KUMMUNIQUE

Holy Crap Pilgrimage

2009-04-28T02:57:00.000-07:00

Issue 44 "SIMCHAT TORAH" 5766

2006-10-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique - full of love
of Israel and Aliyah inspiration!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Netanyahu: No future For Diaspora Jewry" by Gil Hoffman
2. "Frustrated Immigrant: Stop Aliyah. Period" by Ashley Rindsberg
3. "Coming Home" by Iris Maimon-Toledano
4. "I'm Finally Home" by Iris Maimon-Toledano

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1. "Netanyahu: No Future For Diaspora Jewry" by Gil Hoffman
From Jerusalem Post

Opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu questioned the future of Diaspora Jewry in a closed-door meeting with American contributors to the IDF's Nahal haredi program on Thursday morning.

He warned that assimilation and intermarriage would threaten the future of Diaspora Jewry and said the Nahal haredi program was the answer to the rifts inside Israeli society. Netanyahu told participants to do everything possible to prevent assimilation in their communities, but said Israel is what is keeping the Jewish people together.

"There is no future for Jews in the Diaspora, because of assimilation and intermarriage," Netanyahu said, according to participants. "The only future for the Jews is in Israel. The only hope for the Jewish people in the Diaspora is Israel."

Sources close to Netanyahu confirmed the quotes and said his point was to emphasize Israel's central role in maintaining Diaspora Jewry.

Netanyahu's comments surprised people in the room and Diaspora Jewish leaders.

Israeli politicians who deal with Diaspora relations compared Netanyahu's statements to those of President Moshe Katsav, who caused an uproar on September 10, 2000, when he said that Israeli leaders should no longer justify Jews living abroad.

"We have legitimized living in the Diaspora and have said it does not bother us," Katsav said at the time. "The only branch that can ensure the continuation of the Jewish nation is the Jewish state" and not Jewish education, which he said was a stopgap measure that "could at best last two or three generations."

Reached in Cordova, Spain, United Jewish Communities-Israel director-general Nachman Shai said he hoped "Netanyahu will be convinced that Diaspora Jews are not lost" when he attends next month's UJC General Assembly in Los Angeles.

"The fact that there is a Jewish state does not change the fact that Jews will always live abroad," Shai said. "I would like all Jews to come to Israel, but it won't happen. We have to bolster them and build relationships with Jews all over the world, especially with the Jews of the US, the most powerful Jewish community ever. Assimilation doesn't mean that the Jews in the Diaspora will suddenly disappear."

Former Diaspora affairs minister Michael Melchior (Labor-Meimad) said that statements such as Netanyahu's "turn people off to Israel" instead of encouraging Diaspora Jews to make aliya.

"It's a very unintelligent approach to the Jews of the world today," Melchior said. "As a staunch Zionist, I believe that Israel is the heart of the Jewish people and we have the potential for a more complete Jewish life here than outside the country. I would encourage every Jew to come on aliya with all my heart. But to say that there is no future for Jews outside Israel has no basis in reality. There are many flourishing Jewish communities, religiously, culturally and educationally, which are doing wonderful work to reinforce the future of the Jewish people."

Meretz leader Yossi Beilin, who initiated the birthright israel program, said that nowadays, no cause is more Zionist than guaranteeing that the Jewish people will thrive in their communities abroad.

"Netanyahu's comments are empty slogans with no policy behind them," Beilin said. "I find it strange that Netanyahu, who rejects the idea of the Diaspora, is the same Netanyahu who as prime minister and finance minister contributed so much to making Israel a less secure place to live, with socioeconomic gaps that recall the Third World."

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2. "Frustrated Immigrant: Stop Aliyah. Period" by Ashley Rindsberg
From YNET

Personal account of American Jew adjusting to life in Israel. Frustrated with widespread neglect of immigrants, he points out that aliyah is not rosy picture painted by Jewish Agency. His conclusion: Best to stay put and not come until Israel can absorb existing immigrants

Many of us have lived, at some time or another, in places all around the world. From Beijing, Bali, and Bombay to San Francisco, New York, London, and Melbourne. And, for those of us who have spent any amount of time in Israel, we can all agree that this strange and beautiful country is definitely not third world… but it's not quite 'first world' either.

Alfonso Rubin, a 59 year old former financial manager, experienced the effects of this in between-ness firsthand when he immigrated to Israel from New York 26 years ago.

Rubin came to make a fresh start. He was inspired by the glowing description his Jewish Agency representative, or 'shaliach', gave him—he would be welcomed open-armed, accepted by an absorption center brimming with people like himself. All he had to do was choose: Would you prefer the quaint seaside community of Ashdod, or the more bustling oasis of Beer Sheba? A room facing the park, or the sea?

He opted for Ashdod, sea-facing. He got something quite different. Rubin arrived in Israel, 36 years old, after leaving a job that paid him USD 50,000 (in 1979), full of the expectations that his shaliach filled him with.

The first sign of trouble was when there was no one at the airport to greet him. The next bad omen was the absorption center he arrived at (after taking at taxi from the airport)—it was closed for the day.

Black market Nearly 30 years later, Rubin's troubles in Israel have only multiplied. Today, he is sinking in a mire of debt, has been repeatedly hospitalized, and, somehow, spends a good part of each day avoiding the police who have a warrant for his arrest.

"I sit at home like a dog. I'm lost in the world," he confesses over an iced coffee. He takes another sip, and the story unravels.

The troubles began when Rubin was leaving his last apartment. He gave the landlord two checks that, he realized sometime later, would bounce. So, mindful of the financial practices of his former profession, he immediately went to the bank to cancel the checks and called the former landlord to inform him of the situation. Everything seemed okay.

Six months later Rubin received a phone call from an unidentified man in Tel Aviv informing him that he owed this man NIS 11,000 for the two checks. Rubin didn't understand and promptly told the man, in New York terms, to please go away.

The unidentified man did not go away. He brought a lawsuit against Rubin for NIS 52,000 - 11,000 for the first two checks, the remainder for interest and damages. The man, it turns out, had bought the checks from Rubin's landlord on the black market, not an uncommon practice in Israel.

Debts in hospital Soon after, Rubin needed treatment for an intestinal hernia, a potentially fatal condition if left untreated. While in hospital he faxed the court the proper forms to delay the trial.

Two of his cases (he is also being sued by a bank and a cellphone company for debt he couldn't pay on account of the first suit) sent him letters of approval, informing him that the delay was accepted. The third case, the black market check case, never responded. At least not until they served him with a notice informing him of his absence in court and the warrant that had been issued for his arrest because of that absence.

"I'm not a criminal who's trying to get away with things. I want to pay these debts. I've been hospitalized three times this past year. I'm backed up on my bills, I'm ill, and they want to arrest me."

Rubin, who works five nights a week at a Tel Aviv hotel, has reduced his lifestyle to only the barest of bare necessities. After struggling in Israel for more than 25 years he confesses that he's had enough: "I would leave Israel within 40 minutes at this point. But I don't even have the money to have pictures taken for my passport."

Determination, but what for? It's a low that, 25 years ago, he never thought he would sink to. When his optimistic shaliach reminded Rubin that, if he didn't like Israel, he could always come back, Rubin refused that mentality. "I said no, if I go with the mindset that I can come back then I will definitely come back. If I'm going, I'm going for good."

So when he finally got to the closed absorption center, he was still determined to stay. When his promised sea-facing room actually faced the building's garbage dump, he was still determined to stay.

When he had to share a room with a mentally ill Russian immigrant who threatened, with the little English he knew, that he was going to kill Rubin, he was still determined to see it through. But now, coming up on his 60th birthday, he's thrown in the towel.

"No one from the Jewish Agency ever pitched in to help me," Rubin says, reflecting on his years in Israel.

"I'm not saying that new immigrants should get everything for nothing just because they're new immigrants. They should work. But they need to be given the opportunity to work." And just as importantly, he explains, there needs to be a way for immigrants to get reliable, clear, and consistent information.

"You ask a question to 10 officials in Israel and you get 12 answers," he says. The confusion and opacity are, in part, what started the disaster with the sold checks. It turns out that in Israel, two parallel lines must be placed somewhere on the check in order to denote that the check can only be cashed by its addressee. Rubin (probably like most immigrants) did not know that.

"Two little lines," he says, "and now they're trying to arrest me. But what about the man who sold my checks? Isn't that illegal? Why don't they arrest him?"

It's all about the freedom

But, through all of this, Rubin has preserved enough perspective to point out some of the country's qualities that he still loves. He says about Israel that, "You have more freedom here than you have anywhere in the world."

He points to two teenage girls sitting by themselves at the café, at the late hour: "It's amazing, there is nowhere else in the word that girls can sit in a big city and feel safe and free like that."

He also returns to the comment he began the interview with, that the casual approach to things in Israel which has led him to disaster financially is something that he values socially.

Rubin is nearly glowing when he explains that in Israel you don't have to make an appointment to go see a friend. "It doesn't matter what time you come, day or night. You just show up and they'll welcome you in and make you coffee. That's phenomenal."

But returning to the issue at hand, Rubin remarks that, "This country needs more organization, from top to bottom. There should be one law for everybody. And for people who are not born in this country, they should be explained all the laws of healthcare, banking, communication, employment etc.

"But people - Russians, Ethiopians, Americans, are brought here and just dumped. Don't bring more immigrants until you can deal with those you have," he says with a serious look on his face. "Stop aliyah. Period."

It's a drastic statement but one that, given Rubin's experience, is perhaps understandable. It does not take into account the huge number of immigrant success stories within Israel, but it expresses a frustration that many immigrants, even the most successful, have felt at one point or another.

"If we want Jews to come here and live," he concludes, "we'd better change our ways."

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3. "Coming Home" by Iris Maimon-Toledano
From YNET

10 years abroad is a long time – too long. Still, it isn't easy packing up and starting again

A few weeks before I and my family return to Israel after ten years in Canada, we are in the throes of packing and checking – what do we have to do about health insurance and national insurance? What about import duty, education, and finding a new place to live?

We are closing our lives here, gathering up the things we'll need in Israel, and I my anticipation and my worries are keeping me awake just about every night.

Gripped by fear

But the panic that struck me today was different. Today, I was overtaken by fear, a debilitating panic so powerful I couldn't even concentrate on the things I was supposed to be putting in the cardboard boxes all around me. As I watched my children playing happily in the garden, by heart suddenly started racing, and for the first time in months I asked myself, "What the hell am I doing?"

And my standard answer – "I'm going home" – didn't work this time. Neither did my laconic answers, the ones constantly on the tip of my tongue like a mantra and come out almost automatically. "Because my children think Canada's their home. I want their only 'home' to be in Israel."

Or: "Because if I don't do it now, I never will." Or: "I've got to give Israel an honest chance. We've never lived there as a family, and Israel is supposed to be heaven for families." Or a host of other answers.

I don't have a lot of family left in Israel. Two sisters and their families, some uncles and cousins we see at family celebrations, and that's about it. The "glue" we all know so well is no more.

Even my return will not give me back the years lost, the time I wasn't by their sides. It also won't atone for feelings of regret and guilt.

Maybe it will be easier to mourn, and to connect to the loss. When you are far away, even the death of a parent can be considered so distant as to be unreal. When you are far away, it's amazing just how easy it is "to continue."

My Israel

I'm coming home to my beloved country, a land I love so much it hurts. My Israel makes my laugh and cry, it warms my heart and freezes me with shock and horror. My Israel gave me a stubborn root. Even if it were to be removed, nothing could replace the hole that would be left.

Israel is a mother, a daughter, a wise old man who has seen it all, and who sometimes dresses up in clothes that don't belong to it, adopts foreign customs that add nothing positive to the country or culture. No other country inspires its people to the same levels of anger and love, of loathing and admiration, happiness and sadness like Israel.

Israel's got everything, and yet the country is poor and shabby, and for some reason I am afraid that I and my children are going to live there.

Building tomorrow

Naomi Shemer wrote about a better, nicer "tomorrow." For the past year, I have been living inside songs such as "I have no other country" and "Songs from the land I love." Is the reality of my Israel to be found in these lines, or is the reality to be found in the prophecies I encounter day after day, year after year, when I sit down at my computer?

I want to come home so I can play a part in perfecting our society and creating that better "tomorrow" for my Israel. Over the past 10 years I have done this in a foreign country. Today, I have great dreams and faith in the power of my ability to do it all again.

The fear that has overtaken me came from a conversation I had with a dispirited Israel who somehow found his way to Vancouver. There are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands like him around the world.

Kosher émigrés

I never closed my ears to all those "dispirited Israelis". We were Israelis who went abroad for "kosher" reasons – teaching, aliyah representatives, etc. These claims allowed me to survive for several years happily and with no pangs of a guilty conscious.

But the years go by too quickly. Our visions of serving the country abroad dimmed as we moved on to other positions. Eventually, the years catch up with you and you begin to feel uncomfortable.

The Israeli I met today caused me to feel radically uncomfortable. He ran away, he harbored a deep hatred. He had been broken by life in my Israel. When I told him my entire house was for sale, that I'd just packed up my 40th box, he looked at me like I was a fool. Not crazy, not innocent.

My beloved awaits

So I packed up my kids toys and bid farewell to my distressed friend. When I heard them babbling about the squirrel running up the tree and about the fact it was cold already, I was filled with fear, so much so that I couldn't think about anything else.

I went in the house, stared at 40 packed boxes in the corner and a lot more to go. There are Israeli passports to renew, a huge health insurance debt to repay, and a million other things to do.

10 years, a fool's happiness, a little girl killed by a shell in Gaza, another Pesach abroad, a child who calls me "Mommy." And my Israel, by beloved, awaits.

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4. "I'm Finally Home" by Iris Maimon-Toledano
From YNET

Israeli who moved back from Canada shares her experiences

Two months have passed since the day we landed in Israel overwhelmed by excitement mixed with some anxiety over the new beginning. The truth is that up until those first days in Israel we didn't quite realize how difficult the beginning might be, so difficult that in the past weeks I wasn't even able to sit down and write.

I also wanted to, a while ago, express my heartfelt gratitude for the touching words you wrote in response to my "I'm coming back home" column. During the difficult moments those responses reminded me again that I'm privileged to be a part of our special, genuine, and warm people.

Two days after landing in Israel, the war broke out and with it new family experiences, such as the need to respond to innocent questions by a child that doesn't understand what's going on.

A child that was born and raised in a vastly different reality. He was asking who in this war were the good guys and the bad guys, as if it was another episode of the Power Rangers. He didn't understand why we were crying while reading the newspaper, what's a funeral, and why I'm not excited the way he is over fighter jets flying above us constantly.

As we planned and dreamed back in Vancouver, we rented a nice house in the Galilee. Because of the war we didn't have the courage to go as far north as we initially wanted, but the lower Galilee was certainly no compromise. And so, by the end of the war we were driving around area communities to look for a home, while hoping not to encounter Katyusha rocket fire.

Now, when everything is calm, the hopes have become more practical and normal: That the northern job market would be kind to us, that the kids find friends in the neighborhood, and that we won't get discouraged when things get tough. On such days, an interested and encouraging phone call from the Absorption Ministry could do wonders – now here's something to think about.

Pre-move visits not recommended

Now that the squills are blooming and the cold night air carries with it the powerful scent of eucalyptus, it feels so much like home. Streets named after people, flowers, and places etched in the consciousness of this wonderful country still touch me. It will pass, because it's mine forever.

I'm glad I wasn't here for a pre-move visit, the kind you undertake to test the waters. Perhaps this is a recommendation to those who are thinking of moving back here and are very scared, convinced that a preparatory visit could help. I know some people in Canada who abandoned the idea of returning to Israel after such visits.

There are no surprises here. It's the same difficult country where many people are struggling daily. The bureaucracy, the foot-dragging, the shady deals, the low service standards, the July-August heat, the terrible poverty, fears of the enemy, fears about the future, the blatant discrimination and other social maladies that aren't new.

Before we returned to Israel we had naïve fantasies about success. Today my way of looking at things is more realistic. At the same time, I also see things that I forgot I missed so much during the 10 years I spent abroad:

The best friends that live here, the most delicious fruit and vegetables, the special and simple cheeses, the newspapers, entertainment, designs, arts, plays, and shows; the fascinating books that perfectly match my identity and speak to me without pretensions; the historical sites, the multiculturalism, the holidays on all their glory, the meaning, family, values, abundance, and kindness.

This is my Israel, with all its sorrows and joys. Every day I discover it anew and even if it's hard, I'm finally home.

Iris Maimon-Toledano returned to Israel after a decade in Canada.

Issue 43 "SUKKOT" 5766

2006-10-05T05:15:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique - full of love
of Israel and Aliyah inspiration!

In this issue you will find:

1. "The spiritual significance of Sukkot" by Yishai Fleisher
2. "Right On: A Miracle Of Biblical Proportions" by Michael Freund
3. "The Aliyah Connection" by Cindy Sher
4. "Sixty Years After War, First Rabbis Ordained In Germany"

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1. "The spiritual significance of Sukkot" by Yishai Fleisher
From Israel Insider

Succot is the most prayer- and mitzva-laden holiday on the Jewish calendar, full of the symbolism which makes Jewish life so rich.

A Succah, a booth of sorts, must have at least 3 walls, but its most striking feature is the schach.

Schach, the roof of the Succah, must be made of plant material like tree bark, bamboo, reeds, or palm branches. The Schach must come from the earth, yet be detached from the earth. The Schach is not meant to be a very useful roof -- you must be able to see sky through it. It is this unusual thing called Schach which make the Succah unique and filled with symbolism.

LIFE CYCLE AND THE SUCCAH
The Womb: The Succah, with its peaceful inner-sanctum and its semi-permeable Schach, resembles the womb. Inside its safety the Jew is protected from the slings and arrows of persecution, and manages to reproduce spiritually and physically generation after generation.

The Canopy: The wedding canopy [chupah] is the Succah of Peace which descends upon a bride and groom at their wedding day. So too, the Succah is the canopy of the marriage of the Jewish people and Hashem. The Holiday of Succot is the wedding which follows the cleansing period of Yom Kippur.

The Grave: the Schach above our heads, made of earth-grown plants, also symbolizes the earth itself. We are buried under the earth, and yet we are still alive. The message of Succot is the cycle of life: we are born, we marry, we die, and we continue on through the next generation and through our faith in Tchiyat Hameitim, the Resurrection of the Dead.

Yechezkel (Ezekiel) 37:
1. The hand of Hashem was upon me, and he brought me out in the Spirit of Hashem, and set me down in the midst of the valley; and it was full of bones.
2. And he caused me to pass by them round about: and, behold, there were very many in the open valley; and, lo, they were very dry.
3. And he said unto me, Son of man, can these bones live? And I answered, O Lord, thou knowest.
4. Again he said unto me, Prophesy over these bones, and say unto them, O ye dry bones, hear the word of Jehovah.
5. Thus saith the Lord unto these bones: Behold, I will cause breath to enter into you, and ye shall live.
6. And I will lay sinews upon you, and will bring up flesh upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and ye shall live; and ye shall know that I am Hashem.
7. So I prophesied as I was commanded: and as I prophesied, there was a noise, and, behold, an earthquake; and the bones came together, bone to its bone.
8. And I beheld, and, lo, there were sinews upon them, and flesh came up, and skin covered them above; but there was no breath in them.
9. Then said he unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.
10. So I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood up upon their feet, an exceeding great army.
11. Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are clean cut off.
12. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord: Behold, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, O my people; and I will bring you into the land of Israel.
13. And ye shall know that I am Hashem, when I have opened your graves, and caused you to come up out of your graves, O my people.

It is because of this life cycle focus of Succot that we read Kohelet (Ecclesiastes) Chapter One, which laments this very cycle:

4. One generation goeth, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever.
5. The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to its place where it ariseth.
6. The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it turneth about continually in its course, and the wind returneth again to its circuits.
7. All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full; unto the place whither the rivers go, thither they go again.
8. All things are full of weariness; man cannot utter [it]: the eye is not satisfied with seeing, nor the ear filled with hearing.
9. That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.

It is also for this reason that we invite the Ushpizin, the Holy Guests Avraham, Yitchak, Yaakov, Aaron, Moshe and Yoseph, into our Succah. Tzaddikim pass away, but they never die. They are bound up in the great cycle of life and they join us again and again every Succot.

The Seed: Looking up from our Succah we see the Schach, but now instead of being buried, we are planted. "A person is like the tree of the field" (Deut. 20:19) We are a seed planted beneath the soil, and rain is coming soon. G-d is giving us the gift of life, the chance to make the most of this world - to reach out of the Schach and into the world beyond.

The Bird Nest: Seeing Jews prepare for Succot is like seeing birds prepare their nests. Everyone is fluttering around looking for material for their nests. Indeed, we are but chicks, and it is Hashem who "Like an eagle arousing its nest hovering over its young; he spreads his wings, he takes it, he carries it on his wings." (Devarim 32:11)

IN JEWISH HISTORY:
Yaakov: Jacob is the forefather associated with Succot. Immediately after Jacob's successful duel with his brother Esau it is written: "And Jacob journeyed to Succoth, and built him a house, and made booths for his cattle: therefore the name of the place is called Succoth." (Bereishit 33;17) Jacob originally ran to Haran to escape his brother's wrath - coming to Succoth signaled the end of his personal exile and his return to the Land of Israel.

The Succah's characteristic is of an impermanent mobile structure. Jacob's characteristic too is always to be mobile -- always on the go: "How fair are your tents, O Jacob" (Bamidbar 24;5) Settling down is not for him, he goes from place to place in the Land of Israel and in the world -- his is always a spiritual journey.

Bereishit (Genesis) 28 reads:
20. Then Jacob made a vow, saying, "If God will be with me and will keep me on this journey that I take, and will give me food to eat and garments to wear,
21. and I return to my father's house in safety, then the LORD will be my God.
22. and this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God's house"

Yaakov asks for three things: food , clothing, and protection on the journey. But what is missing? A request for permanent housing of course! Yet this construction of permanent housing, Jacob reserves for He Who needs no housing -- for the Lord Himself. This is Succot -- we, the Jewish people, will live in impermanent dwelling all our generations so that our journey could lead to us to the construction of His permanent dwelling.

Mishkan and Mikdash - [The Tabernacle and the Temple]: the Succah resembles the Tabernacle in that it too was an impermanent structure, and sadly our Holy Temple in Jerusalem was impermanent as well for it was destroyed twice because of our sins. "In that day I will raise up the fallen Succah of David, and wall up its breaches; I will also raise up its ruins and rebuild it as in the days of old" (Amos 9;11) The fallen Succah of David, is a term of endearment for the Temple - may it be rebuilt in our lives.

Clouds of Glory: Our rabbis tell us that the Succah represents the clouds of glory that escorted the Jewish people in the desert. The clouds kept our cloths clean, and kept danger away from us. These clouds were also a form of womb, raising a new Jew to enter the Land of Israel. They also directed us:

Shemot (Exodus) 40:
36 And whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel went onward, throughout all their journeys.
37 But if the cloud was not taken up, then they journeyed not till the day that it was taken up.
38 For the cloud of HaShem was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire therein by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel, throughout all their journeys.

