Fall of the US

Yeah, that title got your attention!

It's so funny, because the last place I would have expected to hear that the US is falling is in the misrad haklitah - the office for absorption.

See, my wife and I officially made aliyah a little less than three years ago after living here for over five years, and we basically lost all of our aliyah rights for waiting too long to make Aliyah. But because my parents kind of made aliyah in 1980 (long story), and I was with them, even though we went right back to the US then, I was able to get limited mortgage rights.

Anyway, on my 'teudat oleh' - the document I use to get the rights, it says I made aliyah in 1980. So when I go to transfer my American license to an Israeli one, which can only easily be done within three years of making aliyah, they tell me that it's a no-can-do - I made aliyah in 1980. It's been a lot more than three years. (Anyone following this?)

To make a long story short, I went to the office of absorption yesterday to see if we could get some document to make it clear that I've only been Israeli for less than three years, so I can just transfer my American license to an Israeli one (rather than taking 28 driving lessons). It becomes painfully clear that just about anything that makes sense logically is the opposite of what the law, and as you know, rules are rules.

In any event, talking to the woman there at the misrad haklitah, kind of laughing at our situation, she mentions that everyone is running away from America. I asked her what she meant. She said that the misrad haklitah is subsidizing many El Al flights for American Jews who are coming here in increasing numbers, getting away from the financial situation. She continued to tell me how there is no 'mussar' in the US, just people trying to make money, and now the 'egel hazahav' is falling. It sounded like she was talking straight out of an autistic website!

She asks me if I've seen the translation of the book of Daniel. She continues to tell me about the statue whose head is gold, body is bronze, and feet are dirt. "This is Obama!" she exclaims. "He is Christian, Muslim, and pagan!" I could barely contain my smile.

Either she's reading all the Moshiach sites too, or word is spreading fast.