The Mortgage

Here is how the Mortgage process has been so far...

Leumi: we will give you 70% and you only have to put 20% down to start

Me: Great!

Leumi: ummm.. no we really mean we will give you 60% and you have to put 40% down

Me: WHAAAT!

Leumi: ummmm we really mean we will give you 65% and you only have to put 20% down.

Me: Better but you promised me 70%!

Leumi: umm actually we can give you 65% and you really need to put 35% down.

Me: WHAT! #@#$##!!!!

Leumi: sorry.. This exhibit is closed........

Me: Bank Tefachot .. hello?

Tefachot: Thank you for applying, we will give you an answer in 48 hours.

Me ( 1 week later): Tefachot.. hello? hello?

... and all my friends here in Montreal are getting 95% mortgage approved in 12 hours... ..
AAAAARGH!

Our exile

I thought i should share this great article by Yishai Fleisher of Arutz Sheva and Kumah....

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3433810,00.html


A state of exile


A methodical exile is taking place; the exile of location and exile of the mind

Yishai Fleisher Published: 08.06.07, 00:21 / Israel Opinion






We all know what exile is. Exile is when you get kicked off your land. But that's not the worst exile. A nation may be forcibly exiled

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from its land, but if the nation longs to return, sets days to mourn the eviction, remembers every inch of the land, remembers its history there, reveres the holy places and burial sites of their forefathers, and teaches every successive generation to remember - in such a scenario, the exile is never complete because the relationship between the people and their land is never fully severed.



Memory, education, and yearning – these are all methods of warding off the full effects of exile, and they can sustain a nation until the time comes when the exile can be reversed and a return can commence.


But what then is a full exile? A full exile is when the connection between the land and the people is forgotten. If there is no memory of prior ownership, no longing to return, no stories told to children, then the exile brought about by an enemy nation which wished to impose a disconnect between the people and its land comes into full effect. If the very fact that the nation has been exiled is forgotten, then that is true exile.


The idea that the loss of collective national memory brings true exile has a surprising corollary: a nation can be in a state of exile even while living on its original soil! Like a person suffering from amnesia while sitting in his own house – a nation may be so utterly without memory that it has no idea that it is at home.


Rachel's Tomb

Such is the case in Israel today. The memory that has been carried in our collective conscience for two thousand years has steadily worn away and no longer serves to keep the exile at bay. Take, for example, the case of the Tomb of Rachel.



In terms of emotional connection, Rachel's Tomb is unequaled for the Jewish people. From the biblical narrative of Rachel's life, to Jeremiah's account of her crying for her children going to exile and God's promise of their return, to the generations who visited her grave, to the beautiful mausoleum constructed by Moshe Montefiore in 1841, the memory of Rachel's Tomb in the olive orchards of Bethlehem has kept us connected to this place through out the long exile. In 1919, Louis Brandies stood next to Rachel's Tomb at sunset and said "I know now why all the world wanted this land and why all peoples loved it."



Go to Rachel's Tomb today – if you can. A monstrosity of walls, pillboxes, gates, and chains has been erected to ostensibly keep the would-be intruder away. The place is downright ugly, and if you did manage to get in to the compound, soldiers do not allow you to walk around freely, because, they claim, danger is everywhere, even inside the labyrinth of high walls.


Take your children there. As you pass into the prison-like fortress try to teach your children about the Matriarch Rachel, our mother Rachel. You will not succeed because you will not be able to communicate a sense of the value of the place. It is too ugly, too military, too filled with fear, it is simply unattractive both physically and emotionally.



Only those who remember Rachel's Tomb the way it used to be can still have an emotional connection to the place. If the current state of affairs continues, the next generation will not remember Rachel's Tomb and the exile from this place will be stronger then it has been in two thousand years. Just as we are exiled from the physical Rachel's Tomb, Rachel's Tomb is being exiled from our minds.



This phenomenon of exile is not only at Rachel's Tomb – it's everywhere. The Tomb of Joseph in Nablus is gone, destroyed by Arabs, abandoned by Israel. Hebron, home and burial place of the patriarchs is constantly in the crosshairs of destruction. The Temple Mount, the place of two Jewish temples, is being systematically neutered of its history (let alone its future value). Judea and Samaria, the biblical heartland, is now being cut off by a snaking wall, which scars the land and cuts us off from our history and heritage. The exiling forces seem to attack the very places where our collective memory was strongest.


Cerebral exile

As we have noted, physical exile is one thing, but cerebral exile, the cutting off of memory is the final guillotine of exile. Here, the groundwork for forced forgetting has been in the works for decades. On the one hand, the Jewish people's historical connection to the land has been systematically un-taught. In schools, many Jewish children learn to hate the Bible, learn a revisionist anti-Zionist history, and are simply never taught the stories and the emotional connection to places like Rachel's Tomb. On the other hand, a new milieu and accompanying lingo fill the void left in the young mind: Occupation, Palestine, Peace, and Post-Zionism. Our history and with it, our emotional connection to our land, is being erased.



