A Glimpse of Reality From Here

After my last blog entry regarding aliyah, I received an email from a couple who live in the Golan.  I thought it would be of interest to you to see what they have discovered after leaving the Exile and coming home.  See their email to me below, and then what they write of their experiences.       Dear Tamar,

The Way of the Stork: A Rosh Hashanah Greeting

Living now in The Golan, we really have the opportunity to think. It’s quiet in a very deep and healthy way, and there is abundant opportunity to reflect on life in The Jewish World as it filters down to us through the internet, newspapers, conversations, and events. I haven’t really been writing all that much – next to nothing, actually. In truth I’ve been taking a lot in and trying to get a better perspective on things. I find myself asking a lot more questions, particularly from Israelis or others with more of a history and more of a Torah background in an attempt to better understand the roots of what we seem to be witnesses at this particular junction of world history.

I’ll ask things like how can someone with over traffic 200 violations still be on the road? Or why would they give-up land of strategic importance? And questions like these can often sound like complaints or criticisms, but, for me, it’s an attempt to better understand  Israeli culture, Jewish thought, and Jewish history. Not that I don’t complain or criticize!

As Rosh Hashana fast approaches I thought it might be a good time to share a few things. Bear with me and eventually we’ll make it to the stork in the title of this piece:

Our sages tell us that the very air of Eretz Yisrael can make one wise. And there really IS a certain sense of clarity to be had here despite the fact that people drive like maniacs, call each other hideous names, chomp at the bit to give away land to our sworn enemies, release terrorists, and give the label “moderate” a hitherto unknown meaning (as in “compared to Hamas anyone’s a moderate”). Our leaders proclaim that Jewish blood is not cheap and then they act as though it were as cheap as it can get. Ask the people from Gush Katif and Sderot.

Ignoring thousands of years of history and recurring warnings by our prophets we still persist in playing to the wrong audience. We repeatedly turn to diplomacy and foreign alliances and act as though Israel and The Jewish People are really being governed by the same set of rules as the rest of the world (a non-Torah perspective). And this faulty view of how things really work in the universe is incredibly resistant to change. As a result we continually feel misunderstood, unappreciated, rejected, resentful and hurt. To us, at least, it seems clear that nobody has given-up more and still been so persona non-grata amongst the nations of the world. We rack our brains for explanations and figure that we need much better “PR”, but, ironically enough, whenever anyone else in the rest of world is looking for better PR they often look to hire a Jew.

We also criticize our leaders even if, at some level, we understand that we, The Jewish People, always get the leaders we deserve.

Rabin vilified the settlers and involved himself in secret alliances and wound-up getting assassinated. Sharon told us that we would be facing very difficult and painful decisions and now finds himself suspended between two worlds and not deciding much of anything. Olmert is willing to talk to anyone anytime and is open to giving away lands of strategic importance, not for the sake of a dubious peace, but rather for the sake of staying in power. This would be a questionable approach for a revered and respected leader but for someone with a popularity rating of 5% (with a 6% margin of error) this is really unsettling.

As awful and agitating as this may feel on a day to day basis, I’m starting to sense some opportunity in all this, but it takes a lot of work and a lot of emunah to keep a positive perspective. In truth, the good news is that this entire cast of characters is part of a cosmic puppet show and they are really not as powerful as they or we would like to think they are. And, rather than being at their mercy, in truth, they are just consequences or reflections of how well we are doing as individuals and how are we doing as a people.

Maybe, in a strange sort of a way, we are actually getting just we need. It’s difficult to appreciate that Hashem wants to be depended-on. And what better way to bring this about than by giving us one undependable leader after another. Philosophies and “Isms” haven’t been doing all that well either these days. We seem to be running-out of options to depend on and eventually we might even figure out the tshuvah might actually pay-off.

And maybe the best thing we can do with all the so-called news that rams its way into our consciousness is to improve our learning and davening.

