Why? The question has been asked thousands of times to thousands of people. Why? Why did you move to Israel? Why leave the comforts of North America to come here? Why enter the financial questions that will arise? Why leave that great job in the center of Manhattan? Why leave your friends and family that you grew up with over the course of decades? Why enter into the hardships? The rudeness of seemingly everyone. The endless bureaucratic hassles that seem to be daily. And why move to a tiny little country surrounded by countless enemies whose dream is the end of said tiny little countries’ existence?
Perhaps the only thing more fascinating than this question is the wide range of answers you hear. “It is where G-d wants us to be.” “I am Jewish and want to live in a land where (almost) everyone else you encounter on a day to day basis is Jewish.” “I want to be near my parents/children.” “The atmosphere is much nicer.” “I came and ‘something’ just kept me here.”
These are but a short list of some of the wide range of answers we hear. Some mundane, some fascinating, some mystical even.
As an Oleh from North America in the past decade I too have been asked this question many times and while my answer has, admittedly, varied over the past ten plus years, some time ago my official answer to this often asked question just sort of hit me and has gone unchanged since. My humble take on the question is as follows.
Israel is a miracle. Not just a miracle in the traditional sense i.e. the fact that the country even exists since the events of 1948. But also a miracle of circumstances that puzzles me to this day. The astonishments never cease. With so much catastrophe occurring around the globe, turn on CNN or any other major news source in the world on any given day and Israel will be front and center. How are the “negotiations” going? How is Israel “disproportionately” responding to today’s terror, er, sorry, I mean militant attack? How have the Palestinians been humiliated lately? What’s the latest UN resolution against Israel? The list goes on and on. With life and death disasters which, one would think, dwarf Israel’s in size and relevance, occurring universally on an hourly basis, Israel continues to dominate the news, usually painted in a negative light. One might suspect that this would be yet another deterrence for coming to live in the Holy Land, yet for me it has now become the clinching factor in my remaining here indefinitely.
The hate is illogical. The focus is disproportionate. Throughout time this continues to occur. With all going on in the world Jewry and Israel continue to dominate the headlines. To me, this can be no coincidence. How could this continue, without disruption, throughout time? Somebody is trying to tell us something. While not trying to get all mythical we have to admit that, whether by G-d (which I personally believe) or some other divine force, somebody is trying to tell us that Jewry/Israel/etc. is different. It is of supreme importance and uniqueness and always will be. This will never change. Times, fashions, cultures and technology all change but the one constant, as illogical as it may seem at the time of occurrence, has always been fascination/contempt/disproportionate focus on Jewry.
I want to be get on that train! While I was born Jewish, even our non-Jewish brethren, when thoroughly contemplated, would be amazed at this phenomenon. It’s just too illogical to ignore. I want to be a part of that. We need to look at this miracle and all the amazing circumstances surrounding it and not blow it off as coincidence. It’s just too big and, as has been proven throughout history, too important. While I too enjoy indulging in the pleasantries that this world has to offer I cannot ignore the message being told to us that the Jewry/Israel issue is one that has to be tackled. The disproportionate reaction to our existence is not by chance. It is a calling, in the most blatant terms, that this is an issue that, at worst, is at least as important as any issue facing man.
This is why I choose to live in Israel. Somebody is telling us something. This tiny land, smaller than Lake Michigan, is treated with more focus than the entire planet and galaxy combined. The Jewish people, a total world wide sum so relatively small so as to be considered statistically irrelevant if it were any other people, who have always been the most loyal citizens in any land they have inhabited, given to the most endless, unreasonable scrutiny at an outlandish amount of time and resources. The Muslim population, over 1 billion plus strong, considered the underdog. These are not reasonable calculations. Even the most indifferent among us would have to agree there is something else at work here. For me, what is at work here is a message. A message that says you/we are being told something. We are being told what and where is important. Do we listen? Do we answer the message? I have decided to and will continue and, while I am not suggesting that Aliyah and moving to Israel is for everyone, I am definitely suggesting that these amazing miracles of circumstance are questions that anybody alive might be anxious to address.
