“hope everything falls into place for the apartment in israel- there is a quote that the harder you work the more good luck you seem to have. you seem to always have siyata d’shamaya (heavenly assistance) (probably you also notive it more than most people) — but i hope you will have it big time here. can’t wait to hear how it resolves!”

Yesterday my husband and I talked seriously about if we needed to further delay our flight for another week or two, since earlier in the morning we were told that the mortgage paperwork has been further delayed and could take another week or more to be completed.  Once there’s this delay, who knows if there will be something else?  Our rational minds said to wait, to be sure everything was firmly in place before moving.  But for other equally rational reasons, we felt it’s important to leave without further delays.  Everything is packed, our life has been kind of put on hold, dd16 really misses us, the kids going into school need to get organized, and we can’t keep everyone emotionally in limbo. 

And though it might not be ‘rational’, I have a very strong feeling that we need to leave now, that one delay could lead to another and another, and that we need to show Hashem (G-d) that we really mean it, that we really want to go and we’re going to leave no matter what.  If we back up, I feel like things will begin to move away from us rather than towards us, and for things to move towards us, we need to move towards them. 

But we needed some backup plan in the very strong likelihood the mortgage paperwork wasn’t finished, since we can’t enter the apartment until the funds are released.  I called a good friend who has a sister with a large house living in Israel, and she called her to ask if we could stay there (with our loads of boxes!) for up to a week.  Her sister agreed, but said they’ll be leaving Thursday night until Saturday night, and because they live in a very new neighborhood that is in the process of being built, there isn’t any local store, not many buses, and without a car it will be difficult for us.  She also works full-time and I didn’t want us being there to be a big pressure for her, though I’m sure she would host us graciously and with a full heart.  So our backup plan was in place, though we weren’t sure how we’d eat once we got there!

Then this morning at 8 am I got a call from someone here in Baltimore who I met a couple of weeks ago.  At that time I had posted a request online for moving boxes, and this lovely woman in her sixties contacted me.  There had been a flood in her basement and everything had to be packed up in moving boxes, and she was gradually emptying the boxes and offered them to us.  We went over and she had the large boxes that were exactly the size we wanted, 62″ total – we were able to fit the 18 gallon Rubbermaid totes we were packing inside of them, and a blanket/sleeping bag as well. 

We chatted with her when we got the boxes, and then went back a couple more times for more boxes, and chatted with her each time.  She was thrilled that we were moving to Israel and so encouraging!  When she heard we were planning to take bikes for three of the kids, she called us later that day and offered us a brand new bike she bought for her grandson to use when he visits, who doesn’t use it.  It still had the tags on, and she told us how happy it would make her if we were to take it.

She came by on Sunday morning with shaliach mitzva money (money to be given to charity on arrival in Israel, there is a concept that being a messenger of charity has protective elements) in separate envelopes for each child and us.  She had asked us earlier if we needed any backpacks for carryons, but we had a large pile and I told her we were set.  It turned out the night before we were supposed to leave that some kids didn’t have anything to use – I guess they had put backpacks they didn’t like into a giveaway pile, because we somehow have fewer than we did last week!  So yesterday she brought over some luggage suitable for carryons, a very big help.

This morning she called to see how things were going, and I told her about all the things that have been happening, the additional delays with the bank, our uncertainty about when to go, and about our decision that we needed to jump in and show Hashem that this is what we’re going to do, that we aren’t backing down.  And then she said to me – this woman I didn’t even know until two weeks ago – that she has a 4 bedroom, 2.5 bathroom apartment in Jerusalem that is currently vacant, and we’re welcome to stay there for free until our apartment is ready! 

It literally took my breath away, when I saw how Hashem (G-d) paved the way for us and sent someone into our life through a totally unexpected ‘back door’ to help us.  Really, would you ever guess that by posting a request for moving boxes that something like this would happen?!?  I hope we’ll be able to go directly into our apartment, but there’s such an overwhelming feeling of relief and gratitude to Hashem for taking care of us!   It is such a good feeling to know that we definitely have somewhere to go when we get off the plane, somewhere that if we end up needing to be there a little longer, I won’t feel pressured that we’re overstaying our welcome.

It’s not furnished – but our apartment is Karmiel isn’t either, and we’re planning to use sleeping bags for the transition period anyway.   Actually, it’s even better in some ways that it’s not furnished because then I don’t have to worry about any possible damage to someone’s furniture, and if we end up going there, we’ll have the privacy as a family that we wouldn’t have if we were staying with someone.  There’s a large porch and a private entrance, there’s a small market a few minutes away, and a larger supermarket that delivers a short distance away, so we’d be able to buy food and have what we needed until we moved to our apartment.  (I told her jokingly that it’s good it’s not furnished, because if it was, I wouldn’t want to leav! :))  Isn’t that wonderful??

“i am constantly amazed by your level of emunah and bitachon (faith), and i am trying to also have faith that things will fall into place as they are meant to.”

I’ve been seeing again and again, that you  can make your plans, think and plan ahead, and then everything changes.  Then you have to take a deep breath, remember that Hashem is taking care of you, leap – and then Hashem sends you the safety net right after that. It’s really not easy to do – it’s so difficult and sometimes my fear that the safety net won’t be there threatens to overwhelm me – but it’s breathtaking to see how everything is working out!

Avivah