Yom tov is here once again, thank G-d, and amongst other things that translates to our people being like the song says, “On the road again….”
At the very least, I can safely say that all of us will be moving around in some fashion. At the very least, we will be transporting ourselves from our usual year-round homes to our back or side yards, driveways, porches, and so on in observance of the mitzvah of sukkah as well as the Torah commandment of lulav and esrog and more.
Others will be traveling a bit further than their backyards or front porches or whatever the case may be. As we addressed last week, according to my information, there is not a seat to be found on any El Al 787 Dreamliner heading to Israel for Sukkos.
The prices are inordinately high but it has been like that for a while. I bought tickets on El Al for Chanukah, which this year coincides with Christmas and the New Year season but it looks like a good part of the non-Jewish world is being circumspect about their visiting the Holy Land at this juncture.
Most other major airlines at this point are refusing to fly to Tel Aviv, and the story last week that an Air France passenger jet flying over Iraq had to evade an Iranian missile directed at Israel did not help travelers’ confidence.
We love El Al management and the airline is doing great work. But they are doing even better now when considering that other major U.S. carriers that used to fly to Israel, lines like Delta and United, keep delaying the resumption of service to Ben Gurion Airport.
The word is that the reason for the Delta and United suspension of service is not as much about safety as it is about their insurance carrier not willing to insure them on routes into Tel Aviv. So, flying to Israel for a family of five going coach class—or as they call it today, economy class—is more than $10,000.
But if you do a little travel research, you can find less expensive ways to travel to Israel. A travel agent I recently discussed this matter with suggested that Virgin Atlantic Airways is in fact flying to Israel, but the journey involves a stopover in London. In fact, if you don’t mind flying into a European capital like London or Paris, you can pick up either El Al, Israir, or Arkia, all Israeli-based airlines, for the three-hour plus trip to Tel Aviv.
Other airlines, they told me, are flying from European airports into Israel, but they are subject to long delays and very often, depending on what is going on between Israel and Lebanon, Hamas, Hezbollah, or the Houthis, or who knows what else at this point, are subject to cancellation, which means you will have to scamper around to find a flight to your destination.
As I mentioned previously, this time of year, which is the most in-demand time to be in Israel, is now slower than usual. Some of the major hotels in Jerusalem that are ordinarily sold-out long before Sukkos, still have rooms available. One of the managers at a hotel told me in fact that the vacancies at these hotels is not because of military battles taking place or even because of the occasional sirens, which are jarring for non-Israelis, but because of the lack of airline seats and the ability for large families that want to go to Israel without having to “break the bank” to do so.
One person who did go to Israel right after Yom Kippur told me he figured it out and is traveling with Norse Airlines (based in Oslo, Norway), which features pricing similar to domestic airlines like Spirit or Southwest, where you need a degree in math to calculate what you are actually paying for your seat.
“Guess what I’m paying for my trip to Israel,” he said. I responded that I had no idea, but guessed that he is paying roughly a thousand dollars per seat, and he said that he has three kids, so he purchased five seats on Norse Airlines that flies via Athens, Greece.
I gave up quickly on this quiz because I had a short deadline to finish this essay and get the pre-yom tov issue of this paper to our readers. Anyway, he said he is paying $335 per seat with an additional $250 for the second leg from Athens to Tel Aviv on one of the aforementioned Israel-based carriers. My calculator quickly told me that $585 to fly to Israel might be the deal of the decade, but then he kept on talking.
He said the $335 was for the reservation but there was an additional charge for the actual seat of about $200 to $450 depending on what part of the plane you want to sit in. Then he added that there was an additional charge of $150 for each piece of luggage. Also, he said the layover in Athens can be anywhere from three to six hours. So, as he talked, this option became less and less attractive, which helped to additionally explain why all the seats on El Al are booked solid.
Last Shabbos Chanukah, we were in Jerusalem when I think one of the last sirens sounded in the capital city. It was a Friday night and my wife was in our room while I was in the shul two floors below the lobby of the Waldorf Astoria. I didn’t hear the Iron Dome booms that shattered the missile that was fired from Gaza toward Jerusalem, but Esta did and reported that there were two booms within seconds, with the hotel public address system urging those in the hotel to evacuate to shelters set up in the hotel.
One of the hotel security people later told me that the incoming missile was over Ramallah when it was engaged by the Iron Dome. But considering how inexact many of these missiles are, the sirens wail over a larger geographic circumference, which explained why people who were at the Kotel davening that night as well as those in nearby shuls and hotels had to hightail it safe areas.
As we all know, we are living through yet another dramatic time in Jewish history. I’d like to think of the sukkahs we build, whether at home or away, as our proverbial Biblical “safe rooms.” After all, as we are aware after an intense Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur season, our sukkahs and our taking up residence in the sukkah is taking ourselves out of our homes and placing ourselves under Hashem’s protection, not unlike what the safe rooms have meant to Israelis not just this year, but for many years up to this point.
This year in New York, it seems that considering that we are moving in the direction of later October we are going to have some cool nights in our New York sukkahs. On the other hand, for those in Florida it’s going to very pleasant in the evening and downright hot during a forecast of sunny days with temperatures in the 80s.
So, depending on where you are this yom tov, you might need a sweater and scarf or a fan or one of those portable air conditioners. As the days of awe wane, we are living the message of the two recently read Torah portions of Nitzavim and Vayeilech. Nitzavim means to stand firm together as a unified people whether it is praying for our lives and the lives of our loved one or in our unified support of Israel during these times.
On the other hand, Vayeilech is in a sense the opposite of that, that is of being on the move and taking action, so to speak. So, we stood for so much of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur and now we are on the move and on the road perhaps thousands of miles away or perhaps right outside in our backyards.
Chag sameach to all.