The Holy Ark: The wings of the Cherubs above Aron Hakodesh [the Holy Ark] acted like the Schach of the Succah, protecting the Holy contents within. It is written in "And the cherubim shall spread out their wings on high, screening (Sochechim) the ark-cover with their wings, with their faces one to another; toward the ark-cover shall the faces of the cherubim be" (Shemot [Exodus] 25: 20) In the Succah, we are the Holy objects which G-d protects with his wings, we are the carriers of the living Torah.

Hashem sends His canopy to us to nurture us, to marry us, to protect us. Through the sliver of sky seen through the Schach we are reminded of G-d's nearness: "My beloved is like a gazelle or a young stag. Behold, he is standing behind our wall, He is looking through the windows, He is peering through the lattice. (Song of Songs 2;9) No wonder this holiday is called Zman Simchateinu -- the time of our happiness.

May we merit the words of the Sabbath prayer:

"Safeguard our going and coming, for life and for peace from now to eternity, and spread over us the Succah of Your peace. Blessed are you Hashem, Who spreads the Succah of peace upon us, and upon all of His people Israel and upon Jerusalem.

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2. "Right On: A Miracle Of Biblical Proportions" by Michael Freund
From Jerusalem Post

In a few weeks' time, Sara Haunhar will at last fulfill a lifelong dream, one that she has been nurturing for over the past eight decades.

Together with her daughter Miriam, and some 216 other members of the Bnei Menashe of northeastern India, the 84-year old widow will board a charter flight next month, and finally begin the long journey home to Zion.

It is a voyage that began many centuries ago - 27, to be exact - when the Assyrian empire invaded the Land of Israel and cast most of our people into the darkest recesses of the exile.

It was the ancient equivalent of a Holocaust, a devastating blow in which the overwhelming majority of the world's Israelites - ten out of twelve tribes! - suddenly and mysteriously vanished.

Many thought they were gone forever, as they marched off into the mists of history, with little or no apparent hope of return.

But now, after so many years of wandering and dispersion, the descendants of these "lost Jews" are finally, triumphantly, coming back.

The significance of this should be readily apparent, even to the most hardened of cynics. After all, whoever heard of an ancient lost tribe returning to its ancestral homeland 2,700 years after their deportation? Without exaggerating, it seems fair to say that this is a miracle of Biblical proportions.

Sara Haunhar certainly thinks so. Last year, in September 2005, she sat patiently before a rabbinical court, which had been dispatched to India by Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar to restore the Bnei Menashe to the Jewish people.

Previously, in March 2005, the Chief Rabbi had ruled that the Bnei Menashe are "descendants of the Jewish people," and he agreed to do what he could to help them to return.

The rabbinical judges peppered Sara with questions about Jewish life and lore, gently probing her knowledge of Judaism and her commitment to formally rejoining the people of Israel.

ONE OF the rabbis who was there later described the ensuing scene with great emotion. Impressed by Sara's sincerity and dedication, the judges informed her that they were pleased to welcome her back into the fold of Israel.

Naturally, Sara began to cry, with the flow of tears rolling down her furrowed cheeks moving all those present.

When one of the judges leaned over and asked her if she was alright, Sara composed herself and told them, "All of my life, I was afraid that I would die before I would merit to see God's Holy Land. But now that you have accepted me as a Jew, I know that I will soon be able to set foot on the land of my ancestors, the Land of Israel."

Growing up, Sara had always lived an intensely Jewish life, along with the rest of the 7,000-strong Bnei Menashe community, which resides primarily in the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur. The Bnei Menashe observe the Sabbath, practice circumcision on the eighth day, keep the laws of Kashrut and scrupulously uphold the rules of family purity.

Thanks to the tolerance which epitomizes Indian society, the Bnei Menashe have been able to build dozens of synagogues across the country's northeast, where they turn three times a day in prayer towards Jerusalem, longing to be reunited with their friends and family already living in the Jewish state.

In just the past decade, nearly 1,000 members of the community have made aliya. They are valuable and productive members of Israeli society, serving in the army, working hard and supporting their families, and raising adorable Jewish children.

Indeed, this past summer, at the height of the war, a dozen young Bnei Menashe men were fighting on the frontlines in combat units in Lebanon and Gaza, defending the land of Israel and the Jewish people. One of them, St.-Sgt. Avi Hanshing, a 22-year old paratrooper, was injured during a clash with Hizbullah terrorists in southern Lebanon.

"I had to fight to come to Israel," Hanshing said, recalling the inexplicable obstacles that Israel's government routinely puts in the way of Bnei Menashe aliya. "Now," he added, "I have to fight for the country."

THE ARRIVAL next month of the immigrants from India will mark a welcome turning point for the community. For the first time, a large group of Bnei Menashe immigrants will arrive here together, proudly, as Jews, with their heads held high and their hopes bright for the future.

As chairman of Shavei Israel, an organization that assists the Bnei Menashe, it is a day that I am looking forward to with a lot of very special anticipation. For years, we have lobbied, struggled and pressed the Bnei Menashe's case, in an effort to persuade the Israeli government to open the door for these wonderful people.

In June, we nearly had to petition Israel's Supreme Court to force certain government ministers to allow the aliya to take place, and it was only after we met with aides to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert that the final approval was actually forthcoming.

And so, I can not help but pray that this first batch of 218 immigrants next month will herald the arrival of many, many more in the years to come.

This special event will take place thanks in no small measure to the friendship, backing and support of Jewish Agency Chairman Zeev Bielski, and Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, who are teaming together with Shavei Israel to make this aliya a reality.

Pooling their resources, the Agency and the Fellowship will fly the immigrants here and enable them to be housed in Israel's north, in the towns of Karmiel and Upper Nazareth, where they will receive added absorption benefits thanks to the generosity of Christians and Jews alike.

There is something extremely fitting about this, too, for as the prophet Isaiah foretold some 2,500 years ago, the nations of the world would play an active role in the return of the Jewish people to their land.

In Isaiah 49:22, the Bible says: "Thus says the Lord God: Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the nations, and set up my standard to the peoples, and they shall bring your sons in their arms, and your daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders."

I have no doubt that the love, concern and practical help being provided by Israel's Jewish and Christian supporters worldwide is part and parcel of the fulfillment of this verse.

And it sends goosebumps down my arms when I think about how the vision of Isaiah is literally coming to pass before our eyes.

The aliya of the Bnei Menashe is a historic event. It is a timely and welcome example of just what Israel, and its wondrous rebirth, is truly all about: the ingathering of our exiles, not only from the four corners of the earth, but from our people's dark and often painful history, too.

And it should serve as a potent reminder that despite all the problems and difficulties this country may face, we should not hesitate to join Sara Haunhar and her fellow Bnei Menashe in declaring, "Thank God for the State of Israel.

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3. "The Aliyah Connection" by Cindy Sher
From JUF

This summer, when the Lehrfield family made aliyah–immigrated to Israel–Debbie Lehrfield's husband, Yoni, told her, "I feel like we're home."

Many other Chicagoans have made their way "home" this year and even this summer amidst the newest Hezbollah attacks against northern Israel.

It's the Israel Aliyah Center's (a local grantee that receives a significant portion of their budget from the Jewish Federation) job to get them home. The center, affiliated with JUF's overseas arm, the Jewish Agency for Israel, facilitates the entire immigration process for Midwesterners considering making aliyah or staying in Israel long-term.

As the shlichat aliyah (immigration emissary) and the Midwest regional director of the Lincolnwood-based center, Wendy Keter just began her last of three years stationed in the Chicago area. Originally from Philadelphia, Keter made aliyah 35 years ago, right after graduating from high school. "I realized you can be active for Israel or active in Israel," said Keter.

She says she understands firsthand what olim (immigrants to Israel) are going through because she has walked in their shoes. Today, as a mother, she also empathizes with parents of children moving to Israel, especially since her son currently serves on reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).

Most people who make aliyah, says Keter, have a strong religious identity. The Hebrew word aliyah comes from the phrase "going up" and describes the spiritual ascension of taking one's Jewish life to the highest level by moving to the Jewish homeland.

Being in Israel, it's something unique–you live in a country that celebrates your religion with you, said Rachel Slovin, originally from Lincolnwood, who made aliyah on July 20–a week into the Hezbollah fighting–and lives in Rechavia, a Jerusalem neighborhood. "Being in Israel is just a different feeling; you're proud to be a Jew. It's the land that was given to us and it's a great place to live.

Though there are many miles between Slovin and her family members back in Chicago, she says, they're always just a plane ride away.

Improved communication technology also helps bridge the distance for families separated by an ocean. When I made aliyah in 1971 there were no cell phones, there was no e-mail. I talked to my parents once every two weeks from the phone down Jaffa Road in the post office if I was lucky, said Keter. "With all the modes of communication today, you can literally be on the phone all day with your family and loved ones [in the States]. Between e-mail and "Skype" and "Voiceover" (both Skype and Voiceover are Israeli Internet technologies allowing people to talk free to people in other countries), you can be in constant communication."

The Lehrfield family, from Skokie, dodged the hurdle of separation altogether by relocating their whole family to Israel. For 24 years, Debbie and Yoni Lehrfield had talked about making aliyah, but life and responsibilities always got in the way. But now, as their four kids are getting older (they range from age 10-21), they realized that all of their children would eventually study in Israel, with or without them. The parents figured, why not move with them and keep the family together?

If we don't encourage them to stay in Israel, then chances are we are going to be scattered–some in the United States and some in Israel," said Debbie Lehrfield. "If we have any chance of keeping our family together, this is the time."

The Lehrfields made aliyah on July 5, one week before the violence broke out, and live in Maale Adumim, just east of Jerusalem. Despite the events that were unfolding in the north, the Lehrfields are there to stay.

It's sometimes frightening–when you walk around you have to keep your eyes opened," said Debbie. "On the other hand, it's our land, it's ours. And I can't exactly say that I felt 100 percent safe when my kids would walk around the Chicagoland area."

The Lehrfields weren't the only ones to pack up and move to Israel this summer. Immigration from Chicago has remained buoyant in the weeks since the Hezbollah violence erupted. We have not had one cancellation, ken ayina hora (not to jinx it), said Keter, but added that most Midwesterners and North Americans who made aliyah settle in central, not northern Israel.

Rather than discouraging potential olim, the surge in hostilities has strengthened the resolve of new olim because they believe that living in Israel is the most powerful way to support their Israeli brethren. "The phone is ringing off the wall," said Keter. "People call and say 'I've been thinking about [moving to] Israel and I realize this is the time for me to go.'"

Zaq Harrison, now a coach and manager for Israel's national Little League team, moved with his family from Skokie to Ra'anana, north of Tel Aviv, last year. He had made aliyah the first time around in 1982, at the height of the Lebanon War. Before that move, Harrison had wavered over whether or not to go to the Middle East during wartime. He recalls his father urging him not to derail his dream of living in Israel. "You don't go when it's convenient for you," his father told him. If it's important to you, you go! Make a difference!

More than 30 years later, his father's wisdom resonates today. "If something's important to you, if you have a family member who needs help, you don't pick and choose when you're able to help. You do it," said Harrison, who, in the wake of this summer's violence, has been volunteering in northern Israel by providing humanitarian aid to the sick, elderly, and poor.

The number of Chicagoans, like Harrison, making aliyah has been rising steadily since the beginning of the terror war in 2000. In 2004, 57 people from the Chicago metropolitan area made aliyah. This year, that number has nearly doubled, as more than 100 Chicagoans will make their way to Israel. And this summer alone, 65 Chicagoans will make aliyah. Keter says word-of-mouth has precipitated the jump in numbers because people who have moved to Israel tell their friends back in Chicago, "Come, it's good."

While aliyah numbers grew during the terror war, Israeli tourism suffered. Today, Israel-lovers are still striving to counteract the blow that Israeli tourism took during that time. "During the terror war, when the numbers of people didn't go, it caused serious economic times, [but] tourism this summer was amazing," said Keter.

"People are realizing that the best thing they could do is go to Israel, support tourism, and that will keep us going. Besides, it's the message that it sends to people in Israel that we're one people."

Maya Golan has taken her love for Israel to the next level–by joining the Israeli army, which is mandatory for everyone who lives in Israel up to a certain age. Maya lived in Israel with her family until the age of 8, when they moved to Rockford, Ill. Last year, Maya made aliyah, along with her older sister, Yasmine (now 18). Maya, now 17, lives in the northern Israeli town of Afula, where she is an Israeli Scout, volunteering in schools and at summer camps. Since the violence began, she has spent much of her time conducting camp activities for children inside bomb shelters.

Many young people, like the Golan sisters, make aliyah so that they can enlist in the IDF. "It's part of being in the country and being part of youth in Israel. Everyone has to go into the army," said Maya. "I want to feel like the rest of the Israeli kids and help the country in some way."

In order to further promote immigration and programs in Israel, the Jewish Federation established the Aliyah Council of Greater Chicago in the 1980s. Chicago is the only Federation in the United States to offer financial grants to all olim from Chicago, according to Keter. It is a message to olim that Chicago looks at their olim as strengthening the community, she said. This community sees it as a blessing.

For information about aliyah contact the Aliyah Council of Greater Chicago, (847) 674-8861, or send an e-mail to shalom1948@earthlink.net.

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4. "Sixty Years After War, First Rabbis Ordained In Germany"
From the Guardian

Germany's Jews will today celebrate a remarkable stage in the slow and often painful recovery of the community that faced annihilation in the Holocaust - the first ordination of rabbis on German soil since the second world war.

Daniel Alter, Tomas Kucera and Malcolm Mattiatiani will today be ordained as rabbis at a synagogue in the east German city of Dresden. All three graduated yesterday from Abraham Geiger College, a progressive rabbinical seminary near Berlin set up to cater for more than 100,000 Jews in Germany.

Germany has the fastest growing Jewish community in Europe, second only in size to France and Britain. This is largely because of massive, and at times chaotic, immigration of Russian Jews to Germany in the 1990s from shattered pieces of the former Soviet Union.

Today's new rabbis include a middle-aged German, a Czech and a South African, who recently worked at a synagogue in Pinnar. They are the first to be trained here since the Gestapo closed Berlin's last rabbinical seminary in 1942, snuffing out a tradition of Reform Judaism that had gone on since the 1830s.

"I'm excited. I feel rather privileged," Malcolm Mattitiani, 35, said yesterday. Mr Mattiatiani - whose grandparents were Jewish Lithuanian refugees, and who lost a great-uncle in the Holocaust - will take up a job next week at a liberal synagogue in Cape Town. He said he did not think it strange to have done his studies in the country that carried out the Holocaust.

"We will never forget the Shoa. But we should remember that Jews have thrived in Germany for centuries," he explained. "Modern Germany is making an effort, and has succeeded in large degree, to correct the mistakes of the past. We need to start moving on as well."

British Jewish leaders will take part in today's ceremony, including Baroness Julia Neuberger, whose grandparents fled the Nazis. "It's fantastic," she said. "There was no German Jewish community to speak of after the war, with only about 12,000 left. Feelings towards Germany among Jews were very negative. Now we have a new community, largely made up of people from the former Soviet Union."

The immigration by Russian Jews since the fall of the Berlin Wall has been spectacular. Around 200,000 Jews from Russia, Ukraine and Kazakhstan have begun new lives in Germany. Reunified Germany's government, mindful of the country's historical guilt, and keen to atone, has offered the Russian-Jewish newcomers generous social benefits, flats, German courses and citizenship.

Some newcomers flourished - they include the Russian-Jewish writer Wladimer Kaminer. Others failed to get a job. A few vanished, prompting federal interior ministers to toughen up rules for prospective Jewish immigrants. Although 200,000 Russian Jews came to Germany the country's active Jewish community is officially put at 105,000. The discrepancy can only be explained by the fact that many Jewish newcomers were not in fact Jewish.

With four out of five German Jews now originally from Russia, established Jewish observers admit there have been tensions. "In many Jewish communities there are conflicts between older Germans and Russian immigrants," says Christian Böhme, editor of the Jüdische Allgemeine, Germany's weekly Jewish broadsheet. "There have been differences in perspective over the Holocaust. Many Russian Jews don't want to remember the Holocaust as the Holocaust, but instead prefer to celebrate Russia's victory over German fascism."

Active Jewish religious communities have sprung up across Germany. There has also been a renaissance in Jewish academic studies. As well as the Abraham Geiger College, established in 1999 in co-ordination with Potsdam University, new Jewish departments have been set up in German universities.

Yesterday, however, one Jewish leader suggested the community had a long way to go. "We need at least another 30 rabbis," Dieter Graumann, vice-president of Germany's Jewish Council, told a press conference in Dresden. "We are happy for these three, of course, but we shouldn't lose our sense of perspective. Germany is hungry for more rabbis."

Roman origins

Jews have lived in Germany since the Romans set up communities along the Rhine. At the end of the 19th century German Jews were prominent as bankers, lawyers and doctors. Nineteenth-century Germany was less anti-semitic than France or Russia. Some 120,000 German Jews died in the first world war

In 1933 when Hitler seized power around half a million Jews lived in Germany. About half got out. The Nazis' genocide began in 1938, with many German Jews deported to Polish ghettos, where they perished in concentration camps. Only 12,000 survived, including 1,200-1,500 Berlin Jews.

Holocaust survivors, and displaced Jews from across Europe, were joined in the 1950s and 1960s by Jewish returnees from Israel and South America. The biggest wave of emigration took place in the 1990s. Some 200,000 Russian-speaking Jews settled in Germany.

Issue 42 "NITZAVIM" 5766

2006-09-14T02:56:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique - full of love
of Israel and Aliyah inspiration!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Choose Life" by Malkah Fleisher
2. "Trade Center Attack Spurred Survivor To Make Aliya" by Ruth Eglash
3. "Why Are French Jews Leaving France?" by Carl Hoffman
4. "Despite turmoil, many Jewish families in America feel pull to move to Israel" By Adrienne P. Samuels

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1. "Choose Life" by Malkah Fleisher

Rabbis love parshat Nitzavim. With bittersweet whisperings of Moshe's grand finale, it's laden with biblical poetry and simple lessons - the stuff of soul-searching Torah speeches and calls for reflection. Remember the covenant! Seek the blessings! Get focused, people!

G-d gets pretty emotional in this portion – do wrong, and He'll throw every single awful thing He can conjure up at you (with the heaven and earth as witnesses!):

"… the Lord will not be willing to pardon him, but then the anger of the Lord and His jealousy shall be kindled against that man, and all the curse that is written in this book shall lie upon him, and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven; and the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the covenant that is written in this book of law…"
Ouch.

However, worship G-d and follow His Torah, and you will inherit the Land of your forefathers, G-d will curse your enemies, and you'll be overflowing with livestock, fruit, and babies (Hashem, of course, throws in to this section that this overflow will be "for the good").

It seems pretty cut and dried. Sinning = major suffering, being a good Jew = wealth and happiness. G-d urges us to choose life (the blessings), not death (the curses).

So what seems to be the problem? Not that we're not getting any blessings these days, but it also seems like we're getting some curses. Are we not choosing life?

Many of you may gesture emphatically at the sadly large number of Jews who are Torah-ignorant. Most don't understand the potential of their relationship with G-d and the unfathomable amounts of happiness that are just waiting for them. Others, scarily, know and don't care.
However, what's more frightening is that there is a pretty substantial group of Torah observant Jews who, too, don't fully choose life. How can this be?

Aside from regular Torah observance, in this parsha, G-d clues us into the secret of fully "choosing life":

"…therefore choose life, that thou mayest live, thou and thy seed; to love the Lord thy G-d, to hearken to His voice, and to cleave unto Him; for that is thy life and the length of thy days, to sit in the land which the Lord swore unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them."

Just to reinforce His point, the next Torah portion begins with Moshe's sad acceptance that he sinned and "chose death" – he will die without entering the Land of Israel.

This year, don't be content with hovering between life and death – choose life! Choose Israel!

Malkah's "Good Life" Apple-Plum Cake

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 block of margarine (in America, use a whole stick) or butter
2 large eggs (or 3 small)
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 large apples, cored and sliced
3 plums, cored and sliced
salt
cinnamon, powdered sugar, lemon juice

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9-inch pan (preferably round). In a food processor, mix the margarine, sugar, and vanilla. Pour into large bowl, add flour, eggs, a couple shakes of salt, and the baking powder. Pour mixture into greased pan. Toss fruits with a little cinnamon, a little powdered sugar, and a little lemon juice. Place the fruit slices on the batter. Bake for 45 minutes – 1 hour.

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2. "Trade Center Attack Spurred Survivor To Make Aliya" by Ruth Eglash
From Jerusalem Post

While many people around the world remember watching the horrors of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on their TV screens, for Aaron Fuerte the events of that day hit closer to home. For the Brooklyn native who worked then on the 93rd floor of the World Trade Center's north tower, they were a direct catalyst for his journey to making aliya last year.

Born to an Israeli mother and a Brazilian father, Fuerte, 34, told The Jerusalem Post in an interview that he had always thought about moving to Israel but it was watching the Trade Center - where he had worked for the previous two years - crumble before his eyes and crush thousands of people that motivated him to begin the process of building a new life in the Jewish homeland.

Fuerte worked for Marsh & Mclennan, an insurance firm with offices on the 93rd to 100th floors.

"I had been voting in Democratic primaries that morning and arrived to work a little later than usual, around 8:45 a.m.," Fuerte said.

He took an express elevator up to the 78th floor and was planning to take a local elevator to the 93rd floor. He was about to step into the second elevator when hijacked American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston slammed into the tower between floors 90 and 100, 12 stories above.

"I got blown back by the blast," said Fuerte. The elevator was sent crashing down 78 floors and he was nearly thrown down the opposite elevator shaft, he said. He heard people screaming inside another elevator and, together with other survivors, attempted to pry open the doors, but to no avail. To this day he does not know what happened to those inside.

Fuerte ran to a nearby emergency exit, but it was locked. He recalls entering the offices of Korean brokerage Hyundai Securities to ask if they knew where there was another emergency exit and being asked to leave. Fuerte's last image of the people there is of them working quietly at their desks.

He managed to find the stairs and started to make his way down the 78 flights.

"The stairs were dark," Fuerte said. "Only two people could move down, side by side. By the 50th floor, there was already quite a large flow of traffic and it was starting to become crowded."

As he reached the 35th floor, at around 9:15 a.m., he began to pass firefighters coming up.

"They were sweating from [carrying] so much equipment and we had to move into single file to let them through," he said.

Fuerte made it to the ground floor in just under an hour. There were FBI agents, police and reporters outside. Fuerte just kept on running.

"I looked up quickly and there was a large ring of fire above me," said Fuerte, who headed for a hospital. "Then I heard a woman scream and saw the south tower collapse."

