Technical problems in recording tape
Hello, I do not believe that this tape finally works. I think. Wait, let me stop and check. Okay. What do you know? It actually works, really. I went through so much with this tape, you need to know that last week I tried to make a tape for you and in fact I made a whole tape completely and it was already ready to send, and then it turned out that it takes me much more than an hour to make an hour tape. I'm sitting here for at least two hours, so of course, when I went to hear it, the batteries ran out and I sound like Mickey Mouse. Anyway, it was very frustrating. It's a long story, but I will not go into it because it was a lot of things, a whole lot of things I have to tell you, and that I have to ask you and answer questions, and there are so many things I want to cover in this tape. Anyway, you need to know that this tape should have come out a week ago.
Today is Friday, April 13, it is the Saturday evening before Pesach and I met the Horowitz family and I was here most of the week. I had a vacation, but I'll tell you all about it and all the things I had to do and everything in a moment. It's Friday and it's Friday morning. Let me see. I have here a list of things I want to tell you, and it's not in order of importance. just a minute.
Communication difficulties due to distance
Okay. So how do I do this? Really, first of all, what I really want to say, the most important thing to me right now, what I really want to say is, thank you, really thank you for your response and everything. I understand you had a very hard time at first, I was pretty disgusting and I'm sorry for a lot of things I said and did. It's simple, everyone felt so tense and too excited and everything. So it's very very good that we can all understand this, each other from so much distance, and I just feel grateful and I'm grateful that you understand so much. I do not know.
Look, it's just so hard, the distance is so great and everything, and this is the time when I need you the most and I really, really missed you so much. I really need you, and I feel a sense of emptiness, as if I am alone. But in any case, the point is clear. So really thank you very much. The Horowitz couple were very happy to receive your letter. They told me about it the day after they got it. They said it was a very, very beautiful letter, which made them very happy, because it was the first they had heard from you since the phone call, so they are very grateful. She said she wrote a letter back, so you should get it soon.
Today I received two letters from you. In fact, I was not in college for a week. So the letters, in my opinion, only arrived yesterday or today, but a friend of mine from the apartment came all the way to Horowitz to bring them to me because she knew I was waiting for them and I was expecting. I was going to go to college today.
So I got two letters from you, one was written before you got our letter back and the other was written afterwards, so now I will try to answer all your questions, and I have some great news to tell you, but you both already know that I sent. Did you get it? Yes, I suppose you understand, but in any case, there are many things to tell you.
The most important thing now is, really thank you, and it makes me very happy that we can keep the communication channels open, with an open mind and everything and understand this whole business, after I tell you everything we've been through the last few weeks, you will understand what I mean. If I had not learned anything else, at least I would have learned patience, frustration, practicality, really, really, I have learned a lot, and I see how easy it is to get very stuck in details and get very aggravated. And if you do not keep your cool and if you do not try to remember it just smile and remember the main idea and do not get caught up in the details, otherwise, you can really just go crazy. You can lose your mind, especially in this country.
I think that Israel, like everything else, is superior in all respects and includes bureaucracy and inefficiency and the way the offices are run. Americans have a lot to teach them here in this regard. Let me see. I do not know exactly where to start. I think I'll start with our apartment, because that's what you're so looking forward to hearing about anyway. Just a moment, I want to close this door. Okay. I'm so excited. Listen to this:
Apologies for the delay in announcing the engagement to the parents
First of all, when we decided we were going to get married, when we decided to make it official and called you all that, I want to make it really, really, really, really clear. I've said it a few times and I know it is not ... all the rumors and things you heard in Washington, were just rumors. The first ones we knew when we decided to make it official were you. You and Horowitz and that's it.
And no one else knew about it officially. I never told anyone. These are rumors that people started saying, guessing and jumping to conclusions, because we did not even tell anyone except Horowitz that they knew and I did not even tell anyone else until I received these letters from you. I did not tell anyone. Now I tell people openly, but you need to know that all the people in Washington who knew in advance, it's all rumors. It hurts me to have rumors. I do not want it that way either. Of course not, but please do not think we are ... I'm sure you understand. We did not try to stop you and do something behind your back, none of my friends know. Ask any of my friends. Have not heard from me since the beginning of the year. The principle, the only one I wrote to them was you, and the only ones I knew now were you. I do not have time to write to anyone else and I did not want anyone else to know until you know.
Looking for an apartment for a couple after the wedding
The day we called you and everything, from that time on, about three weeks ago, something like that. Eli for two consecutive weeks since turning around and looking for an apartment. I guess I'll explain a bit about our rights to the apartment. You said we should join the AACI (American Immigrants Association in Israel), you said it several times, and the first thing we did, we went to the AACI office here.
This is true. Get different rights in different areas. You get rights to bring things in, the mail is tax-exempt and all that, and you get rights to an apartment. But if you went to an absorption center, they will not tell you what your rights are, they confuse everyone. The only people here are Shio Know something is AACI. Really, I do not know what we would do without them, they know everything, they have it clear, they work with new immigrants all the time. So your advice was very good, and we have already taken it, and we went to AACI first thing. The rights are divided into two parts.
