We Finally Have Wheels!
January 16, 2005

I know it's been a while, but this is actually a good thing.  It means that our lives are settling into a more normal pattern and normal lives don't make for very interesting reading material.  However, it has been a couple of months since my last update and I think I have a some new things to share with you all.

 
We finally have our own car!  After 5 months of taking cabs, bumming rides, and taking intercity buses it's an amazing feeling of freedom to just go whenever and wherever.  After some deliberation we decided on a Kia Carnival (same as the Kia Sedona in the US).  It's your basic 7 seat minivan. We got diesel because the mileage is better and the fuel is cheaper. (Only $4/gallon!) As was our lot with the lift our car was also delayed a month.  It was supposed to arrive on a boat in November, but that boat didn't have any Carnivals on board.  That wasn't such a big deal.  What was a big deal was that in anticipation of receiving the car I transferred dollars to our bank account here.  When I was informed that the car was delayed I decided to leave the money in dollars rather than change it to Shekels.  Big mistake.  That was just around the time when the world started getting all hyper about the US trade deficit and the dollar plummeted.  Since the price of my car was quoted in Shekels this meant that I had to convert more dollars to get the same amount of Shekels. 
 
Cars are pretty expensive here in addition to the base price there's a 77% tax. Actually, it's normally around %125, but as olim we get a break.  There was another piece of great timing on our part.  Just after I handed in the paper work to release the car when it did arrive. I found out that the government was actually going to be lowering the tax on this size car as of January 1st. (Down to 67%.)  Alas, it was too late to postpone receipt of the car.  Zeh lo Choshuv!  We love having the car and love being the ones to give others rides.
 
My dad and sister came for a visit during Thanksgiving week.  Since my brother and I were both off from work on Thanksgiving we decided to have a real Thanksgiving dinner at our house.  Randi went all out!  She made a traditional Thanksgiving dinner including; pumpkin soup, turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, and apple pie. Of course, with Thanksgiving not being a national holiday here and there being no glut of turkeys, Randi did miss out on getting the 2 or 3 free turkeys that are the norm in the states.
 
Also, on Thanksgiving morning Randi's cousin Jenny got engaged at the Kotel.  This is a great story.  Jenny's boyfriend, Michael, e-mailed Randi earlier in the week to tell her that he and Jenny would be coming to Israel for a quick trip that weekend.  He asked Randi to keep it quiet until they got here as it was a surprise for Jenny.  He said nothing about his intentions regarding the engagement.  Randi is a member of an e-mail "Jewish Food" group.  A thousand people from all over the world share recipes and other items relating to Kosher Food.  Early Thanksgiving morning Randi saw a post from a member of the group named Carol saying that her son was going to get engaged at the Kotel in a few hours and if anyone saw a tall, beautiful girl jumping up and down with excitement that would be his fiancée.  That's it. No names or other clues.  So just based on the fact that her cousin Jenny is a tall girl Randi hopped on a bus and headed to the Kotel hoping to be there if it really was Jenny and Michael. 
 
Randi got to the Kotel at around 9:45 and hung around till about noon.  Though she didn't see them she was happy she tried.  As it turned out, it was Michael and Jenny, Michael is Carol's son, they did get engaged at the Kotel that morning, they were there between 9 and 10, and somehow Randi zigged when they zagged and they missed each other.  We did get together with them after Shabbos and had a great time relating the whole story. 
 
We are all progressing nicely with our Hebrew skills.  Raanan has honed his accent quite well and is probably our best Hebrew speaker.  He has also made progress with his British and South African accents.  You never know when they will come in handy.  Meira is beginning to put together short Hebrew sentences and her Gan teacher says she really knows what's going on in class.  She and Randi got into a little fight the other day.  Meira began insisting that she call me daddy instead of Abba.  Why?  Because she said that since she always called me Abba in America that Abba must be English and therefore daddy must be Hebrew.  She has mommy and Ima straight, but the confusion there is that Randi still prefers to be called mommy! 
 
