No, no, I'm not one of those people who has been threatening to leave the USA should Trump be elected. On the contrary, I personally voted for him and and happy with the results of the election. The very idea of idea of threatening to leave the country if the election result you've hoped for doesn't happen, let alone actually contemplating it with any seriousness before or after, is simply the height of silliness. After all, any presidency only lasts a maximum of eight years; and once it's over, there is usually a pendulum swing to the other side because our country is, after all, difficult to govern and most administrations go out with little popularity.
(Perhaps you'll read my last sentence and think, "Well, the Obama presidency certainly is different in that regard." I disagree deeply, but that's not the subject of today's post.)
Actually, I'm leaving the USA DESPITE the election results, and DESPITE my deep love of America that led me to serve 28 in our armed forces. On 29 November - really, just a few days from now - I'm going to board an El Al aircraft and fly to Israel: not just for a holiday, but to begin my new life there. For anyone familiar with the Aliyah process, it is obvious that this isn't a momentary lapse in judgement but has been in process for the better part of a year: the bureaucratic process, that is, not to mention the internal thought and emotional processes that led to the decision to do it.
For anybody who knows Clara and me well, this should come as no surprise. While Clara has agreed to follow me around the world over the last 25 years, she never made a secret of where she always preferred to live. I know that many Israeli expats say that and never go back to live, but Clara has always been an expat 'somewhat' under duress. She was always happy to be wherever we were at the moment, but her heart was always back home. For my part, I've always maintained that I would be happy to return to Israel to live when the time would come that I would decide to call it a night from a 'conventional' career in the rabbinate. Shortly after the start of the current year of 2016, it became clear that this might be the year. I put the bureaucratic process in motion, and it turned out that it WAS indeed time to make this move. Both Clara and I had some second thoughts when we returned to the USA from Australia in June and it looked as if another opportunity might be calling. But the turn of personal circumstances in my life informed me that it was indeed time to move to Israel.
So, off we go! Most of the pieces are in place: the house in Colorado is under contract, and other loose ends are quickly coming together. I'm excited and yes, a bit nervous about what I'll see, experience, and feel in the coming weeks. But it is time to do it!
I guess this is quite a post to make public in a blog that has been quiet for so many weeks. If you know about my personal situation over the months since we returned to the USA, then you'll understand; there has been so much turmoil that as often as I tried to sit down and write something, I just didn't have the heart. I pray that now the
words will pour forth with more ease. Thanks for reading, and for sharing the journey with me!
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