This is not the first time when an attempt to sever the Jewish memory of the land of Israel has been made. Of course, there were the two great exiles when the Babylonians and the Romans sacked Jerusalem and dispossessed the nation.



Yet there is another case that is a clearer reflection of what is happening today: Yerovam Ben Navat was a wicked Jewish king of the Northern tribes during the period of the divided kingdom (10th century BCE). He wanted his vassals to forget about the Davidic dynasty that still reigned in Jerusalem and therefore built two idolatrous temples as an alternative to the one that stood in Jerusalem and bade his people to worship in these shrines.



But the people persisted in going up to the real Temple, so Yerovam then constructed manned roadblocks that barred aliyah to Jerusalem. He hoped that by forcibly stopping people from going to Jerusalem he would make people forget all about it. It took two centuries for this "security barrier" to be removed, but by then it was too late, the people had indeed forgotten.



Today, those who still teach and preach a connection with these places are branded extremists, so their message makes little sense to our people. Say the word "Hebron" to a young disconnected Israeli and he will only conjure up an occupied Arab city with a few cantankerous crazy Jews who cause all the problems. The majesty of Hebron's history from Abraham to King David to the first Hasidic settlement of 18th century, to the murderous Arab riots of 1929, to the valiant return in 1967, is completely lost on him. It is no wonder then that for him it makes sense to "give it back" since nothing seems to tie us to these places in the first place.


Today's post–Zionist leaders have made Israel into a State of Exile, exiling our people from their homes, exiling our land by cutting it off and giving it away, and exiling the minds and hearts of the Jewish people by teaching them to forget. After waiting for two thousand years to return, Jews are being taught that Hebron isn't Jewish, that Bethlehem isn't Jewish, that Nablus isn't Jewish, that the Temple Mount isn't Jewish. A methodical exile is taking place, the exile of place and the exile of mind.

Need another reason?

So, I'm on my way to work, stop off like I usually do to get a coffee... guy with a friend walks in behind me .. big guy, looks liek a biker with tatoos all over etc...

starts talking to his friend

" these people need a good A@# kicking"
" Don't think im just talking to you, im talking to all of you people"

At this point I turn around, he is right behind me but keeps looking at his friend. I think about saying something, but he looks a bit psychotic, like hes waiting for me to make the first move, so i turn around and wait my turn.....

" They always just run and cry to their organization; they hate us, they hate us, ... wah...wah"
"The answer for all of them is a long tree and a short rope"

At this point , im thinking, do I say anything or not, i decide saying something will give him the satisfaction of getting me upset... I go get my coffee and head toward the door. I can sense people behind me so i open the door, it is them! one walks on through , the biker guy stops and says
"
hey, dont give them the satisfaction"

I continue holding the door, he waits , for about 10 seconds no one makes a move, then i just leave and let the door shut in his face. he walks back to his car, i try to keep my distance but get close enough to see the liscence..but i dont...

Another morning in the exile...

so it's gonna be......

So after much thought it looks like Neve Daniel is B'H going to be home. It was not an easy desicion, each place had its pro's and con's but in the end, we feel it was the best place for us for a few reasons.... sure , we are still wary of the hill, the wind, the cold, the fog etc... but the people have been amazing, the location is great and the house worked out well.....

now we have to get through the home inspection, mortgage and contract negotiatons! I hope it all works out..... will update as things move along.....

Its all very exciting and moving us into a whole new stage of the Aliyah experience

Back Home?

We are back.....

Spent the last 12 days in Israel looking for a home for our Aliyah this summer.. The problem as opposed to here is not the the lack of amazing communities but the abundance of them!

we have narrowed our choices down to 2 communities for now... and 2 homes in those communities.... we are having a difficult time with the descion. However, im still waiting for the bank to get back to me about my mortgage approval so it might not be too hard a descion at all!

will update ..... too jetlagged

Are you a Zionist???

If you think you are... this is a must read....


http://www.forward.com/articles/let-my-people-go-up-to-israel-00058/

ill paste the article below.....


Let My People Go Up to Israel
David Chinitz


There is a Jewish conspiracy at work. It is not the one portrayed in the pernicious “Protocols of the Elders of Zion.” It is not Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s Holocaust hoax, or a Zionist plot to undermine Islam. Nor is it Jewish control of the media or the world economy as Jihadists, Ku Klux Klanners, neo-Nazi skinheads and Mel Gibson conjure up for themselves. It is not even the so-called apartheid security wall that so inflames Britain’s self-righteous, hypocritical, antisemitic academics and labor unions.

No, the only real Jewish conspiracy is the one aimed at undermining the future existence of Israel, and, consequently, the survival of the Jewish people worldwide. Iran, Holocaust deniers, the British left and all the rest of the mosquitoes carrying the antisemite bacillus are child’s play compared to this threat.

