Not our first wedding anniversary, which we actually celebrated 40 years ago, but the first anniversary of our aliyah. And what a year it's been - filled with highs and lows, lots of challenges, some frustrations, but most of all, a sense of fulfillment. One of AACI's primary purposes is to help new olim with their absorption into the country.
Volunteers begin by meeting immigrants at the airport.
Had we arrived a day earlier, though, when more than 1,000 immigrants were arriving from the former Soviet Union, there would have been long lines and the process would have taken much more time. Then it was into a cab paid for by the Jewish Agency, which underwrites a cab for all new olim to the destination of their choice. Two hours later we were on Kibbutz Meirav on Mount Gilboa, at the home of our son Hanan, his wife, Judy, and their three daughters. A week later we moved to Jerusalem, where we stayed in an apartment hotel for a week until we rented a furnished apartment in the neighborhood of Rehavia. We wanted to do things slowly, since we know Americans who immigrated to Israel, bought an apartment immediately, and now feel they would prefer living in another neighborhood.