Well, now it’s for real. Yesterday I told my parents about our plans, and today I registered on the Nefesh B’Nefesh website.
The Nefesh website is very good. It has a lot of information. It has an “Alyiahpedia.”
The basic online application is straightforward, basic personal info, passport info, info about your parents, etc. And a few forms to print, fill out, and then re-upload. The “entry exit form,” “health declaration form,” and “proof of living outside Israel” forms were easy enough. The “proof of Judaism” letter looked simple enough, only it would require me to tell my local Rabbi about our plans. And we hadn’t yet told anyone locally.
In fact, we hadn’t even told our own kids. You see, I didn’t want to let my cardiology practice know quite yet. I was unsure how they would react to the news that I was leaving the group, and I didn’t want to shake up the entire group dynamic at the office and the intergroup dynamic at the hospitals. At least not yet.
The problem was that our kids are in school with one of my partner’s kids. And if our kids knew, then we couldn’t be sure they wouldn’t talk about it at school, which means we couldn’t be sure my partner wouldn’t find out from his kids.
Which means that for now, no “proof of Judaism” letter, and no letting our kids know.