Moving to Israel

Nothing makes person who writes about and encourages moving to Israel happier than successful Aliyah stories and that’s why The Jerusalem Post’s Cafe Oleh section is such a great way for me to start my day. It is always inspiring to hear new stories of Olim who start over here in Israel and today was a great example with the progress of Simon Asher of London.

Simeon, who came here with his wife Galina and sons Gideon, 6, and Benjamin, 4, nearly three years ago, is a successful osteopath and left a booming practice in London to which he still returns for one week a month, and opened a new practice in Ra’anana which has really taken off. He grew up in London and until 23 was not religiously observant. He found religion through Lubavitch, just before he met Galina and they married in 1994. After 10 years of marriage, Gideon was born and two years later, Benjamin. On a visit here in 2007, they had dinner with friends and in the taxi on the way back they looked at each other and said “Let’s do it.” Looking back on the decision, Asher says, “You can’t really explain it if your heart brings you here.”

“When we think of our Aliyah, it’s been literally that, a going up and a wonderful experience that has surpassed all expectations,” says Asher. “Israelis don’t appreciate what they’ve got here, because they didn’t choose to live here the way we did. Living in England you are obsessed with news about Israel, and being here you have released yourself from that whole narrative. Israel only really makes sense when you’re here.”

Obviously, everyone has different experiences when making Aliyah and some are smoother than others. However, when reading the JPost’s Cafe Oleh section it makes for a great feeling for the rest of us Olim (and potential Olim) to see others in similar situations who manage to overcome their fear and apprehension to make Aliyah and moving to Israel a reality. It is a daily must read for many of my visitors and comes highly recommended by this North American Oleh.

Ari

I unfortunately must report on some sad news today as Steve Averbach, a former member of the elite Israeli military and police units, died in the middle of the night Thursday. He was 44.

Averbach, who made Aliyah and moved to Israel in 1982 at age 16, tried to thwart a suicide bomber on a Jerusalem bus in 2003 and was left with injuries that made him a quadriplegic. After the bus incident, the Israeli Internal Security Ministry wrote Averbach a letter thanking him for saving lives; the terrorist had planned to blow up the crowded center of Jerusalem, but thanks to Averbach detonated his bomb prematurely.

Averbach was a personal friend of mine and I made many visits to see him in the years since his accident. I must tell you that there can be no greater inspiration to defend and love our country than Steve. The son of Monmouth Medical Center surgeon Dr. David Averbach and nurse Maida Averbach, he grew up in West Long Branch, where his parents still reside and could have lived the typical “American dream” life while Israel went about its usual business of trying to stay in existence as the rest of the world continues to plot and hope for our demise. Instead, he devoted himself to our country, spent his life defending it and ended up making the ultimate sacrifice. I am beyond proud to have had the privilege of knowing and being friends with him and can only hope that Hashem has him in a better place now and that he is being rewarded for his devotion to the Jewish home.

Steve is survived by his wife Julie and four sons as well as the rest of his family.

May his soul now be at peace and his memory be a part of us forever.

Ari

As common as it is to hear stories of immigrants who struggle after moving to Israel, it’s always refreshing to hear the ones about the Olim who had a dream of making it in Israel, made the dream happen and manage to live out the dream. I was in the mood to hear such a story today when I jumped over to the Jersusalem Post’s Cafe Oleh section and was certainly not disappointed as one of the lead columns, entitled Footloose and fancy-free, was the inspiring and emotional story of Esther Kunda, who is celebrating 60 years since her Aliyah.

The story of how Esther, now 81, and her mother arrived in the tiny, newborn Jewish state from South Africa is a must read for anyone who dreams of making Israel their home but is scared or discouraged by family, friends and finances that they will be leaving behind. Esther faced all that and more and now is happily celebrating 60 years since her immigration.

As Esther says regarding the best thing about Israel: “The most wonderful feeling of being in your own country.”

Read her story and inspire yourself to be the one celebrating your immigration in another 60 years.

Ari

As this is a moving to Israel blog, the vast majority of posts are, obviously, related to coming to Israel, Aliyah, and subjects related to the country. That being said, I’m hoping my readers won’t mind a little shameless plug today. As many of you know, this blog was born out of our shipping to Israel site, www.shippingconsolidators.com, which finds people the best price when shipping to or from Israel. The idea of the site was (and is) to make the Aliyah and moving to Israel process as easy as possible and remove one of the common headaches associated with the move.

Well, we are proud to announce that, due to the success of the site thank G-d and by popular demand, we have now broadened our horizons and have begun working with people on a new site, www.shipping2australia.com. Similar to the concept of our original site and, as you may have guessed by its name, the new site helps people with another move, finding the best price when shipping to Australia. Shipping from Australia, as well as within, are covered as well.

While moving to Australia obviously does not carry the spiritual or halachic (law according to the Torah) significance of moving to Israel, we wanted to let the word out about the site to our readers here in the hope that they will be able to spread the word about the service to anyone who may find it useful and helping our friends out over at www.shipping2australia.com that they may find the same loyal readership that we’ve found over here from our fantastic readers.

Thank you for listening to the plug and may Hashem continue to watch over Jews everywhere they are in the world.

