U
gh. I hate saying goodbye! Why do we have to move?!

Today, a bunch of my friends and cousins came over to play a final game of basketball before we move. The game was fun and it was great hanging out with everyone, but every once in a while, someone would start talking about how we won’t be able to play together anymore and I would get all upset. You know what? I think if my parents love Eretz Yisrael so much, they should have moved when I was little, before I had made any friends! I mean, this move will be a breeze for Chani. She’s a baby, so she won’t be leaving any friends, plus she’ll learn Hebrew right away when she learns to talk. But what are me and Gavi and Yehuda supposed to do? I’m sure we’ll figure out Hebrew eventually, but what about leaving our friends and cousins? It’s not like we can play basketball over the phone. And what about our grandparents? Both sets of grandparents are pretending to be happy for us, but I can tell that they’re upset, too. This move stinks! That’s why today I’m not adding anything to my list of awesome things about moving to Israel.

Signing off in a bad mood,

Binyamin A. Schwartz

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July 17

You’re never going to believe where I’m writing from: the airplane! That’s right, I’m writing this journal somewhere over the Atlantic Ocean and about a million feet above the ground. Okay, so maybe not a million, but I was way too excited during takeoff to pay attention to the pilot when he told us what our altitude is. Today is awesome! The plane that we’re on is filled with people making aliyah. The only people on this flight who are not making aliyah are the pilot and his crew, and the people that arranged the flight. Ta said the people that arranged the flight are going to help him and Mommy with all the complicated paperwork stuff that my parents need to do when we land. Oh, and there’s even a reporter on this flight! I’m serious! Before we took off, there was a camera crew at the airport interviewing and filming everything. I volunteered to be interviewed — I really hope I get on the news! That would be so cool! There’s so much to write about, so to save time, I’m just going to put it all in my list of 50 Reasons Why Making Aliyah Is Awesome:

(Excerpted from Mishpacha Jr., Issue 779)