Another Ultimate Commuter

By: Toby Klein Greenwald
http://www.5tjt.com/news/read.asp?Id=2265
5 Towns Jewish Times

Published: Thursday, April 03, 2008

Debra Drellich, her husband Chaim, and their five children - ranging 
in age from 8 to 16 - made aliyah from Cedarhurst/Woodmere to 
Chashmonaim, a burgeoning, beautifully planned new city about 
halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, in the summer of 2007. 
On September 24 of that year, Maariv, one of Israel’s leading 
dailies, carried a photo of Debra and her family arriving on the 
Nefesh B’Nefesh flight. Chaim commutes to Lawrence for business. 
When I sent an e-mail in search of Five Towns expatriates, 
she answered quickly, with the note, “Baruch Hashem everyone 
is very happy and seems to have adjusted nicely to our new way 
of life. We were exceptionally lucky to have made aliyah the 
same day as my sister and her family (also to Chashmonaim) 
and to have my brother with his family and my cousin with his 
family follow within weeks of our aliyah. We are in total 25 family 
members living in Chashmonaim and loving it!” She is also a first 
cousin of Adena Mark, who was interviewed for an earlier column. 

Before aliyah, Debra had been a teacher in a two-year-old nursery 
at the JCC of the Greater Five Towns for 12 years. Chaim manages 
a computer program company. Debra is not looking for a job yet. 
“I wanted to be home to help orient the kids, who finish school 
early,” she says. 

How is it living in Chashmonaim? “We’ve made a lot of friends. 
It’s a very warm and friendly community. My three youngest 
children walk to school. Two older ones are high school students, 
one in Ramat Beit Shemesh, and the oldest in GMAX, an American 
program in Israel that awards a U.S. high-school diploma.” 

Debra says modestly, “Mostly I’m still feeling my way around, 
meeting people,” but she also takes an ulpan, is starting a class 
in glass mosaics, attends a shiur (“one of many given here”) 
taught by the Chabad rabbi from the nearby community of 
Na’aleh, hosts a playgroup in her home one afternoon a week, 
volunteered for the community phone squad, was on the committee 
for the Purim carnival, and takes long walks with her dog, Cody, 
a husky/beagle, who “made aliyah” with them. 

Why did you make aliyah? “I wanted my children to grow up in a 
special environment. Chaim always wanted to make aliyah. 
It had not originally been my dream. After my aunt [Sara Blaustein] 
was murdered, that shook things up for us. I couldn’t find a place 
to move to, other than Israel. Kind of in her z’chut a lot of us 
[in the family] moved here. 

How did the children feel about it? “From the minute we talked 
about making aliyah, my kids were all on board. Three had never 
been to Israel before but they were all happy about moving and 
about being here. And not one child has ever said, ‘Why did you 
make me come? I don’t want to be here, take me back.’ 
They all made friends. School is more challenging for some, 
but it’s part of the process. They’re happy and enjoying living here.” 

Natanel (Tani), 16, at GMAX, is looking into options for next year, 
deciding between entering the army right away, going to a 
hesder yeshiva program, or university. Elisheva, 14, is at Noga, 
a relatively new ulpana in Beit Shemesh. It is very high quality, 
with many English-speaking students. Ariel, 12, is studying for 
his bar mitzvah, and the other two are Gabrielle, a ten-year-old girl, 
and Daniel, eight. I commented on their names. “Yes,” says 
Debra, “they all have ‘G-d’ in them. That was intentional.” 

What advice can you offer to others who are thinking of aliyah? 
“I think if someone wants to do it, they should do it, but they 
should be ready, because you should be committed. My husband 
wanted to make aliyah several years before I was ready. 
So far it seems like a successful aliyah. If you’re ready, take the 
leap! And if you’re not ready yet, get all the information ready to 
prepare. It is definitely a worthwhile lifestyle change.” 

The Drellichs are currently renting. “It’s a great rental; we’d 
consider buying it,” says Debra. Their home has three levels and 
large yards in front and in back. “One of the great things about 
the Chashmonaim community being only 20 years old is that 
everyone here remembers what it’s like to be the new one here. 
People don’t take offense for meals invited not being reciprocated; 
they invite you to welcome you and tell you to ‘just pay it forward,’ 
meaning don’t worry about inviting everyone who invited you; 
invite the new batch of people coming to the community.” 

It is post-Purim, and Debra shares with me an excerpt from the 
e-mail newsletter she sends out regularly to family and friends, 
that is kind of “A Few Days in the Life Of a New Olah.” Excerpts 
follow. [She begins by writing about the Megillah reading the 
family attended…] 

u u u 

…in beautifully accented Israeli Hebrew and clear to hear every 
word… This was followed by a community carnival, then back 
home to bake and cook. Friday morning, after Megillah reading, 
the kids all went in different directions to deliver their shalach 
manot to their friends. Did I mention we started a sharav (heat 
wave) that day so it was over 90 degrees? The kids were melting 
in their costumes! 

Chaim and I delivered bowls of chocolate trifle and bottles of wine 
to our immediate Anglo neighbors. We kept trying to get over to 
Shmuel and Shlomit for Purim seudah, but before we could get 
into our car someone else would show up to deliver to us. 

We finally made it to S&S for seudah, which was a sit-down BBQ 
for about 35. It was delicious, and best of all I was able to say 
thank you… The next several hours I was in the kitchen preparing 
for my guests while Chaim and the kids helped a little to get the 
house ready for Shabbat and our guests. 

That night we went to dinner at the Barr family. Their son, Ben, 
has the distinction in my mind as the very first person to say 
“welcome to Chashmonaim…” 

Shabbat lunch I finally reciprocated a lunch invitation to Robin 
and Shlomo Weinstein - our “buddy family.” I have felt such guilt 
about that reciprocation for so long - since they had us our very 
first Shabbat in Israel, and then Robin not only arranged meals 
for us to be invited out while Chaim was away the following week, 
but she called every once in a while to see how we are doing… 

In New York we always knew about the existence of Shushan 
Purim, but basically the celebrating equaled a carnival at school 
or a delayed Purim shpiel. This year was our first opportunity to 
really celebrate Shushan Purim… 

We went to the beach! We packed our towels and lunches after 
we all slept late and then followed the Gidons with Debbie Rothman, 
three of her kids sandwiched in between, to Herzeliyah Pituach 
for a beautiful day… 

Now it’s time to change the clock, so we’ll be back to 7 hours’ 
time difference with all of you in N.Y./N.J.… So we changed the 
clocks and everyone overslept - which works out fine on a 
Sunday in New York, but a Friday in Israel is still a school day. 
Why did we change on a Friday, you ask? Because it’s Israel’s 
version of Sunday! 

- Debra