Moving to Israel

We here at the moving to Israel blog always like to acknowledge the Jewish holidays as they come and this week is one of the most special as the holiday of Shavu’ot arrives. Shavu’ot (over here is a fantastic summary and explanation of the holiday) marks the end of the time of The Counting of the Omer (another great link over here), the period from Passover to Shavu’ot and a time of great anticipation. We count each of the days from the second day of Passover to the day before Shavu’ot, 49 days or 7 full weeks, hence the name of the festival. As is expained in http://www.jewfaq.org/:

“The counting reminds us of the important connection between Passover and Shavu’ot: Passover freed us physically from bondage, but the giving of the Torah on Shavu’ot redeemed us spiritually from our bondage to idolatry and immorality. Shavu’ot is also known as Pentecost, because it falls on the 50th day; however, Shavu’ot has no particular similarity to the Christian holiday of Pentecost, which occurs 50 days after their Spring holiday.

“It is noteworthy that the holiday is called the time of the giving of the Torah, rather than the time of the receiving of the Torah. The sages point out that we are constantly in the process of receiving the Torah, that we receive it every day, but it was first given at this time. Thus it is the giving, not the receiving, that makes this holiday significant.”

While Shavu’ot is perhaps not as “well known” as some of the other Jewish holidays throughout the year, it is imperative that we understand its complete significance and how being given the Torah truly turned us into Hashem’s chosen people.

Let’s try and take this year to especially reflect and appreciate our lot as Jewish people who have been given the privilege to serve Hashem and to be worthy of the magnificent gift he has blessed us with, the gift of the Torah.

Ari

Just wanted to wish all of our readers a healthy and happy Passover/Pesach holiday from the entire staff at the Moving to Israel blog.

This is one of the most special times of the year for the Jewish people and this link will give you a fantastic summary of various Passover Laws and Customs.

Have a healthy and peaceful holiday and, with G-d’s help, may we all celebrate next year together in Jerusalem.

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 someone who is constantly trying to pitch the idea of moving to Israel,  I am always scouring the Internet, searching for stories of Aliyah success (or failure, if the case may be). So today, on an early Sunday morning, you can imagine how happy I am as, while surfing I stumble across a great new blog (well, new for me) of another North American who has made Aliyah recently and sounds like they really are enjoying the experience. I have some reading to do to get to the origins of the blog but some of the posts I’ve read talk about the experience the authors go through leaving their long time homes in Michigan, the challenge of bringing children along to make the adjustment and many other issues that can really hit home for all the Olim and potentially future Olim out there.

I am going to try to get in touch with the owners and try to get some more information to share with you, but for now just know that this blog is a must read. Again, the address is http://shuandnat.blogspot.com/.

Ari

There was a very interesting post today over at Teaneck Talk, a local blog written and maintained by the Orthodox community of Teaneck, NJ (a very well known and popular town in the New York City area). The author of the article writes how, although the area of Teaneck has an exceptionally high rate of Aliyah and people moving to Israel, there has been an equally alarming number of people making Yerida (leaving Israel) and moving to the area while also starting to take up some of the more high profile positions (Shul president, etc.) of the religious community.

The author takes a very hard tone against these practices and even suggests shunning those who move into Teaneck after leaving Israel. It is a very interesting topic and there has been a number of comments posted on the blog (including one by yours truly).

What does everyone think of this? As someone who has dedicated a good part of their life to the Aliyah cause - including this blog - I am very interested to hear what my readers think about the possibility of making certain positions unavailable and, perhaps even shunning, the people who move into an area after making Yerida. I think hearing from everyone would help to shape my opinion as well and I am anxiously looking forward to hearing what everyone thinks.

Ari