Ari

As the Pesach/Passover holiday begins to wind down, I thought it was a great time to link out to this fantastic video. It is an exciting and inspiring interview with former Prisoner of Zion, Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, on moving to Israel, Aliyah, Zionism and Judaism.

In the video, Ari Abramowitz and Jeremy Gimpel, hosts of Tuesday Night Live in Jerusalem, meet Sharansky, who also was one of the founders and spokesmen for the “Refusenik” movement in Moscow in the 1970s after being denied an exit visa to Israel in 1973. Since immigrating to Israel upon his release, Sharansky has held various high governmental positions, headed a Knesset party and was Cabinet minister, and is the symbol of strength, resistance, and the Jewish dream for many people around the world.

This video is a must see for all and should help bring us in to the “second day(s)” of the holiday with the right frame of mind.

Ari

Even after making Aliyah and moving to Israel, for an American, the deep roots of the United States never really leaves you. This becomes especially true when the worlds of Israel and America collide as it did this week with the death of former US secretary of state Alexander Haig.

Haig’s spokesman during his 1988 campaign for the Republican nomination for the presidency, Daniel Mariaschin, talked after his death about how he “always had a special feeling for Israel. I always had the impression that he considered himself a friend of Israel and understood its geo-security predicament as we moved through the years,” said Mariaschin, now executive vice president of B’nai B’rith International.

While in 1981, Haig, serving as secretary of state under president Ronald Reagan, proposed temporarily suspending the strategic cooperation agreement between the United Staes and Israel, he later on evolved into a firm believer in Israel as a powerful deterrent to terrorism. In 2001, he told the Jerusalem Post that it might not be a bad thing for Israel to stop Iran from becoming a nuclear power. “If the Israelis do launch a preemptive strike [on Iran], it may be saving the world a lot of trouble,” he said.

Powerful people in such positions are not commonly known for their dedication to both Israel and America, two of  the leaders of the world in the championing of democracy and freedom. We can only hope that more people with such integrity rise to such lofty positions and are able to make such a difference in the fight against evil.

Ari

I’ve been writing this moving to Israel blog for some time now and, as my regular readers know, I am always trying to recommend any similar content I find on the Internet. Therefore, I was thrilled when a reader sent in information about their own Aliyah blog.

“Esther’s Aliyah Experience” is written by Esther Cohen, who made Aliyah one and a half years ago and chronicles her experiences as a new immigrant from North America. She recently started her own Wine Tour Company called “My Israel Wine Tours” (www.myisraelwinetours.com) and the blog is a great read for people like me who love reading about the Aliyah experience.

Check it out, let me know what you think and please always contact me when you see something you think might be of interest to our readers.

Ari

As this is a blog about Aliyah and moving to Israel and I myself am an Oleh from the United States, I tend to focus frequently in my posts about immigration from North America. It is important to remember, however, that Aliyah is happening from all over the world and, in that vain, I refer you to an interesting piece over at Haaretz that takes a look at Aliyah from Russia twenty years after they opened its doors to mass emigration.

The author, Tracy Levy, takes a look at some of the reasons that Russian immigration to Israel has stagnated since 1989 and gives some interesting feedback on where the movement may headed in the future. A great read, especially for we Aliyah addicts.

Ari

While this blog attempts to encourage moving to Israel and to let go of the places we now call home, it sometimes astonishes me how the leaders of these very places make it so very clear to us that we are not particularly welcome anyway.

The latest example of this comes courtesy of the Mayor of London, Boris Johnson, who has recommended that non-Muslims take the opportunity of the month of Ramadan to fast, along with their Muslim neighbors, in order to promote “understanding between cultures.”

Johnson told members of a London mosque that with Muslims so much a part of London life, it would be befitting for non-Muslims to get to know their fellow Londoners’ customs and religion better.

The implications of such a statement are extremely dubious. For one thing, as a local English Democrat leader Steve Uncles so wisely put it, “the indigenous culture of this country is based on Christianity and Paganism. Of course, as an open and tolerant society, if people want to practice other religions, then good luck to them. But the state should not be funding them because otherwise we will lose our culture.”

This is a great point but, what should be even more disturbing amongst the Jewish people is, as the author of the article, David Lev, puts it, “there was no word on whether London Mayor Johnson was planning to suggest that Muslims and Christians fast on Yom Kippur in order to better understand their Jewish neighbors.”

As we all know, this should not be expected to be happening anytime soon and the attempted appeasement of the Muslim population will likely, if history is any indication, come back to haunt the U.K. in the future.

Again, we need to come home. There is really no place for us in countries around the world whose leaders call for the further pandering of the Jew’s (and the West’s) most ruthless enemies. Let’s continue to make Aliyah, call Israel home and make it Hashem’s laws that we practice and celebrate.

Ari

As the times continue to be challenging throughout the world people are, thankfully, continuing to move to Israel. Another Aliyah flight arrived Tuesday bringing 238 North American Jews courtesy of Nefesh B’Nefesh.

Yishai Fleisher and Arutz Sheva have put together this fantastic photo essay of the happy event as you can truly feel magic as the large group of people arrived home. Check it out and let yourself be inspired to be on that next flight.

Ari