The aliyah journal

*aliyah = “moving up” The word used to refer to people moving to Israel.

We’ve been asked by a few people to blog our journey. Better late than never, here’s the first post. I’ll try to bring you up-to-date. I’m also blogging on Facebook, instead of on a “real” blog, because that was part of the requests.

Okay.

So 20 years ago, I went to Israel for the first time, and told my travelling companions that they could go home, but I was staying. The talked me out of that.

30-some years ago, Morey went to Israel for the first time, wanted to move there, but was too afraid of Army service. So he claimed he was a pacifist and stayed in Canada.

Many more visits to Israel followed, with my determination to live there getting stronger. Finally in Dec 2006, an aliyah emissary (shaliach) was coming to Vancouver, so I dragged Morey to the seminar she gave. I started talking to her, she filled out some paperwork and asked when she could schedule an interview. Next thing you know, we have a giant packet in the mail, along with an application.

I should point out that the application for immigration to Israel, the country where most of our technology comes from (cellphones, medical equipment, computers, etc.), is a many-times photocopied 2 page application.

By now, Morey was excited and we dove into the application. Part of the process is getting a letter from our Rabbi attesting to our being Jewish.

If only we had a Rabbi....

(to be continued)