"It was complete bedlam, everybody was on their own," he said. "There was a stampede across the Brooklyn Bridge and no way to use cellphones."

Fuerte was treated for injuries sustained when the elevator blew up in front of him - debris in his right eye and pain in his back and knee. He was also put on oxygen for four hours.

"While I was at the hospital I found a book of psalms in my bag and said my prayers."

It was at this point that he started seriously thinking about making aliya.

"Two years prior I had thought about it," he said, "but after the World Trade Center, I started to make serious plans. It took me a few years to get my act together, but now I am here."

Fuerte arrived, with the help of Nefesh B'Nefesh and the Jewish Agency for Israel, on July 13, 2005. He married three weeks ago and will spend the fifth anniversary of 9/11 on his honeymoon.

"It brings back painful memories," said Fuerte, who worked directly with at least 70 people who were killed that day and said another 355 people from his office did not make it out alive.

As for the security problems in his new homeland, Fuerte, who works for a high-tech firm in the capital, said, "There is terror all over the place and Israel is the Jewish homeland. All Jews should think about coming here."

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3. "Why Are French Jews Leaving France?" by Carl Hoffman
From Jerusalem Post

Ask people outside the French immigrant community why the Jews are leaving their country, and the usual answer is that they are making aliya to escape the rising tide of anti-Semitism. Ask the French olim themselves, however, and the responses become more diverse and complex.

Many recent arrivals say in no uncertain terms that it was primarily anti-Semitism that brought them from France to Israel. Others acknowledge that while anti-Semitism has increased in recent years, the phenomenon has been due largely to the intifada and emanates mainly from young Muslim immigrant men, mostly from North Africa and poorly integrated into French culture and society.

Many French olim claim that fervent Zionism and a strong attachment to Israel have impelled them to leave France and establish new roots here. Others appear to be hedging their bets, making what has come to be known as "Airbus aliya," in which the family's wife and children live in Israel, while the husband keeps his job in France and commutes between the countries.

While the reasons for making aliya vary from one family to the next, no one disputes the assertion that being Jewish in France has become more difficult during the past six years. With a tradition of anti-Semitism that dates back to Medieval times and the Crusades, France became a virtual icon of anti-Semitism in the 19th century with the Dreyfus trial - often said to have been Theodor Herzl's inspiration for the creation of modern political Zionism - and the mass round-up of Jews by the Vichy government during World War II.

French intellectuals are unabashedly anti-Israel, and the French government has often displayed a pro-Arab and pro-Palestinian bias since Israel's resounding success in the 1967 Six Day War.

With the beginning of the second intifada in September 2000, French Jews began to note a sharp increase in anti-Semitism with incidents and violent attacks unlike anything seen since the 1940s. Many of these incidents have been perpetrated by Muslim immigrants.

France's National Consultative Committee on Human Rights reported a sixfold surge in acts of violence against Jewish people, property and institutions from 2001 to 2002. In 2003, a popular Jewish DJ was brutally murdered in Paris, apparently by a radical Muslim youth organization. This was followed in 2004 by incidents. For example, a Jewish school bus was set on fire in Strasbourg; a concert by an Israeli singer in Macon was repeatedly interrupted by shouts of "Death to the Jews"; a 14-year-old boy wearing a kippa was beaten near the entrance to a Paris Metro station, with bystanders refusing to intervene; a female Jewish teacher was knocked down, beaten and trampled in central Paris; a University of Saint-Antoine medical school class was interrupted by four men shouting anti-Semitic threats and beating a Jewish student, while the class and professor looked on in silence; and a 12-year-old girl leaving a Jewish school was beaten by two men who carved a swastika into her face with a box cutter. Synagogues were torched, Jewish cemeteries were desecrated, and Jewish institutions were vandalized, damaged or destroyed.

The number and virulence of these violent attacks have indeed been reflected in the number of Jews leaving France for Israel: 11,148 between 2000 and 2005, with a 35-year high of 3,300 Jewish immigrants in 2005. While statistics for 2006 are unavailable, every indication suggests another banner year for French immigration to Israel, despite the recent war in Lebanon.

On July 25, at the height of the war, no fewer than 650 Jews arrived from France - 500 from Paris and 150 from Marseille - marking the largest number of immigrants to arrive in a single day from France since 1971.

Much of the impetus to leave France for new lives in Israel has come as the result of deep internal soul-searching among French Jews. Many of them have concluded that there is simply no future for them in France.

As Simon Kohana, president of the largely Sephardic Jewish Citizens Forum said recently, "We have begun to ask ourselves if we can even stay in France. Are we really French citizens? We have the feeling that we are a people apart."

At the same time, however, critics charge that much of the motivation to leave France can be attributed to a concerted effort by the Israeli government to lure French Jews to Israel. With Jewish immigration from the former Soviet Union having apparently dried up for the moment and the long dreamt-of influx of immigrants from English-speaking countries yet to materialize, Israel is looking to France's Jewish community - the second largest in Europe - to provide a fertile source of "warm bodies" to settle here and add weight to the demographic balance of Jews and Arabs.

Former prime minister Ariel Sharon angered the French government in 2004 by urging French Jews to immigrate to Israel for their own safety, and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently reminded French Jews of the anti-Semitism in their country and urged them to send their children to Israel.

Jewish Agency president Sallai Meridor said last April that Israel has a "national duty" to bring French Jews to Israel for their safety and security as the Agency stepped up its activities in France.

Yet not all French Jews are heeding the call to aliya or feel particularly receptive to the Israeli government's efforts to induce them to emigrate.

"France is not an anti-Semitic country," said Roger Cukierman, president of an umbrella group of Jewish organizations in France, in April 2005. "Out of a population of about 600,000, some 2,400 people making aliya is not very many, in spite of all the talk about leaving."

Other community leaders accuse the Jewish Agency of playing on French Jews' fears of anti-Semitism while knowing that there will simply not be enough jobs or employment opportunities waiting when they arrive in Israel.

Finally, many left-wing French Jews accuse the Jewish Agency of focusing their efforts on religious families while ignoring the secular members of the community, a charge that Meridor denies.

While the debate over why French Jews are leaving France may not be resolved any time soon, one thing remains certain: French Jews are leaving in steadily rising numbers, and most of them are coming to Israel.

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4. "Despite turmoil, many Jewish families in America feel pull to move to Israel" By Adrienne P. Samuels
From the Sun-Sentinal

NEWTON, Mass. · He's the founder of a nonprofit Jewish agency. She's a well-respected rabbi and author. They live with their five children in a big house in a beautiful neighborhood.

But they are leaving for a new life in Israel, where they will face the risks of a region in upheaval.

The Abramowitz-Silverman family, like thousands of American Jews, are making aliyah -- or going to Israel -- despite tensions in the Middle East and the country's recent uneasy cease-fire agreement with Lebanon. The family of seven is moving to a communal-living town on a spit of desert wedged between Egypt and Jordan in southern Israel. Still, the constant threat of war and the ongoing worldwide argument over Israel's right to exist doesn't deter them.

"I think this is the right thing to do," said Yosef Abramowitz, 42, who recently stepped down as chief executive of Jewish Family and Life, a nonprofit publisher. "Not going is giving in to terror. It's also taking away our own dreams as a family. Why would we let that weaken the Jewish spirit and our own family's dream?"

Before year's end, about 3,000 North American Jews will emigrate to Israel, up slightly over last year despite regional uncertainties.

Far from being a cause for fear, the current issues between Lebanon and Israel seem to attract Jews, said Michael Landsberg, who heads the Israel Aliyah Center in New York.
"No one cancels aliyah," said Landsberg, who regularly accompanies immigrants to the airport in New York. "That's amazing, right? In fact, I see more people, especially young people, applying for an express aliyah."

Abramowitz and his wife, Susan Silverman, will be downsizing their lives in moving to Israel, living in a three-bedroom space in Kibbutz Ketura. They'll be required to pull their weight to keep the kibbutz running smoothly. Each dweller there has a job, from cooking a community dinner to washing the laundry.

Because the adults aren't taking on specific chores, they have agreed to give the kibbutz $35,000 a year. Silverman, 43, a Reform rabbi, said she wants to spend more time with her children and help improve the state of Israel.

"I'm not feeling like God wants me to go, but there is this sense of wanting to go and build the Jewish state," she said. "There are some things Israel is doing that I'm not proud of. ... I want to be a part of building that social justice."

The family's current furniture, many of their books, all of their winter clothing, and most of their nonessential possessions will be donated or given away, though a few prized possessions are going into storage. Then they'll head to New York with one-way tickets to Israel.

The move is intended to steep the children in their Jewishness and help establish them as insiders, not outsiders, the parents said, while their two adopted children, born in Ethiopia, might feel more at home in a place with many Ethiopian Jews, they said.

Abramowitz lived in Israel as a child from 1969 to 1972 and is a dual Israeli-US citizen. He was on the Israeli ballot earlier this year, as one-third of the Atid Echad political party, which lost an election bid for a seat in the parliament.

On the kibbutz, Abramowitz plans to continue writing for his organization and updating his blog, www.peoplehood.org . Silverman wants to complete her book on the relationship between adoption, her family, and God. The family will keep their vegetarian kosher lifestyle and hope that their new culture will drown the clutter of American life.

"When my 7-year-old said to me, `Mommy, I want an iPod,' I knew we had to leave," Silverman joked.

Though their children's music classes could be held in bomb shelters, the Abramowitz-Silvermans look forward to the transition.

"We're going from a very blessed, suburban, individualistic existence, and we're going to the opposite extreme of communal and nonmaterialistic," Abramowitz said. "We're going to focus on our family and our work."

Issue 41 "KI-Tavo" 5766

2006-09-07T10:05:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique - full of love
of Israel and Aliyah inspiration!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Deuteronomy 26" by G-d Almighty
2. "Photo Essay: Seventh Summer Western Aliyah Plane Arrives Wednesday" by Ezra Halevi
3. "Pro Baseball Coming To Israel" by Jerry Crasnick
4. "Afterimages" by Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg

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1. "Deuteronomy 26" by G-d Almighty

1. "Then it shall be, when you enter the land which the LORD your God gives you as an inheritance, and you possess it and live in it,
2. that you shall take some of the first of all the produce of the ground which you bring in from your land that the LORD your God gives you, and you shall put it in a basket and go to the place where the LORD your God chooses to establish His name.
3. "You shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, `I declare this day to the LORD my God that I have entered the land which the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.'
4. "Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God.
5. "You shall answer and say before the LORD your God, `My father was a wandering Aramean, and he went down to Egypt and sojourned there, few in number; but there he became a great, mighty and populous nation.
6. `And the Egyptians treated us harshly and afflicted us, and imposed hard labor on us.
7. `Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction and our toil and our oppression;
8. and the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm and with great terror and with signs and wonders;
9. and He has brought us to this place and has given us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey.
10. `Now behold, I have brought the first of the produce of the ground which You, O LORD have given me.' And you shall set it down before the LORD your God, and worship before the LORD your God;
11. and you and the Levite and the alien who is among you shall rejoice in all the good which the LORD your God has given you and your household.
12. "When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied.
13. "You shall say before the LORD your God, `I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments.
14. `I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me.
15. `Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.'

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2. "Photo Essay: Seventh Summer Western Aliyah Plane Arrives Wednesday" by Ezra Halevi
From Israel National News

The summer's seventh planeload carrying Western immigrants to Israel arrived Wednesday. More than 3,000 Jews have arrived this summer from North America and England.

Wednesday's flight included, among its 240 passengers, 70 young single men and women, 45 families and 30 retirees – hailing from 23 US states and Canadian provinces. The flight was organized, as were previous flights, by the Nefesh b'Nefesh organization, together with the Jewish Agency.

Nefesh b'Nefesh co-founder Rabbi Yehoshua Fass addressed the new immigrants, speaking about the experience of seeing Biblical prophecies being fulfilled. "Walking down the aisle of the airplane, seeing an 85-year-old and a 5-year-old share this same process; seeing a couple who survived the Holocaust filling out their paperwork; seeing single olim [Jewish immigrants] exchange numbers – it is truly a time of redemption."

Two of the newest Israelis, Oren and Ora Nidam, "knew forever" that they wanted to make Israel their home. The couple grew up in the American Jewish heartland – Ora is from Fairlawn, New Jersey and Oren grew up in Westchester, New York. They lived in Teaneck, New Jersey, but made all their decisions with Aliyah [immigration to Israel] in mind.

Now, with their two-year-old daughter Kliel Amukah Tehillim and five-week-old son Nachman Mizmor L'David, they have finally made it. Ora says she looks forward to acclimating to both life in Israel and two-child motherhood simultaneously in their new hometown – Jerusalem.

Over the past four years since its inception, Nefesh b'Nefesh has steadily increased the numbers of immigrants it has helped move to Israel. As crowds of soldiers, well-wishers and Aliyah enthusiasts cheered for the new arrivals, Rabbi Fass promised to bring unprecedented numbers home next summer.

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3. "Pro Baseball Coming To Israel" by Jerry Crasnick
From ESPN

HINSDALE, Mass. -- On the site of the former Camp Wyoma, where an eighth grader named Dan Duquette once played volleyball and pitched horseshoes at his church picnic, 60 American ballplayers of various skills, ages and religious persuasions have gathered in pursuit of a common goal:

To play professionally in the Israel Baseball League in June 2007.

The good news: The morning signups, pre-workout salutations and several 60-yard dash trials are complete before the first ambulance is summoned.

Barely 10 minutes into the tryouts, activity ceases and hearts commence thumping when a camper mysteriously collapses on the grass. After several anxious moments, the camp trainer determines that it's nothing serious. The fallen player, more winded than injured, gets to his feet and hits the showers while the ambulance drives away.

Shortly thereafter the pristine, tree-ringed grounds of the Duquette Sports Academy are awash with a sense of bustle and hope. Infielders chatter, catchers' mitts pop, and too many hitters swing the bat with the authority of a rolled-up Boston Globe.

Duquette, who scouted in Milwaukee and ran the Expos' farm system before stints as general manager in Montreal and Boston, says tryout camps are a "truth serum" of sorts. When you dispense with the sprints and long-range throwing out of the chute, the rest is just a charade for lots of candidates.

As Duquette assesses the talent before him, he acknowledges that three or four positive reviews out of 60 would be a decent haul.

"You have to start somewhere," he says.

Exporting baseball
Near the end of the best-selling novel "Exodus," Leon Uris writes of Israel's magnetic pull for dispossessed Jews in search of refuge in the late 1940s.

"Many came with little more than the clothes they were wearing," Uris writes. "Many were old and many were ill and many were illiterate, but no matter what the condition, no matter what the added burden, no Jew was turned away from the doors of Israel."

Today's audition in the heart of the Berkshire Mountains has less to do with Zionism than the search for employment. The campers have hauled out their sweats and dusted off their dreams in hopes of playing a kid's game in a region that's too often rated NC-17 for violence.

All the ballplayers here have seen the images on CNN and Fox, of age-old hostilities festering to the surface and cross-border reprisals giving way to tenuous cease-fires. It's a near-constant loop of suffering and despair. But several profess not to be concerned.

"I would say 95 percent of the country is totally safe," says Jacob Schulder, a camper from New Jersey who recently visited Israel for the 20th time. "There are places in the Bronx you can't go and there are places in Israel you can't go. That's the way life is."

Baseball's quest to globalize has helped the sport make inroads in several new frontiers. When Jim Lefebvre is preaching the gospel in China, Lee Smith is teaching curveball grips to young pitchers in South Africa and Stubby Clapp and the Canadians are beating the tar out of the United States in the World Baseball Classic, the baseball landscape clearly is changing.

So why not Israel, a nation with a fondness for pizza, bowling, malls, reality TV, McDonald's, Home Depot and Blockbuster Video? Statistics show that Israel has the highest percentage of home computers per capita in the world, the highest ratio of university degrees and the second highest per capita output of new books each year. Shouldn't a society this enlightened embrace the most cerebral sport of all?

That sentiment mirrors Larry Baras' thinking when he hatched the idea last year of bringing pro ball to the Land of Milk and Honey. Baras, 54, owns SJR Food Inc., a Boston-based specialty baking company. While various newspaper profiles have referred to him as a "Boston millionaire" or "Boston baker," those descriptions make Baras wince.

"Don't let me anywhere near a kitchen," he says.

Baras' signature product is the "Unholey Bagel," which comes with the cream cheese already inside. Eight years ago, Baras thought he might drum up some business by dropping a bagel from the top of the Prudential Center in Boston and having Red Sox catcher Jason Varitek catch it on the street. But he couldn't negotiate a satisfactory price with Varitek's agent, Scott Boras, so the promotion died.

As an Orthodox Jew, Baras was interested in doing volunteer work in Israel last summer when the light bulb clicked. His son works for the Brockton (Mass.) Rox of the independent Canadian American League, and Baras was attending a game when it struck him how family-friendly baseball can be.

"Brockton is a tough town, but I would go to games and see families," Baras says. "There were teenagers with tattoos on their arms and balloon hats on their heads. I'm thinking, 'Here it is, Saturday night, and you have thousands of kids enjoying this most wholesome thing and having a blast. If I could take something like this and transfer it over to Israel, what a gift that would be.'"

Baras has spent the past year on a quixotic journey, making trips to Israel, soliciting sponsors and educating himself on the ins and outs of retrofitting stadiums. He has garnered media attention while navigating the inevitable bureaucratic hassles, dotting his "I's" only to stumble across an endless array of uncrossed "T's."

The Israel Baseball League hierarchy is full of heavy hitters. Baras' list of advisers includes Marvin Goldklang, who ran minor-league teams with Bill Murray and Mike Veeck, Smith College economics professor and author Andrew Zimbalist, and former Portland Trail Blazers president Marshall Glickman.

Daniel Kurtzer, former U.S. Ambassador to both Israel and Egypt, brings credibility as the new league's commissioner. When Kurtzer's three sons learned he had been chosen for the role, they congratulated him for finally doing something worthwhile with his life.

Duquette, a Dalton, Mass., native and Amherst College graduate, is the league's director of player development. His camp has been designated as the U.S. training ground for the Israel initiative.

When Duquette was working for the Expos, former Montreal owner Charles Bronfman talked wistfully of expanding baseball to Israel one day. The Expos helped plant the seed for baseball in Canada by establishing two academies, and Duquette sees the same potential for Israel. About 2,500 youngsters and adults currently play organized baseball or softball in Israel, a country roughly the size of New Jersey.

"The Israeli culture is very Americanized and baseball is the American game, so there's a level of interest there," Duquette says. "If you can make your sport important to the people in the culture and have the kids look up to the professional players, you have a chance to succeed."

Given the abuse Duquette received in the Boston papers and on talk radio after allowing Roger Clemens to leave for Toronto and trading for Carl Everett, he's certainly accustomed to operating in a hostile environment. If anyone is equipped to help run a league in the shadow of Hezbollah, it's a former Red Sox general manager.

Calling all dreamers
Along with bringing pro ball to Israel, Baras and his group are pushing for an Israeli entry in the 2009 World Baseball Classic. Rules permitting, they will explore the possibility of asking Jewish major leaguers to take part. That means Shawn Green, Jason Marquis and others could get a call.

Boston outfielder Gabe Kapler, who routinely wears a blue T-shirt with "Red Sox" inscribed in Hebrew letters, won't require much prompting.

"I would jump at the opportunity," Kapler says. "It would be an amazing, pride-building experience. I feel very strongly about my bloodline -- being Jewish as a culture, not necessarily as a religion. It's part of who I am, what my makeup is all about and how I'm perceived."

Until the big names come on board, this flick is a cross between "Bull Durham" and "The Bad News Bears Go to Tel Aviv." Roughly 80 percent of the candidates in Hinsdale are Jewish. Some have negligible talent and are here strictly on a lark. Others have played college ball at a decent level and see this as their best chance to continue.

Adam Crabb, a right-handed pitcher, flew all the way from Australia to try out. Crabb, 22, works in the agricultural industry buying grain from farmers, and during a recent slow day on the job he was trolling the Internet when he came upon the Israel Baseball League Web site. He bought a plane ticket to Boston, attended a Red Sox-Tigers game at Fenway Park, then took his long-limbed, funky motion and infectious smile to the heart of the Berkshires.

"He might be the new Graeme Lloyd," says Jacob Schulder.

Schulder, a former Yeshiva University rabbinical student, is pursuing his masters degree in real estate development from Columbia University. Jim Pierce, a shortstop for Division III Thomas College in Maine, plays summer ball in the Boston Park League.

Justin Prinstein, a former George Washington University pitcher, majored in international affairs and wants to learn to speak Arabic, but not before he runs out of chances to play pro ball. Prinstein has attended tryout camps run by the Pirates, Tigers, Brewers, Reds and Braves, only to be told that his 83-85 mph fastball is a tad short.

"It's an exhausting process," Prinstein says. "I've been all over the country. And the funny thing is, I still don't feel like I've explored all the options. There's a ton of leagues out there."

Just to set the record straight, Reggie Evans is not and never has been Jewish.

"When I found out you didn't have to be Jewish and you can be old, I said, "I'm there,'" Evans says, laughing.

A ready audience?
While basketball and soccer are extremely popular in Israel, some observers are skeptical that baseball will develop a following. It might be too slow, complex and labyrinthine in its nuances to resonate.

Amit Kurz, 18, a member of the Israeli squad that finished ninth in the European Cup tournament this year, elicits puzzled expressions when he tells his countrymen that he plays baseball.

"The first question people ask is, 'Do you hit or do you field?'" Kurz says.

When Daniel Kurtzer was Israeli ambassador and speaking to academics visiting the U.S. on fellowships, he urged them to do two things to understand American culture: (1) Visit a Civil War battlefield, and (2) Attend a baseball game. While many of the Israelis were captivated by Gettysburg or Appomattox Courthouse, they were confused or bored to tears by baseball. "We have work to do," Kurtzer concedes.

This is why Larry Baras hopes to emphasize the family angle that's made minor-league ball such a hit in the U.S. Parks at Israeli games will have barbecue grills, picnic tables with umbrellas and lots of between-innings diversions.

In the town of Bet Shemesh, located between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, there are 10,000 transplanted Americans and 240 kids in Little League. Baras is convinced the ballpark will be a happening place on summer nights. In the kibbutz of Gezer, where the first Israeli baseball field was built in 1979, the view alone might suffice. "It's the most beautiful field I've ever seen," Baras says.

For many American Jews, baseball is part of a cultural heritage forged through ancestors who emigrated to the U.S. from eastern Europe in the early 20th century. In the big eastern seaboard cities such as New York, Jews discovered that baseball could be an avenue of assimilation and a source of conversation at the dinner table.

"Baseball is a hard game to learn, but it's not unlike studying Talmud," Kurtzer says. "It's very complicated, but once you get it, it's interesting. You have a lot of statistics you can follow, and you can spend hours discussing it."