Ari Strauch
Tags: Aiyah, Israel, Moving to Israel, Oleh
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July 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am
shabbat shalom everyone, i am hearing impaired there are a few things i will share here as i hear that jewish agency for israel doesnt help deaf/hearing impaired people to make aliyah to israel and i am also making a process to convert to become jewish because i wanted to and i believe that hashem is the only g-d there is and i have accepted the yolk of the laws and the 613 commandments but one problem they said no converts they said only orthodox jews only allowed i wonder if that is happening again that they are closing doors on others and not lettinf deaf/hearing impaired move or make aliyah this is awful i have few friends in israel whom i am suppose to yet meet and never been to israel i thought oh come on this is not right something is not clear here they also had said that converts must wait a year or more to make aliyah to israel i was being told thats not true that someone is just being intimidating witht is and to contact the assoc of deaf in israel they know all the things with aliyah they have deaf and hard of hearing hearing impaired making aliyah all the time and they would help i though i would sit back and wait see what i get from people to say what i should do and what action to take
what shall i do shall i go forward to someone or what or just wait it out until then
July 13th, 2008 at 7:09 am
Hi Bobby:
I am the author of this article (and the blog actually) and I am very curious as to your situation. First of all, a couple of questions. From what I understood, you mentioned two different issues your having with Aliyah. You mentioned that you’re hearing impaired and the issue of conversion. Are these both problems you’re running into or is one the dominant force? Also, what processes have you taken to make Aliyah and who were the people that have caused the delays?
Please let me know and I’d love to try to help.
Thanks and thanks for reading.
Ari
April 9th, 2009 at 7:33 am
shalom and chag sameach pesach from my home to yours. and shalom to ari and my response to your email here from last year dated july 13 2008 wow sorry i never got to it was so busy i had just finished my jewish classes i took as judaism 101in january of 2008 and was completed, yes i ma hearing impaired, and it has to do with both myhearing and my aliyah plans, however my rabbi here caused alot of problems for me. one he was suppose to complete my conversion dated march 2008 and that have been ignored since then, he kept taking off on so many trips to other places conference and to israel and then he returned. back to the shul and then he tells me we will work on it and get it completed he never did and he kept me waiting and waiting. and i explained to NBN (nefesh B nefesh) and jewish agency for israel both i fear of prejudice and or maybe insensitivity towards me, and other deaf who may be trying to make aliyah too. themselves somehow. the rabbi caused me alot of hurt and delay for entire year of 2008 that was totally unfair and also, he said there was no one to be found with sign language who is jewish because a non jew cannot come and interpret in the synagogue since they are not jewish and not have the knowledge of judaism inside our shuls. so i was angry and hurt for the whole year 2008 and just finished my conversion due so late march 2009 i stayed entirely active in the jewish community for almost two years in a row and never gave up and i stayed withing the walls of judaism. what that means is i stayed withing the means of being jewish and being in the congregation all the time. and sometimes i caught the flu or been sick oh yes i stayed home for that but always been there and never missed one time and took part on purim,nd other things seders and stuff. i applied for aliyah and they told me NO flat out and i said WHAT!!! and i think thats not right and not fair after the whole times i worked so hard and the effort to become jewish and to live a wholesome and good jewish life in israel.and took everything very seriously. i felt i was treated very shabbily and not been fair with me. they the ministry of absorption should have carefully given a exception and okay to go ahead and allow me to make aliyah. to israel this is a horrible way for me to endure this, i now suffer at this. more than anything i can imagine, also been told to just give it all up and forget it. and dump out the papers. and the bright flame for aliyah was lit is now going out that thing that lights me up is going dark and i am not happy about it. me being hearing impaired makes it so bad and it causes problems for something like that, i need alot of support to get through this. somehow. the people i worked with was a lady at NBN eva zalen she was a flight coordinator and applications componet person tells me i must wait a year and must continue active in jewish community i thought oh come on come on i have been alot more active in jewish community already way before i became jewish during the conversion ceremony its been almost 2 years of being so active. i got a warning that NBN and jewish agency is strictly and strongly ultra orthodox and also orthodox and they dont care and they will say anything to block aliyah to anybody and i was also warned that they will say oh the goverment of israel said no no aliyah to converts they must stay in thier location where they are now and that converts do not meet the law of return thats what they told me i did not meet the criteria of the law of return, i said hey this is nuts i dont beleive this one word of it. i have heard others say what about all others who are converts they let them come and some they dont and thats wrong too. i see something very wrong with this, i am jewish now i am not a non jew anymore i thought geez whats the matter with them. just because i am hearing impaired and speak with sign language doesnt mean i cannot make aliyah i really and plead for help with this to fight this out and through once and for all, so i say please help me in some way to end this cruel ordeal toda and chag sameach pesach
L’shalom v’kol tov