Maybe people like Olmert and the little goofball from Iran can best be used as an impetus to improve the things we do have some control over – like our learning, davening, and behavior.

I recently heard a story that may fit here:

An Israeli rabbi passes away and goes up to heaven where he sees an Egged bus driver with a much nicer living quarters. The rabbi is mystified as to how this bus driver was, seemingly, given a much greater heavenly reward, and he just had to find-out.

The bus driver explained to him that. During his life, when the rabbi spoke, he put a lot of people to sleep, but when the driver drove his Egged bus it caused a lot of people to daven.

So maybe we need to focus less on our leaders and what they seem to be lacking and more on ourselves and just how well we are doing, individually and collectively? How well are we doing in terms of kindness, justice, learning, and the like? How will The Shepherd view us as we prepare to pass under his crook on Rosh Hashanah?. Will we continue to play for The Yankees or will be reassigned to another plane of existence where there is no baseball?

So, for me anyway, I’m beginning to appreciate what Olmert and other failed leaders may offer us. It may be grasping for something one can control, but I really do believe that whatever happens to The Golan Heights, for example, will be more a reflection of our merit or lack of merit as a people and not just an ill-conceived political ploy by politicians wholeheartedly focusing on their survival. Story lines are everywhere, but the real ones can be hard to spot.

And, speaking of The Golan, we’re extremely happy to be living here. We love our community and our home. Our house is fantastic and much more than we ever expected. And, perhaps most importantly, there is a sense of relief that we did the right thing and settled here. We went-out on some real intuitive limbs here, and, so far so good.

    The Sherr house, when it was being built one year ago. "The house is now completed and fantastic. We've been in it for five months."

And, after breathing the air of Eretz Yisrael, I have come to better understand what doing the right thing really means. I now think of it to mean doing what we were supposed to do no matter what the consequences may prove to be. We could be nuked tomorrow or become a suburb of Damascus next month, but it doesn’t mean we didn’t do the right thing. We took a chance, left our comfort zone far behind, and built our lives here – surrounded by like-minded neighbors most of whom we can’t communicate with. But we fit-in and we fit-in miraculously well. So far so good.

On Rosh Hashana another thing that gets scrutinized is “achdut”, our degree of togetherness and connectedness as a people. Historically it always seems to be a major problem for us. The more time we spend living in Eretz Yisrael, the more it strikes me as  an amazingly stratified and fractionalized society. Beyond the secular-religious divide we have a myriad of subsets within the Orthodox camp itself. It’s horrifying, but instead of emphasizing what we have in common in terms of ethics, beliefs, and practice, we seem to be magnifying our differences with an alarming degree of friction between groups that actually have a great deal in common.

For many of us, it’s hard to know who we fit-in with or who will be the last group standing at The End of Days. Over the last few years I’ve come to believe that I’m a Religious Zionist with Hasidic and Secular overtones who still likes to shop at Marshalls. I marvel in horror when religious Jews of any persuasion think they have a monopoly on the truth. But I’m pretty sure that’s a red flag and we need to do more to bridge these divides within the religious camps and between the religious and the secular.

My latest strategy with all this is to appreciate that every group may really be screwing-up in its own way. There are probably enough dropped balls to fill McCovey Cove.
It may seem like a simple theory but it seems to help. Shortly after coming to this realization my theory was enhanced by a rabbi who added that if my theory was correct that really means that each group is also doing something right. And that sat even better. In any event it seems like a good idea to remind ourselves that we, The Jewish People, are a single organism, and we need to feel more appreciative of our collective parts.

Oh yeah. I forgot to talk about the stork.  (photo: smoggy Los Angeles)

As background I should mention that it’s always interesting and sometimes stressful when we visit California and people ask me how things are in Israel and how it is living in The Golan. Maybe I’m paranoid but it feels like they’re not real convinced about our sanity. Sometimes I’ll ask them if they’re nervous about living in L.A. since it’s such a dangerous place and all. And they think I’m kidding but I’m not.