Just as Hank Greenberg was a role model in the 1930s and '40s, projecting an image of quiet strength when Adolf Hitler was calling the Jews an inferior race, Sandy Koufax made an enduring statement by refusing to pitch in the 1965 World Series opener because it conflicted with Yom Kippur, the Jewish Day of Atonement.

"In the Talmud, it is written that some attain eternal life with a single act. On Yom Kippur, 5726, a baseball immortal became a Jewish icon," Jane Leavy writes in her biography, "Sandy Koufax: A Lefty's Legacy."

Larry Baras remembers growing up in Brooklyn and seeing Hasidic Jewish boys, in their black suits, side curls and wide-brimmed black hats, engaged in heated debate. Every so often, the indecipherable streams of Yiddish were interrupted by references to "Mays" and "Mantle" and "Snider."

When Baras was a boy, his father, Hyman, presided over Sabbath meals before retiring upstairs with a copy of The Sporting News. On Shavuout, a holiday that requires Jews to stay up all night learning, Hyman Baras graduated to bigger things: He went upstairs with the "Baseball Register."

"I think everybody has some kind of a story," Baras says, "whether it's their relationship with their parents, or something in school. Baseball was always the sport played most often among Jewish kids -- in part because they weren't tall enough to play basketball, and their mothers would never let them play football."

Decision time
There's something to be said for dressing appropriately, and it becomes evident on tryout day that some aspirants haven't chosen wisely.

"You can tell who the novices are," Larry Baras says at 7:30 a.m. "Dan Duquette is running the camp, and 20 guys show up wearing Yankees hats."

Shortly after 8 a.m., the aspirants line up to sign the necessary forms and confirm they've paid the $50 registration fee. Judging from the pre-workout speakers, excitement is building for the new league in Israel.

This is a recurrent theme: Israelis could use a new diversion from upheaval and stress. And by promoting a new venture, Baras and his group are showing a welcome confidence in the future of Israeli society.

Despite an early misstep or two, Duquette and his staff unearth a few ballplayers. Camper Nate Fish attracts attention when he steps in the cage and drives a batting practice pitch off the chain-link fence in left field. Fish deftly shifts from shortstop to third base to the outfield, then squats behind home plate and throws several strikes to second base from the catcher position.

Fish, who is currently studying creative writing in New York, played college ball at the University of Cincinnati with Kevin Youkilis, the starting first baseman for the Boston Red Sox. They remain close friends, staying in touch by text message and reminiscing about old times whenever the Red Sox visit the Yankees.

Like Gabe Kapler, Fish is intrigued by the thought of combining his love of baseball with his affinity for Israel, a special place in his heart.

"I've been there twice and I feel really comfortable," Fish says. "I think they'll be cautious and smart about when and where we're playing. I think they would cancel games if they had to."

At the end of the day, Duquette and his staff designate several players -- including Fish and Australian Adam Crabb -- to be invited back for another camp in the Berkshires next spring. The campers who weren't selected receive a certificate of participation and a souvenir Israel Baseball League ball signed by commissioner Dan Kurtzer.

More tryout camps are scheduled for Arizona and Florida in early 2007, and Duquette foresees adding collegians, independent leaguers and players released by professional organizations next spring. The end result: A six-team league that will begin a 48-game schedule on June 22.

The outlook is considerably brighter than three months ago, when Baras joked that the new league had everything it needed "except for stadiums, players and fans." But when the magnitude of his venture dawns on him, it still sends a shiver through his spine.

"I'm fine during the day,'' Baras says. "I have to admit at 2 o'clock in the morning, when I wake up, I wonder if I'm nuts."

Maybe he's just a visionary. According to Psalm 1:3, a praiseworthy man is "like a tree deeply rooted alongside brooks of water, that yields its fruit in its season, and whose leaf never withers."

This is one of the miracles of Israel -- that a nation perched on a desert is so abundant in date palms and fertile orchards. The trees are already in place. Now they'll try to grow a game.

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4. "Afterimages" by Rabbi Moshe Rosenberg
From the Jewish Standard

On a day when Israel lay poised to unleash its broadest ground operation yet, and Britain uncovered a plot that was days away from replicating the carnage of 9/11, I went to the movies.

Not just any movie. I went to see "World Trade Center." I'm glad I did.

I know there are many reasons people will give not to see this film, and most of them are valid. Some say it's too early to make a film about this immense tragedy. Others feel that such a movie can't help being exploitative and invades the sacred spaces of those who lost loved ones. Still others object to the showbiz dramatization of an ineffable experience and point to patented theatrical devices, such as slow motion-sequences, that can convert the holy into the Hollywood. Finally there are those who have not forgiven director Oliver Stone for his treatment of the assassination of President Kennedy in "JFK." Perhaps the most convincing argument not to see "World Trade Center" is that it still hurts too much. I respect these views, and wouldn't presume to tell someone else whether or not to go. I can only share my personal reactions.

In the theater, emotions ran high. Although it was a late-night showing and the room was mostly empty, there was a policeman who shushed someone loudly, saying, "Those were my friends who died out there — show some respect." Some people left their seats early on, and did not come back, apparently unable to deal with their feelings.

I expected to feel the same way I do each year, when I force myself to relive horrors on Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. This turned out to be true, but at first I was surprised to find myself crying not during the disaster scenes, but during the interspersed family vignettes, which connected to the inner lives of John McLoughlin and Will Jimeno, the two trapped Port Authority Police officers around whom the story revolves. The fleshing out of the officers' relationships with their loved ones, made poignantly possible by their sudden, perhaps permanent absence, is what provides emotional depth. On second thought, isn't this exactly how the Bible highlights loss? The sale of Joseph becomes real when we see his aged father Jacob rending his garments, and the death of the Canaanite general Sisera is given finality through the image of his mother watching for him at the window.

There are many movies that explore relationships better, and plenty with better special effects. But this movie consciously chose to take one small square of the jagged mosaic — a square that deals with heroism, and risking one's life to do the right thing — and make it the center. Looming behind the two men who are rescued are the 2,749 who were not, but art makes choices in how to preserve both triumph and tragedy. Art is an essential way through which a society decides how to fit the most indigestible nuggets into its ongoing narrative — how and what to remember.

As Jews, we did the same thing just two weeks ago on Tisha B'Av, when we expressed our powerlessness through some of the most powerful poetry known to mankind — from biblical verses to prophetic exhortations to medieval laments, or kinot. When adrift on a sea of chaos, we sought out the order and beauty of poetry. In the same way, America has commemorated its war dead in the sleek lines and etched words of the Vietnam Memorial. Why do we respond to catastrophe with art?

One answer is that by preserving disaster as art, we take back control over it. The horrors will live on, but in the frame we set around them. And since art is produced by human beings, the evil will be reduced to human proportions, almost able to be encompassed by human minds and expressed by human means. The kinot are two-edged tools — speaking of randomness, while testifying to order, lamenting helplessness, while hinting at control.

"World Trade Center" takes a defining American moment that evokes fear and impotence and chooses to frame it in terms of courage and self-sacrifice. When Theodor Adorno wrote in 1949 that "To write poetry after Auschwitz is barbaric," perhaps he meant that the Holocaust was so huge that the standard devices for making tragedy digestible simply don't apply.

The concluding voiceover, in which the rescued men say that their experiences taught them the good of which man is capable, reminded me of others who chose to extract meaning from life's tragedies. I thought of the parents in Israel who set up charitable foundations to memorialize their children who fall victim to terror, and physicians who immigrated to Israel to fill some of the void left when Dr. David Applebaum was murdered. There is a part of the soul that propels us to wrest meaning from apparent randomness, and to intuit the presence of God when He is so far away. Deep down we believe that a good God implanted this power of soul within us, and that the order we make is real, not contrived.

Sitting in the darkened theater did not feel like a distraction from affairs in the Middle East, nor unrelated to the revelations coming from England. Five years ago the murder of nearly 3,000 Americans sounded the alarm that Islamic terror was on the march. An unpopular war in Iraq has muffled that clarion call. France and Russia are even now ready to restrain Israel from confronting the evil that spawned 9/11. We have been given three reminders that the danger is as strong as ever — war in the Middle East, the foiling of a new terrorist plot, and the debut of a movie. Pray to God that we need no further hints.

Issue 40 "KI-TETZEI" 5766

2006-08-31T07:25:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique - full of love of Israel and Aliyah inspiration!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Ki-Tetzei: Don't Be Afraid" by Rabbi David Samson
2. "New School Year, New Challenges For New Immigrant Students" by Daphna Berman
3. "Three Families Fulfill Dream of Making Aliya" by Debra Rubin
4. "Herzl and Rajab 27" by Elliot Jager

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1. "Ki-Tetzei: Don't Be Afraid" by Rabbi David Samson
From Israel National News

Sometimes, when Jews in the Diaspora speak about Aliyah, they say, "Certainly we are planning to live in Israel. But with all the fighting there, we can't go now. We will go when the situation becomes more peaceful."

In this week's Torah portion, we learn something different. The opening verse, "When you go forth to war against your enemies...." teaches us that war is an integral part of our Divine national mission. Seven out of the 613 mitzvot of the Torah deal with war. HaShem Himself is called "The Master of War".

The underlying commandment to wage war, milchemet mitzvah, is explained by the Ramban as the Torah mitzvah of dwelling in the Land of Israel and keeping it under Jewish sovereignty. Establishing national Jewish life (Medinat Yisrael) in Eretz Yisrael is the way that we perform this mitzvah, to be actively pursued by the Jewish People at all times. We do this with the Israel Defense Forces and with the Aliyah of every Jew to the Land of Israel. Not only with tanks and airplanes, but with every new Jewish house, stroller and washing machine.

The Torah's commandments dealing with war teach us that, even when there are enemy nations who dispute our right to the Land, we are beholden to call up our inner fortitude and courage, and to summon our readiness to sacrifice for the sake of our Land, our nation and our G-d. Entering the Land of Israel, dwelling in it, and thus establishing G-d's Kingdom on earth, are things that we must be actively engaged in, even at the price of personal hardship and war.

The precept of defending the Jewish nation in the Land of Israel and developing Jewish settlement in all of its borders is the Divine command that beckons to all of world Jewry today, just as in the time of Joshua ben Nun. As the Haftora says, "And thy seed shall possess nations, and make desolate cities to be inhabited. Don't be afraid."

The foregoing commentary was distributed by the Aloh Naaleh organization.

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2. "New School Year, New Challenges For New Immigrant Students" by Daphna Berman
From Haaretz

As children around the country gear up for the start of the new school year, more than 850 English-speaking new immigrants who arrived over the summer are preparing for their initiation into the Israeli educational system. For most, this will mean coping with instruction in a foreign language, new classmates and a completely unfamiliar system.

According to education specialists, language skills top the list of anxiety factors for new immigrant students, followed by fears about making friends.

"The number-one concern for parents and children is definitely the language issue," said Tzvi Richter, director of social services for Nefesh B'Nefesh, which works closely with the new arrivals throughout the absorption process. "Some kids come well-prepared and are either children of Israelis or have studied in a school with strong Hebrew instruction. But even so, the language problem is still the largest single barrier facing many young olim."

Having to cope with learning new material in subjects such as history, science and math, when the language of instruction is foreign, means that students are working twice as hard in any given subject.

"In an ideal world, every oleh would arrive in first grade, so that he would learn to read and write together with the Israeli students and not be behind," said Rabbi Ari Cutler, director of Lamdeni, an educational program that works with English-speaking immigrants throughout the country. "Obviously, we are not in an ideal world and though it's wonderful that olim of all ages are coming, different-age kids soak Hebrew up at different paces."

Experts say it is important to dispel the common assumption that children can learn Hebrew in a few months. "There is a myth that kids who arrive over the summer master Hebrew by Hanukkah, and that's just not true," Richter said. "That scenario is more the exception than the rule, but for some reason the myth remains. A more realistic expectation is that within a couple of months children can understand what is going on in class, even if they don't yet feel comfortable speaking."

It can be difficult for parents to watch their "star student" child suddenly struggling academically in their new environment. "Parents should have healthy expectations," Cutler advised. "If your child was an A-plus student before, you should not expect the same results right away. But on the other hand, you shouldn't let your child 'cruise,' either. Children should be learning Hebrew and making friends and working on subjects that build on one another like math, and limudei kodesh [Torah studies] for the religious. Most important, you need to make sure that your child feels accomplished."

Experts say parents must pay special attention to children who struggled with school in their previous frameworks, and those who did not want to immigrate in the first place. The latter situation can affect childrens' willingness to learn Hebrew and to make friends.

"If school was academically challenging before, the old wive's tale that if you change your place, you change your luck, isn't actually true," said Michelle Berkowitz, a U.S.-born educational consultant from Beit Shemesh and founder of the MaLaCH consulting service. "If your child was having academic challenges before, those may become exacerbated when you come on aliyah."

Differences between the Israeli school system and those abroad also take some adjustment, experts warn. Class sizes here tend to be large, with as many as 40 students per class, so teachers have less opportunity to give individual attention to each child.

Israeli schoolchildren may be more rambunctious than in schools abroad, which can be a shock to the new arrivals. Another difference is that children here usually call their teachers by their first names.

Many of the new arrivals studied in private Jewish day schools abroad, which in addition to smaller class sizes have a different organizational culture than Israeli public schools.

"The transition from a private school to a public school means that parents may have less say than they are used to," Berkowitz said. "Parents who used to pay a lot of tuition are used to having more influence, but here, parents have a smaller voice in certain issues. Also, if parents do have issues they need to discuss with a principal, for example, they need to go through channels they may not be used to."

But Berkowitz warns parents against falling into a language trap, in which they are reluctant to approach their child's teachers simply because of their less-than-fluent Hebrew. "Most probably, their child has new challenges that parents need to relate to the teacher," she said. "It's really important for parents to take someone with them who understands Hebrew."

"Children will need help immediately," she added, "and they won't be able to wait until the parent feels more comfortable speaking Hebrew."

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3. "Three Families Fulfill Dream of Making Aliya" by Debra Rubin
From the NJ Jewish News

Three Highland Park families have fulfilled a long-held dream by making aliya, leaving behind family, friends, and a comfortable life for one of uncertainty.

Jack and Riva Ben-Ezra and their three children, Patrick and Julie Zagdanski and their three children, and Bracha Leah Samet, who is college-age, have all arrived in Israel as new olim.

"There are so many reasons," said Jack Ben-Ezra in a phone conversation Aug. 8, the evening before his departure. "It's ideology, the whole concept of a Jewish homeland where we belong. Throughout the day in our prayers we pray for our return to the land of Israel. Throughout history it's been our prayer and hope. Now it's possible today. I feel that if it can be done, and I can do something, I should."

Julie Zagdanski said her family had been mulling over the move for about 10 years since they visited Israel, but never thought it was realistic. Then, she said, "our friends made aliya about two years ago, and we heard how their life was." The family realized it was possible for them, too.

The Zagdanskis and Samet left Aug. 15 aboard flights from JFK Airport in New York arranged by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a private organization allied with the Jewish Agency for Israel, which encourages North American immigration to Israel.

Yael Katzman, the organization's director of communications, said 240 olim were on the flight that carried the Ben-Ezras. The flight carrying Samet was one of three landing at Ben-Gurion Airport in Israel at the same time. Flights from Toronto, London, and New York brought an additional 600 olim.

"It was a huge day, a record-setting day for us in terms of Western aliya," said Katzman. "It started with an Aug. 9 arrival and culminated six days later with the Aug. 15 flight."

She said despite the recent war in the North and the fragile cease-fire, there were no cancellations on any flights and, in fact, aliya in general is up.

"Since Nefesh B'Nefesh started in 2002, aliya has gone up tremendously," said Katzman.

Rabbi David Bassous of Congregation Etz Ahaim in Highland Park, where all the new immigrants were congregants, said they are among nine member families who have made aliya in recent years.

"We are losing three very good member [families] — it's a big loss — but for a very good cause," he said, noting that while visiting his sister in Netivot several weeks ago, Israelis were talking about the flights bringing the hundreds of newcomers.

"They were really excited," he said. "It gave them quite a morale boost, especially now with all the troubles. It was like a vote of confidence in the country. It says Jews around the world support Israel not just financially but are willing to forgo the luxuries and amenities of America to live there."

Push and pull

Bassous said Israelis he met during his visit were unruffled despite the rockets being launched into the country.

"A Kassam [missile] landed down the road from my sister's house while I was there," Bassous recalled, and "everyone was pretty calm about it."

The Ben-Ezras are living on Kibbutz Sde Eliyahu in Beit She'an in the North, which Jack described as "being on the edge" of where the problems have been. Despite that, he said, his family had no reservations about the move. They include Isaac, seven, Renatya, four, and Chava, five months, as well as a dog and two cats.

"It's something we started thinking about two years ago, but really got serious about a year ago," he said. "We wouldn't have planned it this way, but that's the way it worked out, and we're not changing our plans."

The Zagdanskis are settling in Hashmonaim "in the middle of the country" with their children, Esther, 13, Charlie, nine, and Eliana, almost three, in the same community in which their friends live. The Zagdanski youngsters "are very excited," according to Julie Zagdanski.

"It's a Jewish country, run like a Jewish country so the Jewish holidays are the national holidays," she said.

An educator who ran her own cooperative preschool program, she said she plans to establish a preschool in Israel. Although her husband has family in Israel, including a brother who previously made aliya, she has none.

"There are a lot of people who have helped us out, giving us a little push to go," she said. "Others over there are giving you a little pull, so you're not so alone."

On the eve of her departure, Julie Zagdanski said she was not worried about the current violence in the Middle East, adding, "I wish I was there already."

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4. "Herzl and Rajab 27" by Elliot JagerFrom the Jerusalem Post

It's been a hard, tense summer and many of us share a lingering sense that our troubles are not over yet. The indecisive war with Hizbullah has revived existential worries that are never far from the surface.

It doesn't help that the renowned Middle East scholar Bernard Lewis recently raised the possibility that Shi'ite Islamists in Iran will do something nasty on the 27th day of the Muslim month of Rajab - which this year falls on August 22 - because the date is religiously propitious in the struggle against infidels.

While I'm hopeful we'll all make it to August 23, this sort of gloomy talk makes me think maybe we Jews shouldn't put all our eggs in one basket. Maybe - for lots of reasons - Theodor Herzl was wrong in advocating the negation of the Diaspora.

The longer I'm in Israel, the more appreciative I become of the Diaspora. It's not just the extraordinary outpouring of emotional and financial support we've received in the course of the war with Hizbullah; it's also a recognition that Israeli society needs the cross-pollination offered by a healthy relationship with a pluralistic Jewish world.

And it's not just the warning from Bernard Lewis that got me thinking along these lines. This week also marks the first Jewish settlement in Manhattan, in 1654, as well as Herzl's arrival in Basle to prepare for the first World Zionist Congress in 1897.

The Diaspora came to North America when Jacob Barsimson of Holland arrived on the Pear Tree precisely 352 years ago tomorrow, August 22. In September 1654 an additional 23 Jewish settlers arrived in New Netherlands, probably from the West Indies, on a ship called the Saint Catarina.

The "diversification" of Jewish civilization to the New World had begun in earnest, and a golden era of American Jewry was on the horizon. Whatever the many challenges faced by US Jews today, they do not detract from the community's unique contribution to the larger Jewish narrative.

AS FOR Theodor Herzl, he arrived in Basle on August 25 to prepare for the Congress (which opened on August 29) and brought together some 200 delegates from 20 countries, including the United States. The Congress proclaimed that "Zionism seeks to secure for the Jewish people a publicly recognized, legally secured, home in Palestine."

It is sobering that 58 years after Israeli independence what we thought was "publicly recognized" and "legally secured" apparently isn't; that assurances offered by the "international community" don't seem to have much of a shelf-life.

In his address to the Congress, Herzl forecast that once the Jewish state was established world Jewry would be transplanted to Israel, and the Diaspora would wither away: "Those who are able or who wish to be assimilated will remain behind and be absorbed."

In this way, anti-Semitism (caused, Herzl was certain, by Jewish statelessness) would gradually decrease as Jews either assimilated or immigrated to Palestine.

"Thus it is," he said, "that we understand and anticipate the solution of the Jewish problem."

Not quite.

Far from putting an end to Jew-hatred, Israel has tragically - and metaphysically - become a lightening-rod for Jew-haters.

Over the years we've had no luck in fighting - or talking - our way out of the existential conundrum we find ourselves in. And all the while, an amalgamation of well-meaning friends, deceitful allies and intransigent enemies urge us to withdraw to vulnerable armistice lines that are even more dangerous today than they were when established in 1949.

ALL THIS makes it hard to be sanguine about Israel's future. Herzl, for all his genius, misjudged the nature of the Jewish problem as well as the utility of the Diaspora.

It turns out that one of his critics, Asher Zvi Ginsberg - better known as Ahad Ha'am - was in some respects a better prognosticator than Herzl.

Ahad Ha'am, the father of "cultural Zionism," envisioned the Zionist state as the spiritual home of Jewish civilization. But he accepted that there would always be a Diaspora, which was fine by him so long as it maintained firm Jewish values.

Ahad Ha'am was no wimp. He favored Jewish self-defense and actively opposed efforts to establish the Jewish homeland in any place but Zion. Yet he was by nature a pragmatic pessimist with little faith in the political promises of the international community.

Moreover, where Herzl was oblivious, Ahad Ha'am anticipated that the aspirations of the Palestinian Arabs would have to be addressed.

In a sense, the man was also an elitist. He didn't want just anybody making aliya. He wanted immigrants to be adequately prepared intellectually for the sacrifices life in the Jewish state would demand. He himself came here in 1922.

For him, creating a Jewish state was not an end in itself. He expected it would help Judaism in its encounter with modernity. As opposed to the Jewishly illiterate Herzl, Ahad Ha'am was identified with Jewish tradition, though also ambivalent about it.

I'M STILL sentimentally attached to Herzl. But especially after the summer we've been through, and the likely troubles ahead, don't we Jews need to reduce our risk and diversify - demographically, culturally and politically? After all, ideological purity isn't much use to a country at risk of annihilation.

Looking beyond Rajab 27, the pragmatic pessimism championed by Ahad Ha'am may well serve strategic Jewish interests better than the messianic optimism of Herzl.

Issue 39 "MISHPATIM" 5766

2006-08-24T09:41:00.000-07:00

Shalom - We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique - full of love of Israel and Aliyah inspiration!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Elul In Israel" by Malkah Fleisher
2. "Danger Doesn't Deter Jews From Moving To Israel" by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila
3. "It's Easy To Be Jewish' In Israel, Olah Finds" By David Lazarus
4. "UK Jews Say Anti-Semitism Is Major Factor In Aliya" by Hilary Leila Krieger

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1. "Elul In Israel" by Malkah Fleisher

What a wild ride we've been through this year – wow. As a dewy-eyed-Zionist type, I sometimes have a hard time even reflecting on what we've been through, as a significant chunk of it is so exceedingly depressing. How many of you have heard your mind scream "I didn't sign up for this!" sometime during the course of the last year?

