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

It is always difficult to tackle the delicate happenings in the world when this blog is trying to focus on moving to Israel, yet today is one of those days. As the world continues to scream and shout at Israel regarding the flotilla story I felt compelled to point out a fantastic article to get some perspective on the ordeal from Kyle-Anne Shiver, a devout Catholic who freelances for various publications and who recently published a brilliant piece on the episode entitled “Shouldn’t We All Be Israeli Now?”

Shiver relates a story about how she had recently shamelessly berated a dear Jewish friend for becoming paranoid about unfolding events in America. The friend was noticing the telltales in American foreign policy under the new administration and calling her attention to signs she couldn’t then read. To her credit, Shiver has come to see the light on the realities of how America’s White House higher ups seem to be viewing the whole “Jewish question” and the article crisply and clearly takes us through her process of realization.

It is a highly recommended piece and puts a great perspective on Israel’s latest crisis from a non-Jew who ends off with the fitting statement “I say again, shouldn’t we all be Israelis now? Yes, we should.”

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

While I would never discourage anyone from moving to Israel, today’s article of the week does, unfortunately, contain some sobering thoughts of the state of our country. Fred Moncharsh, an Oleh from the West Coast of America as well as a Likud activist and member of the Likud Central Committee, does a fantastic job of making his point and painting a very clear picture of some of the troubles facing the Jewish homeland today.

The biggest problem, says Moncharsh, is the lack of true leadership here in Israel and he points out that this is not a new phenomena. He talks of how this has been a problem dating back decades. In his words:

“Israel needs a real leader. A real leader who is more than hot air. A real leader who has a red line, any red line. A leader who knows that when the red line is crossed, the time to talk is over, and the time to act is crucial.”

Moncharsh is a true Zionist, lover of the land and a very astute observer of the political landscape here and in the Middle East. This is a highly recommended article and, as you’ll see by the comments at the bottom, a lively discussion and debate is already brewing. Enjoy the piece.

Ari

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

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 we continue through the time of year where our Nation collectively “remembers” some of the most dire times in our history, begining from Erev Pesach / before Passover when we remember our bondage and our redemption from Egypt and continuing through our Holocaust Memorial Day when we remember the persecution of our people while the world watched indifferently, we now gear up for the Memorial Day for our fallen, those of our loved ones who fell in battle during the establishment of our State, or in battles since then and also our loved ones who were murdered by terrorists simply because they were Jews.

This time period and the circumstances surrounding them makes this article by Yehudit Tayar particularly excellent. She talks of how every day is Memorial Day for her when she grieves our beautiful brothers and sisters who have perished through the years simply for being Jewish and how remembering itself is not enough. She talks about how we must also fight while we remember. Fight for our survival, fight for our independence as a Nation, fight by insisting that the world accept our inalienable right to live in Israel and live as Jews and fight in the IDF and send our sons and daughters to fight proudly and with the human values that they inherit as Jews that are so  integral a part of our heritage.

This is but a small list of the some of things we must continue to fight for, but the message from Tayar is clear. Read this stirring article and let it help you feel the power of this week’s Memorial Day, when we mourn our fallen and prepare to fight for our future.

Ari

There is a very touching story in the Jerusalem Post today that I know will interest all of our readers of the moving to Israel blog about the widow of Golani Brigade Maj. Eliraz Peretz who, while talking to Knesset Speaker Ruby Rivlin in her living room on Thursday, asked not that her home be saved from imminent demolition in the unauthorized Givat Hayovel outpost on the outskirts of the Eli settlement, but that Jonathan Pollard, a dual American-Israeli citizen who is serving his 25th year of an unlimited life sentence in an American prison for passing classified American documents to Israel, be finally freed and allowed to come home.

Shlomit Peretz is still grieving her husband, 31, who was killed in action in the southern Gaza Strip on March 26, along with St.-Sgt. Ilan Sviatkovsky, 21. On Thursday, politicians made their way to her two-story stone home to speak with her and her four young children. Of her husband, Shlomit told Rivlin, “He was willing to pay the price and what happened, happened.”

This is an incredible display of faith and courage that during Shlomit’s time of the ultimate mourning, she still has people like Jonathan first and foremost in her mind. “The state has left someone in the field for 25 years. If we could return him home, it would be a form of comfort for us,” she said.

Pollard is still, all these years later, a very powerful motivation for Jews around the world to pick up and come home to Israel and it is our hope that Shlomit and her family will overcome this tragedy and be credited with the rewards from Hashem for those that make the courageous move.

May Hashem bring home Jonathan Pollard as soon as possible and may the Peretz family know only happiness from here on out.

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

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