In truth we are one organism and One People and if Jews in the Golan seem in danger or Jews in Israel seem in danger, it could mean that we are all in danger. Why, we might ask ourselves, would G-d make things more hazardous for Jews who have chosen to live with Him in His Land and taken Him up on what is described as a gift and a great gift at that. And why would He make it any less hazardous for individuals who feel more secure and more attached to lands that are not our own? Adding the overlay of massive assimilation it’s hard to imagine how secure we can really feel these days in Chutsl’aretz.

On the other hand, there do seem to be real dangers here in Eretz Yisrael. People get killed. There are wars. There is mushrooming Anti-Semitism and vilification of Israel. The Iranians are up to no good and we do seem to be surrounded by hostile terrorists who are hard at work in the nefarious plans.

So, yes, it probably is dangerous here but it may also be the right place for us to be. As I said before, sometimes you have to do the right thing and don’t be overly concerned as to how it might play-out, even if it is an understandable worry.

And that brings us to the stork.

Shortly after moving into our new house in Hispin I was startled to see what looked to be a pterodactyl flying by our balcony. Turns out it was a stork – spectacular yet cartoon-like in appearance.

We discovered that there are quite a few storks in the region including a family that was living atop a high voltage tower around the corner from our house. They had (and have) a rather large nest and they always seem to be flying-in with a few more twigs or supplies. Their chicks must have been getting enough food as they were some of the most zaftig chicks one can imagine. It was awesome to watch them go about their business every day.

Turns-out that storks are monogamous and are really good parents. Given that they were also industrious and hard-working I thought they really had some excellent middos –  (character traits) particularly for birds.

The one thing I kept puzzling about, however, was how they didn’t electrocute themselves. The electric tower was pretty menacing and warning signs were posted in three languages – Hebrew, Arabic and English. The warning included the phrase “Danger of Death” and I believed it.

But as far as I know storks can’t read. And if they had learned to avoid electrocution by trial and error there would probably be one error and then exit stage left. So how did they know to avoid the high voltage wires?

As time went on I never got a great answer to that question. And I also found myself wondering why I was pondering that question to such an extent. It then occurred to me that the stork family had a lot in common with us.

We too were living in a very dangerous place and yet we too built a house and we too went about our business in a fairly normal way. There certainly seemed to be similarities.

Steve and Marianne Sherr -  Bird watching at the Hula Valley

So I decided to catch-up with Mr. Stork and ask him how they all managed to avoid getting killed and were able to carry-on business as usual in such a seemingly normal manner?

His answer was struck me as utterly true.

“All you have to do”, he said, “is to make sure you fly high enough and everything will be O.K.”

He had a lot of wisdom for a stork and it seemed like a good message for the rest of us.

Let us all strive to elevate our actions and focus on what we need to do – in terms of our own growth and character development.  Let’s make sure we fly high enough to avoid danger, and, hopefully, things will work-out for the best.

May we all be inscribed and sealed for a Good Year – a year of “Good”  Steve and Marianne Sherr
 

Top 10 Reasons Jews DON'T Make Aliyah

I've heard it all.  Excuses, excuses, excuses. But in fact, it is your, "I'll make aliyah only under MY conditions...  not G-d's." - THAT is what it comes down to.  Every Jew without exception should be yearning to come home.

Today I went to cover the Nefesh B'nefesh flight that came into Israel's Ben Gurion Airport this morning.  It was carrying  210 new immigrants from the US and Canada. They broke through their fears and material desires to take their place in history and join the millions of Jews already here in our homeland.  They have chosen to BUILD the land and nation of Israel, not stay behind in the dying Exile. 

Watch this 17 second video below.  Sorry about the quality, it was taken with my cell phone.

Almost 100 of the 210 new immigrants on the flight today were singles.  I also came when I was single, but I didn't have the Nefesh B'nefesh fan fare, and my aliyah was a lot more difficult.  I'm not complaining though.  Our ancestors had it a lot harder than any of us Jews today.  Swamps, malaria, British rule, Turkish-Ottoman rule, food rationing, third world standard of living.... I can go down memory lane with you if you like, listing all the hardships we have had to suffer in the past, but that's not what I want to write on this blog entry. 

