a balloontwister’s aliya saga

One more day.. of being daddy and mommy. Penina comes back tommorrow at 4pm. HAsn’t been THAT bad. Good thing the cleaning lady came Friday and my mother straightened out earlier this evening….
I still have my softball uniform from friday on penina’s bed though… starting to smell a bit too.
Today was a long day.
Started out innocent enough as I drove my folks down to the RBS shopping area where my father rented a car and I did some food shopping and got my new ATM card. Apparrently the PIN code cannot be changed. SO if you forget the code… you get a new card. I feel another card is only a few weeks away. Every time I head back to the US I’ll forget the code. I also dread learning the new PIN code. AS I feel it enter my head, I feel an important fact or date leave it. Did I forget my phone number? Or my blood type? My anniversary date? Something…
I took moshe to Jerusalem to twist balloons at the Zichron Menachem carnival. Its an organization that helps families with a child that has cancer. It is too sad to see so many kids with the bandannas as they have lost their hair due to chemo. It must be hell on the entire family. Parents. Siblings. Lo ayleinu. Moshe had a great time: Popcorn, Cotton candy, toys, prizes. After learning that everyone else went to dinner, Moshe and I stopped in Mevaserret to get shwarma. My folks spent the day going to jerusalem. Impressive that in just their first day or so in the area they made their way from RBS to JErusalem and back. Took me longer I think… hmmm… I think that was the item I just forgot.
Well, I’m just exhausted as last night was the big Le’maan Achai dinner in Reishit in Beit Shemesh. The organzation has over 25 programs that are aimed to help people BEFORE they are poor -in the RBS and Beit shemesh area. You have to remember, despite many anglos who have high tech jobs and work overseas… there are so many who cannot afford to pay bills or buy food. As I told my father the difference between the haves and have nots is tremendous. In the US you have struggling families… but many of them own houses and if push came to shove… there are cheaper places to live…. here people cant make 700 shekel rent payments…. rough situation. The tzedakah provides grants, loans, Job training, social services…etc. Rabbi Marcus spoke as did the Israeli Nobel Peace Prize winner. We were encouraged to give names and phone numbers of friends who could also help the cause. SO if you get a call….I think Jay Berkowitz gave your name….
Well, I’m heading to bed. Gotta clean up before tommorrow…..or its going to get messy.
U.D.

Hey, a win is a win..
While I had a great time it was not like Staten Island softball. The games in Staten Island were more laid back.
These games are not like that at all.
This isn’t just “old guys and against young guys”…. this is an fficial league. ISA. Israel Softball Association, division B. They took 16 teams from last year and made 2 divisions.. I hear we are in the lower division but we still play the A division guys as well. THe difference… the pitching. Division A guys really whip the ball… division guys vary.
Unfortunately the first few innings the other team had a guy who can whip it in pretty fast. At the plate the first inning .. I’m thinking…. oy… looks like its look for a walk or get hit… turns out I got both at the same time. Crowding the plate I got plunked on the elbow. Nice. Free base. On my way to first.. I got called back. Turns out bec. I didnt try to avoid getting hit. I couldn;t get the base. Next pitch I walked anyway. I missed the steal sign when I got to first and got erased on a fielders choice. Belt…. is bunt… sleeve is steal… only 2 signs but I still goofed. Oh well.
I walked three times, stole a base and struck out in my last at bat. I didn’t make any plays in right field… but DID almost get one in foul territory. Unlike Staten Island where there is almost no foul territory.. here its a huge outfield and a decent sized foul territory. The ball hit off my non gloved hand and hit my chest…. but the team was surprised that I even caught up to it. I wasn’t as robbi would say… “If you got to it, you should have caught it”. Turns out the guy hit a single and later scored so my non catch did cost us.
The most interesting part of the game is the stay on the base rule. If you’re on a base and the pitcher has the ball you cannot get off the base for a second. If you do, you’re out. This cost the other team 2 big rallies and when a player protested, he was thrown out. SO when I was on… they told me DONT GET OFF THE BASE… on the release THEN you can run.. steal..etc.
The field was about 50 minutes from beit shemesh near petach tikva in a place called kfar Habaptist. Not sure but it didnt feel like israel. All english speakers. Beautiful field. I hear there aren’t too many baseball / softball fields in the land. We came an hour away, the other team came from 2 hours away.
Below is an email sent b the team’s coach / organizer and a link to an article on jpost.com about the teams in the league.
Have a great day..

Now, our first game was a success as we won 14 - 8
despite not having our Ace pitcher.
The most interesting item was that Jeff Mor was almost
disqualified again.
This time because he chose uniform #770 when the
league rules explicitly state the numbers must be
between 1 and 99 !
The umpire, who shall remain nameless even asked if I
had an extra uniform, before finally relenting.
Anyway we got off to a bad start fielding wise and TT
jumped out to a 4 - 1 lead.
But our pitcher Gadi Bossin kept us in the game for
three innings.
Then in the top of the fourth captain Shem-Tov Shapiro
got us (SB) started with a bunt single.
David Kurtz singled sharply to left. Avi Jacob moved
the runners over. And both scored on sloppy fielding
by TT. Gadi held again, and the next inning our
offense exploded highlighted by a three run double by
Jeff Mor.
SB was the benefit of a questionable call as a TT
player was called out at second base for taking both
feet off the bag while the pitcher had the ball.
New player Yudi Axelrud had three big walks. Left
fielder Rafi Goldmeir, and CF Mark Chass each made
nice catches.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1139395503266&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull