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
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