What a week!

Well, the month of Elul started off on a down. Rosh Chodesh (first of the month) of Elul was spent at the side of the road, sulking over my car into which I had foolishly put diesel instead of gasoline.

The Magic Carpet, minus the magic.

After I finally recovered from that blow, I managed to get my once-again working vehicle home in time to hear from the landlord that my rent was being jacked up from $450 to $550. So I decided to start looking for a new apartment, when suddenly I was totally immobilized by strep!

Well, it's all come together this week. On Monday, I called my friend M. just to touch bases. Rents downtown are much higher, and I figured maybe we could room together to save costs. "Well, I'd like to, but I can't because I'm GETTING MARRIED!"

Later in the day, I went downtown to pick up friend and ex-roommate from six years ago, Gali, who came all the way out to Jerusalem from Ashdod in the latest in a series of interviews he's been taking with the Teva Pharmaceutical company. I tried to cheer him up, but he was morose and exhausted. So the least I could do was get him to the central bus station.

On Tuesday, I finally had a chance to see an apartment I'd seen advertised a couple of weeks prior. I felt pretty good about the place, and I took the contract home for Rafi to review. He marked up the lease so heavily that there was more ink than white left on the page.

On Wednesday, I decided to sign the lease. The landlord was agreeable to the myriad of changes I had made, and seemed pleased to have me as a tenant. I had specifically arranged to have the clause which prohibits me from subleasing the second bedroom eliminated. when I got home, I started thinking about the apartment, and realized it really is a huge place. For $510, I was getting a great deal, but the place might be too big. What am I going to do with 2 bedrooms, a living room, a kitchen, and a laundry room? Maybe I should think about a roommate. After all, it would really reduce my expenses, and rent money is just flushed down the toilet anyway. Besides, I don't know anyone in that neighborhood.

The phone immediately rang.

"Ephraim, it's Gali! Want to be roommates again? I got the job!"

Yigal (aka Gali)

Then I called Moish in Modiin to invite myself over for Shabbat. We've been working on his website to try to drum up some business for his art lessons, and I wanted to let him know it would be a while until I would be able to work on it again, until I get settled.

"Don't worry about it, I got a job with IDT! And I just found out the government will pay for my Sofrut(torah scribe) classes as part of my aliyah benefits! And I just found out that the Jerusalem municipality is willing to pay us to live in Jerusalem because they're looking for high tech workers! I just found out that the government is giving us a big rental subsidy as part of our aliyah benefits! And! And!"

Moish and his sofrut.

So, I guess the lesson is, you've just got to stick it out, and don't worry about a thing, because Hashem watches out for his workers. And now, back to packing boxes.

Shabbat shalom!