Now I will talk about the rights of the apartment. When both spouses have rights, then they get a certain amount of loan. If one had only rights, then he would get £ 30,000 or something, or £ 25,000. But when both couples have rights, then together, they get £ 60,000. They build apartments and give you an apartment from the Jewish Agency. They will find you an apartment. Usually they find you the apartment. If you take an apartment they find you, then you have to pay 50,000, then they give you £ 50,000 for the cost of the apartment. The apartments are usually cheaper. They usually cost £ 80,000 or something, which is a very very cheap apartment. The only problem With that is that if you are a young couple, then they will give you an apartment with one room, because they say "all you need is one room. You are a young couple. "
If you have five children in the family, then they will give you a bigger apartment, but they are doing it according to your needs now. The most difficult apartment to get is a Jewish agency apartment. It has four bedrooms, one, two, three, four bedrooms, and that's because they're a family of five kids, so that's what they do.
Eli and I could not go to them and say, "Well, we want to plan sometime, with the help of the name, that we will have a big family, so we need a big apartment." No, they will give us what we have now. So they will only give us £ 50,000 for the loan, but if we find ourselves an apartment in the private market, alone without their help, then we will get £ 60,000. So there are pros and cons, because apartments that they do give are pretty nice and are both new and in a nice neighborhood.
We decided we were going to try and find ourselves. First of all, push what we need every bit of money we can get. So if they can give us £ 60,000, we'll take 60,000, and because we did not ... so mostly, the main reason is because we're planning to start a family and it's not too smart to buy a small family. Apartment. Then we thought at first maybe we'll take the small apartment, Then when we'm ready, we'll move and we'll probably get a lot of money for it, because the prices here go up every day, but it's stupid. We're buying an apartment.
This is, we wanted our own apartment, not rent, this is our house and we will stay there a long, long time. When we have a family, we should stay and not have to worry about these things again, because it's very aggravating and frustrating and it's crazy. It's crazy here in the country. So you buy and sell all these things. No, we prefer not to, so what we have done now, finding an apartment is very very difficult. Apartments in Israel are very, very expensive, especially in good neighborhoods, so buying an apartment in a bad neighborhood does not make sense because you want your children to grow up in a good neighborhood, and they are not good at it. Some of the neighborhoods, just really not good. Not that they's dangerous neighborhoods, not like in America, but you want a good impact.
There are neighborhoods where it is somewhat dangerous in some places, and I would not want my children to grow up there. I wanted a nice, quiet religious neighborhood with good schools in the area and good facilities. Also, there are probably no kosher butchers and all that stuff, so looking at a religious neighborhood and there are quite a few in Jerusalem, obviously. So Eli went two weeks in a row, and if you're going to look in the paper, like ordinary people do, then you can find, that's true, but the people who published it in the paper, they already know they have a large audience. I do not know what the word, people looking in the newspaper.
The help of the friends, Rabbi Elyakim Lebanon and Rebbetzin Esther Lebanon
It's not so free when you find an ad in a newspaper, so he is not so willing to bargain and everything, because he has a lot of people who watch his ad to the newspaper. Also, we heard, we have these friends, about whom I will tell in a minute, my friend. I mentioned her several times, her name is Esther. She attended college. she is my friend. I met her in college and we became very, very good friends. I knew she was engaged. Turns out his guy is engaged, and it's totally said, it happens to be Eli's best friend, but none of us knew it at the time.
Her husband is Eli's roommate, Elyakim, and they are a young Israeli couple. They have none of the rights that Eli and I have, no way close to the benefits we receive. They are also getting married this summer. Because of them, we're also a bit limited when we can get married, because we do not want to get married at the same time, and is summer limited because in the middle of it, remember when Stanley got married for three weeks, he could not get married, then study at ..., so together about We planned it, but anyway, they are a young couple and they had to find an apartment and have almost no money to pay for an apartment. what did they do? They went to look privately. They went from door to door, knocked on doors, asked them, asked people if they knew an apartment in the area for sale, or said they were interested, or had a cousin or relatives, someone, an apartment we needed.
And so they managed to find a very very nice apartment, very very cheap. You'll never get it there. They got such a bargain. So through their experience, Eli went. I had a test at the time, so I did not go. I only helped him one day, he went straight for two weeks and knocked on doors, something so exhausting, knocked on doors and found out options. He had a small notebook with all the different options. And so we really got a very good picture of what ... and besides all that, we also ordered ads and papers and such, but we got a good picture of what the situation is in terms of apartments and prices, and in Jerusalem, we could not find one apartment less than 90,000 pounds, 85 to 90,000 £ which was half decent, and the ones we found at that price were two rooms.
When I say two bedrooms, I do not mean two bedrooms. When we say several rooms in Israel, we mean the bedrooms plus the living room. In other words, one bedroom and the living room, two rooms, and the most three rooms in a row This R.. Anything more than that was far beyond what we could afford. The girl in my recently married apartment lives in Beit Vagan, which I think is the most expensive neighborhood in Jerusalem because it is brand new, it is beautiful, it is religious, and mostly Americans can afford to buy things there. Her apartment is in my opinion four rooms. Yes, it's four rooms, it's very big and nice, and it cost her almost £ 200,000. So this is just to give you an idea of the mess here. So what happened was now Friday Eli came to me with his notebook.
