First-World Problems

Born in Israel of American parents, my wife, Ilana, has dual citizenship. Likewise, all our children have both American and Israeli passports.
 
When Israel finally opened her border to foreign travelers in November, we scheduled a trip. The Israeli government and Omicron subsequently reclosed the border to foreigners and cancelled my trip, leaving Ilana and our daughter Bina to exercise their Israeli passports and travel without me. They are there now celebrating our niece’s wedding with our extended Israeli family. Mazel tov!
 
Next complication—Israel just placed the U.S. on her no-fly list, banning Israeli citizens from traveling here. Of course, Ilana and Bina are American citizens and are welcome to come home, but not unexpectedly, their flight has been cancelled. Hopefully, they’ll get home soon.
 
Friends, in no way do I mean to elevate my family’s inconveniences to the tragedy of 5 million people globally who have lost their lives to this horrible disease. I’m merely illustrating that while things were looking good, we are not yet out of the COVID-19 woods.
 
I want to re-enter society. I want to attend programs in person. I have tickets for Proctors. (I loved Come From Away on Broadway and am looking forward to seeing it again.) I’m ready for Federation to plan events again. I want our literacy volunteers back in the elementary schools. I want our chaplaincy volunteers back in the nursing homes. I want to start working on our next teen trip to Israel and our next visit to Eshkol. (I actually had dinner plans for tonight in Eshkol ☹️.)
 
I promise–as soon as it’s safe to do so–we’ll be back.
 
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