Making the dream a reality (part II of a series)

So where were we yesterday? Ah yes, it was the evening of September 11th 2001… and even as Zahava and I stood on our front porch looking at the newly installed American flag hanging there (along with the other new flags fluttering from porches all along our street), we'd already decided to begin the process, in earnest, of creating a new life for ourselves and our children under 'our' flag… the blue and white flag of the State of Israel.

But how, exactly, does one begin that process? What is the starting point for such an enormous undertaking?

Sure, making the decision to actually begin is cathartic, to say the least. But figuring out where to begin is terrifying in its complexity. Thankfully some friends, to whom we'd confided our decision to make aliyah, told us about an organization called Nefesh B'Nefesh that had recently been established to assist Americans with the process of making Aliyah.

At first I was a bit suspicious. These Nefesh B'Nefesh people had to have some sort of angle or ulterior motive since the Jewish Agency was already doing exactly the same thing.

Or so I thought.

After doing a bit of research, it became apparent that the two organizations – one an official part of the government's mandate to bring and absorb immigrants, and the other a privately funded/managed group unencumbered by preconceptions or bureaucratic oversight – actually complemented one another quite nicely.

The Jewish Agency offices, with their network of hard-working 'Shlichim' (emissaries), still provided the necessary governmental mechanism for processing requests for 'Oleh' (immigrant) visas under Israel's Law of Return.

For its part, Nefesh B' Nefesh had taken upon itself the task of providing a manageable road map for potential Olim to follow… essentially providing an orderly framework within which we could fast-track our Aliyah plans. And most importantly, the NBN staff was made up of Anglo Olim who had already been through the process of relocating to Israel.

Looking back, I can't state strongly enough how important this last point turned out to be.

There is a genre of 'war story' common to almost all western immigrants to Israel, known as 'Things my 'Shaliach' never told me'. Some, whose Aliyah experiences may have been bumpier than the norm, might even amend that to 'Lies my Shaliach told me.'.

In fairness, nearly all the typical problems associated with acclimating to an entirely new culture seem to have been unceremoniously dumped at the feet of the Jewish Agency with the rationale that, had they done a better job of preparing their charges, the process of being absorbed into Israeli society would have been much less painful.

It's hard to argue with that assessment, but as Nefesh B' Nefesh's founders understood all too well, if the Jewish Agency's emissaries were perceived as unhelpful by the foreigners they were supposed to have been helping to become Israeli… it was mostly because the majority of the Shlichim had never had to experience that transition themselves.

Think about it… Israelis who have known no other culture but their own were being sent abroad by their government and asked to help foreign Jews make the necessary preparations to uproot themselves and start over in a new and alien culture. These well-meaning Shlichim couldn't begin to understand the myriad and complex needs and fears bottled up inside each and every potential Oleh/Olah.

I know from my early conversations with representatives of the Jewish agency that most detailed questions about conditions, rights and accommodations in Israel were met with the standard line: "Smoch aliai… al tidag… atah tireh, yehiyeh b'seder" ('Trust me… don't worry… you'll see, it'll be fine').

I have to tell you that from these short Hebrew phrases have sprung some of the worst nightmares for new Olim.

There is an old saying that 'Israelis are masters at extricating themselves from situations that any normal people wouldn't allow themselves to get into in the first place.' This is a back-handed salute to the typical Israeli's ability to think tactically in the face of a near-complete cultural inability to think strategically.

Most western Olim are hard-wired differently. We are taught from an early age not to take unnecessary risks… to anticipate obstacles and avoid them… to prepare contingency plans, and where possible to select not just the shortest route between two points… but also the most logical.

Questions related to employment, education, living accommodations, health insurance, banking, and even specifics about which (and what type of) appliances to bring, were perceived as completely nonsensical to the typical Shaliach Aliyah since they knew from experience that the answers depended on far too many unknown variables to even venture a guess.

In their defense, these Shlichim couldn't fathom a nice way to explain to a typical American that 50% of their success or failure in achieving any given milestone along their Aliyah route might depend on what sort of day a particular 'Pakid' (clerk/functionary) was having when their number came up. So when faced with such ridiculously specific question about events that would be taking place months, or even years, in the future… they simply fell back on the tried and true 'You'll see…It'll be fine'… knowing that this too had an accuracy rate of approximately 50%.

So when Zahava and I initially contacted Nefesh B'Nefesh and found ourselves speaking with people who could draw upon their own aliyah experiences, as well as native knowledge of the real and perceived hurdles facing American Olim… well, everything suddenly felt like it was getting off on the right foot.

I can't place enough emphasis on the importance of those first baby steps down the long road that ultimately brought us home.

To be continued.

[By now the cat is out of the bag in terms of where this series is heading:

Nefesh B'Nefesh is sponsoring the First International Jewish Blogger Convention in Jerusalem. The conference itself will be held on the evening of Wednesday, August 20th and will include an opportunity to meet and greet fellow bloggers, timely and (hopefully) useful panel discussions… and of course good food (hey, we're Jews, right?)

However, the day before the convention, yet another Nefesh B'Nefesh charter flight full of American Olim will be landing in Israel. And on board that plane will be several Jbloggers (myself included) who will be providing their readers with a unique, inside perspective of the aliyah experience.

Those who would like to attend the Jblogger Convention (in person or participate online) must register in advance. Everything you need to know is here.

Looking forward to seeing everyone there.]