Immigration and the Aliyah Process (Part 2)

Yesterday morning, at the Israeli Consulate in Miami, we watched as our passports received Israeli oleh (immigrant) visas as casually as any other transaction or exchange. It was amazing to see something so significant printed and placed in such a relaxing manner, in a matter of minutes, on what are now the most important pages of our traveling documents. Well, then... if only the entire process were that easy.

The first time I wrote about the aliyah (immigration) process, only a few weeks ago, we were expecting to have something of a wait to see when we would be moved along the process. As our interview at that stage was, for the most part, to determine that we had all of our documents in order and that we were eligible to make aliyah in an objective sense, we weren't sure when we would actually be approved to receive our visas that entitle us to become Israeli citizens upon our arrival there. We have learned by now, though,  that expectations in a journey like this, for better and for worse, are mostly incorrect. In this case, it was for the much better, as we were contacted within the week with the good news that we had been approved for visas and would need to begin the necessary declarations to receive them. 

To keep with the tradition of the first post, an anecdote... In preparing these new documents, we were also asked (although this is quite obvious) to take passport pictures. I had known that I would need passport pictures eventually, but put them off for as long as I possibly could. For some reason, it has never exactly been my favorite thing to do, and it more than likely has something to do with the fact that I have literally never once had a decent passport picture. Needless to say, I didn't get the photos done during Spring Break (two weeks ago), nor did I get them done during the next week at school (last week) and so, they just kept getting pushed back. Having arrived from college together on Friday afternoon for our second Garin Tzabar seminar (post coming soon), Brett and I didn't have moment during the weekend to get the pictures taken and so it came down to... Sunday night, which will now forever be considered the least photogenic time of the week. With all due respect to CVS Pharmacy and the very talented photography staff there, this one was the worst of the lot. Exhaustion, a general lack of enthusiasm for this little errand, and some very messy hair created a perfect storm for my most tragic-looking passport picture to-date. Brett had the unfortunate dilemma of having to compare his passport pictures on the night to some he had taken a few weeks ago - it was, in his eyes, a choice of the lesser of two evils...  we were both unsurprisingly unimpressed! The positive side of it is that we both managed to get some good laughs every time we had to use the pictures (checking we had the documents, seeing the visas made, etc.) and it's become quite a joke! 

We rose early (and reluctantly) on Monday morning to venture back to Miami for a reunion with the Jewish Agency and our stop at the Israeli Consulate. Despite the fact that both of us would happily have taken a few extra minutes (see: under-exaggerated) of sleep, we were also excited to receive our visas. We had a bit of a challenge finding the place, as has now become tradition (for those of you judging us, it was a different location to the last time), but we eventually managed to find it. After some very funny interactions with the very Israeli staff, a source of great amusement for the two of us in general, and then with the aliyah workers, we had our documents checked and were on our way to get our visas.

Our journey wasn't without further navigational mishaps, either. Downtown Miami has proven to be a maze, of sorts, and there were many laughs to be had with the situations we got ourselves in just getting to the consulate! But before we knew it, we were sitting at a window, watching our passports become entirely more significant in content. A milestone was happening before our eyes.

It didn't escape my notice, either, that a very tragic occurrence took place in Toulouse, France, yesterday, where a still-unknown coward took the lives of three Jewish schoolchildren and a Rabbi outside of a Jewish day school. As a human being, my instinct is of disgust, that anybody could plan and execute the murder of innocents, no less children. Descriptions of the attack left me feeling sick (I won't re-tell them, but they are very public). As a Jew, it was an in-your-face reminder that the Jewish diaspora still, today, has to navigate the perils of anti-Semitic hatred. This "new pogrom" was a fascinating story, then, to hear on the day we had our passports stamped with immigrant visas for Israel.

To end on a positive note, Brett and I were so excited to get our visas that we decided it was completely necessary to take a trip to Sunrise Pita on the way (not -so- on the way, actually) home from Miami. We soaked in the little bit of Israel that exists in South Florida, feeling that much closer to the day that we will not have to go very far, at all, for shawarma and chicken laffas. 

                                                   Brett enjoying his shawarma laffa


Presently, we are both back at school, entering the final weeks of the semester and waiting for confirmation of our aliyah flight from Nefesh b'Nefesh. We will have another update in the very-near future about our second Garin Tzabar seminar, which was, as mentioned, this past weekend.

    -   Darren 

Immigration and the Aliyah Process (Part 1)

First and foremost, if you do not know what aliyah means, let's learn. It literally translates to "ascend" or "rise up." In the Jewish world, it mostly refers to immigration to Israel. To "make aliyah" is to do just that.

An oleh is an immigrant.
                                                                                    

In order to become a citizen of the State of Israel, as with other countries, there are some requirements that must be fulfilled. Brett and I have become all too familiar with these over the course of the past few months, navigating the procedure of immigrating to Israel all the way through our interview with the Jewish Agency this morning.

The first step to making aliyah is to open an application through the Jewish Agency and Nefesh b'Nefesh, which is quite painlessly done online. You are taken through a series of the kinds of questions that give a very broad overview of who the candidate for aliyah is -  family information, contact details, yada yada. It's question-and-answer with the likely twist of adding a supporting statement explaining why on Earth you are choosing this.

Upon completing this, you are tasked with your first, relatively mild, adventure in Israeli bureaucracy, made tame by the two special organizations mentioned earlier. (It should be said that the Jewish Agency and Nefesh b'Nefesh have worked hard to make the experience of making aliyah as easy as possible and have been of assistance from the first step. The fact that we are attached to Garin Tzabar has also given us a more personal relationship with at least the Jewish Agency, as demonstrated by the case worker for South Florida speaking with us at our first Garin seminar.) The Jewish Agency and NBN administer this second phase of the process and manage an online database for you to upload and store all of the documents needed to move along toward aliyah.

I am still quite shocked that I was able to track down the documents I needed, even despite some potential setbacks. There were at least five unique moments when I would think all hope was lost in attaining something, only to be rescued by its miraculous discovery or the assistance of somebody special (thanks, mom!)

One quite hilarious result of our quest for documents, among others, was the realization that our Hebrew names were not what we have believed they were for our entire lives. To the non-Jewish readers, I'm sure you are thinking "Yeah, hilarious" really sarcastically. Feel free to move to the next paragraph. To our Jewish brothers and sisters, laugh with us at this scenario: Brett has always believed his Hebrew name was "Baruch," while I always thought mine was "David." Well, with the reception of a letter from our Rabbi certifying that we are Jewish, it turns out we were both on the right track, but unfortunately not -quite- there. My name is, indeed, "David..." except i have a middle name, and it is "Baruch." Strange? Maybe a bit... but the best part is that Brett's Hebrew name is... wait for it... "Ilan!" What? Nothing like a tiny little identity crisis to shaken things up.

Having acquired and turned in all of our needed documents and declarations, we had our interview today with the case worker for the Jewish Agency and it all seemed to go well, despite our interesting drive around Miami looking for the office. As she rightly pointed out as we arrived, apologizing for getting lost, we are going to need to work on our navigation before the army!

We are at the next phase in our process now, which we will report on once it has passed successfully!

Things are moving quickly and as each day draws our move closer, we are looking more forward and becoming excited at what is in store.

     -- Darren