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Thinking of making Aliyah?



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2gether




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 2:55 pm
There has beeen so much talk here on the topic, that I feel that I have to warn people not to jump into it without knowing what it really entails and that it may be a sacrifice.
That being said I have been living here many years happily.

I saw an article in Michpacha by Binyamin Rose that summed so well that everyone who is thinking of Aliyah must get a hold of it and read it.
It was in the July 8th edition "Road Map for Aliyah"

Hatzlacha!
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 2:57 pm
2gether wrote:
There has beeen so much talk here on the topic, that I feel that I have to warn people not to jump into it without knowing what it really entails and that it may be a sacrifice.
That being said I have been living here many years happily.

I saw an article in Michpacha by Binyamin Rose that summed so well that everyone who is thinking of Aliyah must get a hold of it and read it.
It was in the July 8th edition "Road Map for Aliyah"

Hatzlacha!
Im already living in Israel close to 2 decades so I dont need to be told Wink
but for those that might not get mishpacha, can you explain what he said? Im always interested in hearing what others say about making aliyah Smile
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Iymnok




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 3:46 pm
Rabbi Orlofsky has a series in torahanytime on the same topic.
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amother
Smokey


 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:01 pm
I haven't seen the article, but I hope it wasn't one of those meraglim jobs about how making aliya causes kids to go off the derech.

Here's the truth - any major upheaval is hard on kids. Some are more resilient than others. Kids who move from LA to Lakewood also have trouble adjusting.

Also - the transition from American yeshivish to Israeli charedi is far more extreme than the transition from American MO to dati leumi. What's true in one community isn't true in another.

Yes, if you are planning to make aliyah, you have to have your eyes open. It's no more a cure-all for problems in America than having a baby is a way to save a bad marriage.

Make plans. Save money. Do research. But don't think that Israel is some kind of poison that ruins children.
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:09 pm
I found the article Smile
https://mishpacha.com/road-map-for-aliyah/

ROAD MAP FOR ALIYAH
By Binyamin Rose | JULY 8, 2020

No matter what the government can or can’t do, immigrants need their own game plan


As I write this column today, the Rose family has reached a milestone: the 27th anniversary of our aliyah.

It’s been a huge brachah. Our sons live here. We’ve merited to see two additional generations born here. I sometimes quip that it took 17 years for our net worth to surpass the figure we came with. Yet we’ve never missed a meal, except on fast days, and we have always lived comfortably due to the many offsetting factors that make financial life in Israel easier, despite the lower salaries and paucity of single-family homes in religious neighborhoods.

The first bill for our son’s kindergarten tuition at a Chinuch Atzmai cheder was NIS 300 ($100 at the time) for the entire year, with a 10% discount if we paid by Cheshvan. Health insurance came with the territory via a painless payroll deduction on a job I found after just a couple of months of searching.

I could ramble on, but I’m a newsman. My assignment here is to relate to the projection from Israel’s new immigration minister of 85,000 new olim in the next year — including a tidal wave from America — as more Jews start viewing Israel as a safer haven from pestilence, civil unrest, and anti-Semitism.

The projected inflow of immigrants sounds like a statistic on steroids. Israel is also battling the coronavirus and dealing with its economic fallout, throttled by a government riddled with dissension and backstabbing. Who’s coming here with travel bans in effect? Where will new immigrants live in a country with a chronic housing shortage? How can a pandemic-decimated economy generate new jobs when a million Israelis are still out of work?

Yet we’ve been here before. Israel has always faced major security threats and economic disorders with shaky governments at the helm. Some 3.3 million of Israel’s seven million Jews are immigrants. Based on figures from the World Zionist Organization, Israel has absorbed more than, or close to, 85,000 new immigrants in a year a dozen times since 1948. Much of that came during the early years of statehood or in the big waves of aliyah from Ethiopia and the former Soviet Union, when the state had far fewer resources at its disposal than today.


A Better Question
It’s easier to attract immigrants who don’t have a better option. What will it take to entice well-heeled Americans and other Westerners to make aliyah?

Almost ten years ago, Mishpacha devoted the bulk of Issue #343 to aliyah. It was a bold decision, for which we received mostly positive feedback, while raising some eyebrows.

Arutz Sheva, which primarily serves the national-religious audience and has always been very pro-aliyah, invited me on one of their talk shows for an interview. They threw me one “trick question.” Was the Mishpacha article a sign that the gedolim in America were ready to give their full-throated support to aliyah?

In an interview, almost any question is fair. It’s also fair game to dveflect a question and answer it with a prepared talking point.

The State of Israel, I responded, did a praiseworthy job absorbing millions of persecuted or poverty-stricken Jews. If you want to know when Americans will come, I told my interlocutors, ask the government first: When will they initiate a parallel effort to free up land, build single-family homes for the upscale, streamline bureaucracy to enable accomplished individuals to practice and prosper in their professions, and develop educational streams suited to the needs of olim, specifically the chareidim?

There has been progress on all of these fronts, especially in the last decade. There is a much wider range of choices when it comes to suitable neighborhoods for Americans, job opportunities — especially in high-tech, accounting, and allied medical fields — and school choice compared to when we arrived in 1993. But I mentioned these three areas because that’s what we were advised to come to terms with before making our decision.

People still ask why we felt confident enough to make the leap. To make a long story short,while I already wrote that today is our 27th aliyah anniversary, it is also my mother’s 29th yahrtzeit.

