Reflections on the Year Part 2

Okay, I'm more rested now. I am taking off another day from work to sort out a few things. Hopefully the paperwork and bureaucracy will be as painless as our physical conditions.

After the accident we were transported to HaEmek Hospital in Afula. Ayelet and Tzachi went in one ambulance I went in another with the two big kids. The military ambulance was released. I managed to grab my backpack with phone chargers, my tefillin, and Tani's backpack with toys. Also I took the kids' shoes. The ride to the hospital was long due to bad weather (Baruch Hashem) and traffic. Netanel chose to hold it in rather than pee on the side of the rain. He was nervous to be in the ambulance. I assured him that the driver was driving safely and that it always feels bumpier in the back. As the driver and I started schmoozing (the other EMT left to go to a family party) I realized that Netanel understood the whole conversation. In the hospital he told the story in Hebrew to every doctor and nurse that asked. Odeliya was nervous too. Her carseat was strapped to the stretcher. I have to admit that I was back in rare form keeping her laughing until she fell asleep.

At the hospital the pediatrician did a very thorough exam on the kids. Tani was sent for an ENT exam because he scratched his nose. The nose is fine. Ayelet was x-rayed for her neck and me for my back.

Israeli healthcare is a mystery. The staff seems to really care about their patients. Yet they require patients with back pain due to trauma to WALK unattended to their x-ray and back. Apparently this is due to being short-staffed. The nurses took care of us, brought us food, and let us stay in the ER until my brother came to pick us up. This was despite the kids running amok around the hospital. they were being very cute, just over-energetic for 11:00 at night.

Tzippy from Nefesh B'Nefesh, and her husband came to help us out. He is a doctor and really helped us navigate the system. They also called the police for us and helped us figure out the rest of the process.

We had a few leads about what to do for the night, but in the end by brother picked us up and brought us back to Efrat. On Friday my brother-in-law took Ayelet to Ariel to file the police report and empty the car (it seemed that only the driver had to file a report). On Friday it was revelaed that I also need to make a statement. More on these developments later. They also got everything from the car, including our camera, which was safe and dry in the tow park's office. My teudat zehut (ID card) and a bag of junk food were missing.

Now on to something deeper...

Why did this happen? Why did our car fly off the road and flip over? Why did we miss the Bacon Chanuka party and need receive all this mess to deal with? We have enouogh going on? That said, it did happen. Since it happened, why did we survive? We walked away with barely a scratch. There is a big lesson here. What are supposed to learn from this.

One lesson is obviously to appreciate every second of life. We need to enjoy living, our children, etc. But I feel like there is something much more direct. I am open to any and all suggestions.

Now off to file the police report. Thank you.

Reflections on the Year

They say that ארץ ישראל נקנה ביסורין, the Land of Israel is acquired through tribulations. We have had our share, from the pre-Aliya packing and selling of goods (our house is still available for purchase at a very reasonable price. Please contact me ASAP if interested) to the absorption center, to another move and getting our lift delivered. I think that over this year we have learned a tremendous amount about ourselves and about what is important. We have greater insight into the typical Israeli attitude about things and we have been forced to adapt our expectations of things to match our reality.

But it seems that we are missing something. We have been trying discovering who we are. We have been trying to find our purpose in this world, the reason why we are here. This is a long process. But along the way we have been learning and improving in other ways.

It seems that there is something we hare missing, some lesson we have refused to learn. I say this because whenever things are picking up something always brings us down a notch. This lesson is usually financial. But this past week Hashem gave us a more powerful lesson.

I took last Thursday off from work. We were finally taking a small, and well-earned, vacation. On Thursday we were going to a Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) event for olim in the North. From there we would head South to Yerushalaim. Ayelet's brother Daniel was hosting a Chanuka party for family. We would spend Shabbat with Daniiel and Elana and head over to my sister after Shabbat to see them and my brother from Efrat.

This was the plan. The NBN event was very nice. We all had fun, especially since it was surrounded by glorious downpours. As we drove South on Road 90 (the Jordan Valley road) everything got complicated...

We came around a downhill turn on the wet roads and began to slip. My guess is that we hydro-planed because I became aware of the car turning more and more to the right. Ayelet was driving at the time and did everything she could to correct the direction of the car. To no avail. Sitti gn shotgun it became clear to me that we were going to sideswipe the embankment on the side of the road. I did not realize that we also jumped over the ditch between us and the embankment. When we hit, the car was facing 180 degrees the wrong way.

After the car hit the embankment we bounced back and rolled over at least once. It was a sideways roll, not end over end. the car came to a rest rightside up, facing the road, and spanning the ditch.

The kids were, understandably, freaked out. Ayelet came to her senses first and flew out of the car to check on them. Meanwhile, I tried to find out glasses and my kippa. Everything loose in the car flew around the car. This includes the DVD player that still works and my teudat zehut that is missing, We calmed everyone down and did some quick triage. Everyone was alive and seemed okay. Ayelet had bruising on her neck and collarbone area from the seatbelt and would soon feel some constriction and swelling.

I love Israel. The number of people that stopped to help was extraordinary. In America most people wouldn't stop on the highway if they saw another car needed help. Here total strangers were bringing us bottles of water without asking. The first car to stop called the police for me. The second car was full of Arabs. They also offerred to help and told me that 2 of their friends had similar accidents in the same place. Pretty soon an EMT stopped on his way home. He started checking us out. In the middle of his exam another car came around the bend and smashed his car. After that I yelled at helpful passers-by to keep moving since this was apparently a dangerous bit of road.

Baruch Hashem we are all alive and well. We were transported to the hospital and released later that night. Thank you to NBN for helping us out, Tzippy and Yoel took care of us at the hosptal. A further thank you to our families for their support and chaffeuring help.

I will continue the story tomorrow, as now I must get some sleep...

A Breakfast for 2

This morning Odeliya came downstairs as I finished davening. She saw the little food/kitchen set we gave the kids for Chanuka (they each got a set to play with together. There are TWO coffee makers so that there can always be a pot ready). We sat down for a lovely breakfast of fruit and cookies and coffee. We also brought breakfast up to Ayelet. As I was leaving for work Odeliya was bringing the little plate upstairs with some "food" for Tzachi. It was very sweet!

A Few of Odeliya's Pearls

I generally daven shacharit at home since getting to a quick minyan early enough is tough. Odeliya frequently wakes up while I'm davening and comes downstairs. She knows that when my talit is over my head I am talking just to Hashem and she needs to wait or go ask Ayelet for whatever she wants (Ayelet is still in bed).
A few times after I finish davening she's asked me "What Hashem said?"
How do you answer that one?

Labriut and Yich.
The other day Odeliya sneezed, so I said "Livriyut." She said, "No, you say `livriyut' when I , not shen I sneezed. So I explained that you wish someone `livriyut' on several occasions. After my explanation we did a few practice runs. "If Abba sneezes you say..." And Odeliya responded, "I saw `livriyut'."
Me: "Good. And if Abba coughs you say..."
Odeliya: "I saw `livriyut'."
Me: "Good. And if mommy sneezes, you say..."
Odeliya: "I saw `livriyut'."
Me: "Good. And if Tzachi chesses you say..."
Odeliya: "I say `Iiiiiiich"
'Nuff said on that one.