I won't bother to mention the problems – I'm sure all of you who live in Israel (and probably those of you who don't, as well) can come up with a whole list, public and private, of things that destroyed your day (your week, your month) at some point or another in the Land of Israel.

Many of you may be near your breaking point, wondering how many more iniquities you can be brought to bear. In that case, I would happily introduce you and the rest of the Jewish people to your new best friend – the month of Elul.

Frequently over the last long while, I have encountered the following commentary from people I know and respect: "That's it! It's over. Israel is going right down the toilet. How can it get any worse than this? They're planning to do _______, yesterday they reported that _______, and then yesterday, someone had the nerve to do _________. I don't see any hope for the State of Israel. Argh!!!"

The month of Elul exists as a time of introspection for us. We analyze ourselves and (if we're lucky) slowly begin to cringe in self-revulsion as we privately unveil the disgusting mess whose skin you see in the mirror everyday. And this after years of arduous and concentrated work on yourself! To top it all off, after a month and a half of grueling labor and (if you're lucky) forgiveness, you and I both know that you're going to have to go through the same struggle next year. And the year after. And the year after that (not that you won't conquer many of your demons, which you most distinctly will).

Perhaps G-d could look down on each of us and say "this person is never going to shape up – for example, look at this crazy balagan named Malkah– oy! Why do I bother?" But He doesn't do that. In the month of Elul, he views us with compassion. He views us with hope, with positive expectations. He makes just as much effort to forgive us as we do to get forgiven!

Just as we are redeemable, so too is the State of Israel. Given a lot of hard work, a lot of upheaval and a lot of radical expenditures of time, money, labor and love, the State of Israel can become something to be truly proud of. Before you say that's impossible, remember that this month, someone up there might be able to say the same thing about you. As long as there are dewy-eyed-Zionist types who believe in a better Israel, as long as a loving G-d sees a flicker of goodness in you, there's still hope.

Malkah's Elul Onions (think lots of bitter layers with a terrific heart)

4 red onions

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 cup feta cheese

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts

Pinch parsley, chopped.

Peel each onion and slice off the end (the bottom end with the roots) so as to make it capable of standing on its own. Place the onions in a small pot of water, boil for 10 minutes. Remove the onions from the water, allow to cool for a minute. Scoop or cut out the center of each onion (you want to leave 2 or 3 layers on the outside), and chop. Mix the onion with the breadcrumbs, feta, and pine nuts, mashing it all together. Fill each onion "shell" with the mixture, and place in a baking dish. Any remaining mixture can be placed around the onions in the dish. Bake for 30 minutes on medium to high heat. Serve sprinkled with parsley.

Note: you can substitute raw ground beef or turkey mixed with an egg or two for the cheese, and serve with a meat meal!

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2. "Danger Doesn't Deter Jews From Moving To Israel" by Matthai Chakko Kuruvila
From the San Francisco Gate

The recent bloodletting in the Middle East threw Evan Goldstein into a fog of questions about his safety should he immigrate to Israel. But then his reasons became clear.

Israelis "need to see that there are people who believe in Israel's right to exist and still believe in a future there," said Goldstein, 27, of Walnut Creek, who landed in Tel Aviv on Wednesday. "I realized now is the time to go."

Nili Molvin went to Haifa in northern Israel two weeks ago, just days after a rain of Hezbollah rockets ripped into that city.

"It really gives courage to the Jews that live in the diaspora that people like them are still willing to go," said Molvin, 22, a San Mateo resident until this journey. "It helps the state to gain support."

Goldstein and Molvin are among the thousands of Jews from around the world who immigrate annually to Israel, the world's only Jewish state. The most recent crisis has made their decision a more serious matter. Over the past two weeks, more than 400 Americans, including at least nine Bay Area residents, have moved to Israel, according to Nefesh B'Nefesh, a nonprofit organization that provides placement assistance to Jews seeking to move to Israel, including Goldstein and Molvin. The organization charters planes for these immigrants.

The Jewish immigration to Israel -- referred to as aliyah -- also helps underscore the complex and varied relationships that Jews have with Israel, particularly in the Bay Area, where there are a multiplicity of views.

Goldstein and Molvin have different religious and cultural reasons for "making aliyah," but at its core, for both, settling in Israel fulfills deeply held dreams of living out what they see as a truer Jewish identity. It's a necessary journey for them. But that feeling is far from universal.

Many Jews see no need to live in Israel to be more Jewish. And other Jews see aliyah in a darker light.

Rebecca Vilkomerson, a decade-long San Francisco resident, moved to Israel in June because she and her Israeli husband thought it would be a good thing for their children to spend a few years near their grandparents.

But because quick citizenship is only given to Jewish immigrants, and not to Palestinians who once lived in the land, Vilkomerson sees aliyah as an unethical and unfair practice used to justify Israeli government policies. She refused Israeli citizenship and the host of government benefits and assistance that come with a formal aliyah, such as tax breaks. Instead of help, she now faces an array of bureaucratic barriers. Still, she's glad she took a stand.

"I made a conscious decision not to put my own personal stamp of approval to participate in this discriminatory system," said Vilkomerson, 34, who was active in Jewish Voice for Peace when she lived in the Bay Area.

Since 2000, 13,179 Americans have immigrated to Israel, according to the Israeli Ministry of Immigrant Absorption. They represent less than 6 percent of the total 224,641 immigrants who've come from all over the world during that time.

Jews were making aliyah to the land that is now Israel even before the political state was created in 1948. The land and even the air had a sanctified status within religious texts. But the Israeli government has long made the practice into a political issue, arguing that it is central to the protection of the Jewish state.

"Aliyah is not only the supreme historic objective of our state but a security need of the highest order," Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, said in 1955, voicing the fear that the nation would always be outnumbered by its Arab neighbors.

It's a sentiment that motivates Molvin, the former San Mateo resident, who argues that higher Arab birth rates inside Israel also pose a threat.

"Aliyah gives Israel a chance to keep up with their rate of procreation, which would otherwise, in a matter of time, really hurt Israel's chances of being able to defend herself," she said from Israel.

Molvin represents the third generation of her family to try to make aliyah. While her grandparents and mother eventually returned to the United States, Molvin believes that her move might be permanent.

But she wouldn't describe herself as particularly religious. Her attendance at synagogue is sporadic, and she's not as strict in her observance of Judaic laws as she once was.

Her Jewishness, Molvin said, "is more of a cultural thing." She loves eating Israeli food. She watches Israeli movies with her family.

"Israel has always been a very important part of our lives," she said.

She's fatalistic about her safety in Israel.

"Everyone is telling me, 'If it's meant to happen, it will,' " she said of dying.

And she's looking forward to not having to defend Israel or her Jewish identity the way she's had to do in the United States, even with close friends.

"It's so much easier to be Jewish in Israel," she said. "You don't have all those people questioning why you're doing something. You don't have to go looking for Jewish people."
Goldstein, the Walnut Creek resident, believes going to Israel will allow him to more closely adhere to his Orthodox Jewish faith, which requires strict observance to a number of Judaic laws.

Living in Walnut Creek, there are no kosher restaurants. At a work lunch, all he would order was a Pepsi. And as a young man, he's itching to get married.

"On the dating scene, there are not a lot of Orthodox single girls here," he said.

Goldstein's desire to live in Israel was fueled by a stay there beginning in 2000, when he felt welcomed by many. People went out of their way to help him. A passer-by once gave him a Passover blessing at a traffic light.

"When I'm there, everybody thinks like me," he said. "In America, I've got my Jewish life and I've got my outside life. ... In Israel, you're living one life."

But the religious significance for Goldstein is larger than that.

"Judaism tells us that the future of the Jewish people is in the land of Israel," said Goldstein, who keeps a blog about this journey at planetisrael.blogspot.com . "Here, life feels a little temporary. ... It just feels like I'm contributing toward building up the Jewish people if I'm there."

Goldstein's mother, Bliss, said that she and her husband, Dan, worried about their son's safety because of the latest war. But she believes he has to go as part of his journey to find his own identity.

"He's internally driven because of his religious beliefs," said Bliss Goldstein, 49, who lives in Bellingham, Wash. "Even though it's something his dad and I don't have to do, it's something he has to do. For him to have the identity he has, he has to live in Israel. We have no right to interfere with that."

Judaism places great value on living in the land that is now Israel, said Rabbi Benjamin Blech, a professor of Talmud at Yeshiva University in New York, an Orthodox Jewish institution.

"It is true that Judaism is a religion that can be practiced universally," said Blech. "But a higher form of religiosity is when we are in the land that is holy and when we are in a country surrounded by people who allow us to live in accord with our religious needs."

More than being just an aspiration, Blech said, "Living in Israel fulfills a religious commandment."

Despite the obligation to live in the holy land, Jews have long come to terms with living elsewhere, and some of Judaism's most respected scholars have chosen to do so, said Deena Aranoff, a professor of Jewish studies at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley.

The decision about whether to move to the region or not "is a tension that's there," she said. "But it has existed that way for 2,000 years."

But some Jews dispute whether living in Israel draws them closer to the faith. Politics is so intertwined with religion in Israel that Orthodox Jews and more secular Jews frequently battle over how Jewish the nation should be.

"A lot of the non-Orthodox Jews feel like the Orthodox Jews are making them be more Jewish than they want to," said Orit Weksler, an East Bay psychotherapist who was born and raised in Israel and moved to the Bay Area in 2002. But non-Orthodox Israelis tended to be cynical about faith, so Weksler felt she had to be circumspect about how she expressed her Judaism.

Weksler said coming to America liberated her from those polarizing views. She now performs rituals she'd shy away from in Israel.

"I feel more Jewish" living in the United States, she said, adding that she believes American Jews "romanticize Israel."

"I have more possibilities to explore my Judaism here than in Israel."

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3. 'It's Easy To Be Jewish' In Israel, Olah Finds" By David Lazarus
From Canadian Jewish News

MONTREAL - The difference between visiting Israel and making aliyah can be vast, and that partly explains why some people who plan to immigrate end up returning to their former homes, for a multitude of reasons.

But others persevere and stay, their Zionist spirit ultimately strengthened and reaffirmed by the challenges of integrating into Israeli life and society.

Tania Korin comes across as one of the stayers.

The 24-year-old Montrealer made aliyah last fall and has faced the usual litany of fulfilments and frustrations that face young, single olim, such as becoming fully fluent in Hebrew, cutting through bureaucratic red tape, and missing family back home.

But all that has been more than compensated for, she said, by the simple experience of being immersed in a Jewish society.

"The thing is, despite all the problems, I still feel fulfilled, complete," Korin said, speaking before the outbreak of hostilities between Hezbollah and Israel. "Some olim have unrealistic expectations. But you can't lose sight of the reason you made aliyah in the first place."

Korin's story is like that of many young Jewish adults who finally make the big decision.

Growing up, she did a lot of the usual Jewish stuff, such as Camp B'nai Brith, BBYO and Herzliah High School, which included a school trip to Israel in Grade 9.

Later, while studying for a social work degree at McGill University, she was "appalled," she said, about the attitudes she witnessed on campus toward Jews and Israel. She became a vice-president at Hillel, because,"I felt that if I could not be in Israel, I had to be working for Israel."

In December 2004, Korin, who was already considering emigrating, went on a trip run by the aliyah office of the Canadian Zionist Federation.

"I knew that aliyah was for me, but I just didn't know how."

Finally, after completing her undergraduate degree at McGill, Korin took the big step and moved to Israel for good last year as part of the Garin Magshimim program, which provides a full year of counselling and help to Montreal olim who settle in Be'er Sheva, a city twinned with Montreal through Partnership 2000.

Korin said she found Be'er Sheva, where she lived with her friends Carmen and Jack, "beautiful, but dull," so she moved to the more cosmopolitan Tel Aviv while continuing to work on a master's degree in education from McGill using the facilities of Tel Aviv University.

She said that living as an Israeli has come with its set of revelations. In Israel, a monthly salary of $2,000 is considered "incredibly high," and Israeli banks, she said, don't tell you about how much you have left in your account, so much as they keep tabs of what your "meenoos" (overdraft) balance is – as in, "Your balance is now 'meenoos' 500," she jokes.

Everyone in Israel pays for things in instalments, Korin marvelled, even if it's for something as prosaic as a hair dryer. Also, the beach is always easily accessible, and bus drivers "decide they can change their bus routes to suit them."

Other eyeopeners: you can talk to people at a bus stop as if you have known them for years, and in the fall, you can buy Coke bottles that say "Shanah Tovah" on them.

In terms of living as a Jew in Israel, Korin said she has been told what many others have heard before her.

One relative said to her: "You're in a Jewish country. You don't need to be Jewish [religiously]!"

Jewish secular Israelis, "don't need to show their Judaism,"she was told.

But Korin sees it more simply: she can be as observant as she chooses, because she can go to a restaurant on Passover or shop at a store after Shabbat.

"The point is, it's easy to be Jewish here."

There are other challenges. Things aren't handed to you on a silver platter, she said, nor do people expect them to be.

At the time she spoke to The CJN, Korin was living partly on savings and using an Israeli website to find herself a job.

She said that making aliyah has been "the most difficult yet exhilarating experience" of her life, and that she's faced daily struggles related to "difference of mentality and culture."

Still, she wouldn't have it any other way.

"If your goal is to make a better future for yourself and for future generations," she said, "this is the place to be."

Since the start of the current crisis in Lebanon, Korin sent word to The CJN about its impact on her and those around her.

"I have been here for several months… It has been amazing, calm and fun, that is until now… This whole situation seems unreal. I, along with the entire country, am wondering how long will this go on. When will there finally be peace?" she wrote.

"I am sitting in my Tel Aviv apartment with the news blaring, the reporter interviewing victims of the missile attack on the train station in Haifa this morning, a train that I myself was about to take today to go visit my cousin in Haifa but am not taking any more.

"My boyfriend just informed me that his cousin was… one of the eight people working in the Haifa train station who was murdered while at work because his work happened to be in a city that is close enough for Hezbollah to attack."

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4. "UK Jews Say Anti-Semitism Is Major Factor In Aliya" by Hilary Leila Krieger
From Jerusalem Post

Anti-Semitic attitudes in the UK are a leading factor in encouraging aliya for British Jews, according to many of those who arrived here Wednesday.

Some 140 Britons, 140 Canadians and 240 Americans touched down together at Ben-Gurion Airport on flights sponsored by Nefesh B'Nefesh in partnership with the Jewish Agency.

The trip from Stansted was the first from the UK, and came amid a backdrop of heightened security following arrests of British Muslims accused of plotting a massive terror attack.

Several Jews coming from the UK said the terror threat hadn't dissuaded them from traveling and that other recent developments, notably the response in Britain to Israel's actions against Hizbullah, had increased their desire to leave.

"I believe there is no future for Jews outside Israel," said Yossi Vardakis, 19, while en route from London to Israel, where he plans to study rather than face hostility at a British university. "You don't feel really welcomed being Jewish [in England]. You're attacked for supporting Israel... You see this hatred coming out."

Since hostilities erupted between Israel and Hizbullah, British Jews have experienced a doubling in the rate of anti-Semitic incidents - most in the form of vandalism and threats - according to the Community Security Trust. Many members of the Jewish community have also accused the British media of incendiary coverage of the conflict.

Leila Segal, a writer and editor, described herself as living in a "mental ghetto" in London, where she felt she was "always censoring" herself when it came to her Jewish identity.

"I'm not running away from that, because we have to confront it," she said. "But I really think that coming to Israel and living in Israel, that's a very strong act we can take to affirm our existence."

Shachar Navon of the Jewish Agency's London branch said the influx of immigrants would contribute to an expected 550 British olim in 2006, the highest number in the last decade and a continuation of a trend which has seen about a 50 percent rise in British newcomers in the last few years.

She attributed that increase largely to antagonism felt by British Jews: "They say they are not fully secure here in the UK and that there are anti-Semitic acts all the time. They say they want to live in a place that welcomes them instead of looking at them as strangers."

Standing amid a sea of friends, family and IDF soldiers waving Israeli flags to welcome the new immigrants to Ben-Gurion, Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielski said the pull is so strong that the recent violence has not deterred them from coming. In fact, some 4,000 immigrants have arrived since the beginning of the war.

"People came to the conclusion that never mind Hizbullah, never mind [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad, we are coming here because this is the only Jewish state we have," he said. "It's the only country in the world where the prime minister waits at the airport to welcome new immigrants."

Soon afterward, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert addressed the crowd, which gave him a muted welcome. He noted the difficult experience the country has recently been through, but said, "One thing that really strengthens this country is aliya."

He told the audience of teary immigrants, boisterous children and squealing pets, "When more than 500 Jews on this day come to the State of Israel, what they say to the world is, 'We are afraid of no one, because we trust the State of Israel, we believe in the future of Israel and we will build the State of Israel with all the Jewish people.'"

Debra Kalms, 44, who came from London to join her daughter here, said the current events only strengthened her resolve to come.

"It's a very historic time in our people's history," said the former executive director of Hadassah in the UK, sitting in Stansted airport with her 13-year-old son before their departure.

"To come at this time and help be a part of the country and [contribute] to our people and our faith, I feel very privileged to be in that position."

Daniel Robinson, 19, making aliya on his own from London, said the reports of Katyusha and army casualties had made him "rethink how hard it would be" to live in Israel, but "hasn't for a second made me question my plans to make aliya."

In fact, he said that when he heard Nefesh B'Nefesh was launching its first UK flight, it pushed him to come ahead of schedule.

Issue 38 "RE'EH" 5766

2006-08-17T07:24:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.

I'm sorry that there has not been a Kummunique in the past two weeks - but due to the hostilities in the north, I was drafted into emegency reserve duty in the IDF. The day after I was released, the landing of three NBN planes took place and I got up early to be there as well! This issue is dedicated to the brave soldiers who fought to protect Israel, and those new Olim who took advantage of their sacrifice to make Israel their home.

In this issue you will find:

1. "Three Planes of Jewish Immigrants From Canada, US & UK Arrive" by Ezra HaLevi
2. "Why Leave The UK For This?" by Dominic Casciani
3. "Soldier Fights For Family's Aliya" by Hilary Leila Kreeger
4. "Aliyah to Carmiel!" by Tony Woodward

Three immigrant flights arrive simultaneously in Israel! Israel National Radio was there to cover it LIVE!!!

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1. "Three Planes of Jewish Immigrants From Canada, US & UK Arrive" by Ezra HaLevi
From Israel National News

Three airplanes filled with Jewish immigrants – from the United States, Canada and England – touched down in Israel Wednesday. The day marked a new record in Aliyah from the West.

The three flights were organized by the Nefesh b'Nefesh Aliyah assistance organization, in conjunction with the Jewish Agency.

The plane from the United Kingdom was the first, and marks an expansion of Nefesh b'Nefesh's operations beyond North America – from where the groups's first 18 flights took off. In his speech to the newcomers, NBN co-founder Rabbi Yehoshua Fass said that the organization would soon be launching its Aliyah assistance programs in Mexico as well.

"You shall inherit the land and you shall settle it," Rabbi Fass told the crowd of new arrivals. "The moment you step off the plane you inherit the product of many years of sacrifice, blood and tears. Now you must settle the land, loving and embracing it."

The Re-Engagement war and the days-old ceasefire were on many arrivals' minds, and the decision to come despite the difficult situation was a prominent theme in the welcome speeches by dignitaries. The president of El Al said that some of the pilots who flew the new immigrants to their new home were flying fighter jets in Lebanon just days ago.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert also attended the ceremony, saying Aliyah is the greatest expression of confidence in Israel's future.

A photo essay of the arrival by Arutz-7 photojournalist Josh Shamsi can be viewed here.

Photos of the historic event taken by Jacob Richman can be viewed by clicking here.

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2. "Why Leave The UK For This?" by Dominic Casciani
From the BBC

Emigration is a life-changing experience - but for British Jews who move to Israel it can also fulfil a religious and cultural dream. So how do they feel about moving to what the rest of the world regards as a war zone?

Sharon Saltoun hugs her parents, Shoshi and Ischeskel, and smiles. Shoshi holds back tears - those happy tears tinged with sadness that parents shed as children fly the nest.

"We'll take good care of her," says the rep from Nefesh B'Nefesh, the organisation taking a coach load of British Jews to Heathrow Airport to embark on a new life in Israel.

She is one of 145 Britons to charter an El Al plane to collectively complete a personal journey to "make Aliyah", or emigrate, to Israel.

Their landing at Ben Gurion International Airport in Tel Aviv on Wednesday will be co-ordinated with two similar flights from Canada and the United States. The 800 passengers make up one of the largest single days of emigration from the West that Israel has experienced in recent years.

Aliyah, which literally means "going up", is not new; Israel has famously brought in a million Russian and 22,000 Ethiopian Jews, with varying degrees of success in terms of their ability to integrate.

But it is only thanks to the lowering of costs - particularly in air travel and resettlement - that a viable market in "returning" to Israel has grown.

And it's the dream of being an Oleh hadach - new immigrant - that Londoner Sharon Saltoun, 25, is following.

"I'm going home," says British-born Sharon. "It's a place that I have wanted to go for many years. My mother is Israeli and our family have survived there for many years in difficult times. But I am also going for the good times."

Homeward bound

So what makes someone want to do it? In Sharon's case, she wants to be part of the Jewish nation, something personally important to her - although she adds that she'll probably miss Britain's diversity.

[We call upon the Jewish people throughout the diaspora to unite with us in our homeland by making aliyah, by building the land, and by taking part in the momentous undertaking of the redemption of the Jewish people, which has been the dream of generations - David Ben Gurion, First Israeli Prime Minister, 1948]

She's been making increasingly longer trips to the country and doing voluntary work in the emergency services. She now feels it's the right time to make the leap, and hopes to work in IT.

Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) is the Israeli organisation behind this wave of emigrations from the UK. The five-year-old body's name loosely translates as "soul by soul" and it encourages Jews from North America and now the UK to emigrate.

By the end of 2006 it will have helped to create 10,000 new Israeli citizens, something that happens the moment they step onto the soil.

The organisation works closely with the government, and during flights the business class cabin usually turns into a flying bureaucracy as Absorption Ministry officials and others rubber-stamp passengers' papers.

"This is a historic yearning," says Charley Levine, spokesman for NBN and a former Texan.

"These people are already down the road idealistically and we are there to help them.

"Many of them are religiously-natured but others have a different motivation. To say you are a Jew because of your religion is not the whole story. You are part of a people with a shared history and culture. It's the story of a Jewish civilisation to want to return to Israel."

Disputed land

That historic yearning also has a political purpose. Israel needs emigres from the West to strategically strengthen its links with the countries that most support it. Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon once said he wanted most of the world's Jews in Israel by 2020.

[This is our country we are going to and that gives us protection - I could get on the Tube here in London and the risks are the same - Rebecca Aminoff]

In contrast, critics of Israel note that the campaign for a "right to return" for Palestinian families who lived inside Israel's borders prior to 1948 is one of the conflict's running sores, and the arrival of emigres has often been associated with the building of controversial settlements in areas claimed by the Palestinians.

