Tuesday, November 1, 2022

Immigration Day Wrap-Up (2021)

Speaking of Old Drafts, here's a draft from 2021 that just needed a tiny bit of polishing.

*** 

I ended up just sending BSM to school with his typical French Toast sandwich for lunch on Immigration Day. I come from America, I made you food similar to the food I ate in America, it is American food. Be done with this foolishness.

BSM came home from school on Immigration Day and said that he liked the kubaneh provided for the class by a Yemenite mother, which he said tasted like sweet challah. But BSM said he really liked the food provided by some mother whose family comes from Eastern Europe. BSM couldn't remember what it was called, but described the food as "Ashkenazi. It was like wrapped-up malawach with leben inside. It was soooo yummy. And the leben was sweet!" Friends, it seems that this was the first time my he-doesn't-know-he's-Ashkenazi son ate blintzes.

More importantly, obviously, was the fact that Abba II went in and talked to the kids, who were interested in what he had to say. And BSM's face just lit up when he told me that Husbinator sat next to BSM during Abba II's talk.

The winning story of the day though, is a Family Reunion.

BSM's teacher told the class about how his grandfather moved to Russia, then got send to Siberia during WWII, after which he made his way to Iran, then walked through all of Iran, Iraq and Syria with his wife and daughter until they got to Israel. 

Then the gym teacher happened to walk by, and BSM's teacher asked the gym teacher to share his family's immigration story. So the gym teacher told the class that his great-grandfather was sent to Siberia during WWII, and then eventually made his way to Iran, then walked through all of... Hang on, said BSM's teacher. What? The teachers compared notes. They compared names. They are cousins.

Yom HaAliya

I have a draft sitting in my blog that was written on the 10th of Nissan one year, the day set aside by the Israeli Government as Immigration Day, since the 10th of Nissan is the day that B'nei Yisrael finally crossed the Jordan River and entered Eretz Yisrael. I didn't post the draft then, because it is too important to me to say imperfectly, and the draft is far from perfect. 

But today is Yom HaAliya again (I know someone who knows the guy responsible for moving Immigration Day from "a few days before Pesach" to "the week of Parshas Lech Lecha"), and looking at the draft again, I think that it is too important for me not to say at all, and at least the draft begins to say it.

So I'll say it now, and maybe some other year I'll say it more elegantly, more tactfully, more convincingly. 

***

At some point after I made aliyah, I decided that I wouldn't be that Annoying Person who's always annoying her friends and family to join her cultish pyramid scheme in her extreme life choice. And eventually I stopped nudging some people about making aliya. And time passed, and I told myself, "Really, don't be that guy." And I pretty much stopped nudging more people. And I think it's been a good long while since I've nudged anyone to make aliyah. At least not if they didn't bring it up first. 

But I still miss you. 

So please, consider considering it. Is it possible for you to live in Israel? Short-term, if not long-term; in the future, if not now?

And hey, if you do come, come for theological reasons, so I don't have to feel guilty. But I'll be honest: I'm not asking for a Friend. I'm asking for me. Come home?