He said he has several options. There were not many options, because the apartments were small and awful and old. It's options: there were three or four that seemed possible. So we went to them and went together with Rabbi Moshe Horowitz and Eli and his friend Elyakim, the one who is engaged to my friend Esther, Eli's best friend. Why did we bring Elyakim with us? Because he's like a dad, he's the kind of person. He's fantastic, anything he can fix, he can do anything. He could look at a room and see if it was connected properly, if the walls were good, if they were damp, if they were leaking, if the paint was letting the walls breathe, if the floors, even if it was sinking or hollow or this and that. He knew if it was easy to put heating in here or turn on a light here.
You just need someone like that. He understands some big things, some small things, furniture. He just has a mind like that, which Rabbi Horowitz does not have for me and Eli. nothing. So the fourth apartment was planned for Friday, a week ago, and we explored the options and there was one that Eli kept to the end, and he told me he fell in love with the apartment, but he did not tell me anything more about it. I went to the other apartments and got very depressed. They're very small and very dark in bad neighborhoods and you're still surrounded by buildings and no trees, no grass, but it looks like I started thinking, well, that's exactly the way I'll have to live in one of these apartments, because that's all we can afford.
I just had to get used to this thing. In fact, we can not afford 90, we could only afford 80, but wait, I'll get to the financial thing in a minute. Then we went to this place, the place that Eli loved, and as you can know, as a result, this is the one we bought. We bought it very very fast and I'll tell you why. The people, first of all, I will describe to you the apartment. It's in a neighborhood called Faggy it's really five seconds, in fact, about 20 meters or so from the way you enter our apartment, you go down these stairs and you're in a whole new neighborhood in Ramat Eshkol, where the Lewis couple live, where many Americans live, where it's built Totally, and it's far beyond our price range, but it's very very new and nice neighborhood.
The apartment they found in the Pagi neighborhood
Two seconds away is an extended Sanhedria, where all the young couples are now moving. So like it's five minutes away from all these places and it's right near Mount Hotzvim, near where Esther works. This does not seem to be the case, especially in Faggy. Now, the apartment is such, first of all, it is a very very old, very old apartment. It's about, I do not know, 20 or 30 years old, unlike new apartments, the rest of the apartments we saw. To get in, I can do anything right now, it's just so adorable. This is the word I can think of, strange and charming, to get into what it is. It's like a yard. You go through it like a gate, and then you go into that yard and on the side of the yard, on both sides really, there are buildings.
One of them is our apartment. Our apartment is on the ground floor. Wait, I have to tell you about the yard. The yard is full of trees and grass and stone, and it is beautiful and quiet and full of birds and so unlike anything else. Like the moment I walked in, I was in love in the yard. I thought the apartment was going to be worse than the others we saw because it was old, and yet I like it so much, it's the Hebrew expression. I just fell in love with him. Entering the courtyard, the gate you pass through, it's so charming. It's like these bows, these arm bows. this is really cool. That's really nice. It's really old, and I do not know, and cool and stone, and you go into the yard and then to the right our apartment.
Now, the apartment is on the ground floor and you walk in and it's more magical, it feels just like a house. You walk in and it's much bigger than all the other apartments we've seen. He has the kitchen, he has a table inside, which is more than other things. She has a built-in kitchen table. It's not the biggest thing on the grill, but it just put in all the new covers. It looks like our coverage in college. The coverage I have now in college are brand new, because my apartment in college is brand new. Also in this kitchen we did everything with new cabinets that have a lot of storage space and space for a stove and refrigerator and a little tiny table and two sinks, which is very good and a lot, a lot of storage space.
Outside the kitchen there is a new balcony. So like the kids can play in the yard, notice how I think already, and I can watch them. It's like a porch, from the porch outside the kitchen. The apartment is not on the land itself. You go up three or four steps, which is good, because it's not on the ground, so no moisture or anything that can get in. And yet this is the ground floor apartment, which is the largest facility. It's a favorite. It's the highest cut, running on the ground, so it's nice because you really feel like it's a house. So outside the kitchen it is large, bright and sunny and a balcony opens onto the courtyard.
Now, this is the kitchen. Now there is also as if you are entering and it is like this room, it is a kind of corridor, because from there you enter all the other rooms, but it is big. It's huge, and the people there now have a big dining table, so it's big enough for a table. We went on a Friday night Saturday night and it was so cute. The children all sat down and found out. Here when you buy rice, you have to pick out the goods and the bad, sift the rice and some other kids fixed things and the mother ironed and it was simple, it was so homely and so hot. It was not an apartment, it was a house. It was so nice. Now wait, I'll finish telling you. So there's this thing we can put a dining table in like a table, and then there's another little room from this room, there's another little room.
They added it about, so it's reckless and she's on the couch and in the institute Sewing. It's like a sewing room. It's a small room, a sofa and a sewing machine, and it's really cute. It could be one bedroom, definitely one bedroom. It has four old people in it. You have to understand that Israel is not like America where you can have like this huge room and in the middle a small bed and a dresser and all that. Need to save space in this country because need to think practical. The couch opens to the bed and it can hold three people in this bed. I do not know how she said four, but I certainly mean there may be three people there. I'm just saying it's a bedroom and it's also big windows and bright and sunny.
I really need to make two curtains for this. Then it's one room. Now another room, our bedroom, a bedroom that will be for me and me, it's a very big room. Because it is an old house, the rooms are much larger than in a new apartment. It's pretty big. It has twin beds and a table, and a large closet. In Israel, too, the cabinets are not built into the walls. It's not like in America where you have a built-in closet. Here they are not. You buy a room and then you have to hire a carpenter to build you a closet, which can cost thousands of pounds, because it costs a lot of money. This is a big, very big closet and we need to paint it. It was not the most amazing thing, but they leave it for us.
