Decisions

So, a few weeks ago I mentioned that we were unsure about where we were going to be this coming year, because of some uncertainty about whether MHH's contract was going to be renewed. To backtrack slightly, he is now in his fourth year teaching at the same MO yeshiva high school. After four years, teachers are up for tenure, and we had noticed that his high school had not tenured anyone new in a while, choosing to fire them instead. So, he asked around, applied for some other things in town, and in the meantime, we waited. He also applied for a one-year position at Hebrew University--the one in Jerusalem. And he applied for a spot in a new local kollel, which was sort of a dream job in that it's quite well paid, he'd get to sit and learn all day, and do all the fun parts of being a rebbe without having to actually discipline, grade, or make worksheets.

So, guess what? He did not get fired. He did get hired by the local kollel. And he also got the spot at Hebrew U.

It's decision time. I can't even get into all the ins and outs of the decision-making, because it is way too complicated to get into here. We tried deferring the local kollel for a year to do Hebrew U., and while they were nice about it said that there would be no guarantees of a spot next year if he didn't take the spot now. Deferring at Hebrew U. isn't possible or practical for a number of reasons. And adding to it all is that the Hebrew U. position starts on August 4--and we haven't even started trying to rent out our apartment. Not to mention that I'd probably lose my job if we went, which would make things quite difficult when we got back. But the Hebrew U. thing would basically be a one-year pilot trip for us, to see if aliya is really the way we want to go. We'd have to come back at the end, but then, hopefully, we'd go back again.

All things to think about during part 2 of my root canal, scheduled for tomorrow morning. Sigh.

It's good to have options. It's very good. It's much, much better than having no options, which is what we were quite worried about only three weeks ago. But making the decision isn't going to be easy, and we have to give everyone answers by this Friday.

Stay tuned.