Mr Levine says that all emigrants harbour doubts about that conflict - not least in the current crisis. But most regard their movement as a "triumph of history over headlines".

It's a view shared by Londoners Albert and Rebecca Aminoff, whose children Talia, two, and Aaron, three months, comprise the youngest departing family.

"We have always wanted to go," says Rebecca. "We even talked about it on our first date.

"I know we have our Jewish community here but Israel, its environment is much larger. I don't want people to think that I am some kind of religious zealot, because I'm not, but Israel has kedushah - a holiness of the soil - that makes me feel closer to God."

Does she not worry about being caught up in any future conflicts?

"I'm a mother, I worry about my children all the time but we are not stupid, we are not going to live in one of the trouble spots.

"We took a long time to work out that we would be going and talked about it a lot. We believe that this is our country we are going to and that gives us protection. I could get on the Tube tomorrow here in London and the risks are the same."

Is Albert concerned that his baby boy will probably one day be required to pull on an army uniform? "No, I haven't thought about it in those terms," he says. "It's years away and things can change."

Warm welcome

Aaron Bernstein, his wife Nechama and their seven-month-old Yitzchok, have already made the psychological leap past security concerns.

"We've made some long trips and have generally been more there than here so the time is right," says Aaron, who hopes to be a rabbi.

"Nowhere is safe when you think about it. God brings us into this world and will take us from it when he sees the time is right."

As the group's bus readies to depart from a sleepy cul-de-sac in Hendon, the atmosphere palpably lifts to one of overwhelming excitement.

Walter Bingham, who is covering the journey for Israeli National Radio and is a recent emigrant himself, having left the UK two years earlier, says nothing compares to the reception on arrival.

"People are wonderful to you," he says. "You're not a 'bloody immigrant' - none of that talk you get here in England. You're someone coming home who hears: 'Baruch haba! Welcome here!"

Comments:

-Good luck to these brave young people. We live in a free world that allows us to go where we feel comfortable and where we feel there will be a good life for our children. I hope they have happy and peaceful lives.
Carol Collier, London, UK

-They are born in UK and have benefited from everything the UK offers yet they see a foreign country as their home. Perhaps they can repay the British taxpayer with any education costs and social security benefits they have garnered. Hopefully they have a one-way ticket as their loyalty to their country of birth should render any British passports they hold invalid.
Ian Newberry, Winchester UK

-Israel is the one place for the Jewish people by the Jewish people, for thousands of years since the Roman invasion Jews have lived throughout the world at the hand of others' "mood". This is the ancestral and of course the modern home of the Jewish people and I for one which them all the best.
Neil Green, Queens, NY US

-It is unfortunate that their emigration will most likely result in the displacement of local Arabs. Israel is like a cup of water put too many rocks in and the water will spill over.
John, London

-This is just emigration, albeit with an idealistic element not usually the case for other emigrants. I have lived in New Zealand and the USA and would have happily stayed on in both if circumstances had been different. For those criticising these people just remember this - the weather is so much better in Israel, (and in NZ and the US) than it is here.
Grahame Reynolds, Wrexham, UK

-Isn't this some kind of ethnic distilling? All around the world we are encouraged to diversify and have multicultural values and yet here is a country that is actively encouraging cultural isolation. How is that any different to countries that wish to become Muslim states that we all seem to fear so much?
Rob, Stafford

-I find it incomprehensible that Palestinians are still waiting in refugee camps for a chance to return to the land they once owned. How is this possible?
Anna, Hastings, England

-I am confused. I thought Judaism was a religion, now it seems it is a nationality? Do these people refuse to integrate in their national community and feel that they are British Jews? Should all Roman Catholics have to go and live in Italy? I think this mentality creates most of the friction in the modern world.
Stephen Nately, London

-Stephen, Mordechai Kaplan called it a "religious civilization". Alternatively, its a religion in which the peoplehood of the Jews is a key religious concept. If you really want to learn more, there are many good books Judaism you could read.
Ken, Alexandria, Virginia

-Very touching. Makes you want to be a part of it.
R K Jaggi, Houston, Texas, USA

-As British born and bred, how can anyone call another country 'my country'. Fundamentalism is prevalent on both sides of this issue and political emigrants such as these can only make things worse.
John Wyer, Bangor, North Wales UK

-This is an example of why there is so much political unrest in the Middle East. Just because you are of Jewish decent does not give you the right to go back home to the 'Motherland'. Do these people seriously think they have more right to move back to a country they may have never been to without considering the rights of native Israelis or Palestinians - to not consider this is both ignorant and selfish.
Paul, Manchester UK

-Although I am not Jewish, it saddens me somewhat to see so many young families departing the UK, but as a mother I can understand their reasons, obviously to the country of their choice. I have always found that the majority of Jewish people have never imposed their religion, their views, or demanded any preferential treatment (whether British born or not), and they have and do suffer a great deal by bigots in Britain. I wish them all the luck in the world and every success in their exciting new life
R Laurie-Kelly, Wandsworth, London

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3. "Soldier Fights For Family's Aliya" by Hilary Leila Kreeger
From Jerusalem Post

During a clash with Hizbullah gunmen in Lebanon, St.-Sgt. Avi Hangshing heard a large explosion and hit the dirt for cover. As the two sides traded heavy fire, he gradually lost his hearing and his balance.

Released from the army for medical treatment last week, Hangshing said he still walked "like a drunk person."

The Lebanon skirmish might have been the most debilitating battle Hangshing has fought, but it was hardly his first. Before Hangshing could even join the IDF, he had to battle to be allowed into the country.

"I had to fight to come to Israel. Now I have to fight for the country," said the 22-year-old paratrooper, who was born in India.

Hangshing is one of a dozen or so combat soldiers of Bnei Menashe heritage who are currently serving in Lebanon and Gaza. They all have relatives - some have immediate family members - who are still in India and can't come to Israel because the government isn't giving them visas.

Some 7,000 Bnei Menashe live in India and claim they are a "Lost Tribe" with Jewish roots. In recent years they have returned to Judaism and are studying for conversion. Some 1,000 have already converted and been allowed to come here, but the government put a stay on converting the others until it has reviewed its policy toward the group.
Hangshing has four uncles, plus cousins, who have been waiting to make aliya ever since his immediate family did in 2000. Despite the fact that his relatives observe Halacha, Hangshing said, "As long as they are there, they're still lost."

Hangshing described himself as "angry" at their situation and questioned why the government would keep them out of the country despite the contributions being made by his community.

Those opposed to their coming claim that they are only coming for economic reasons, at the urging of right-wing advocacy groups who want to populate the territories.

Hangshing, like most of the Bnei Menashe in Israel, lives over the Green Line, but the groups' supporters strenuously reject those criticisms.
"People are only looking skin-deep," countered Tzvi Kaute, who charged that the government's policy stems from the fact that he and his fellow Bnei Menashe look like Filipinos. "They are judging us on our appearance."

Kaute, who works for Shavei Israel, a group pushing for the Bnei Menashe to be allowed to come here, said, "We're part of the people of Israel, part of the ingathering. We don't want to be in exile."

And being part of the Jewish people means joining the IDF, he said. "It is our duty as full citizens to serve the country... it's part of the Jewish nation, part of the Jewish family."

Hangshing, who hopes to make a career in the army, said that he had considered signing up for the Indian army as a child, because he was attracted to the military experience.
"Here I don't experience," he said. "Here it's for my country, for something I care about."

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4. "Aliyah to Carmiel!" by Tony Woodward
From the Jewish Agency

Interestingly enough, the aliyah to Israel continues, even in times such as these. The following was written by the Woodward family who has recently moved to Karmiel from their home in South Africa. The following is a recounting of their most recent experiences in their new home.

"We flew out from South Africa on 8 July 2006 on an overnight flight to Israel. We landed at Ben Gurion International Airport near Tel Aviv at about 5AM SA time which is six in the morning Israeli time. We were taken through to the immigration department where they loaded all the relevant information they needed from us straight into the computer. Much to our surprise, we were issued a joint temporary ID document and our first lot of money straight away. From there they took us to collect our luggage and through customs. Once that was all complete they organized us a taxi and we left on our first trip in Israel. All this took only about 2 hours as we were on our way just before 08h00 Israeli time.

The taxi trip was both exciting and a bit of a nightmare, as we were seeing a new country for the first time as well as experiencing a new style of driving, i.e. driving on the right side of the road and drivers that are a lot worse than you find in the good old SA. The traffic in Tel Aviv is just as you might find in Johannesburg, and we were stuck in it. When we did eventually get to leaving Tel Aviv (we had to pick up a young lady in the centre and drop her off at a kibbutz just outside Tel Aviv), we would settle down to a lot of traffic, but with a changing scenery as we traveled.

Even though Karmiel is only about 160 km's from Tel Aviv we only arrived at around 11h30.We were shown to our new home (1 bedroom flatlet ) and with the help of a couple of youngsters that were outside we got all our luggage up to our flat on the 2nd floor. When Brenda took one look at all this, she just sat down and cried. This was due to a combination of the size of the flat, tiredness as we had not been able to sleep on the plane, and the heat we endured from Tel Aviv to Karmiel. It is a lot cooler in Karmiel.

After she had had a short nap we went down to meet Ziona who is the director of the absorption centre in Karmiel. From the time we landed in Israel, we have come across people who care. It does not matter where you go; the Jewish people stick together and always care about each other.

We had only 3 days to discover our city, which we have not fully discovered. We walked everywhere and we were truly amazed at the little shops and all the things that you can buy here.

We could not wait; we had our first Falafel with the wonderful tasty radishes that are served here. We are totally hooked on the radishes. The hummus is fantastic, and we cannot go a day without eating it with something.

Well our first experience was on Wednesday, 12 July, when after 2 days of paperwork and government departments we decided we were now able to catch the bus to the shopping centre ourselves. We had hardly arrived at the shopping centre when the first Katyushas hit. Coming from South Africa, we are really green, and had no idea what happened. Everyone was running and shouting, and when you are in new country you don't speak the language, worse you had no idea the danger you were in. Well finally, someone told us to evacuate. We then heard that a bomb had fallen in the shopping centre 1 minute away. That was really nerve wrecking. Well we got a bus to stop and pick us up to go, which felt like the longest bus trip of my life for about 1 km only.

Since the 12 July, all we have basically known is the Mercaz Klita, and the bomb shelter. We spend a lot of time in the latter. On the 22 July, we experienced something horrific. At about 16h30, we were sitting and watching TV like normal in our flatlet, and Brenda heard a Katyusha land, she immediately commented we must move and before we all had the chance the second one landed. I just shouted at them to lie down and pushed them into the bedroom. The third Katyusha landed 10m from our bedroom window, the emotional anxiety, stress and fear cannot be described. The blast was extremely loud, and landed in the road, hurting people in two cars and destroying the cars. Our building on the side of the road did not have a window that was not broken. The security guard's car was parked on the side of the building lost it's back window. We only thank G-d that no one in our building was hurt.

The next day friends of ours phoned from Ra'anana and asked us to come and spend time there. We went for a week. Ra'anana is incredibly hot and if you don't enjoy the heat then you will be very uncomfortable there, and will find yourself in an air-conditioned building or room most of the time.

We got back to Karmiel on 28 July, and we were hardly back 30 minutes and we were back in the bomb shelters periodically. Our experience here can truly be described as a baptism of fire.

We are looking forward to this war ending so that our life can start and our daughter Kaeleigh who is 14 can start school. She has been very bored and the centre that we are at and does not have anyone who speaks English, so she has been very lonely. She is dying to start school and make new friends.

Although this has been quite an unstable start for us, we are still determined to stay in Israel and make it our home."

Issue 37 "DVARIM" 5766

2006-07-28T01:32:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.

This issue is filled the awesome Kiddush Hashem of Western Aliyah that is coming to Israel in a time of war. These past two weeks have seen amazing media coverage of the courage and tenacity of the Jewish people's return to the Land of Israel. I have included some of the best articles that have appeared. Please enjoy this very special, and extra-long, issue of Kummunique.

In this issue you will find:

1. "New Arrivals Remind Us Of Our Destiny" by Alan D. Abbey
2. "Missiles Don't Deter Planeload Of Immigrants From North America" By Dina Kraft
3. "Former Monsey Woman To Publish Book On Experiences In Israel" by Hema Easley
4. "Newly Arrived Immigrants Struggle To Cope With Their First Taste Of War" by By Daphna Berman
5. "Peace In Jerusalem's Anglo Scene" by Jacob Berkman
6. "Olmert: These Days Demand Sacrifice" by Moran Zelikovich

Also, enjoy our new hour-long audio from the last Nefesh B'Nefesh arrival:

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1. "New Arrivals Remind Us Of Our Destiny" by Alan D. Abbey
From YNET

Ceremony for 250 N. American 'olim' at airport welcome breather from Katyusha pounding

We got up and out of the house early today, just before the pounding began. I don't mean the Katyushas that have been harming our countrymen, friends, and relatives in the North, but what we call the "chunka chunka" machine, a noisy pile driver that is digging a deep hole for a new apartment building across the street from ours.

The pile driver bangs away all day, from 7 a.m. to about 7 p.m., and on Fridays, too. The builder seems to be in a hurry to get his new apartment complex in the ground.

We needed to be out early to attend a ceremony at Ben-Gurion Airport marking the arrival of 250 North American olim (new immigrants), among them a young cousin of mine.

The flight was the 17th "boatload" of North American immigrants to Israel organized by Nefesh B'Nefesh (Soul to Soul), a five-year-old private agency that has revolutionized the way Americans move to Israel operating in cooperation with the Jewish Agency for Israel .

The ceremony was admirably well organized, with ample shade, food, water bottles, Israeli flags, balloons, and even candy for the kids. One of the speakers made the offhand remark that Ben-Gurion Airport is probably the only airport in the world that is set up to welcome groups of immigrants with moving ceremonies.

We all rushed to one side of the open-sided hangar on the tarmac to see the gleaming white El Al 777 airplane release its passengers. Shouts rang out as people recognized friends and relatives. A roar went up from the crowd of more than 500 when one exuberant new oleh jumped up and down and waved his arms as he emerged from the plane at the top of the staircase.

'Aliyah answer to Hizbullah'

A few minutes later we all rushed to where the new arrivals were coming into the area set aside for the ceremony. Applause, cheers, and tears broke out as the newcomers pressed through the tightly packed throngs and broke out of the narrow corridor as they found their greeters. We hugged our cousin tightly when we saw him.

The symbolism of today's arrival is too obvious to be missed: North Americans giving up their cushy existence in the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave for a more difficult life in the dusty foothills of their ancient forefathers in a time of war. When much of Beirut has been reduced to rubble, firefights are flashing across the Israel-Lebanon border, hundreds of Israelis have been injured, and thousands are in and out of bomb shelters, dozens of families are beginning new lives with joy and courage.

I don't generally agree with Bibi Netanyahu, one of the welcoming speakers, but I'm happy to quote him today: "Aliyah is the answer to Hizbullah." For once, he's right. Israel, still a small country, needs all the immigrants it can get.

This won't be the final battle

That's not to overcome the alleged demographic time bomb (that is, the purported eventual majority of Arabs in the land of Israel because of higher Arab birthrates). Nor is it to become cannon fodder for the IDF.

Most of the immigrants I saw today – with the exception of a few like my cousin, who has already served in the Army and will do his reserve duty – are too old to join the Army, even though their children probably will.

It's because the immigrants are choosing meaningful lives of building the Jewish state for themselves and future generations over their materially richer lives in what I like to call the "Old Country." It's a needed reminder of the idealism that built this country, and that idealism is not dead.

Obviously, all of today's immigrants began planning their trip months or even years ago, and their arrival today was coincidental. Or was it?

Our morale is high: There is a great deal of unity in the country, and support for the necessary but difficult task of reducing Hizbullah's power to rubble without destroying all of Lebanon. We need to clip Syria's and Iran's wings without drawing them into a Doomsday battle.

This won't be the final battle; this is not Armageddon come to life (death?) out of the pages of the Bible. This one of the periodic efforts to remind the Arab world that Israel is (1) strong, (2) united, and (3) here to stay. It's not a lesson that lasts forever. As they say, in every generation some descendant of Amalek rises up with the intention of destroying Israel and the Jewish people.

But the sooner we get finished with knocking down the Katyushas the sooner we can get back to our real work: Building the Jewish state and securing the future of the Jewish people.
When we returned home, the "chunka chunka" machine was still banging away. I listened to it with fresh appreciation: It was the sound of building, not destruction, a sound we in Israel prefer above all others.

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2. "Missiles Don't Deter Planeload Of Immigrants From North America" By Dina Kraft
From the St. Louis Jewish Light

NEW YORK/TEL AVIV — Susan Rubin held her 22-year-old son close, tears spilling down her cheeks while news photographers zoomed in on what an American Jewish mother looks like as she watches her son immigrate to Israel in the midst of war.

"Just let me cry," she told her son, Stephen, who graduated from college a month ago. But Rubin said her sadness comes not only from the ongoing fighting and her son's intentions to join an Israeli army combat unit, but simply from how much she'll miss him.

"People ask me, 'How can you let him go?' I say how can I not let him go?" said Rubin, an editor and researcher from Bala Cynwyd, a Philadelphia suburb. "We raise our children to go forth, but it doesn't mean our hearts aren't breaking."

Rubin's son was one of 239 North American immigrants who left New York on Wednesday and arrived in Israel the following day on a flight chartered by Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization devoted to facilitating North American aliyah. The group helps ease the aliyah process by streamlining the immigration process and providing financial grants and social services.

Organizers expect to welcome the 10,000th immigrant from Nefesh B'Nefesh later this summer. The group's efforts are funded predominately by a handful of philanthropic families, and it also receives funding and support from the Israeli government and the Jewish Agency for Israel.

Against a backdrop of war and uncertainty, farewells were especially emotional as families and friends bid their loved ones good-bye at New York's JFK Airport. Sisters parted from brothers, parents from children and grandchildren. Long good-byes were punctuated with hugs, grasped hands and tears.

"I'll miss them, but I'm proud of them," said writer Joe Rapaport, 64, as his son and daughter-in-law and their five children checked in suitcases and strollers piled high on carts.

Inbar Rapaport, 33, pregnant with her sixth child, stood at the check-in counter and said the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah had not deterred the family from making aliyah, as she and her husband had intended for years.

"I'm happy that they're trying to get Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon," the Harvard-educated lawyer said. "I'd be happier if Israel was at peace, but it's not."

Her immediate concerns are practical: She worries that the shipment from the home the family just sold in Teaneck, N.J., will be delayed because the Haifa port has been closed due to missile attacks on the city.

Shachar, 9, the eldest of the Rapaport children, has been following the daily headlines.

"I was a little scared that we're moving. I thought that coming in we might have to fly in the north of the country and that a rocket might hurt the plane," he said.

But he added quickly, "I think the plane has anti-rocket" equipment.

Nefesh B'Nefesh established a hotline after hostilities flared across Israel's border with Lebanon last week. About 20 families who were planning to live in the North canceled their places on the flight, choosing to go a few weeks later, when they hope the crisis will have passed.

Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Nefesh B'Nefesh's co-founder and executive director, fielded dozens of calls and e-mails over the past week from anxious immigrants-to-be and their relatives. He commended those planning to live in the North who had delayed their immigration.

"It's too traumatic to take children from stable homes to a shelter," he told JTA as the plane approached Israel's coast.

Many of those who make aliyah with Nefesh B'Nefesh are part of large Orthodox families.

Fass, who immigrated on the first flight the group organized five years ago, said the immigrants' determination to leave comfortable homes and lives in North America, especially with Israeli cities under rocket fire, sends a powerful message.

"It's the ultimate act of solidarity," he said. "In their minds it's not a conflict, it's like the 'for better or worse,' it's like marriage. They understand they're getting married to Israel."

Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu greeted the immigrants in a festive ceremony at the airport.

"What's the best answer to Hezbollah?" asked Netanyahu, who currently heads Israel's political opposition as head of the Likud Party. "You are the best answer."

"It's a testament to the Jewish spirit," he told JTA.

The immigrants were greeted like rock stars as they descended from buses to the welcoming ceremony. Guests, including friends and relatives, waved small Israeli flags and greeted them with cheers and applause.

Sara Goldstein, 41, from Merrick, N.Y., walked on the tarmac with her husband and four children. Her daughter Tali, 10, clutched the handle of a box containing the family pet, a Persian cat born around Purim and named Ahasuerus.

The fighting was no reason to delay her family's plans, she said.

"We've been planning this for a while," Tali said, checking that the family's belongings were all in tow. "We're very comfortable here."

Charlotte Kolodly, 89 years old and about four-and-a-half feet tall, also wasn't deterred by the missiles.

"It doesn't keep me back because Hashem keeps his eyes over Zion," she said.

The European-born mother of seven, a grandmother and great-grandmother to dozens, had planned on making aliyah 25 years ago, but passed at the time because her husband had a heart attack.

On Thursday, she landed in Israel escorted by one of her grandsons.

"Now I can do it," Kolodly said, her small frame swallowed up by her airplane seat. "I don't have to take care of my children anymore. My children have to take care of me."

Rubin said he first came to Israel on a birthright israel trip.

The current fighting had only strengthened his resolve to contribute to the country, he said. He will study Hebrew and work on a kibbutz in the North before joining the army in November.

"I know many of my opinions are pretty naive. I know I'm pretty idealistic," he said. "I guess I wouldn't be doing this otherwise."

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3. "Former Monsey Woman To Publish Book On Experiences In Israel" by Hema Easley
From The Journal News

Monsey native Laura Ben-David grew up with the allure of Israel — a special place for the Jewish people, a homeland for Jews.

In her freshman year, she traveled to Israel, seeing the length and the breadth of the country. She fell in love with the land.

It wasn't surprising then, that when she married a man who shared her love of Israel, the couple decided to move there.

In 2002, with four young children in tow, the Ben-Davids made aliyah, or a permanent move to Israel. They were among the first planeload of Americans to immigrate to Israel with Nefesh B'Nefesh, a Jerusalem-based company that helps American and Canadian Jews move to Israel.

Their move came at the height of the intifada, a time where suicide bombings by Palestinians were routine, Israelis lived in fear of the next explosion and Israeli tanks rolled into the West Bank and Gaza. But the Ben-Davids were undeterred, as they are now in their commitment to Israel despite the conflict between the country and Lebanon.

"Israel is part of who we are. It's a part of our psyche that Israel is the place where we should live," said Ben-David, who is now a mother of five and lives in Neve Daniel, a small town 10 minutes south of Jerusalem. "People thought we were nuts. But this is it. We're here. This is not a trial."

In the days before their departure, Ben-David began keeping a journal of her experiences. She's continued to write daily, and now e-mails excerpts to friends and family, replete with anecdotes about her interaction with local people, the challenges she faced and the impression Israel was making on her.