So there is the big wall closet and two beds and a table and she also had a crib, and there is a lot of space. The room was huge. It's really nice and has a big window on the side. This is our room, this is another room. Then the other room, that you enter this other room and he .. I almost fell. I almost fell on my face. It's a huge room. This is the biggest room. I have never seen such a large room in Israel. It's this big room that had a big bookcase and a table with a dining table, another big and luxurious table, and a sofa and one whole wall, one whole wall this room and huge ceilings because it's an old thing. . They are really high ceilings, and one whole wall up to the ceiling in the covered wall was a closet she made that cost 5,000 pounds.
I can believe it. I would have thought it would cost more, but she told me 5,000, so I do not think she's lying, and this huge closet, very beautiful. It's a beautiful closet, and the room is huge. When I thought, the first thing I thought about was the piano because I became very, very depressed, where are women piano? My piano, it will not fit into any other room we have seen anywhere in any apartment in Israel.
Did you see a piano in Horowitz's house? The house of the Horowitz family, to you may seem small, but it is quite large by Israeli standards, but simply arranged very poorly. Our apartment, this apartment in terms of the metro, the garage, when you do the metro, Horowitz's apartment is a five-room apartment. Ours, I told you he has three bedrooms.
This large room it will be a living room, for a while at least as. It depends on how many kids we'll have, but if we need it, we can turn it into a bedroom at night, but this big room is really big. It is a beautiful room and it opens to another balcony which goes out to the courtyard to the trees and everything. Horowitz's apartment, I said, a five-room apartment, is 75 square meters. Our apartment is 72 square meters. Do you believe how big it is? And it's so neat. It's just beautiful. It's just as beautiful as I thought, I just fell in love and was so scared we could not buy, because it would be expensive and I was so sorry.
I was so mad at Eli for bringing me there, because I just fell so in love with the house and the neighborhood houses, and with all the interest and the whole sitting looks so lovely as in a dream, but I'm probably a little exaggerating because I'm so excited and I'm so excited about it, but it's very important I think I love your apartment and I love the apartment. I think I told you all about it. Can certainly put the piano, and the bathroom, the bathroom is the same as in many places in Israel and as in the college my apartment and Horowitz apartments have two rooms, one a bathroom, and the other has a sink. And bath. They are not so nice, I must admit it. We'll have to fix them a bit, the bath, I think we'll have to put a new bath because it's cracked or something, I do not know.
There are a few more things that need to be done. The apartment needs a lot of work, a lot of little things. In fact, painting, it does not have to be painted maybe, but there are rooms that do. There's one room that's purple, that I can not stand, so we paint it. Now, the thing is that Eli found this apartment by knocking and asking. It's not written in the newspaper and it will not be for a while because these people do not plan to move. They are moving to a new apartment and they do not plan to move in just about 10 months from today. They are not leaving for another 10 months and we want to get married in three months. So that means we'll have to rent for a few months, which is bad but it's not terrible, because with my rights, even though Eli will not get these, I do not think, but with my rights, we also get 160 pounds a month for rent.
In other words, this part is my right. I'll get £ 150 for rent. The rent is more than £ 150, but it seems. wait. I will get into the financial matter of the system and I want to send you the apartment. The people who live in the apartment now, they have 10 children and they have lived here for 17 years and they got along with 10 children and did not even feel like there were 10 children. I had been there twice already on Saturday night and everyone was running there, and one night, and it was right before Pesach when everyone was cleaning for Pesach and I did not feel it was crowded or anything. You can sleep there for 10 people and not be beautiful ... it's not that hard. In other words, it's five or six in the parents' room and room, just the parents, but then among other things, anyway, just to tell you that it's a big apartment and we bought it. We'll never have to move.
Eli told me to stop smiling
We will not have to move very much time if at all, not like anything else. This is such a good thing. It's such a bargain. Now, because they are not willing to sell, they are not in any resting material. We are the ones who want to buy now. We want to buy before they put it in the paper, before they realize what a bargain they have. She calls it, madam, she calls it a two-room apartment. She's crazy. This is a four-room apartment. She does not understand it. So as long as they did not understand it, we did not want to be Vision too worried. Eli kept telling me to stop smiling. I could not stop shining and smiling. So we wanted to buy it very quickly, before she put it in the paper before people came. She could ask much more than she asked for.
How much did she ask for? She asked for 90,000. 90,000 is more than we could afford. We thought 80,000 was what we could afford. 90,000 we can not afford. I was so sorry. 90,000 is more than we planned to spend, our limit is 80,000. When we saw that nothing could be found in less than 90,000, and even those we saw at that price were terrible, then we did not know what to do. That's why it took me a week to buy. We debated the other.
What will? I can not stand it, because I saw that the tape is over and I can not talk about this feeling. Anyway, then we did not know what to do. We said we would let them know, but I wonder how we can buy before someone else finds out about it, because really it's such a once in a lifetime you find.