Halfway through my aveilus, I felt compelled to say Kaddish for my mother at the Kosel at least once, so my wife and I and our youngest son took off for a three-week visit to Israel. It was glorious. The atmosphere was completely different. Life revolved around the Jewish calendar in a land where our forefathers are eternal role models (not statues to be desecrated and toppled at somebody’s whim).

The day after we returned home, we sent our oldest son off to a yeshivah we found for him in Israel. That gave us incentive to follow suit.

As the weeks passed, my wife and I would relax on our front porch every evening when I came home from work and relive our trip. One day, we looked at each other and said the same exact words to each other at the same time.

“What are we doing here”?

We were members of Congregation Ohr Chaim in Miami Beach. Rabbi Avrohom Chaim Feuer was our rav and our daas Torah. He heard us out. He advised that before we could get his blessing, we needed to answer three questions: Where we would live (putting ourselves at the mercy of the state in an absorption center was out of the question, he said); where would our youngest son learn; and where would I work?

We made a pilot trip a few months later and settled on Rabbi David Stein’s community in Rehovot. Rabbi Stein even took the initiative to reserve a space in yeshivah for our son in case we arrived after the registration deadline. With two out of three questions settled, I gave my progress report to Rabbi Feuer. I also told him I had a couple of job interviews but discovered that no one would hire me until I had actually moved to Israel. I still remember Rabbi Feuer’s memorable retort: “G-d likes you. He’ll find you a job.” He gave us his blessing.

The next 27 years could fill a book, but throughout the entire resettlement process, we came to view the Israeli government not as a hindrance but as the primary resource and facilitator of all of our rights and benefits.

If 85,000 or even 185,000 immigrants come knocking down the doors next year, the government will scramble to meet their needs as in any other national emergency. It will have successes and failures. No matter what the government can or can’t do, immigrants need their own game plan.

That includes davening for inspiration and success. There will always be unexpected twists and turns in the road. Hashem knows what we need better than we do and better than the state ever will.
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amother
Smokey


 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:19 pm
Thanks for posting this
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shabbatiscoming




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:40 pm
2gether wrote:
There has beeen so much talk here on the topic, that I feel that I have to warn people not to jump into it without knowing what it really entails and that it may be a sacrifice.
That being said I have been living here many years happily.

I saw an article in Michpacha by Binyamin Rose that summed so well that everyone who is thinking of Aliyah must get a hold of it and read it.
It was in the July 8th edition "Road Map for Aliyah"

Hatzlacha!
2gether, so now that I have read the article, can you explain why you feel this article is going to "warn" (your word at the beginning of your post) about aliyah?
I thought the article was lovely.
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FranticFrummie




 
 
    
 

Post Thu, Aug 20 2020, 4:55 pm
shabbatiscoming wrote:
2gether, so now that I have read the article, can you explain why you feel this article is going to "warn" (your word at the beginning of your post) about aliyah?
I thought the article was lovely.


I don't know if "warn" is the right word, but it is realistic that you have to do your research. It's very romantic to come to Israel to "live the dream". Being idealistic has it's place, and so does emunah and bitachon. Still, that's only half the picture.

You need to learn Hebrew BEFORE you come here. That was my number one mistake, and it impacted everything, and still does. I've been here 5 years, and I still speak Hebrew at a preschool level. I can't read labels in the grocery store. It's not fun.

Your kids will bring home notes from the teacher, and the teacher will not have time to offer English copies for you. You need to get your neighbor to read it for you until you learn how to read well enough on your own. It's the little things that are frustrating.

There are a million small differences that could add up to major frustration, but only if you let it. You learn to shrug your shoulders, laugh, and say "Heh, that's Israel for you!" You just have to roll with it, until you learn to take everything in stride.

There are three things that are the most difficult to obtain: Torah learning, Olam Habah, and Eretz Isroel.

The people who have the most successful Aliyah, are not coming here to get away from something, they are coming towards something. You can move anywhere in the world if you just want a change of scenery. You have to want to come toward Israel.

The writer Tzvi Fishman once said "Israel is like a woman scorned. We have taken her for granted, treated her badly, and not recognized her value. If we want Israel to accept us and not spit us out again, we have to prove that we are worthy. We have to work, to toil, and show our commitment. We must always be grateful for this historic opportunity to be reunited with our beloved Land."
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2gether




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 23 2020, 2:43 pm
Thank You for finding and posting the article!!
I thought it was a very good piece too, thats why I wanted to share it.
People should just do proper homework and not think that they are moving to the land of milk and honey...
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amother
Smokey


 

Post Sun, Aug 23 2020, 3:17 pm
2gether wrote:
Thank You for finding and posting the article!!
I thought it was a very good piece too, thats why I wanted to share it.
People should just do proper homework and not think that they are moving to the land of milk and honey...


I'm pretty sure it IS the land of milk and honey. Smile

And yes, prepare for the inevitable challenges.
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Success10




 
 
    
 

Post Sun, Aug 23 2020, 3:20 pm
amother [ Smokey ] wrote:
I haven't seen the article, but I hope it wasn't one of those meraglim jobs about how making aliya causes kids to go off the derech.

Here's the truth - any major upheaval is hard on kids. Some are more resilient than others. Kids who move from LA to Lakewood also have trouble adjusting.

Also - the transition from American yeshivish to Israeli charedi is far more extreme than the transition from American MO to dati leumi. What's true in one community isn't true in another.

Yes, if you are planning to make aliyah, you have to have your eyes open. It's no more a cure-all for problems in America than having a baby is a way to save a bad marriage.

Make plans. Save money. Do research. But don't think that Israel is some kind of poison that ruins children.


I don't know who you are, but you are brilliant. This is perfect.
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