Mazal Tov On Our Bar Mitzvah!

Today is our Bar Mitzvah Aliyahversary. Nefesh B'Nefesh asked me to share a few words about what our Aliyah means to us 13 years later. Here is what I had to say, which you can also find on Facebook.

 
'Mommy, can we make Aliyah again?'
 
These were the words my four-year-old asked for months after our Aliyah flight landed.
 
And years later, when my Israeli-born children would hear their older brothers recount the Aliyah experience, I would often hear them say, 'Mommy, it’s not fair that we didn’t make Aliyah. Can’t Rabbi Yehoshua Fass get us on a plane and we can pretend?'

These words, out of the mouths of babes, really sum up our Aliyah.
 
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 13 years since we landed at Ben Gurion airport with all of our hopes, dreams, and plans in place. While we were scared, unsure and in a new environment, the plane ride and those first days were filled with so much energy and hope. Nefesh B'Nefesh ensured that there was a palpable energy on the plane, and I’ll never forget the moment when we saw the Land and burst out into raucous cheers.
 
In the years since we’ve arrived, it’s given us great pleasure to watch our teenage sons who were 2 and 4 when we arrived on that flight in 2004, come back to the airport with their Israeli friends to cheer and dance the new Olim off the plane and into their new lives as Israelis.

Here we were ready for take-off!

They can’t make Aliyah again; but they can greet new Olim with the enthusiasm and love with which they were greeted as they touch down in their new Land; or rather, in the very old Land which is blossoming with the new promises of our people.