Page 29 - Pesach 5779

Goodbye Barnet – the sequelThe trek continuesHarris and Michelle Rosenberg take us on part two of their Aliyah journeyIn our last article we outlined the im- portant mental steps needed to make Aliyah. Chats with Nefesh B’Nefesh and the Jewish Agency were easy, albeit the advice was often con- flicting. Most people said dump every- thing more than a few years old and get new models.One look from MyMichelle told me that this would be unwise and possibly fatal! Reliable sources said buy your white goods in the UK rather than Israel. Other equally reliable sources said do not do so – and the same with furniture, office equipment and almost everything one could think of.Ultimately we spent a good while get- ting rid of things we did not even know we had – to charity shops, auction houses, eBay (give me patience), give- aways and the dump. Starting early enough we were able to have very full bins, as were our neighbours!Although we have a home in Israel my beshert said we should not evict our children and grandchildren but find an- other temporary roof over our heads. On our annual trip to Israel over Pesach we found a wonderful, spacious apart- ment – lovely views – in which to rest our weary bones.And so to the Aliyah process. Well, there are the forms. The first two ques- tions are “Are you Jewish?” and “Are you Messianic? Do you believe that Jesus (Yeshuoa) is the Messiah?” There is an apocryphal story that a Lubavitch devotee answered yes to the first bit of this second question and, as a result, nearly did not pass GO. We were also asked how many times we had visited Israel over the last seven years.I suggested that the Jewish Agency would have more accurate answersthan I could possibly give. That cut no ice. Fortunately my old emails saved the day on this one. And so the date was set. We got our one-way tickets for 19 June 2018.The trip to the airport was somewhat traumatic with six very full suitcases. Fortunately, our son Philip was on hand and we got, rather perspiring, to the line. El Al decided that all the cleaning liquids we bought could not go on the plane and gave us an option of, effec- tively, dump them or miss your plane, which is leaving in 20 minutes. “Oh and yes, it is a 15-minute walk to get there after clearing security.” Usain Bolt had nothing on my missus and me in man- aging this Olympic and Herculean feat.Our arrival in Israel was smooth. We were processed quickly, efficiently andin a wonderfully friendly way. I was told that the biggest Aliyah still comes from Russia and the Ukraine, rather than France, the USA and UK.I asked if Roman Abramovitch passed through this office. With a smile I was told he had a different welcoming arranged. I do wonder if he had luggage restrictions.On 27 June we returned to Old Blighty. The warning that we would not be let out of the country proved false. As I kept telling myself, we were moving to Israel not North Korea. Back home we did more dumping. Our home was sold on 1 August and a few days later, after the Creegers’ wonderful barmitz- vah, we were off for our Aliyah part 2 (Part 3 in your case, dear reader).Lehitraot for now!Ma Chadash | Pesach 5779 29