The Israels in Israel -- How Did This Happen???

This entry to our "The Israels in Israel" letters was written in July 2000 but now after 150 letters I have my own new blog(how did that happen???)!!! Enjoy our history and antics throughout Israel!!! Stay Tuned for more adventures!

The Israels in Israel – How Did This Happen???

Ok, so we were just leaving the Tower of David Museum after an unbelievable tour of the exhibition. The air was crisp and windy, in the end of January winter weather. We were feeling exhilarated as I linked arms with my husband, Aaron, and my daughter, Yona, as we proceeded to leave the Jaffa Gate of the Old City in Jerusalem. It was at that moment that I turned to Aaron and said, “Let’s do it!” He stared at me, wondering what I was referring to at that moment and I knew he was clueless as to what I meant. “Let’s make aliyah. It’s the perfect time.” He looked into my eyes and smiled and said in his usual agreeable manner, ”okay”. It was as simple as that.

I could certainly attribute this heady feeling to the fact that I was seeing my precious oldest daughter for the first time in 5 months, as she was learning in yeshiva in Jerusalem in her “post-high school / pre-college” yeshiva experience. I could say that it was the first time in years that Aaron and I had been on vacation and the fact that I didn’t have to make beds or cook for 10 days was euphoric. I could say that being away from the stresses of work and motherhood was enough to make me think of staying. Or was it the pure, holy air that permeated my body and soul after praying at the Kotel? Could it have been the fact that I love walking through the Old City, imagining which Prophet walked these same stones? I love to see the Jerusalem stones as the sun casts its golden rays throughout the city at sunset and the countenance of Hashem grasping every one of your senses and hypnotizing you with a warm, fuzzy feeling. It might have been that at last, after envisioning myself as a sort of Golda Meier at age 13, I would finally be able to come to Israel to link my future to my people’s past. Or maybe I could grow up and someday be the second woman Prime Minister in Israel’s history. It was a thought.

But for that moment Aaron and I were in agreement and our new goal upon arriving home was focusing on coming to our new home, where we belonged and “Just Do It!”



Before the Israel’s Came to Israel

Part 1 - Jack, Jack, Can you hear me?

The day Aaron and I decided to make aliyah was jam packed with touring and sightseeing. We wanted to take Yona, our oldest child, to see the Tower of David Museum. I don’t think there was a special exhibit going on, but we had never been there. I hadn’t been in Israel for 18 years and I wanted to see it all. We had booked spaces on the English tour and arrived a bit early so as not to miss a moment of the tour. There was a chilling wind that blew your scarf off and put a blush on your cheeks as you ascended to the entrance of Migdal David (Tower of David). We waited as the members of the tour gathered and, of course, we bought the book about the museum. Truly a comprehensive guide that we needed like a hole in the head. But wouldn’t it be nice to bring it home to show the kids? They would look at it with the remark, “you couldn’t bring home a T-shirt?”

Anyway, we were ready to move ahead and we gathered around our British accented tour guide whose wealth of information was astounding. I hung on her every word and often looked at the other people on the tour to see if they felt the pain and anguish of our troubled Jewish people throughout the ages or if they felt the exhilaration of the Hebrew conquests that were truly miraculous? I listened with baited breath and continued to scrutinize the others. One couple in particular became the focus of much of my attention. They were an older couple clinging to each other in the drafty rooms and refrained from climbing onto the rooftops of the museum because there were too many stairs for them to climb. The husband often seemed out of breath and would lean up against a wall during the tour guide’s monologue. Yona and I, enjoying the moment, held each other also, arm in arm like best of friends enjoying the exact same things, but in fact we were mother and daughter, loving every moment of being together and sharing these meaningful moments. I often glanced at her in concentration of what she was hearing and I too clung to each word as I continued to look at this other couple, usually next to us. After about an hour of the tour I noticed that the husband started leaning against part of a lighted exhibit in the middle of the room as the guide continued her speech. She was wonderful, but there was something about this man that didn’t look quite right. His breathing was becoming labored and he was rather pale. No one else seemed to notice. Then I saw him slowly lean to his left and within an eye blink he was laying on the floor. His wife started to scream incessantly, “Jack, Jack, it’s my husband Jack, Oh my G-d, Jack, Jack! “ Yona, a practicing Paramedic fresh out of CPR training went down to the floor as did another young student who said he was a Paramedic from Arizona. They hollered to call Magan David Adom (Red Star of David) and Hatzallah (first aid squad). They were sure it would take time for anyone to get to the museum inside the Old City and up all the steps. So these two young people started working on the man who seemed to be unconscious. Yona, started to unbutton the man’s coat, take his scarf off and open his suit jacket and shirt. While she was trying to get a pulse the young man whipped out of his backpack a stethoscope. He asked Jack’s wife to please calm down so he could hear her husband’s heart. Yona started to yell, “Jack, Jack, can you hear me? Jack, Jack can you hear me?” The woman looked at Yona and in a very curious tone asked, “Honey, do YOU KNOW my husband?, You seem to KNOW his name.” “No I don’t know your husband, but YOU keep yelling Jack, Jack, so I just thought that was his name!” No one could keep a straight face in the group and before the woman had time to mull this answer over Jack was coming to. He seemed to be okay and as he looked at Yona and smiled the first aid squad rushed in. What a welcome sight. They were young, energetic and took right over. Within seconds they whisked Jack and his hysterical wife out of the museum. We resumed our tour with no other interruption other than the fact that we ran into friends from our hometown at the end of the tour and excitedly told them of Yona’s heroism. Well, it was to us anyway. We left the museum, left the Old City and exited by the Jaffa Gate where I popped the question of making aliyah to Aaron, but in the back of my mind I wondered if Jack was ok. It made me sad to think that someday I would be older and maybe not as healthy. I wouldn’t be able to climb the stairs or take the chilling wind of the Old City in the winter. A shiver ran up my spine as I thought of countless people who postpone satisfying their dreams until retirement and never get to realize the wonder of their dreams, always saying “we’ll do it when we retire or the kids leave home”….but in my case that would be years from that moment. Nope, too much adventure rested on those dreams of mine and I wasn’t about to let old age and infirmity make me regret not having acted on my heart’s desires. I wasn’t going to let old age or sickness steal those memories away before they happened. It was something Aaron and I would definitely talk more about.

That Shabbat in Jerusalem, two days after our tour with Jack, our friend Naomi said we should stop by the Jerusalem Plaza to see if there was anyone she knew to say Shabbat Shalom to. So we left shul and walked over to the Plaza. As we walked to the back of the lobby there was a very familiar face standing near a window. “Jack?” I said, “Jack is that you?” “Yes, I’m Jack but I don’t think I know you”, he replied. “No you don’t, but this is my daughter who was one of the paramedics who helped you when you fainted in the museum the other day.” He warmly thanked Yona, explained that he had come on the tour with a fever and must have just fainted. He was fine but he was leaving Israel earlier than expected with his wife after Shabbat. We wished him a Shabbat Shalom and a safe trip back to the states. “Thank you again young lady,” Jack said, “But how did you know my name?” Yona turned and smiled, “Just a lucky guess!”