Moving to Israel

Times were that people moving to Israel were considered to be taking on a financial burden and sacrificing many of the luxuries of the Diaspora. Now it seems to be that people are continuing to make Aliyah, not just for spiritual and idealistic reasons but for financial gain as well - an unheard of concept not long ago.

Arutz Sheva reports how the Israeli economy has become a draw for North American immigrants in the face of the economic downturn abroad. In speaking on the subject Danny Oberman, executive vice president of operations at Nefesh B’Nefesh, describes some of the examples of economic advantages in living in Israel including a wider job market for recent university graduates, families with young children being able to find more affordable Jewish or college education in Israel than back in the U.S. and Canada, cheaper health insurance rates and more.

While the financial challenges of living in Israel still, and always will, exist, it’s good to see some of the financial incentives of making Aliyah catching up to the spiritual ones.

Looking forward to seeing you all here.

Ari

As promoting moving to Israel and making Aliyah is the primary purpose of this blog, I often try to point out some of the negative aspects of life outside of the Holy Land that make life so hard on the Jewish people. Unfortunately, there are often no shortage of examples to come up with and today is no exception.

It seems that Canada’s York University, celebrating its 50th anniversary, is allowing a pro-Arab group to stage a conference questioning Israel’s right to exist.  Several of the scheduled speakers were involved in Israel Apartheid Week activities and are active in the Israeli boycott movement.

The university is using the all too common mantra of “academic freedom” as defense of the event that promotes hatred and encourages the destruction of the Jewish State.

Although we seem to take it for granted that the west’s universities, supposedly the foremost intellectuals and some of the most powerful voices in the world, regularly sponsor and encourage such events, we should never forget exactly what is happening outside of Israel - where our best “friends” (U.S., Canada, etc.) are the proud hosts of these horrid functions.

Ari