Page 63 - issue
P. 63
Journey to Efrat
from Neve Daniel and lives in Modi’in, which is a fifty minute DAVID J. COHEN ©WWW
drive away. Twice a week, she comes to Efrat and works as a
personal trainer in the Gush where she has a good network Private Investigator
of people from when she was living there. She also trains both
of her parents and Mrs. Jaffee has the pleasure of caring for DJC Investigative Group
her grandkids when Tova is working with her other clients.
Licensed And Bonded - NY • Licensed - Maryland
I ask the Jaffees if they encountered any challenges upon
making aliyah. They laugh and describe the relatively minor Specializing in Civil and
hurdles they experienced when confronting a foreign culture. Criminal Investigations
Things like figuring out the telephone line, wifi, how to get
appliances to work, and a bit of bureaucracy in Yerushalayim. Cell Phone: 917-301-0430
Mrs. Jaffee is quick to say that annoyances with bureaucracy E-mail: djc@djcinvestigativegroup.com
can be found in America too, and they always had pleasant
experiences with the government offices in Efrat. One thing www.djcinvestigativegroup.com
though that really drove them crazy (excuse the pun) was get-
ting their drivers license. It used to be that if you want an
Israeli driver’s license, you would simply present your
American license and then receive your Israeli one. But now,
the law is that a new oleh can drive with a foreign license for
one year and afterwards has two additional years to convert
it into an Israeli license. If one delays until after the first three
years, they have to go through the full Israeli gamut of twen-
ty eight lessons with a driving instructor and payment of
thousands of shekels. Even if you convert within the first
three years, you still have to take at least two driving instruc-
tion lessons (even if you’ve got years of experience under the
wheel) and have to pay a pretty penny too. All in all, the
Jaffees experienced only minor challenges and appreciate
their “soft landing.”
I wonder about the Jaffees everyday life. Back in Baltimore,
Mr. Jaffee worked long hours at Social Security, so now in his
retirement stage, he enjoys more of a relaxed free schedule.
His days are filled with Torah learning, including once a week
a learning session with his son in Yerushalayim, home
repairs, fitness training with his daughter, and lots of reading
and ulpan. Mrs. Jaffee teaches Zumba gold, which is a gentler
Zumba dance exercise, in the Efrat medical center for a
mostly middle aged group of women. “That’s also one of the
amazing things about Efrat – people are very open to trying
things,” Mrs. Jaffee exclaims. She has also been able to use
her Hebrew school teaching experience from Baltimore to
now teach English one on one with students in Efrat.
Mrs. Jaffee advises people interested in aliyah to find the
right community they will feel comfortable in. She says that
some people like to integrate into a completely Israeli envi-
ronment, but for her, “having people to relate to was extreme-
ly important.” She goes on further, “I don’t expect to become
an Israeli; I am an American.” Mr. Jaffee agrees that the cultur-
al gap is big and “as soon as you open your mouth, people
know (you’re an American).” He says, “If your goal is to
become seamlessly Israeli, it’s probably not going to happen
and you’ll get very frustrated.” The Jaffees emphasize that this
is everyone’s Jewish homeland, not to worry about “becoming
u 410 358 8509 u 59
from Neve Daniel and lives in Modi’in, which is a fifty minute DAVID J. COHEN ©WWW
drive away. Twice a week, she comes to Efrat and works as a
personal trainer in the Gush where she has a good network Private Investigator
of people from when she was living there. She also trains both
of her parents and Mrs. Jaffee has the pleasure of caring for DJC Investigative Group
her grandkids when Tova is working with her other clients.
Licensed And Bonded - NY • Licensed - Maryland
I ask the Jaffees if they encountered any challenges upon
making aliyah. They laugh and describe the relatively minor Specializing in Civil and
hurdles they experienced when confronting a foreign culture. Criminal Investigations
Things like figuring out the telephone line, wifi, how to get
appliances to work, and a bit of bureaucracy in Yerushalayim. Cell Phone: 917-301-0430
Mrs. Jaffee is quick to say that annoyances with bureaucracy E-mail: djc@djcinvestigativegroup.com
can be found in America too, and they always had pleasant
experiences with the government offices in Efrat. One thing www.djcinvestigativegroup.com
though that really drove them crazy (excuse the pun) was get-
ting their drivers license. It used to be that if you want an
Israeli driver’s license, you would simply present your
American license and then receive your Israeli one. But now,
the law is that a new oleh can drive with a foreign license for
one year and afterwards has two additional years to convert
it into an Israeli license. If one delays until after the first three
years, they have to go through the full Israeli gamut of twen-
ty eight lessons with a driving instructor and payment of
thousands of shekels. Even if you convert within the first
three years, you still have to take at least two driving instruc-
tion lessons (even if you’ve got years of experience under the
wheel) and have to pay a pretty penny too. All in all, the
Jaffees experienced only minor challenges and appreciate
their “soft landing.”
I wonder about the Jaffees everyday life. Back in Baltimore,
Mr. Jaffee worked long hours at Social Security, so now in his
retirement stage, he enjoys more of a relaxed free schedule.
His days are filled with Torah learning, including once a week
a learning session with his son in Yerushalayim, home
repairs, fitness training with his daughter, and lots of reading
and ulpan. Mrs. Jaffee teaches Zumba gold, which is a gentler
Zumba dance exercise, in the Efrat medical center for a
mostly middle aged group of women. “That’s also one of the
amazing things about Efrat – people are very open to trying
things,” Mrs. Jaffee exclaims. She has also been able to use
her Hebrew school teaching experience from Baltimore to
now teach English one on one with students in Efrat.
Mrs. Jaffee advises people interested in aliyah to find the
right community they will feel comfortable in. She says that
some people like to integrate into a completely Israeli envi-
ronment, but for her, “having people to relate to was extreme-
ly important.” She goes on further, “I don’t expect to become
an Israeli; I am an American.” Mr. Jaffee agrees that the cultur-
al gap is big and “as soon as you open your mouth, people
know (you’re an American).” He says, “If your goal is to
become seamlessly Israeli, it’s probably not going to happen
and you’ll get very frustrated.” The Jaffees emphasize that this
is everyone’s Jewish homeland, not to worry about “becoming
u 410 358 8509 u 59