There is a Jewish conspiracy to prevent massive immigration of North American Jews to Israel.

The plot began when the word Zionism was hijacked by the professional Jewish and Israeli world and applied to every possible Jewish enterprise other than aliyah. Need a term for Jewish education in the Diaspora? Why not use Zionism? Need a word for patriotic Israeli spirit? Zionism. Need a word for Jews who contribute money, use Israel as a booster program for Jewish identity, or even just for tourism? Call all that Zionism, too. Nice, concise and misleading.

In a way exceeding the machinations of George Orwell, the word Zionism has morphed into newspeak to the point of losing its core meaning and providing an umbrella for any old thing that functionaries, bureaucrats, fundraisers and Jewish identity wonks can use to make a living. Having obfuscated the term’s meaning, the conspirators have set about suppressing the notion of aliyah.

What are the motivations? On the North American side it is simply to prevent the kinder from considering aliyah as an option and threatening the vitality of golden Diaspora. Birthright participants can see Israel as a museum, a Holocaust memorial, a refugee absorption center, the home of soldier-heroes and a catalyst for Jewish identity. They can meet generals, prime ministers and suffering Ethiopian immigrants.

But God forbid, don’t let them meet with people exactly like their parents who actually moved to and live in the real Israel, because they might get some ideas.

Israelis have preferred taking in American Jewish money over taking in large numbers of strong competitors laden with human and financial capital. The vested interests here are fully aware that many patterns of behavior would be very difficult to maintain if another half-million North American Jews made aliyah.

How would Moshe Safdie’s backward, environmentally unsound plan for developing West Jerusalem even emerge from committee? How would the Orthodox establishment hamstring conversion processes? How could politicians behave corruptly, impervious to notions of accountability? How could the education system continue to teach rote knowledge and base admission to university on psychometric puzzles, rather than on the skills of independent thinking, broad horizons and competent writing skills? How could the World Zionist Organization have its annual meeting and dream up all kinds of fatuous programs but not once mention aliyah?

Aliyah is the Occam’s Razor for so many problems, and yet it is the only solution not considered for any of them.

The Reform movement decries the conditions of its members in Israel? Send money, but sending more members, forget it. North American Jews have identity problems? Invest billions in convoluted educational programs that lead nowhere, but don’t give every American Jew a direct link to an actual cousin who lives in an actual Jewish state.

Jerusalem Day is conducted under the cloud of a lost Jewish majority in the city? Disenfranchise the Arabs of East Jerusalem, but don’t change the balance by actually getting more Jews here. Ahmadinejad denies the Holocaust and says it was an excuse to create Israel? Hold conferences, speak indignantly, give him attention he doesn’t deserve, but don’t disabuse him and make his claims irrelevant by proving that masses of Jews want to live in Israel by choice, and not only as refugees.

When the history of Zionism is written, it will become clear that post-Zionism started when the word “Zionism” became an instrument of this conspiracy.

Unless organizations dedicated to — and only to — aliyah garner the lion’s share of Jewish philanthropy in place of expenditures on Jewish identity fetishes and continued waving at post-Zionist windmills, these philanthropic efforts will fail every cost-effectiveness test one can imagine. Unless young Jewish minds in North America are exposed to the idea that aliyah is a realistic option that can ensure the future of Israel and the Jewish people everywhere, the next century will find the Ahmadinejads, Ismael Haniyehs and Ken Livingstones of the world wondering why they worked so hard when the Jewish conspiracy succeeded beyond their wildest dreams.

And no one will be left to read the Book of Lamentations.

David Chinitz, a senior lecturer at the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health in Jerusalem, made aliyah from Washington in 1981.

The Aliyah Split

As we are getting closer to our official Aliyah date ( under 1 year !) and even closer to our house hunting trip ( under 2 weeks!) the response from our community at large is quite interesting.

I had mentioned previously that we live in what is considered a very "Zionist" community.. but lets just say aliyah is almost a dirty word. In some ways, i feel people just dont get that close to us and figure we are leaving anyways... At a recent shabbat lunch someone jokingly said " should we become better friends, you're leaving anyway.." to which my wife replied " only if you want a free place to stay when you visit!"

I would say there are 3 types of responses we get....

1) The well meaning couple....

these are the sort of people who genuinly would like to make aliyah but both partners in the couple agree they dont want to go anytime soon.... usually get nice, honest well wishes etc...

2) The aliyah eyes....

these are people that think we should be started on antipsychotics for making aliyah. they roll their eyes at us and genuinly think we are freaks ( especially leaving with an MD degree.... " are you crazy, you are going to be SO poor")

3) The split couple....

this is the couple in which one spouse wants to go and the other does not. we are kind of seen as a danger to this type of couple, and i find this type of couple begining to distance themselves from us as if we are a lighted fuse...

anyway, the journey continues.... it should make for an interesting year.....