Making Aliyah: On the brink of hagshama

I am writing this blog entry from my balcony from our hotel at the top of Mount Olympus on what will be my last day and indeed Shabbat in the galut. I have been thinking about this day for a very long time and how I would be feeling. Well, quite honestly I do not know what it is that I am feeling. I am neither happy or sad, anxious or excited, I am not emotional or numb. However I have this quiet contentment and feeling in the back of my mind that I am on the brink of one of the most important and defining days of my life and that I have absolutely no regrets at all. Israel is merely a coach ride and a quick flight across the Med; the rest of my life living out my Zionist ideals and becoming the man I know that I can be is literally right in front of my face and I am ready to embrace it.

Anyway, before I tell you of our past couple of days in Greece I noticed that Moshe Levy and his incredible story somewhat overshadowed a very random evening in Naples and so Aly did not mention it.

However I feel this record of our trip would not be complete without a brief mention of our encounter with Rabbi Alexander and his family. As all good Jewish boys like myself and Aly (more Aly to be honest with you) we sought out a nice kosher meal on our arrival in Naples (although I am quite miffed as to how I managed to spend a whole week in Italy and not have a traditional pizza). Therefore we called the local Chabad house who ran a 'restaurant' in the city for Jews passing through Naples and the Amalfi coast. Myself, Aly and Mark Lewis (1932 Buick abandoned in Switzerland), who himself also likes to seek out a kosher meal on his travels, arranged to meet Rabbi Alexander who is the local Chabad representative in the main piazza.

And so we met Rabbi Alexander and his three children David 3, Simcha 2 and Moshe who was just a couple of months old as well as a rather burly looking Italian who's name escapes me that ensured that we were not to be messed with on our whirlwind tour of Jewish Naples. Given ably if not erratically by Rabbi Alexander with utter disregard for traffic, rules of social interaction and actually explaining what it was we were looking at; the tour ensured that we had easily built up an appetite by the time we got to the restaurant at 9.30. Now I say restaurant, what I really mean is a dining room in a flat on the top floor of an old apartment block in old Naples. Rabbi Alexander's wife was preparing our meal as we sat in their living room and were given an explanation into why a completely assimilated Jew in his twenties turned to Chabad chasidut and becomes the local representative in Naples. As we were listening/trying to get a word in edge ways with a very excitable Rabbi, Simcha the two year old was busy in the dining room eating and covering himself in our first course of hummus and olives.

Much to our amusement our dinner was again prepared at about 10.30 it was about time to eat. I advise anyone traveling through Naples to visit Rabbi Alexander and his wife Sara and get in touch with me to compare experiences and let me know if they also got horribly lost, taking an hour to walk the usually ten minute trip back to the hotel.

Leaving Italy behind and after two hours sleep on the ferry from Bari to Ingoumenitsa in Greece we were on our way to our final stop over in Europe: Olympia and the lovely Olympus Asty hotel on the mountain side overlooking some quite beautiful views. The route there (when I wasn't fast asleep and supposed to be navigating) was breathtaking and made all the more enjoyable by the challenge of avoiding all manner of wildlife on the winding coastal roads. We passed goats, cows, tortoises and snakes but finally made it to our destination where we would be staying for three nights, allowing for the cars to be flown into Israel and for us to enjoy a fantastic Greek shabbat by the pool.

The relaxation we have had is great and has ensured a calm before the storm and craziness of arriving in Israel as olim with a four day tour of the country in a 1948 Rolls Royce.

I must go now as we have to be up at four in the morning to catch our flight to Ben Gurion. As I say goodbye to Europe and to 21 happy years there, I am 100% sure that I am so ready to spend the next 21 years (and of course hopefully more) in a country that I hope to see change and develop in to the 'Light unto the nations' it was always supposed to be. I can finally be a part of that light, as I will be there and ready to build the life for myself I have always dreamed of in Medinat Yisrael.

Yan