Financing the purchase of the apartment
So we talked about it and just talked about it for a long time. We lowered them to 88,000, I forgot to tell you, and they did not go down. They are very, very stubborn. They would not have come down at least, and neither I nor Eli would have taken them down. Elyakim, he's a really amazing guy. He really .... the tape ran out and I did not even understand it. It's better now, so now I can talk. Excuse me. Now I'll talk about financial. I told you about the apartment and now I can get financing. As Eli and I thought 80,000, excuse me, here you go. The way Eli and I guessed 80,000 was like that. We get 60,000 from the agency because we found an apartment alone, so we get 60,000 pounds from that.
It's not that we're just guessing, we've been down there a lot of times. We even have the permit, the permit. It's very clear we're getting the 60,000. The thing is that when we buy the 60,000th apartment it is only a final payment. That is, we have to pay the extra difference in this apartment, and only then will they pay the 60,000 as a final payment. Do you see? Then we'll have to scratch. We'll have to get £ 20,000 or £ 30 now. It looks like 28,000 pounds alone before we reach 60,000. This is not such a big problem because all you have to do is make a deal with the guy you are buying from, give them to the office of the Dyrvets, whatever your name is. We say we're already paying each other, they should give us the 60,000, but we'll make a small deal with the guy himself that he's going to give us the money back.
It's not confusing. That’s how everyone does it, and that’s how everyone knows everyone does it that way. Anyway, so financially I need to talk to you about, we took that 60,000 pounds, now we need the other money. Eli's grandfather gives us $ 2,000, which is £ 8,000, £ 9,000, but in the meantime, to buy the apartment, we had to pay immediately. A third of the price immediately.
So Eli has some very distant relatives who own the [nature] factory. He gave us £ 30,000. And he did not give it to us, he gave him a check for 30,000 pounds so we could give to the guy, and we have to give it back to him. Let's give him back in three months. Now Eli has the money from his grandfather and I think he has $ 1,000, and I will very, very much extend it, if you tell me everything I have. And I know I do not have much. Maybe the only thing I have is money that Grandpa left me, but if you can tell me what I have, how I am financially, then it will help, but now the other thing is that Grandpa really managed to do something with his insurance or something. He took out a loan from his insurance company.
I do not quite understand, but he can now lend us $ 5,000. If we had $ 10,000, if we could get $ 10,000 now, it would cover everything. It will cover the apartment, it will cover all the things we need to fix in the apartment. We need to put in a pile, and that's not a big expense. It's about 1,000 pounds. Anyway, I'll say that. Let me finish with this. It's going to cover furniture and all that stuff, it's going to cover everything we need maybe $ 10,000. I know. If we had a million dollars too, it would cover everything. And I know that's how I sound, but Rabbi Horowitz will probably be able to lend us, borrow from his insurance and give us $ 5,000 and we have a few more, like two or 3,000 more.
I understand that I really understand. Everyone understands that you came here for a wedding and everything, that in itself is a very big expense. Of course, you can not. I understand that really, you will not have money to give us. The money you spend when you come here, is very much and I did not expect it, especially after last summer. I really understand. Please believe me. So when it comes to money now, I really understand, even though it may sound like I'm just talking over my head, it's things we've been sitting and thinking about for a long time. But if you have any suggestions, I hope you're listening to it privately, but if you know of any way I can ask Uncle Sydney for some money. Now a loan, even a loan, the reason why we want to borrow from relatives and not from the bank and we could get from the bank is because of interest, I do not think relatives will ask for interest as the bank would take.
But if you have any ideas about Uncle Sydney or anything you can think of, I'm currently at a loss, it would be greatly appreciated because with $ 10,000, we could finish here. Everything will be straight. You must believe it, that we found nothing in less. Everything has a decent. This apartment we found is truly the best thing in the whole world. It's big, we can live in it for a long time. I forgot to tell you that the neighborhood is just beautiful, except close to everything. This is a religious neighborhood, it's quiet. There are millions of kids playing in their yard, but they play quietly and it's very very nice. And it's just around the corner from the grocery store, from the butcher, from all of that. It's right there.
Bus transportation is not an issue. I have to take two buses to college, which is a bit painful, but I'll only be in college for another year, so what The big deal? I have one more thing I keep to the end, which is the funniest thing, but wait, it's about a 20 minute walk from the yeshiva or I can take the bus, and it's really close to the nice synagogue and I can go to Rabbi Zvi Yehuda's house and it's just a really perfect neighborhood , So it's very very nice.
Advantages of living near the Levanon family
The funniest thing of all, now get it: I told you, Esther is my best friend and Eli's real friend is Elyakim, who they bought an apartment recently. We had no idea where they bought their apartment, and when we took Elyakim with us last week, inspected the apartment and helped us, and when we took it with us, he kept smiling and did not understand why. After we were all done and on our way home, we got in the car. We did not even move away Elyakim says: "Hey, Eli, do you see this house there? This building there?" He said, "Yes." He said, "That's where I live." There he bought his apartment. It's a pure coincidence. They live 30 seconds from where we are going to live. You know it's such a pure coincidence? That was the funniest thing. It was so funny, and happened to be very, very, very lucky, because that way Eli has someone else sitting there, Elyakim, and maybe Elyakim buys a car or a tuk tuk, like a little motorcycle. I'm not so keen on the motorcycle idea, but anyway, it's just good to have another couple from the yeshiva there, a young couple we know, and Esther also has another year of college and we can go together and we have the same schedule, the same classes, a lot of the same things. So it's just very very very nice, and we're good friends and we get married at about the same time. So it just worked out. It's such a coincidence. So we are very happy about it.
