I DID It! The latest episode in the saga of my father's aliyah at 89

I decided to choose a very patriotic, Israeli Flag, blue for this post.  Those of you keeping tabs on my father's aliyah saga may remember that he never got his Te'udat Zehut, Israeli Identity Card.

My daughter doesn't really have time for it, and I avoid bureaucracy like the plague and the swine flu.  But unfortunately there are all sorts of things for which that little blue plastic folder and what's inside of it is the most necessary prerequisite.

At best I can get out two days a week, and Monday is dedicated to going to the pool.  I'm not about to take documents there, and any how, there's no guarantee I'd have time afterwards.

Today I felt brave and I also see that it's time to get started on the other things...

I got up extra early, so I'd have time for water, coffee, dovening breakfast etc before leaving Shiloh for Jerusalem.  The best time to go to the Ministry of the Interior is mid-morning, after 9am.  By then the super-early (those who want to be first, before the clerks have fully awakened) rush is finished.  And it's also important not to get there too close to closing time.

Honestly, I'm not sure when I arrived; I just trusted in G-d that it was the right time.

I put on lipstick and walked up the stairs.  Oh, I left out that before leaving the house, I had done my nails in a dull pink, rather than the chipped apple green which probably would have made an awful impression.  At the "sorting station," where they tell you which room to got to and give out the appropriate numbers, I whipped out the forms from last time and asked how to find that nasty clerk who had refused us.  We I had to go back to her, since she had seen my father and could finish the process.  A new clerk would mandate bringing him back.

Refuah Shleimah, a complete recovery to the young woman.  She was out sick.  I was told to go to the head of the department.  That woman quickly sent me off to someone else, a bit more my age, who asked if I now had everything.  I said I did, meaning I had everything I could get.  She took all the stuff someplace and then returned:

"You said that you had everything."
"Well, that's everything I have.  This isn't easy for me."

Off she went again and returned saying it was approved.  She gave me my father's picture with all sorts of stamps on the back and sent me to another clerk who used the picture in a brand new Te'udat Zehut. 

So, now my father's a real Israeli!