The quest for drugs in Israel

When it comes to Israel, and having opinions, there a several categories of people. There are those who were born there and have lived through too much to mention. We don’t touch those people. They can basically say whatever they want because they have been through it all. Then there are those who have apartments there, but no children or grandchildren. They can say what they want to the other people in their building. That is totally acceptable. But they might feel badly sharing their politics with people who have actual skin in the game. Best approach with caution.

The next category is people who vacation in Israel, really love Israel, but don’t have any family in Israel. Their family is enjoying the homes they all have in America. They like to spend a lot of money in Israel, and that is great for Israel.

Next, we have those who have children and grandchildren who live in Israel but will never make aliyah; those who have children and grandchildren who live in Israel and have made aliyah, but have no one serving in the army yet; and then we have those with children and grandchildren who made aliyah and are currently serving in the army to protect all of the other categories.

It is quite a country. (I am sure there are categories that I have missed, but it’s been a long summer.)

As I am writing this, I am really hoping that I will read this printed column from the comfort of my couch in my home, in America. Not that I did not love almost every second that I was in Israel. I know what an absolute blessing it is to be able to spend such quality time with Son and DIL #2 and Danish and her sister. We have all really bonded and when I leave them, it does physically hurt. But the good news is that I will be back in just a few weeks for part of the holidays.

Last year, I only went once and then I didn’t see them for almost 11 months. It was poor planning on my part, but I certainly made up for it this time. I really need to give my DIL #2 a special shoutout. Words cannot describe the love and warmth she showed her in-laws. And we were around A LOT!!!!! Son #2 is very blessed, and Hashem should watch over them and all of our children wherever they may be.

So I always wondered, if you are unable to leave a country because of, let’s say, an impending war, what do you do if you don’t have enough medication for the extra days? Well, that is the real subject of this week’s column.

I would like to thank the two Dr. Ws who helped me tremendously during this process. And before you jump to conclusions, I was in search of blood pressure medication, not anything nefarious — though the way I was treated, you would think I was looking for crack.

I learned that there are at least three insurance groups you can be a part of. Klalit, Miuchedet, and Macabee. If you are not, when you walk into one of these lovely pharmacies, with your prescription in hand and a smile on your face, they yell at you in Hebrew or Arabic. They are not nice. “No Klalit? You go, you go now, we have nothing for you.” Am Yisrael chai!

One of my friends said that perhaps, with everything going on, they were having a bad day. But every single one of them was having a bad day???

At least the man in Macabee told me that Israel does not carry the medication that I take in America and he was kind enough to write down the Israeli equivalent.

So I take the equivalent and send it to my American doctor, who is then kind enough to tell me that it is OK for me to take it. Then I get in touch with my Israeli doctor, who is kind enough to write me another prescription.

He sends me a picture of the prescriptions. And to make a very long story a little shorter, a very nice pharmacist who took pity on me filled it for me.

I said to this man, “If I could, I would hug you.” He appreciated that I did not hug him.

And there you go. May God continue to watch over all of us, and may there be peace.

Banji Ganchrow of Teaneck is married to someone who figured out that it would take 24 hours to drive to Spain. That was our backup plan.