Financial resources to finance the apartment in Pagi
Anyway. So what I said, is if you somehow know from there where we can get some money, it will be very very good. It will very much help, because we need the money now to buy an apartment now, this year now, but give back, well, give back, in other words, we can not save the money. We need the money now and then we'll have to repay.
Now, that's the point, give back. I'll tell you how we plan to do it. When buying an apartment like any couple, like any Israeli couple when buying an apartment, they run into very large debts. This is the only way, because like I said, when you buy an apartment, you have to pay at least a third of it at once. No one has so much cash around and the apartments here are ridiculously high in this country and they go up every day. So you put yourself in debt. Eli explained to you, the loan from [...], from the government, is a very, very reasonable rate. Their interest is very low. It's like, I think half as if you were a borrower anywhere else, and they have a defined plan where you return. You pay back, you start paying about £ 350 a month.
This is a 17-year plan. That's £ 350 a month. This is towards the 60,000. 30,000, we got now from this guy, we'll have to give it back, we have to give back with the thousands of dollars we get. I think when you wrote to me there, it's a smart idea to open with a dollar, I guess that's why you said I would know why. The only reason I understood why is probably because of our wedding and such, we'll get a lot of money and get it in dollars, which is fine, because the dollars are four times stronger. Dollars, if someone asks you what he can bring us to our wedding, tell him dollars. This is the most practical at the moment. So with the 5,000, Horowitz will be able to give us now for these other things.
We do not have to return as in three months. So we'll also have to solve this a little bit each month and it's going to take a long time, but we think we can do it. It's going to be very hard and I think it's shortening it pretty short, but there's really nothing else you can do, but it's shortening it really short, but it's getting better, it's getting better. With what I can do teaching and what Eli does from the kollel and it costs. It makes quantities of gifts from the yeshiva and give some things and also from the agency, so I think it's pretty financially manageable. The more important thing right now is that we currently need $ 10,000 of which there are already several.
So if you can tell me, if you can send me such an estimate from this point or where you think you can, if you can, if you have any suggestions, I would be very grateful. Just a moment, let me look at my list. Okay. I should do it fast now because I spend a lot of time in the apartment and it's very good that I have a lot more things to tell you. So I'll start talking really fast. I have a list of things. First of all, I meant to tell you, Eli will also be able to give lessons and he will also get money from it.
Let me see. As for sending things, just a minute. First of all, I no longer need a letter from another person, so everything worked out. I will not go into details now. I felt like telling you, it's wow it's going to take me at least two weeks to tell you all the different offices I had to run to, how many times I had to go back, all these things, because it's to give you a feeling of what it's like here, but I'm laughing, so I'm still an animal. It was not so terrible actually, but I do not have time. You need to know I got it.
Setting the wedding date
I finally realized I was single. I got it, and yesterday Eli and I went to the rabbinate to register. So we signed up. When you register, our weddings in Israel are done with Jewish law.
Weddings and divorces are not civil, they are related to Jewish law. And to get married it was possible to get married only at certain times of the month. I think I once explained to you. It has to do when the bride gets a period and all that stuff. So there is only a certain time in the month where you can get married. you can. You can get married at any time of the month, but you only have a certain time in the month where you just want to get married and they get along with you there in the rabbinate, they help you solve it according to all the details of halakhah when a good time to get married is. Somehow it worked out for me, which seems to be July, which is the time we need to get married, when we want to get married, it's going to work out that I can get married between July 8th and about 15th, this week.
The reason why I can not get married later than that, remember it is that after July 17, it is the 17th of Tammuz but in this case it was the same in English, July 17, so it is not possible to have weddings, and before that, I can not because of menstruation Mine then before that I will still be in school, so I do not want it. So this is about the time when the wedding will be.
I will not have to be in the army. I look at my list. I will not have to be in the army at all because I will be married and because I am religious and I am married, but there is no problem with the army so that's fine, and I told you we already belong to the AACR.
I do not have a picture of Eli
And Eli's name is Eli with I at the end, ELLI, and I'll send you a picture. I do not know if I will send you a picture with a tape, because I want to send a tape today and I do not think I have a picture of him. I'm sorry. I did not notice that I have never seen a picture of him, but okay. I'll see if I can find a picture, just a minute. Okay. Does it still work? As for me coming home this summer, before we get married, I do not think it's in the realm of possibility. There are a lot of reasons why, but apart from all the details and everything that needs to be taken care of, really but really a lot of things, that you recorded, and the sequel, get into more wedding stuff, all those questions you 'again ask, but there's even a more important reason.
I can not leave this country even for a week. Just can not.
I thought I could tell you I can not go home this summer because there are just too many things I need to take care of, and that's true. I do not see at all how I can leave from now until we get married. That's true, but I want you to understand even more, I want to understand even more, the real reason is, like telling you this now it hurts you or it's hard for you to understand, but you better understand that I am honest with you, right? I'm honest and I'm honest and I do not knock.
I told you many times, it's about the same thing, but you can not understand what it means to me, or how important it is that I stay in Israel, that I be in Israel and that I do not even go to America and it does not matter if I am in America even for one day. It has nothing to do with you. God forbid I hurt you or I'm going to fuck you either, that's not it at all. Just that everything I say and do, I do not just say great things and say great ideas. He shouts about my idealism and everything, but the thing is that my ideals is that if idealism is true, it also happens to be my life. This is me. This is me.