Today, hundreds of Jews attained their goal of coming home, and planting themselves in the Holy Land of Israel.  I don't say they made a dream come true, because in order to dream, one has to be asleep. I am talking about people who were determined to make aliyah a conscious goal. They yearned for Israel, and they came.  What our brothers and sisters did today was realize the aspirations of our ancestors for the last two thousand years.  They have left the Exile and are now going to start a dynasty of their family right here in our homeland. Their grandchildren will say, "I'm an Israeli today because my grandfather (fill in your name) and my grandmother (fill in your name) left the 'Old Country' and came to Israel.  You will be remembered for generations for changing the destiny of your family line.  Your future seed will now be Israeli because of the goal you set for yourself.  And it is not always easy to make aliyah. Though it is luxurious to live in this Land and have virtually all your neighbors be Jewish, with the country celebrating Jewish holidays and every Friday before the Sabbath the air takes on a  different feeling, you are coming as someone from a different culture, one that is NOT Jewish.  Here, you will learn what it really means to be a Jew.

I often hear a lot of excuses from our brothers and sisters in the Western Exile how they don't want to come to Israel because of X, Y, or Z.

Here are just a few of the examples I have been given by Jews who make excuses why they can't or won't make aliyah...

1)  The government is not to their liking.
2)  They won't come until there is peace.
3)  They don't believe they are obligated to live here until the Moshiach comes (I think that Tzvi Fishman has proven that wrong with the Torah sources given on his blog.)
4)   They won't come unless they know they have a job in their field waiting for them.
5)   Their kids are too old
6)   Their kids are too young
7)   They're waiting until they retire
8)   They're waiting until they are dead and need to be buried
9)  Their furniture won't fit in these small apts.  - Honest to goodness, this was an excuse.  One American woman looked at my parent's dining room when they were here touring Jerusalem on a pilot trip and the woman said, "I can't make aliyah, I see that my dining room table would never fit into an Israeli apt. that I can afford".
10)  I have old sick parents or I am divorced and I can't take my kids with me.

Of the above 10 reasons why most Jews don't make aliyah today....  only number ten has any merit at all.  I personally sympathize with divorcees that want to be in their children's lives, and cannot do so if they are forced to leave them in the Old Country.  I also understand how someone who feels they cannot come because they are caring for their elderly parent who cannot be moved or travel such a long distance.  However, even these two excuses can be argued.

The fact is, that most of our Jewish brothers and sisters who don't want to make aliyah is because they are prisoners.
They are prisoners of their fear and prisoners of the golden cages they have bult for themselves.  They are attached to their materialistic life styles and cannot escape.  They THINK that they are free, but they are slaves.  Slaves to the American dream, wealth, success, materialism, and their THINGS.  Nice house, nice car(s), nice shopping.  They are living in affluence and they can't extricate themselves.

We KNOW this to be true.  I will prove this to you right now. 

When one doesn't make aliyah for idealistic reasons, it is for one of two other reasons... 
1)  Anti-Semitism,
2)  Their host country's economic situation is very bad, and it is better in Israel.

When we look and see why we had aliyah from the Soviet Union back in the 1970's, it was because they were living under an anti-Semitic and Communist regime.  A Jew could not practice Judaism there under the anti-Semitic USSR, they couldn't get jobs they deserved because they were Jewish, and so they applied to emigrate and come to Israel (or the USA).
They are prisoners in their golden cages.


Today, Jews from France are making aliyah. Many other French Jews are buying homes here in Israel in preparation for a near-future aliyah. They are leaving France to escape their unsympathetic French government in denial about anti-Semitism, and the rising anti-semitic attacks on Jews from France's immigrant Moslem population.  It has convinced Jews that they have no future in France anymore.

