The Worst Thing About Making Aliyah

Making Aliyah can really suck sometimes.

It isn't because living as an immigrant in Israel is difficult, and don't get me wrong, living as an immigrant in Israel is very difficult.

Struggling with the language: Simple things like making a doctors appointment, or applying for a credit card, or just trying to find something in a supermarket, can become real challenges.

The other day I wanted to buy tin foil. I couldn't see it on the shelves. My Hebrew is poor compared to my friends who made Aliyah around the same time I did, but still I am somewhat "conversational". Regardless, the number of words I haven't learned yet are endless. After three years in the country, the word for "tin-foil" had never really come up before. Standing in the isle and trying to pantomime, and explain what I wanted, felt embarrassing, and frustrating. Most of the time I don't let situations like this get to me. But the daily grind is tough enough, with out the added stress of not being able to communicate, and being essentially illiterate. I am an educated professional adult, and feeling like a helpless child, can be trying. Turns out tin-foil in Hebrew is nir-casef, which directly translates into, "silver-paper". Who knew?

Accepting a lower standard of living: Actually I get paid pretty well compared to the average Israeli. I work entirely in English, and have been able to earn a decent salary. But "decent" is a relative term.

The cost of living in Israel is not all that much less then the United States. The rents are basically the same. But my salary is half of what I would be making in America. On top of that, the taxes are oppressive.

I am able to afford all the essentials, but something mundane, like going out to the movies, has become an expensive luxury, and buying a new cell phone is a major purchase, which needs to be saved for.

There is a joke I tell friends considering making Aliyah. How do you end up with a million dollars in your Israeli bank account?... Move here with two million.

Missing American culture: There are so many things you take for granted, before you begin living life as an immigrant.

Like watching a comedy and understanding the jokes.

I was watching Israeli television with some friends in my office, late one night after work. The truth is I was missing a lot, because I just wasn't catching the Hebrew. But sometimes I was understanding the language, and still had no idea what they were talking about. Jokes about soccer players I have never heard of, or movies I have never seen, or politicians from 10 years ago, before I was in the country. You ask them to explain, but its impossible. You are left with a feeling of alienation.

What I wouldn't give to watch the Red-Sox game after work, and then chat about the team's season with co-workers the next day. It is emotionally straining to feel outside of one's community.

Dealing with the endless bureaucracy: Getting yourself "set up" is a never ending task.

Just when I think there is nothing left to do, to fully document myself as a citizen of Israel, another chore arises.

Recently my wife and I decided to try and visit her parents in the Ukraine this summer. We then realized that our passports were out of date. You have to wait a year before you can get an Israeli passport, however, I had to leave the country on a short trip before I had been living in the country a year, so I got a temporary passport at the time. I had forgotten all about that. Now I realize I have to get a permanent passport, which means going to the misrad-hapnim (office of the interior) and waiting in line for possibly hours. Then trying to find someone who speaks English, or has the patience to explain everything to me in simple slow Hebrew. Then there will be forms to fill out, which I won't be able to read, and fees to pay, which I really can't afford.

A new Israeli immigrant is constantly finding themselves bogged down in chores, which everyone else, born in the country, took care of years ago. Soon I will take my driving test. I am hoping to pass, but am dreading the amount of waiting in line, and filling out of paperwork, which will be necessary to actually get my licence.

But all of this... money, Hebrew, culture, chores...it's nothing. Who cares? A small price to pay, to live as a free Jew in my own land. Believe me, I know how lucky I am, and how many others sacrificed everything so that I could have the privilege to live in Israel.

But a couple of days ago, something happened, which really made me understand just how difficult making Aliyah can be.

My nephew was born.

His picture showed up in my email inbox just hours after he came into the world.

A couple of years before, my sister had her first child, a little girl. I haven't met her yet. I have watched her grow up in photographs. I have heard her speak on the telephone.

And as this new member of my family arrived, I am faced with the reality, that I may not be able to see him either, for who knows how long.

Right now, a trip to the United States seems almost impossible. Who has the money? Who has the time?

Sometimes making Aliyah really sucks.