It's not that I have an ideal that I thrive on and I try to stick to the idea. And while I'm doing my daily practical details, it's not related to my ideal, but when I try to think it's a nice day or when I'm in a really excited mood or something I can think of my ideal or that's what I want in general. No, I want my ideal in general and in particular, in every detail, and in every detail I do, I try to do it. I do not try, and my life is my ideal. It is very difficult for me to explain in words of course, and even more difficult to show you. I can not even tell you what is something inside me.
So traveling to America, I do not think I can explain to you here and now why, I can not travel to America. Maybe I'll succeed when you come or something, but I can not explain now. So much better that you come to Israel and see. This is something I can not describe. I have tried many, many times, but I can not even travel to America to visit. I can not leave this country even for a week. Just can not. I just can not leave this country. It is very difficult for me to explain. I guess now I'm just asking please try and understand.
I understand most of all, probably, most of all, how good it would be if I could travel to America, how profitable and I think of profit and also about many other things, how nice it would be if I could shower you and stuff like that and get all these things. Sheets and things are very expensive here. I will have to ask you to send them to me because they are just expensive here. I could not do it here and shower and all this stuff would be very nice and seeing everyone would be very nice. And I know exactly what I'm causing myself by not coming, and even more than that I know, even more than that I'm taking from you the ...
I can not think of the word in English, take a shower and get ready and all that stuff. Because of this and I know it, Mom and I know and it also hurts me a lot. So I really wish if possible, I read your letters and you say you can not come until July, but if at all possible, I would love for you to come here. I want you to help me plan all these things. There are so many things to do. As for finding a hall for the apartment and all that, we have not really started to check yet. It is currently [..]. Nothing is open. Everything is really dumb. And for the last two weeks it's been in the apartment. It was more important to find an apartment.
Wedding preparations
There are so many things to take care of, find a hall and wave at our wedding and invitations. I even sold it to an orchestra or something, all those little details we need to check. We did not really start it. As soon as Pesach, immediately after Pesach, we will do so. I'm a little apprehensive. I have a feeling we will not be able to find a hall, because so many people get married in the summer, and like I said, the days are limited. There are only a limited number of days here. I'm personally looking for an outdoor wedding, like that of Stanley and Jeans, it was a beautiful wedding. I would not want more than that, but it seems. Here too there is nothing like backyards. I do not really know. We'll have to check it out.
Also, you asked about your cameras and such. It would be good if it would be later. Huh? So all these little things we're going to check, I guess, right after Passover. I'm sorry I can 't tell you right now. Also, we live less expensive than renting a house, but all these nice things I have to check. And I know that people only at their wedding and such, have been practicing for weeks and months. I do not know.
Sending a grand piano and other great things from America
And now you ask about the piano, about sending it later. I must explain to you one thing, to me and to me, the advantage he has gained And Eli's character only arrives at the apartment. As for sending him, we both also have rights to duty. In other words, I have the right to buy a tax-free refrigerator, one refrigerator. I can not buy five refrigerators, only one, and Eli has the right to buy a tax-exempt refrigerator, but together we have no right to buy two.
As a couple, we only have the right to buy one. Do you see? The only way it works well together is for the apartment. You get twice as many home loans. So the piano, I'll have rights for another three years. So the piano you can send, in fact, we prefer not to do it right away because we are not going to be in our apartment for another 10 months. So your question with the piano and the money and the troubles, it happens that it works out very well, that you can postpone sending the piano for a few months, so no problem. And now your advice about asking people on the list about how they change is very good. I will check it as soon as I can, because it is very important.
I hear they are changing a lot soon. I do not know if it affects me so much because I think it will affect me if I was still a tourist or a student and I had more limitations, but since I am already a temporary resident, what is. I'm a temporary resident, by the way. This is another bunch of things I went to. It took me months until everything worked out. So being a temporary resident, I do not know if it affects me, but one thing I do know is what most people do is they send a list, which is this big, big box. It goes by space and not by weight. They send a list and it's very very cheap and it comes in duty free, and you can send anything on the list and it comes out in duty free.
So that's how I think most people do it. I'll find out and find out shipping and all that stuff. I'll ask Connie maybe, because she's just done it in the last year, or else, yeah, you're right, I'll find out about shipping. I think the main problem would be getting it from Washington, New York, not New York on the boat, but it seems maybe from Baltimore you can ship, I do not really know. Anyway. So probably even the piano can be shipped this way, but that's how I think it's done with the list. So all kinds of sheets and blankets and underwear and just all these little and little things that we need that are expensive, can be sent off the list.
That's how I think it goes in shipping. Just a second, let me think. Also, I have the right to bring two sets of tools and two sets of silverware and all that stuff. These things, I guess, are more to die for. It's more die to buy in America than in Israel because they are very expensive here. But I really do not know how to be. I really do not know.
I do not know. I wish I could send a dummy of myself and then you can with my picture or something. I do not know, but it's really impossible for me to leave. I just can not. I'm just asking now to trust me and just know I understand how nice it would be if I came, but just know I can not and trust me, I do not really know what else to say. Okay. Now I'm reading your letter to see if I forgot anything. Your idea about providing a piano. It's very very good. I thought about it, but you really do not understand it, but here it's a very, very good idea. Very very good. I probably can do. It is very good. Very good to have the piano. It's very good that we found an apartment where we could put the piano.