In the early 90's, we had a massive aliyah from Russia after the Soviet Union broke up.  This time it was because the Russian economy was so bad.  Israel offered a much better lifestyle and standard of living, and so they made aliyah.  (And what a blessing that was for us here in Israel.  It is always a blessing for us here in Israel when Jews make aliyah.)

Later, we had a large aliyah from Argentina.  The Economy in Argentina suffered a crisis of enormous proportions, and thousands of Jews from that country chose to come on aliyah. 

The largest Jewish population in the Exile is in the USA, but they don't want to come for the ten reasons listed above.  They are too comfortable.  Most Jews in the USA are pretty much removed from Torah.  They are Jews who belong to a Conservative or Reform synagogue and do not know their own mother tongue - Hebrew.  Most have never learned Torah and many want to shrug off the 'burden' of being a Jew. I want to address the religious Jews who should know better, and should want better. 

Jews are weighted down like a heavy bird in the golden cages of the Exile.

We KNOW that G-d gave us this land as our homeland.
We KNOW that the future of the Jewish People is going to be here, in Israel, and not in New York, Monsey, Los Angeles, or London.
We KNOW that we cannot do all the mitzvoth (commandments) unless we are living in Israel.
We KNOW that we were punished in the desert because of the spies who rejected the land of Israel.
We KNOW that G-d wants us to live here and that even today, He is gathering us from the four corners of the earth in line with what our prophets predicted.

And, we KNOW that if anti-Semitism rose to a level that was uncomfortable and too dangerous for Jews in the USA, they would leave America.
And we KNOW that if the economy in America would crash, or that things would be very bad, that these same Jews who are crying out the above 'ten excuses not to make aliyah', would all be converging on the aliyah offices in America and trying to get here.
If you are not yearning for Israel, there is something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with your Judaism.
If you are not yearning for Israel, there is something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with your Judaism.

So, to my Jewish brothers and sisters in the West who are belly-aching about this reason or that why they can't or won't or don't HAVE to come on aliyah and return home, --some tough love here for yuh....  if things got bad there where you are, you WOULD come.  Because the minute that Israel would offer you better than what you have now, you'd be scratching your heads and saying to your spouses, "maybe we should move to Israel.  I hear they have it easier over there." Jews would be flocking to Israel from the West like all the other mass emigrations and aliyahs in history.  America will be no different. 

No, you won't have the perfect government.  You will have to come here and build the nation with us and vote in a better government.

No, you may not come to a country that has 'peace', but America is under threat of massive mega-terror as well.  Better to be in a country where almost all the Jews have a gun, know how to use it, and can defend themselves.

No, you will most likely not have a guaranteed job waiting for you, calling your name.  You will have to come and interview for jobs just like our own families do here in Israel.

No, your kids aren't too young or too old. This is our home.  We are your family.  Your kids will adjust. They'll make friends, pick up the language and you'll be asking THEM to help you with your Hebrew.

Don't wait until retirement or until you are dead.  You needn't die for Israel.  LIVE (here) FOR ISRAEL.

Let go of the weight that keeps you in the Exile. Get out of your slavery to comfort and materialism.  Open your golden cages that you have imprisoned yourselves in and come home.
If you consider yourself a Torah believing Jew, then you should AT LEAST be YEARNING to come to Israel.  Maybe you feel you can't because of your fear, or your family obligations for elderly parents or lack of custody for your kids, but a Jew should at LEAST be YEARNING to make aliyah and move to Israel. You should at least be saying, "I'd LOVE to come to Israel, but alas, I cannot, I have to care for my sick, elderly mother who can't be moved".    ...And if you are not yearning for Israel, if you are not dreaming of the day when you can come home, and instead are very happy in the cage you live in, there is something FUNDAMENTALLY wrong with your Judaism.

The Religious Are Taking Over!

There he was, lying in the middle of the road, bloody and unconscious.  His bike was under the front left wheel of a white sedan.  The driver of the car was also bloodied and mangled in the front seat behind the steering wheel.