Her friends in turn sent it to others, and soon Ben-David was inundated with requests to be included in her e-mail list. People wrote to say they were vicariously living her aliyah experience. Soon her e-mails began circulating among hundreds if not thousands of people in the United States.

Four years later, Ben-David's journal will be published as a book called "Moving up — An Aliyah Journal." Aliyah is Hebrew for "ascent" or "moving up." The book will be available in Israel and the United States by the end of summer.

The anecdotes in her journal include how she and the planeload of Americans who arrived in Israel in July 2002 were greeted like stars. Benjamin Netanyahu, former prime minister of Israel, the media and even regular Israeli citizens showed up at the airport to greet the immigrants.

Much attention was given because the Americans arrived at a time when such immigration had dropped to a trickle. And while some Jews from Europe and other parts of the world still went to Israel to escape discrimination or for a better life, the Americans, relatively wealthy and well integrated into American society, were seen as having given up a better life to go there.

"Someone who emigrated from South Africa said to me, 'I know why I came. But why did you come?' " said Ben-David, recounting a conversation she had soon after moving to Israel. "We are not running away from something. We are just arriving. It's making a statement that living in Israel is very important to us."

The move did come with challenges and hardships. The most difficult were the differences in language and culture.

While the Ben-Davids spoke some Hebrew, it was rudimentary. But they found that everything from job interviews and buying medicine to schooling, parent-teacher meetings, grocery shopping and socializing was conducted in Hebrew.

Bureaucracy proved to be much more pervasive than in America in everything from banking to getting a driver's license. Culturally, every person acted as if he or she were a family member, said Ben-David, freely offering advice on how she should dress her children and what to feed them.

Also, everyone was on first-name basis, irrespective of age.

Some amenities that Americans take for granted are not available. Hot water has to be heated before taking a shower. Common American foods like pasta and peanut butter, while available, were expensive compared to pita, cheese and vegetables.

Above all, the threat of violence was always present, given the volatility of the region. But residents took it in stride, said Ben-David, and went about their business.

And so does she. With shelling in the north, Ben-David recently canceled a holiday weekend in that area. Apart from that, she hasn't made any changes to her life, which included a planned visit to Rockland this week.

"I have no regrets about moving to Israel. I want to live in the place of my history," Ben-David said. "Israel is like your mother. You go to Disneyland when it's a good time. You go to your mother when it's good or bad. We'll weather it out. We're here through the good and the bad."

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4. "Newly Arrived Immigrants Struggle To Cope With Their First Taste Of War" by By Daphna Berman
From Haaretz

Two weeks ago, Marti and Kalman Leebhoff moved their family from California's San Fernando Valley to Mitzpe Netofa, a tranquil and somewhat secluded community halfway between Carmiel and Tiberias. They opted to forgo the chaos of Jerusalem and decided against areas with large Anglo populations like Efrat or Neve Daniel in the Gush Etzion bloc, simply because they didn't want to deal with the security situation and the sometimes harsh realities of living in a West Bank settlement. Immigrating to a foreign country, they figured, would be a hard enough transition.

And this week, as the family sought refuge in Jerusalem, their suitcases still sitting unpacked in an apartment up north that has yet to become a home, the irony was not lost on them.

"We plan, plan, plan, but then it all goes spiraling out of control," Marti said. "We've spoken to some friends and Mitzpe Netofa hasn't been hit, but it's pretty empty, so we didn't think it would be good psychologically for the kids. We are obviously worried also about safety."

"We were on such a high from aliyah, and now we're just in a state of limbo," she added. "Our bank account information, our clothes and everything else are still up North. It's been a little traumatic and we don't know how long we'll have to be in Jerusalem. We're now staying with family, but how long can we remain at my brother-in-law's? Should we rent an apartment and wait until things calm down?

"We came on the first Nefesh B'Nefesh flight [of 2006] so we could have a lot of time to get acclimated before the kids start school. Now, I just feel exhausted and I'm not sure what I should do."

To be sure, the first few weeks of becoming Israeli have not been easy for the Leebhoff family. They have no regrets and insist that they will remain in Israel for the long haul. But as an afterthought almost, Marti does admit that she sometimes feels like crying.

"We are here in our country and that's what is important," she says. "If I was in the States and not here, I probably would have been more unsettled. But once in a while, I do feel like weeping. This has been such a transition."

The Leebhoffs are not alone. Just this month, nearly 500 North American immigrants arrived here on two separate chartered flights with Nefesh B'Nefesh and the Jewish Agency. Yesterday, some 220 immigrants arrived, amid much fanfare and media curiosity. The original number was 240, but some immigrants postponed their trip until later this summer because of the security situation.

"We've definitely been busier than usual," said Tzvi Richter, director of the department of social services at Nefesh B'Nefesh, which organized support groups and information sessions Wednesday night in Jerusalem and Ra'anana for new immigrants. "For our olim, this type of situation is very new and there's a sense of uncertainty. People want to know how to explain the situation to family back home or how to explain this to their kids in a way they can understand.

"Every situation takes some getting used to and for sabras [native Israelis], uncertainty has been part of their lives and they've learned to go on with a routine. But for some people who are new at this, it's sometimes difficult to go on with their lives," Richter said.

Susie Enteen immigrated earlier this month with her husband and their two sons from South Florida and says that being in a war takes some getting used to. "I don't know if I feel scared, because scared means changing my actions, which I haven't done," she said. "But it has been emotionally tough. We're always watching the news when my kids aren't around and I just feel like turning it off and watching a comedy or something stupid. I feel like I can't watch the news anymore. This sounds funny, but I want to get on with my life here and I don't want to hear about killing, dying and shelling."

On a more practical note, the Enteens are also waiting to move into their Mevasseret Zion home. But the shipment from Florida that contains their beds, toys and furniture has yet to arrive. And even if it does, the port in Haifa is closed and they've been told that they - like other newcomers - will have to wait.

According to Ruth Bar-On, executive director of the Israel Crisis Management Center (SELAH), which provides assistance to new immigrants, one of the most difficult issues facing recent arrivals to the country is the lack of built-in support systems from family and good friends that many veteran Israelis have. Immigrants, she said, often also deal with pressures from family abroad.

"Sometimes, the decision to make aliyah wasn't a consensus and so immigrants have to deal with parents, in-laws or friends who ask why they even moved to Israel in the first place. In these situations, instead of support from family, you have another source of anxiety," Bar-On said.

For many immigrants, however, the idealism that drove them to move here proves to be an important source of comfort during times of crisis and war, she noted. "Immigrants from the West gave up comforts to live here because they wanted to be part of the country and that gives them incredible resilience. They know why they are here and that gives them strength."

Meanwhile, other immigrants say that they've mostly continued on with their daily lives. Leeds-born Channah Graham, who lives in Tel Aviv, has scoped out an Internet map of the city to locate the closest bomb shelter, but otherwise, she says, her routine has mostly continued.

"I've never lived through this and neither have my parents, so in that way, it's very strange," she admitted. "And the other day, I was speaking to my friends about our local bomb shelters - which was probably one of the weirdest conversations I've ever had," she added with a laugh.

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5. "Peace In Jerusalem's Anglo Scene" by Jacob Berkman
From the Jewish Standard

It's Thursday night, and I've found myself at Sugar Hill, a shoebox bar somewhere off of Ben Yehuda Street, downtown Jerusalem's main drag. The bar has three booths, is covered with a wall-to-wall collage of posters featuring reggae singers and hippie rock icons, and a friend who I haven't spoken with in years is filling in as a guest bartender because the bar's owner fell down a flight of stairs earlier in the afternoon.

I've been in Israel for only a few hours, but already I know that I am where I want to be — and it's not because a friend bartending generally leads to free beers.

Despite the turmoil in the north, everything in Jerusalem seems suspiciously calm. And the streets that spindle off Ben Yehuda Street are a little more crowded than normal, bloated by northerners who have fled to take refuge in Jerusalem and by tour groups who have canceled their northern travels, say those who live in the area. It's a testament to how safe Jerusalem actually feels.

For an American who debated furiously whether this was the right time to visit Israel for the first time in eight years, the peacefulness here is reassuring.

The crowd that I've fallen into helps. It's something like the Upper West Side of Manhattan that I've left, a tinge yuppie, but it's more open, more inviting, and it gives me no reason to feel hesitant about approaching anyone. Amid the roughly 700,000 Jewish and non-Jewish inhabitants of Jerusalem, there is a sub-set of English-speaking young people in their 20s and early 30s who have either made aliyah or who are living and working here for extended periods of time in a sort of pre-aliyah phase, whom I would call moderately religious. They keep Shabbos to some degree, and some study in yeshivas or at universities. And of Jerusalem's many Anglo sub-sets — there are the religious hippies, the hardcore yeshiva-ites, the progressives, and the older retirees, among others — this is perhaps the most Anglo.

Most in this scene work, primarily at jobs that don't use the education they received in other parts of the world.

But they're here not necessarily to make money. They're here to live in Israel, and that is the thread that bonds them.

"There are probably about 500 of us," says Ahuva Berger, who made aliyah from Brooklyn two years ago through Nefesh B'Nefesh. "And it might be a [relatively] big community, but it is very small," she says, explaining that everyone knows everyone else to some degree.

Most live in neighborhoods within walking distance of downtown, such as the German Colony, Nachlaot, and Rechavia, because it is a very social crowd. By night, they hit various bars downtown, and by day, especially on the weekends, they live very much an outdoor café lifestyle, sitting for hours brunching at one of the number of cappuccino stops off Emek Refaim Street, a mile or so away from downtown.

And while many are now Israeli, they are not native Israeli; most still speak English, and many of those who do eventually master Hebrew never lose their foreign accents, says Berger, sipping a beer.

But hanging on to English, combined with being a foreigner and having cultural differences with native Israelis, has drawn them all to move here, and that makes the group very cohesive, and very open to more of their own, she says.

It's not uncommon for a new person to meet one Anglo, who will then introduce that person to everyone he or she knows as if they were best friends, says Eli Gurock, the bartender for the evening. That's what happened to him when he moved to Israel from Passaic four years ago.

The group becomes a de facto support group and a pseudo family, says Berger, who described her first day essentially like this: She made aliyah, got to the country without knowing anyone, found an apartment, and then basically said to herself, "Now what?"

As the tiny bar fills with English speakers, the "now what?" plays itself out in front of us, as Moshe Fisch, who has just arrived in Israel to spend two years studying at a progressive yeshiva called Pardes, shows up with a new friend. As the night progresses, the 29-year-old Yeshiva of North Jersey product from Teaneck is introduced around the bars. He drinks a few beers and picks up new friends along the way.

And the glue that holds them together is a devotion to their new homeland.

"There's a togetherness here because we all love this country," says Michael Berezin, 27, who made aliyah form New York in 2001. "We're all here for the ideology. We all could have stayed where we were and had better jobs, but we decided we should be in Israel."

Berezin is typical of the crowd in that he studied in the states to become a psychologist. But here he is a marketer for a credit-card company.

"Israel is a different mindset," he says. "You do what you have to do to pay the bills."

And right now, most are quite happy to be in Jerusalem, especially because it feels safe.

During the early years of the second intifada, which started in 2000, those who lived here say that Jerusalem was empty, people were afraid to go out, and tourism dried up.

But the feeling now is different. Israel beefed up security everywhere, and you cannot even get into a coffee shop without first passing through a metal-detector-bearing security guard. Now, since the war so far has only affected the north, there is an almost superficial euphoric feeling — though beneath it lies an anxiety that few seem to want to talk about.

But when you get them started, there is a certain aggressiveness about Israel's offensive in Lebanon. "We have to do this," says Berezin. "We have to show that Lebanon can't f___ with us."

But still, the war is here.

It's there and visible Friday morning at brunch at Tal Bagels, an outdoor café on Emek Refaim Street. The scene might be replicated on the streets of Manhattan at outdoor cafés every Sunday morning in New York. A fluid group of Anglos sits around a few round tables pushed together. Some brunchers come and go, some sit for hours, catching up on who's getting married, who's not, reminiscing about the creature comforts they want — PowerAde powder, clothes from the Gap — and about the jobs they could have if they were back where they came from. One had a cushy job working for a fashion company. One has degree after degree and now is a marketer for a tech firm. But the conversation stops momentarily when someone gets a call with news that a friend has been called up to the reserves.

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6. "Olmert: These Days Demand Sacrifice" by Moran Zelikovich
From YNET

PM welcomes 650 new immigrants from France, who arrived in Israel despite security situation; 'Israel is happy and proud on such a day,' he tells olim. Julian Dahan from French Riviera: 'Only here I feel at home'

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert welcomed Tuesday some 650 new immigrants (olim) from France who arrived at the Ben-Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv despite the worrying security situation in the country.

"The current days demand of each of us, old or young, to make a big sacrifice," the PM told the newcomers. "Israel's enemies fire missiles from the north and south designed to hit Israeli residents in their homes and places of work. Sometimes they succeed and cause us much pain," he added.

"Their weapons, even when they hurt us, are nothing like the powerful, secret weapon we possess: The Jewish people that love the State of Israel, live here and want to protect this country. They don't understand the special bond between the Jewish people across the world, and the special feeling of love and mutual commitment that prevails between all Jews, regardless of where they are," Olmert stated.

'We can overcome our enemies'

In his speech the PM hinted that the military campaign Israel is involved in may last for quite some time: "We are a strong people. We have the stamina required for prolonged battles, and we will carry on with this operation in order to obtain all our goals and overcome the enemies trying to harm the State of Israel and its people."

Olmert greeted the olim, saying that on a day when new immigrants arrive in the country, the entire state rejoices. "On a day when Jews who live in a western country, who have a choice, who are persecuted by no one, decide to come here – on such a day the State of Israel stands proud and happy, and it says to you: Welcome to the land of Israel."

The number of olim that arrived today with the assistance of the Jewish Agency, represents a new record matched only by aliya in the 70s . In the coming weeks another 700 new immigrants are expected to come from France.

Minister of Immigration and Absorption Zeev Boim explained: "The olim come here despite the war and out of Zionism and faith. In spite of the war there have been no cancellations. This certainly isn't 'distress immigration' but a move done out of choice."

'First of all – we want falafel'

One of the new olim, Julian Dahan, 29, who came here from the French Riviera, is unmoved by the fact he had left his classy lifestyle behind: "Everything in France is superficial. In any other place in the world I felt like I'm waiting for something, only here I feel like I'm home." Dahan claimed that he is not scared by the rockets: "It's a lot more dangerous in France, there are a lot of petty criminals and crime."

The Fabian family from Marseille–Yvonne and Jean Pierre with their two children – are also not afraid: "We're not scared and don't feel like we're at war. The only thing we're concerned about is how our lives will change and how we'll manage to integrate here."

Tami Gansia and Raul Vaknin who emigrated from Toulouse, have their minds set on one thing only: "First of all, to eat falafel. Then we'll worry about the rest. Life is good where you make it good, anywhere in the world. It was important for me to immigrate to Israel in order to prevent assimilation. I have an adolescent son and a grown up son who has been living in Israel for five years, and we wish to live next to him in Netanya," Tami stated.

Issue 36 "MATTOT-MASEI" 5766

2006-07-20T09:29:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "My Mother's Miracle" by Malkah Fleisher
2. "Fruit of the Land - Israel´s Wine Revolution" by Ezra Halevi
3. "The Transatlantic Commuter - Living in Israel, Working in the States" by Dodi Tobin, Chaim I. Waxman
4. "My True Story About Burial In Israel" Keren Neshama Burdt

***Check out Ezra's latest NBN Aliyah photo essay***

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1. "My Mother's Miracle" by Malkah Fleisher

For the last 6 weeks, my mother has been in a coma. For those of you who weren't aware of this horrible story, suffice it to say that my mother had an accident which landed her in the hospital with a brain injury and a heart attack, and she has been fighting for her life since.

Since the first moment, she has been receiving world class medical care. However, during the course of this sudden illness, my husband and I, my family, my friends, and even my listeners at Israel National Radio have been praying for my mother. We have visited the ohel of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, consulted a kabbalist, and shared her Hebrew name with anyone who might add her name in their daily prayers. And of course, we have worried, and waited.

Two days ago, after having her tracheostomy removed, my mother spoke for the first time in 6 weeks. She uttered the words: "Give me some Jew food!" I kid you not.

The process of awakening from a coma is gradual, featuring stages including confusion, unusual language or expressions, aggression, hilarity, etc. My mother, not a person who is in the habit of referring to anything as "Jew food", is in one of these intermediate stages. So it was all the more shocking as her theme carried over into everything she said.

She asked for a food she hates: matzah (she rejected one of her favorites: lobster). She asked for gefilte fish. She asked for Ahava lotions from Israel. And then she said that a rabbi came to visit her. There was a rabbi from a Conservative synagogue who visited my mother during the early stages of her hospitalization. I would be surprised if she remembered him, seeing as she didn't remember that I came to visit, which would have been much more meaningful to her. It is still unclear who this "rabbi" was, but he was juxtaposed to some "little scumbags with mustaches". When I tell this story, some people burst out laughing. But for me, her words signal something much more serious – a heavenly court. I believe that my mother was taken before the heavenly court, or otherwise brought to face forces of good and evil. And the "rabbi" saved her.

My father and my sister, who do not perform the commandments that our Creator set out for us in the Torah, are utterly shocked by my mother's semi-conscious revelations. My father has expressed his belief that my mother met Satan. My sister is considering "becoming more Orthodox". As for me, I believe that my decision to become religious and to move to the Land of Israel, may have had a role in my mother's recovery, and I am humbled and astounded by the mercy and goodness of G-d. This is the power of prayer. This is the merit of the Land of Israel.

So in honor of my mother and the miraculousness of her recovery, I offer this recipe for real "Jew Food":

Malkah's Healing Chicken Soup

1/2 chicken, fresh or thawed

8 allspice balls

1 large onion, halved

the stems of one bunch of parsley, tied together

5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 parsnip, peeled and sliced

3 carrots, peeled and sliced

1 medium sweet potato, cubed

1 large white potato, cubed

1 stalk celery, chopped (or the tops from a bunch of celery)

4Tbs salt

Fill stock pot 3/4 full with water. Add salt, bring to boil. Add the potatoes, garlic onion, and boil for 10 minutes. Add the remainder of the ingredients and boil until you can easily pull the chicken apart in shreds. Try not to overcook. Remove the chicken, cut in chunks, return to soup. Removed the parsley, the onion, and the celery tops (if you chopped a stalk, leave it in). Serve hot, and savor the Jewishness.

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2. "Fruit of the Land - Israel´s Wine Revolution" by Ezra Halevi
From Israel National News
(Click above link for wonderful Israel photos)

The Israel Museum recently hosted an Israeli wine festival showcasing Israel's finest vintners and their vintages, for some of Israel's finest tasters, as well as local Jerusalemite enthusiasts.

In addition to the flavorful assortment that Israel's wineries have to offer the public, are unique and powerful narratives, often connecting modern vineyard techniques to their location's biblical past.

Winemakers, some looking like they came from northern Tel Aviv and others looking like they came from a windswept hilltop waxed poetic about the local soil, time of harvest and strain of grape – and how all contributed to the bouquet of flavor encased in the bottles in front of them.

Although much of Israeli society has moved away from agriculture, the global demand for kosher wine has breathed new life into one of the most indigenous practices of the Land of Israel. Producing kosher wine, by definition, necessitates not only Avoda Ivrit (Hebrew labor) - that Jews perform every step of the process – but that the winemakers be intimately in touch with the soil, rainfall and topography of their vineyards.

Each Israeli winery has a story and is fiercely proud of its region and methods of fermentation and storage. The Tishbi family began its wine story in 1882, when Malka and Michael Chamilnetzki made Aliyah to the Holy Land from Russia and settled at the foot of Zichron Yaakov, in the village of Shefeya. They adopted the name Tishbi, which is a Hebrew acronym for "resident of Shefeya in Israel." They produced grapes for Carmel Winery, Israel's largest winery, now its neighbor in Zichron Yaakov. Twenty years ago, though, Jonathan Tishbi, whose black and white photo graces the labels of Tishbi's prize wines, decided to open his own winery.

"Israel has undergone a wine revolution," Or Leshem of Tishbi Winery said after swishing the 2003 Cabernet Sauvignon he was showcasing at the Israel Wine Festival in Jerusalem this week.

Initially using grapes from the area, Tishbi now sends Or Leshem to taste and test grapes all across Israel, searching for the best fruits for their wine. The 2003 Cabernet was made using grapes from both Kfar Yovel, in the north, and Gush Etzion, south of Jerusalem.

Tishbi's white wines featured a new innovation, showcased at the festival though not yet available to the wider market: screw tops instead of corks. "People generally think wine with a screw-top is of less quality," Leshem explains, "but in fact, for white wines and young red wines, the only way I can be certain that they will taste exactly the way it tasted to me immediately before bottling is with the screw-cap."

According to Leshem, research on alternatives to corks has been underway for a long time. Traditional corks allow a certain amount of oxidization to occur which results in changed taste in almost 10 percent of bottles. However, to change the common perceptions of the public, Leshem believes the industry must undergo a marketing effort to rid screw-caps of the low-quality stigma before they are used widely.

Though years ago Israeli wines all shared the stigma of being sweet Kiddush wine, they are now present at wine competitions across the globe and take home medals against the best French and Italian wines. The drastic improvement is due, in no small part, to the influx of French Jewish immigrants to Israel in recent years, in addition to the increasing demand for fine kosher wines.

Kfar Tabor Winery offered the festival-goers its 2005 Sauvignon Blanc, which is a dry white wine, yet tastes quite sweet. "It is a completely dry wine," insists the winemaker, "not semi-dry, but dry. There are less than 2 grams of sugar, but the flavors of caramel and honey, which come from the unique soil of the region, manifest themselves strongly."

The winery is located on the African-Syrian Fault Line, resulting in a unique phenomenon whereby four unique kinds of soil are present in the region: clay, chalk, volcanic and terra rosa (red soil). Each of the soils gives unique qualities to the grapes grown upon it. "Chalky soil gives the grapes acidity, fruitiness and a mineral quality," the winemaker explained. "Terra rosa gives warmth, richness and the flavors of tobacco, blackberries and plums; clay makes the flavors even more extreme and volcanic soil makes for smooth and light wine."

The Ella Valley Winery is located near ancient winepresses in the Gush Etzion-Beit Shemesh region. It is seven years old and the winemaker said it takes four or five years for grapes to reach a maturity necessary to produce wine. In any event, according to Jewish law, fruit of the tree and vine cannot be used in the first three years as it has the Biblical status of orla.

The Tanya Winery is truly a return to the roots of Biblical Jewish wine making. Wine was a crucial part of the services and sacrifices in the Holy Temple and the regions north and south of Jerusalem were covered with vines and speckled with wine-presses. Winemaker Yoram Cohen, born in the Negev development town of Netivot, was one of 17 children. He was "infected with the wine bug" after helping his father produce wine from grapes harvested by local Jewish farmers in the southern Hevron Hills.