Also, please, please tell Roda, I'm sure my friends will start calling you now. I did not write to anyone. I have no second for them to write to anyone. After Pesach, I will do it, but Roda I want to write. Maybe I could write this today, but please apologize. Make it sound good and I told you, you're the only ones we told you and I feel very bad and Mark will talk about the special Judy. it is so exciting. I'm really excited about it. It's really fantastic.
Let me see. I hope the date gets along with Roda. I guess she'll tell me. Okay. I'm quitting, and I'm really glad Brian's coming. Wait, just a second. Mom, do you think you can come? Do you think you can get there early? I love, I wish I could come there, I wish I could come right after Pesach and I know I just wish over my head. I'm going to be very stressed towards the end of the year with school. I'm going to get all my final exams and everything and with that on my head.
Wedding dress and other wedding preparations
I really need you to help me install and help me think about these things. Yes, because Toby would help me with my wedding dress, and I want you to help me. That's another thing. When it comes to material, if you can start looking for me for patterns and even material, I really appreciate it. Israel do not have examples or they have these German examples and I do not know how to wear. I can not understand them anyway.
I do not want to buy a wedding dress. It's crazy. That's really expensive. So I do not know. You know what I like, something very simple, very simple and beautiful and nice, long. Not a low cut dress and not a sleeveless dress and long sleeves and beautiful, quite thick. I wish I looked good in white, but what can you do? just a minute. I'm perusing your letters right now and I'm just so excited. You can not imagine how happy you are, but I'm so glad Brian's coming and Stanley and Gene. That sounds so great. Does not matter.
Let me see. I'll try to find out about accommodation for you and Dad. I do not know about Elyakim. He has a roommate, but I'll ask him. I'm a little embarrassed to ask him, because I'm sure he will offer. The thing is, he just thinks his apartment is so awful you'll never want to stay there, but I'll just ask him spot on if you can, because I really understand that it's a big expense in a hotel.
Mom, for you, if you come early, I think you can stay here, because Toby is there, where I always say when I'm in the Horowitz family that she has an extra bed in her room. If I were to stay after the wedding, then you could stay here. She's already said it would be okay. And I have my apartment in college, or maybe we'll find something. Maybe we can rent Room for a few then we can stay together. I do not know. These are just things that just pop into my head right now. just a minute. Do you really think Bob Dauzi will give me money? I'll try to do what I can. But it's so obvious. What do I say? What about Uncle Sydney? Do you think he can? Do you have any other suggestions? It's really clear.
Yes, you're right about pictures. I'll try to get a picture of Eli, just a minute. I do not have to come across another program. I already realized I was fine. just a minute. Immediately after Pesach, I want to write to Grandma and I want to write to Aunt Betty and Uncle Teddy. I did not understand, really thank you. I do not know what you mean I was so convincing? I just talked to her, but anyway, if it worked out for the best, I'm very happy.
Let me see. If you ask about all these plans, well hope he learns as long as he can in sitting. At the same time, give lessons and things. We will try to manage it and see, but it is our goal in the meantime that he will be able to continue sitting. just a minute.
As for a bed, we go with twin beds, but the beds here in Israel are a different size than in America. They are smaller. When I'm done with this, I'll go measure a bed here in Horowitz's apartment and send you measurements. I guess the best idea is not to get a fitted sheet, and it will probably be twin beds, not urgent together like here. It is better to separate everything. That's all I think, but I guess it's not such a good idea to buy fitted sheets because I do not know if fitted sheets can fit the beds here. So regular sheets fit and I can tuck them in normally. just a minute. Eli is very embarrassed. He does not want all this on tape. So he just says to say that his name is Eli, A-L-L-Y and he is the son of Rabbi Horowitz, and that he is a yeshiva guy from the "center", there is not much to say about him.
I do not know, I think it makes sense. You're inventing something. There is not much to say about his background. Just say a few. Another thing I wanted to tell you is, regarding me, we read your letters together and he is really happy, and he sends him a greeting and everything. He should have gone now to return to Rabbi Nok to end there with him, with his interest in the rabbinate, but he sends the greeting and wishes you a happy Passover. He was very pleased with your letter, and he kind of apologizes if it sounds very sudden in his letters. He just does not write well or anything, he says. I do not know. Hold on. Okay. I'm thinking about it. It gets on my nerves that I keep stopping. Only I'm just trying to think of other things to say where I can.
The tape runs out and I am very, very excited and it is the Friday before Pesach and I have a lot to do and help clean for Pesach. Anyway, so I want to wish you now Pesach very very very very happy and thank you very much and give all the respect to everyone and please write back as soon as possible. And I know we'll be a long time coming, but I guess that's how it's going. It's frustrating, but oh well. So congratulations to everyone and this nerve-wracking tape and hello to Brian and Stanley and everyone and I'm going to write as soon as possible, and please be healthy, that's the important thing, be healthy and stay in touch.
I do not know, now that I'm done, we're missing a movie. Let me, what else can I say? I should have sent a greeting, the weather here is beautiful, I'm fine. I underwent a major test to become a temporary resident. I had a test and I'm fine and everyone's fine. Okay, so Shabbat Shalom.
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