a balloontwister’s aliya saga

Almost got stuck in Washington…AND NY for Rosh hashana…

Well, the fun started when I was sent to the wrong airport in Washington and ended up buying a second ticket that got me to NY with an hour to take off for israel. Dulles.. .Shmulles… does it make SUCH a difference? Apparently so…

well, I got closed out of the flight until… I mentioned I was a GOld matmid member…. The ONLY benefit of traveling frequently… oh, and the el al chicken dinner…

Once I mentioned I was a Gold member… the flight opened.. and an extra seat was created. So I was put next to a real smelly dude. His stench will serve as a constant reminder to always go to the right airport. To further keep the smell fresh in my mind.. I took his undershirt and have been wearing it since.

Made it back to Israel with enough time to make it to the mikveh with the boys and got some stares…. from the smelly undershirt….

Well, I made it to the right shul. Turns out I havent been at Aish kodesh in months as I’ve been davening accross the street from me. This may be why my seat was in the bleachers this year. No biggee.

There was a huge sign on the door asking mechila for those who werent happy with their seats. I didnt care but I think the people next to me were very upset though. Wonder why?

Penina and the neighbors split the simanim chores. Beets. Leeks. FIsh head. Carrots. Dates… all of them. Although the most fun was a new ritual when eating the fish head.

Grossing out the kids by eating the eyeballs. Yup. Like little marbles.

Afterwards we went next door and had some sheep head. I didnt eat the ear like last year. Not sure what I had this year.

The only bad siman was my seat. I broke it. It was one of those wooden seats attached to a bench that comes down. Well it snapped off.

I checked several seforim and the siman of breaking your chair on rosh hashana is you’ll get fat and break alot of chairs… and pants. To try and overcome that, I decided to fast today. Interestingly enough alot of people must have done that because the davening today was a fast day davening.

We had alot of company this year. Cousin Zanvy who is going to have the busiest year.. basketball.. football… college…etc. He did promise that he’s come by more this year as he will be making monthly stops to RBS as he goes to his old yeshiva Lev Hatorah. Penina and I commented that we are seeing a different Zanvy. We never knew the grown up Zanvy. We knew his when he was a little boy but he’s not only TALL but hes a BIG. In character and personality. The kids enjoyed is company and didnt feel weird when they woke him up in the morning. We also had Aliza and her friend detroit over for a meal as they were at Doovid for ROsh hashana. Aliza is doing great.

How great?

She hasnt even been to Ben Yehuda street yet.

Not bad, eh?

talk about a great start to the year in sem.

The flight back to the US was decent. I slept through supper and breakfast…. and had an exit row… woo hoo…. unfortunately the flight down to baltimore was delayed… but.. I got to the intended airport…

A highlight was meeting Jonathan Paley in the airport…

who?

The miami boys choir soloist for b’seeata d’shmaya. He lives in nof ayalon near Rabbi and Mrs. Reich (mazel tov by the way…. on the baby girl… sara) I’ve met him before but havent seen him in a while. While I saw him at the luggage carousel I just COULDN’T resist.

I had to say it.

“well, with b’seeata d’shmaya you’ll get your luggage soon”.

LOL…. I got this weird look…

er… dude… you sang that song….

I wonder why this is why I cant seem to make (or keep) any friends. I asked him if he gets these retarded comments every day. He lied and told my he actually doesnt and is appreciative that people remember his solo.

Yup, didnt think you believed him either.

Well, thats about it I think…. Any comments about the podcast?

J