants to be open for delivery or take out and every non-essential business was not allowed to be open (hence the empty mall since only the restaurants and SuperPharm were open). After trying our top four restaurants, we joined the crowds at the burger joint, which seemed to be the only place open for dine-in.

Came home fully prepared and excited to hopefully have a good night's sleep. At 1:30 I heard Percy barking. Tried to ignore him. Thought about how he'd perhaps gotten spoiled being taken upstairs in the middle of the last 12 nights (for warnings/azakot) and maybe he was now expecting to sleep in someone's bed? Finally decided I'd rather sleep than take a sleep-training stand and brought him up to my bed, where he stood on the edge of my bed and barked. Oh noooo. That must mean.....Yup, his doggie friend Theo, who lives on the next block and (literally) walks himself over for playdates a few times a week, was outside our door. Thankfully Theo's family was still awake and someone came to get him shortly after. And after that? A blissful night's sleep.....

I think this was the war we all thought we would have after October 7: brutal but short, as opposed to brutal-but-628-days-long. Praying that Hamas, seeing what happened to Iran (their main supplier of weapons, training, intelligence, etc etc) will free the remaining hostages.

Schools started up again today and no restrictions of movement/business openings. I have never been so happy to see traffic in the mercaz before!! With tremendous thanks to Hashem, I am making dinner for a number of miluim families tonight, who still have the stress and challenge of their husband/father being out at war. 

Still no update on when my dear husband will be coming home. Our-friend-the-doctor is still stuck in the US, so it's not looking so great for either of them to come back before Shabbos. 

Next up: cleaning up the mamad which got WAY too much use over the past 12 days. Thank you, Hashem, for protecting us. May we never need to use it as anything but a guest room again!

(I feel like I could make a fun (for lack of a better word) "find the" game: Can you find Tums? Rescue Remedy? Sefer Tehilim? The "Go Bag" with medicines, our lock box with cash and all our important papers? Shoes for the three of us because if the house gets destroyed and you need to leave the mamad, you need to be able to walk through the wreckage? Dog food and leash? Snacks and more snacks? Flashlights and battery-operated lights in case the power went out? Satellite phone? Oy. Never mind. I'm getting stressed even thinking about what's in there!)

Update on the Rest of the Family

 It's really weird to have all of our immediate family members who are in Israel in our house and the sum total is....three: Penina, Menashe and me. (Well, four if we're including Percy, but he's not a big traveler)

Shalom Shachne left two weeks ago to go visit his mother and brothers in Los Angeles and then go to NY to visit our kids there. And there he remains. There are something like 100,000 Israelis who are out of the country and trying to come back now. First spots are filled with humanitarian needs (although even our friend who is an MD did not get on a flight yet), soldiers returning for reserve duty and unaccompanied minors (geesh--get those kids home NOW!). El Al keeps sending him emails like, "Sorry, today's not your day, buddy". 

Ilana was on a school trip to Poland when things heated up with Iran. She was supposed to come back home for a few days, pack her stuff and then head to NY to work in a summer camp. When it became clear that she was not going to be able to come home, Penina played travel agent and switched her tickets around to get her to New York without coming home. Except Ilana only had her Israeli passport with her, since she had flown directly from school and we keep her US passport here (it is not necessary to send me messages about always traveling with both passport #WeKnowThatNow). So she missed the last day of the trip and spent the day at the US Embassy in Warsaw getting an emergency passport (thankfully. It was unclear if they would even see her that day, but she was persistent when they tried to send her away).

Just to add to the fun, Israel is now saying that anyone who leaves the country cannot return until 30 days or more have passed. While I understand the reasoning, I hope that changes by the time my next tickets to the US roll around in a month....