About a week ago, I attended the goodbye party for the volunteers of the emergency medical ambulance organization called MaDA, Magen David Adom.

My 18 year old daughter (left) is a volunteer there and has been riding in the ambulance and arriving on the scene to take care of those who needed emergency medical care.  The party's organizers which handed out certificates of thanks, and a small gift of appreciation to the many hours the volunteers worked that year, also had a simulation, a road accident involving a bicyclist and a car.  The re-enactment was  realistic.  A 'body' was lying on the pavement in the parking lot of the MaDA building, all bloodied up  with red paint make-up.  A bicycle was placed purposely under the front tire of the car and another 'actor' played an injured driver, with moaning sounds and all.   One of the head medic teachers announced a play by play, how their rescue crews arrive at the scene of an accident. He explained each step the paramedics and MaDA volunteers were performing to get the accident victims to the hospital as soon as possible, after administering the first aid that is given on the scene.

Short video clip I took of the simulated accident at Jerusalem's Magen David Adom Emergency Ambulance end of year party for the volunteers.

What struck me was the amount of kippot (yarmulkes) at the party.  At least half of the volunteers were religious.  Young men and women, Haredi as well as Knitted Kippah / National Religious.  My daughter was also among the number of religious girls, and me being a Jewish mother, well, I was very proud of her.

Kippaot and Payot (sidelocks)

I thought about the overflowing amount of religious people there and thought I would do some research.  In a country where only 20% - 30% of the population is religious (with around 40% identifying themselves as 'traditional' {meaning that they may light Shabbat candles and celebrate the holidays in some way} the religious are taking over many of the institutions in Israel.

Knitted Kippah Jew with Haredi friend with sidelocks (payot) - MaDA volunteer.

According to a report on the current birth rate in Israel, Haredi women are having three times as many children as their secular counterparts.  That's three Haredi children for every secular child born today.

TzitTzit, the ritual fringes, here worn under the MaDA uniform shirt

Another news item that came out reports that the IDF, Israel's army, has a representation which far outweigh's it's numbers in civilian life.  Approximately half of all officers in the IDF are religious.  "They are becoming the IDF's backbone" says Ben Caspit, the writer of the news story.  "Their presence in the army is several times larger than it is in the general population."

The new branch instituted in the IDF, the Nachal Haredi, now has it's own place in the respected ranks of the Israeli army.  The Netzach Yehuda battalion ( Nachal Haredi) has just received their own 'sticker' proclaiming the merits of their branch.  Their slogan is "The most combatant, the most Hareidi."

Posing with one of the actors who played an accident victim.

The 'Hesder' program which combines Torah study and army service, is seeing a steady increase in it's numbers as well.  In the mean time, more and more secular Israelis are choosing NOT to serve in the IDF, even going so far as to submit fake marriage certificates to get them out of their service. Called, 'draft dodging', they are coming out of the closet more and more, ending the tale that only religious Jews don't serve.  Statistics today in this post-Zionist state scream something different.

Religious soldiers in the Hesder program.

In the field of education, it seems that secular teachers are opting OUT. Non-religious Israelis today are abandoning the teaching profession. This is the arm which shapes the minds of our children, into tomorrow's adults. 

According to a survey from the prestigious Guttman Institute of Applied Social Research, published in 1993, more than half the Jews in Israel light Shabbat candles.  Approximately 70% keep a kosher home. Almost 80% celebrate the Passover Seder. Over 80% of Jewish males have a Bar Mitzvah, 92% have a brit milah (circumcision) and 98% go to the trouble of putting up a mezuzah on their front doors.

The birth rate - three to one, the armed forces filled with relgious officers, the education branch filling with more religiously identifying Jews, are all now in the hands of the religious.  So, the Seculars, the Post Zionists, and the Self-hating Jews, can all go home. Perhaps they should open the Good Book and learn their history and the prophesies in store. The future is almost here, and it looks like it's going to be a Jewish one!