Wednesday, February 24, 2010

First Meeting with Nefesh B' Nefesh...FAIL!

I'd like to be able to report that it went well and that we are giddy with excitement however, sadly this is not the case. I am very put off and underwhelmed with their choice of representative. Due to the fact that our English last name is extremely common, she didn't believe that we're really Jewish and even acted as though my husband's certificate of conversion was fake. Though she still couldn't deny it herself due to having it right there in her very own hands. However, that did not stop her from basically accusing me of being an anti-Semite and being delusional in thinking and stating that I am a Jew. Curious....how is it that an anti-Semite dresses modestly and covers her head and is OBVIOUSLY and OPENLY Jewish?? Though she lacks the right to pass judgement on me, I will let Hashem deal with her as that is now between them. Anyways, besides that, we really didn't come away from the meeting with any further information that we didn't already have. Not to mention the fact that she refused to give us the aliyah planning book which was sitting right beside her on the table. So that doesn't really help us any either. At this point I figure I will need to go ahead and legally change my name to my Hebrew name and my husband as well. Apply for a new passport, change my driver's license, and so on. What a hassle that will become. That's just ONE of the multitude of hoops that we have to jump through. But jump through them we must, so jump through them we will.

I think I'm more angry and offended about the fact that was I accused of being something I am not and being denied that I am who and what I am than anything else. However, we are about to fix that. Despite living in an area where there are no temples or any other Jews, we will have to start breaking the rule of no driving on Shabbat in order to attend a temple about an hour away from here. The representative said that if a Rabbi writes a letter saying that I've been in the Jewish community for a year and am indeed Jewish, that then they will accept my status and can make aliyah. Otherwise, I could go to Israel with my husband but only as a permanent resident and a non Israeli and a non Jew. This of course is NOT good enough for me! After all of the garbage I have been through in my life I feel as though I deserve to be acknowledged for who and what I am and validated! I will not take anything less, nor should I. So starting this weekend which is Purim, we will be attending Shul with our three children and pray that they don't manage to humiliate us by acting in the same kind of manner that they do upon other public outings.

I strongly believe that the representative was hoping that if she set the bar high enough that we would decide that it couldn't be reached and would give up allowing more room for more "members of the Jewish club" Jews. Boy, is she in for a disappointment when we come back to them with all of our i's dotted and our t's crossed. As I told her, when it comes to making aliyah, it's not "if" it's "when". So we will do everything necessary and we will be boarding that plane to our new home..excuse the phrase..come hell or high water. I'm sure that my husband will have more to say about all of this on his blog once he writes it as he is just as angry and frustrated as I am. Without further ado...here is his blog.

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