The award for the most improvement in the Hebrew language in the over 30 category goes to Randi!  She has made tremendous strides in her vocabulary and comfort speaking.  This was exemplified the other day .  Randi's sister Ailene, brother-in-law Elliot, and Aunt Sandi are visiting now for a few days.  Elliot, who is very learned in Judaic studies and has an extensive Hebrew vocabulary, was on the phone trying to order a cab to take him to B'nei Brak.  As he was struggling to communicate with the cab driver Randi grabbed the phone and fluently proceeded to order the cab, set the time, and negotiate the price.  Not bad for 5 months of Ulpan!
 
Randi has also made great strides on another front.  The clip below is from a letter she wrote recently to a friend who is considering making aliyah.  Remember this is the same Randi who just a year ago could not say the world "Aliyah" and instead referred to it as the "A" word...
 
There are some times more than others that I know we did the right
thing.  When I casually say, "let's go into Yerushalayim for dinner
tonight."  Can you believe it?  Just a half hour ride away and we are in
the holiest city on earth?  When could Moshe Rabbeinu say this?  How
about the 6,000,000?  I'm not meaning to sound preachy-really. But in
making the decision to come, I thought about this a lot.  What would
they have done to live here, freely and relatively easily?  I thought a
lot about who was I to choose NOT to? How long will Hashem let us have
the land if we flippantly decide whether or not to live in His land.

Other times I know it's the right thing are when I realize everything
around me is Jewish.  I think, " this is a JEWISH place to live--wow!!
 Fine, you expect all the frum [orthodox] people and places to give off this
feeling but it's the non-frum people that blow me away sometimes.
 Friday, NO ONE says, "have a good day"  It's always, "Shabbat Shalom".
 You might have Macy's and Nordstrom, the Gap and Old Navy at Menlo
(which I do miss), but the malls here have a Kosher food court with a
sign identifying the washing sink!  Because being Jewish is just not
about shopping and getting the biggest bargain. 
Pretty amazing, no?  Gosh, it almost seems like she felt this way the whole time, and all along I thought this was my idea...  Hey, wait a minute! RANDI... :)
 
Elisheva was home for Chanukah and we're excitedly expecting her back again in a couple of weeks for her winter break.  She's already earned enough El Al frequent flyer miles to make her trip home for Passover free. Elisheva has become our courier.  She really could travel with just a carry-on, but we have no intention of wasting that valuable luggage space.  Last trip she brought a suitcase full of peanut butter, shortening, chocolate chips, granola bars, fruit by the foot, and assorted other goodies.
 
Chanukah here was terrific. The kids had a few days off from school.  We went on some outings, spent time with my brother and the kids, and just generally absorbed the significance of living here during a holiday that itself represents a renaissance of our holy land.  In general it was a very significant feeling going throught the "season" with barely indication that it was anything other than a Chanukah season.
 
Having the car has made life in the dorm for Raanan more tolerable as well.  I've started going to his Yeshiva on Mondays to learn with him during his break.  I know he's happy to see me and I love doing this with him.  Tuesday nights Randi brings him home and Wednesday mornings I bring him back.  This has changed the whole dynamic of the week for him.  Raanan received his first report card and overall we were quite impressed. 
 
Etana has kept our shabboses tightly scheduled.  We've had seminary or yeshiva students over for almost every Shabbos since before Succot.  We love being able to host these young people, especially the ones from Edison/Highland Park.  Many of them have told us that being here is the next best thing to being home.  Of course this means we've been turning down lots of Shabbos meal invitations from our friends and neighbors in the community here.  Hopefully they'll keep trying.
 
It's probably going to be a while before I write again, but we love hearing from you individually.  I've posted some new pictures on our web site at http://www.lipkinfamily.com.  I also posted all of my past "blogs" if you know anyone who is having trouble falling asleep at night.
 
All the best.
 
Menachem