In 2000, Cohen decided to close his photographic news agency due to what he calls a "lack of chemistry" with the world of global media. He then began to concentrate on producing the ultimate Jewish wine. He says he believes in "minimal intervention in the growing process," a philosophy he says he applies equally to his own children as well as the grapes. "They both should be allowed to grow up by following their hearts in a loving atmosphere," he says.

He established the winery in 2001 in the Binyamin region town of Ofra. He has no employees and aims to produce 40,000 bottles of wine a year together with his wife and their seven children (one of whom shares her name with the winery).

The grapes used by Cohen were grown in the Hevron Hills and Gush Etzion, as well as the Samarian towns of Dolev and Har Bracha - with the latter being the main source of grapes for the winery. The vines in Har Bracha are on the side of the highest mountain in the region, overlooking Shechem and Joseph's Tomb. The grapes are all harvested at night to ensure that the fermentation process does not begin prematurely.

"Where is Ofra?" asked an excited attendee of the festival after tasting the wine. "
"In the area of the tribe of Binyamin," he answers.

The man's eyes lack a look of recognition until Yoram says, "near Ramallah," and he looks surprised as he asks for a taste of the Cabarnet Savignon.

Another winery whose popularity has taken the market by storm by proudly marketing its location in the center of the Biblical heartland is the Noah/Hevron Heights Winery. The winery is the brainchild and inspiration of a group of dedicated and committed French Jewish immigrants to Israel - to bring kosher winemaking back to the original site of Jewish habitation in the Land of Israel.

The winery produces wines with names like Isaac's Ram and Makhpelah Special Reserve," made with grapes grown near Hevron's Makhpela Cave of the Patriarchs, where the Jewish patriarchs are buried.

Further south, in Judea, is the Yatir Winery, which uses grapes from the Yatir forest – Israel's largest man-made forest, located on the southern edge of Judea bordering on the Negev desert.

The Binyamina Winery, founded in the 50s, has produced much of Israel's wine ever since then. It, like Tishbi, is experimenting with screw-caps on wines such as its Gewürztraminer, which tastes like the essense of summer fruits.

The Dalton Winery, located in a northern Moshav by the same name, produces a wide array of wines, including a white and red marked for export to the US under the name Canaan.

The Israeli wine revolution continues and is strengthening, crossing political lines and geographic terrain in search of depth of taste and, "preparing for the day that wine libations are once again offered in the Holy Temple in Jerusalem," as one man blessed Yoram Cohen before booming, "L'Chaim," and drinking up.

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3. "The Transatlantic Commuter - Living in Israel, Working in the States" by Dodi Tobin, Chaim I. Waxman
From the OU's Jewish Action Magazine

Until recently, evidence suggested that an American's success at aliyah depended upon his willingness to disconnect from the United States. For example, olim who sold their homes in the United States were more likely to remain in Israel than those who held on to them "just in case."Although this observation is still true, a new pattern has emerged indicating that having a foot in the United States may actually enable a successful move.

Specifically, we refer to the growing phenomenon of American olim who continue to work in the United States. In case you doubt the prevalence of this phenomenon, try booking an El Al flight from the United States to Israel for a Thursday evening or from Israel to the United States on a Saturday or Sunday night, especially in business class. These flights are packed with regular commuters. While no precise figures of these commuters presently exist, a good guesstimate would be several hundred or possibly even several thousand.

Moshe Schilit struggled with the decision to commute after he and his wife, Shoshanna, made aliyah in 1986. A computer programmer, Moshe had originally planned to commute for no more than a year, after which he would begin a computer job in Israel that he had already accepted. Ultimately, his company in the United States made him an offer that the couple felt they could not refuse. Today, Moshe is still commuting—he is in the United States three weeks out of every month. "A lot of people thought it odd," Shoshanna admits. "It was not common back then. We didn't plan it this way … but that's the way it worked out."

Some olim, such as Lenny Solomon, the CEO of Shlock Rock, have no choice but to commute. Lenny's work, by its very nature, takes him on tour around the United States and elsewhere. When he's on tour, it's a "travel marathon nightmare." "I perform in concerts all over the country … doing musical outreach," says Lenny, who lives with his wife, Gillian, and their four girls in Beit Shemesh. "We spread Jewish awareness and pride through our music. It's informal Jewish education. The message is 'Be cool; be Jewish. Stay involved; keep learning.' To do that in Israel, I'd have to be fluent in Hebrew, which I'm not." He realizes that unless he makes it "really big," he'll be commuting as he now does "at least until I'm fifty....There's no other option," he says. "I am unable to recreate the profession I have in America here. I would have to work much more, with less satisfaction. It would be incredibly disappointing for me to have to become a Bar Mitzvah or wedding player. It might happen one day, but I'm hoping it won't."

American olim are certainly not the only transnational commuters. However, the phenomenon of American olim who work in the United States appears to be unique. Evidence suggests that there is no other group of transnational commuters who travel such a long distance and in such great numbers. Out of the approximately 3,000 American families who have made aliyah in the past ten years and have remained in Israel, perhaps as many as 30 percent have a family member commuting to work in the United States. This trend is only possible because of recent technological developments, including improved airline services for business-class travelers, which make travel more tolerable; innovations in communications and the growing role of telecommuting. "Outsourcing has become more popular worldwide, so more companies are allowing people to do their jobs off-site," says Daniella Slasky, the director of employment at Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization that promotes North American aliyah.

Gilad Weinberg is a recent oleh who has taken full advantage of this corporate trend. Gilad, who lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh with his wife, Batia, and their four children, began a "virtual relationship" with his company even before he made aliyah. For several months Gilad worked at home three days a week. When he and Batia became serious about aliyah, he approached his supervisors with the following proposition: He would work at the office 25 percent of the time and at home 75 percent of the time. The company was willing to try it. Gilad currently travels to the United States about twice a month for three days and manages to participate in about 75 percent of the company's meetings.

Commuting to a job in the United States can be advantageous to a new oleh family, ensuring steady income and sidestepping the stress of professionally "starting over." "When you make aliyah, not only are you going through the trauma of immigration, but you are also unemployed,"says Slasky. "The comfort of having a job that you can take with you is significant. For many commuters, the situation is only temporary, with the American job serving as a 'bridge' for six months or a year, ensuring the family an income until a job is found in Israel. "The fear of being unemployed is so strong," Slasky adds, "that employment is often the critical factor in determining whether someone will actually make aliyah. So many people say to me, 'The only way I'll come is if I have a job.'"

Professional growth is another motivation for commuting. Some commuters indicated that they are better able to do what they were trained to do in a cultural environment that is familiar to them. In addition, because the United States is larger and more developed, the potential for professional growth is much greater here. Indeed, evidence indicates that the desire for professional growth and development is one of the major reasons American olim give up on aliyah. It has been estimated that in years past one-third or more of American olim have returned to live in the United States. However, in recent years, the rate of returning olim has declined, and it is entirely possible that the commuting phenomenon is at least partly responsible for the decline.

Contemporary American olim are different from their American predecessors who arrived in the pre-state and early-state years. Whereas the latter tended to be young and single, today's olim are mostly married with young children. In addition, in today's oleh families, the heads of households have completed their education and bring with them several years of work experience. Today's olim are also unique in regard to the occupations they choose, and it is this uniqueness which probably accounts for the relatively large number of commuters to the United States.

Overwhelmingly, the commuters are professionals—accountants, physicians, lawyers, computer specialists and other high-tech professionals—and there is a greater demand for their services in the United States. Data from Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), the 2000-2001 National Jewish Population Survey (NJPS) and the US Census Bureau starkly demonstrate that there is a higher rate of professionals and managers among American olim than among Jews who remain in the United States.

Among American olim, 82 percent of those with known occupations are in professional or managerial positions. These individuals are more likely to commute because their jobs are usually flexible and do not require them to be available nine to five, Monday through Friday. Thus, it seems that commuting and telecommuting allow thirty-something-year-old seasoned professionals to seriously consider aliyah. And so ensues an interesting cycle—Israel gains more citizens, but fewer employees. Physicians, in particular, are highly represented among commuter olim.

According to Slasky, doctors choose to commute because "the salary difference [between Israel and the United States] is significant, as opposed to other professions where there is less of a gap." Doctors who wish to practice in Israel must first obtain an Israeli medical license. Licensing includes examinations and an unpaid internship, a process that can take several months or longer. For many American doctors, particularly those with experience, this may seem to be more trouble than it's worth, especially since doctors in Israel are held in lower esteem than their American counterparts.

Debby Jotkowitz, a dermatologist at Hadassah University Medical Center in Jerusalem, and her husband, Alan, a senior physician in the Soroka Medical Center in Be'er Sheva, decided to forgo higher salaries and prestige for a higher ideal when they made aliyah in 2001. "One of the goals of aliyah is to contribute to Israeli society, and that was most important to us," says Alan. "Practicing medicine in Israel also enabled us to integrate into Israeli culture in a way we couldn't have done otherwise."

Modern travel has impacted the workplace so that even those with Israelbased jobs may be spending more time traveling for work. Three years ago, Ari Solomont, his wife, Sara Beth, and their four children, moved from Boston to Chashmonaim, a yishuv situated midway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv. Ari, who had served as regional director of the New England Region of NCSY (National Conference of Synagogue Youth), the Orthodox Union's youth group, for ten years, was appointed international director of resource development at Ner LeElef in Jerusalem, a position he loves but which requires him to travel to the United States for ten days each month. While not overjoyed that Ari has to travel, Sara Beth feels that "this job is … really him."

The commuting phenomenon can also be viewed as having positive financial consequences for Israel. The commuters earn their money abroad and spend the bulk of it in Israel. But what of the impact of commuting upon the emotional well being of the marriage and family? The Schilits, who live in Beit Shemesh and have four children, three of whom were born after Moshe was already commuting, made a point of normalizing their situation from the outset. "Everybody creates their own 'normal,'" says Shoshanna. "I recently read an article about husbands who cope with wives stricken with breast cancer. They said that the adjustment period is hard, and then they come to some kind of reality that they call the 'new normal.' This [commuting] is our 'new normal.'"

"It's a way of life. Period," says Moshe. "Sometimes it's easy, sometimes hard…. [Our kids] know it's our way of life and they don't question it." Shoshanna contends that maintaining routine is essential. "We don't stop school; we don't stop homework; we don't stop tests; we don't stop bedtime routine…. It's normal for Abba to be in and out … but we still do what we have to do." Shoshanna is extremely positive about the benefits of her husband's commute, which include material ease as well as being able to visit relatives overseas and to send their kids to summer camp in the United States. But Shoshanna, who is a commuting "veteran" of nineteen years, emphasizes that getting used to this lifestyle takes time.

For many new oleh families, simultaneously adjusting to a life in Israel and to a commuting arrangement is a real strain. On the one hand, most women whose husbands commute to the United States don't have to worry about spending money, and don't have to work. This enables them to focus their energies on setting up a home, adjusting to a new culture and meeting the needs of their children. In addition, many couples report that when the commuters are home they are able to spend more "couple" time than they were prior to making aliyah. The commuters also tend to take active roles in regard to household chores and are highly engaged with their children. Still, many would be hard-pressed to deem the arrangement ideal.

"This is the sacrifice we have to make in order to live in Eretz Yisrael," affirms Sara Beth. "But I want my children to know that it's not normal for their father to be away ten days every month. It's not how it's supposed to be." "The biggest challenge for me is knowing what my wife is facing," says Ari. "What she is doing shouldn't be done alone. She's not a single mother."

Avi Silverman, a director of social services at Nefesh B'Nefesh, views commuting as "doable" but a "totally bedi'eved [ex post-facto] situation." "I wouldn't rule it out if it's necessary, but you have to know all the permutations of what a marriage is going to be like," he says. The recognition that many new olim are grappling with challenges arising from the commuting life has prompted the Nefesh B'Nefesh Social Services Department to set up a support group for commuter families. The group offers support, validation and assistance in coping with a range of issues that stem from the commuting lifestyle.

"At night when the kids [all need] me at once, and Ari isn't around, … learning how to juggle—that is probably the hardest thing for me," admits Sara Beth. Silverman observes that some of the women who come to the support sessions express resentment about the commute and the challenges they are left to face alone. Silverman voices some of the sentiments he hears from some of the wives: "If [the commute] had been in five years and I was settled, it would be okay. But I'm not settled. I'm trying to get my kids settled; I don't have a chevrah. I'm still figuring out where the supermarkets are while [my husband] is back in the [United States] where everything is easy and familiar. He brought me here to deal with all of this alone?"

These reactions are in line with studies of families in the United States who were forced to relocate because of the husband's job. In the studies, the wives and children in these families were found to harbor anger about the move. How do the husbands feel about leaving? According to Silverman, some carry guilt that they have caused something akin to a "divorce" within the context of a perfectly good marriage. Their wives serve as "single parents" while they are gone—going to semachot alone, making Shabbat alone. The commuter spouse also has to deal with coming in and out of his family's life, a life that seems to be running smoothly without him. "How much do you [the wife] bring him into your life, how much do you keep him out of your life?" Silverman asks. "How much do the children accept him again, how much do they need to keep their distance because it hurts so much when he comes and goes? These are all serious questions."

Commuting fathers may have to miss many special events in their children's lives, including birthday parties and siyumim. And then there is the inherent loneliness the commuter feels while working in the United States. "I fill my days with volunteer work; I don't have much time to 'pine away,'" says Shoshanna. "Moshe is very busy too, but when he comes home [when in the States], he comes home to empty rooms." Sara Beth concurs. "I can imagine it's very lonely for [my husband]. He never knows where he will be sleeping … he spends a lot of time in the car by himself [in the States], while his reality is here. That's got to be hard."

For Ari, feeling lonely is a good sign. "If you start to like the fact that you are waking up alone, then it's time to stop commuting." Although commuter couples face significant challenges, several women report that the experience contributes to their personal growth. "We bought an apartment in Rechovot, and I fixed it up," says Shoshanna. "I ran everything: I dealt with kablanim [contractors] and shiputzim [renovations]. All these were 'empowerment experiences.'"

"Know where your bank account is and where your life insurance papers are and how to turn the gas on and off," adds Sara Beth. "If those are things you've relied upon your husband for … you figure it out. You have to find the inner strength…. You have to try to see the good. You can either be miserable and make everyone around you miserable or you can make the best of it. You have that choice. How do you want to live your life?" It seems obvious that in order to successfully navigate the demands of a commuting life in Israel, you need a solid marital foundation. In Moshe's view, a strong marriage is so vital that he cautions, "If your wife is not sure about it or [is] questioning it, I would say, don't even think about it. You're going to fail."

And what of the impact of commuting on the children? "I think in the beginning everyone has a rocky time. They don't know what it means that Abba is going away for a week or two weeks or even a month," says Silverman, but "the kids get used to it. Kids are malleable. If they see that their parents are shalem [complete], kids can deal with it," he says. "Once the parents bring in tension, it filters down." Realistically, the full impact of commuting on these children will only be known in years to come. Unlike twenty years ago, when the Schilits spoke once a week at three dollars a minute, the technological advances of today enable commuters to keep in constant contact with family members via telephone and e-mail.

Ongoing contact no doubt lessens the feeling of abandonment amongst all family members. Shoshanna says that she and Moshe are in touch two or three times a day. "Moshe makes time to learn with the boys on the telephone, as often as needed.. .. We feel that the telephone is in place of the psychiatrist's couch. We don't need counseling because we are communicating. We feel investing in the telephone calls is good for our marriage, and good for our connection."

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4. "My True Story About Burial In Israel" Keren Neshama Burdt

My Dear Brother passed away suddenly at the age of 52, back in August of 2001. Now my father and stepmother are NOT Jewish. In fact my brother did not live a Jewish religious life. This was due to the fact that my Jewish mother left while we were young and was unable to take care of us. So my father and stepmother raised us. Only by hashgacha pratis, did I and my husband become a BT about 9 years ago. We started attending services at our local Chabad house B" H.The rest as they say is history. Now our 3 children are learning about being Jewish too. G-d willing our grandchildren will be raised as Jews.

My brother was cremated without my knowledge by my father and stepmother before they even had a service for him. Then his ashes sat on a table in my parents dining room next to a picture of him. It bothered me deeply. Then less than 2 years later my father died after complications of open heart surgury. Of course my stepmother had him cremated also and it was his wish, so nothing I could say or do about it. But my DH (Dear Husband) & I were planning our first trip to Eretz HaKadosh. So we approached my stepmother and asked if we could take my brothers ashes to Israel with us to bury him there. Well my stepmother & my sisters (who are 1/2 sisters) were not happy about this at all. But we would not take no for an answer and I explained how beneficial it would be for his soul, since he is by birth a Jew. I also approached my niece who was wholeheartedly in favor of him being buried in Israel.

So we got permission and last year in October of 2005 we took off for Israel and packed his ashes in our suitcase. Of course it was confiscated by the Israeli customs agents and they opened it to make sure there wasn't a bomb inside. I was not happy about this, but they brought the ashes to us 2 days later where we were staying in Netanya. We made several trips to Jerusalem where I wanted to find a place to bury my brother. I couldn't find a place to do it. Finally a day before we were due to return home, we walked outside of our hotel and waived a Taxi. By hashgacha pratis, Hashem brought us the kindest man who ever drove a Taxi. We explained to him that we were trying to find a place to bury my brother who had been cremated against his will. So he took us to the Mt. of Olives Cemetary. They told us to call a certain Rabbi that deals with the burials there, and he was not receptive to having my brother buried, in fact he wanted us to prove to him that we were Jews and that my brother was Jewish. Of course we didn't bring his death certificate and had no proof of his being Jewish. So this dear Taxi driver took us across town to his Rabbi in the neighborhood that he grew up in. He told us he would take the rest of the day to take us wherever we needed to go, as he wanted to make sure we were able to fulfill our mission. We talked to his Rabbi for a while and he made some calls, but since we didn't have a death certificate we couldn't bury him in a cemetary in Jerusalem or anywhere else in Israel.

I was crushed. We had come all this way and now we had to return home in 24 hours. How could I find a place to bury him... Well... we got in our rental car and headed back to Netanya. On the way down from Jerusalem I prayed to Hashem regarding the matter... All of a sudden I felt something telling me to take the exit to Modi'in there was a sign that said there was the entrance to the Ayalon Forest. So I told my husband to pull off to the entrance to the Forest. We went through the entrance and there was no one in sight, but there were picnic tables and a place to park. So we parked and started walking around. I told my husband that this is where Hashem wants us to bury him. So we went up and up the hill to almost the very top. It was so peaceful and quiet, so beautiful. You could actually see the back-side of Jerusalem from there. We found a spot above an ancient stone wall and between 2 ancient olive trees.

It was perfect! We dug a hole and I opened the box and poured his ashes in the hole. I covered it and placed some rocks on top of it. Then I took out my siddur and said a burial prayer for my brother. My daughter was taking pictures with our digital camera. The strangest thing happened... the pictures turned out an eerie silver & black color for about 2 to3 minutes the camera did this. (Please see attached photo) We also felt this very warm and peaceful feeling settle over the place. We were in awe of Hashem at this moment. Everyone who has seen these pictures says it is as if my brother's soul was released at that moment and he was letting us know that he was happy about being buried there, and was finally at rest. I know we did the right thing and now when we return to Israel I know that my brother is there and at peace. G-d willing we will make aliyah and not have to leave, and we too will be able to be buried in Eretz HaKadosh! Amein v'amein!

Issue 35 "PINCHAS" 5766

2006-07-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Are You Keeping Your Options Open?" By Pinchas Orbach
2. "Dreaming Of Nine To Five" by Tamar Wisemon
3. "Aliyah 2006: Here They Come!"
4. "Arrivals: From Worcester, Mass. to Jerusalem" by Helga Abraham

Check it out at THE KUMMUNIQUE HOME

***ANNOUNCEMENT - ON BOARD WITH NBN AUDIO***
Malkah and I had the great pleasure of accompanying the July 5th Nefesh B'Nefesh Aliyah flight out of JFK. We were able to catch some amazing audio on the flight with so many people: Olim young and old, officials, NBN staff, and flight attendants all poured their heart out about Aliyah. Our four hours cover the whole flight from luggage check-in at JFK to the conveyor belt in Ben Gurion. I believe that these sounds are inspirational and I hope you will take the time to hear the wonderful voices of Aliyah.

I have provided the links to all the hours below, and the show is also posted prominently on ISRAEL NATIONAL RADIO

To hear Hour One click here
To download Hour One click here

To hear Hour Two click here
To download Hour Two click here

To hear Hour Three click here
To download Hour Three click here

To hear Hour Four click here
To download Hour Four click here

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1. "Are You Keeping Your Options Open?" By Pinchas Orbach

Today marks the one year anniversary of my Aliyah, my move to Israel. On this date exactly one year ago I stepped on a plane at JFK airport. It was an event that would dramatically alter the course my life forever. After many years – yes, years - of research I knew all too well what I was getting myself into. I knew about all the hitches and challenges, about all the drawbacks and snags, and about all the shortcomings and hardships involved in completely changing my life. And I also know they were all more than worth it for so many reasons!

And the one I have always considered to be the single most important reason is actually quite simple. I don't want to raise a family in Chutz L'aretz (outside our Homeland). For thousands of years we literally had no choice. Now we do. Honestly, there was not a single obstacle preventing me from making Aliyah. Excuses? Oh, there were plenty of excuses! We hear about those everyday. And I'm sure I could have tried to clear my conscience by picking and choosing from any one of those like so many of my friends are doing today.

Now this piece is not about reasons for making Aliyah. Nor it is about obstacles and excuses preventing so many of our fellow Jews from coming Home. Indeed I have already written about all of that many times in the past. Instead I write of a phenomenon I have witnessed before I came, and something still occurring today and more than ever before.

Three years ago I founded a little endeavor called Project SingOlim. Our mission statement declares: "The goal of Project SingOlim is to prove that there is NO NEED to 'compromise' on either Aliyah or on getting married. Whether you have a pioneer spirit or would prefer to share this common goal with someone special, Aliyah can be the most powerful experience in the world!" I found this project to be necessary because all too often I would hear people say things like "well, she's willing to make Aliyah." Or "she'd love to live in Israel, but you know, she has to keep her options open." Aliyah is reduced to a mere preference or worse – a compromise!

Making Aliyah is not like moving from Flatbush to Teaneck. It's a different country, with a different language and a different culture. It is something that has to be done very carefully to do it right. And it is something that has to be done unconditionally. If you decide Aliyah is for you – and I believe it is right for all Jews - you have to hold your breath and just do it. That does not mean do it blindly. Indeed there is plenty of homework you can do to prepare responsibly and no shortage of people to help you make your Aliyah a success. But you do have to set your mind on the goal.

I know so many people that are still shidduch dating in New York because they feel Aliyah will "hurt their chances." With that mindset one may never realize the goal of making Aliyah. Besides there is no shortage at all of single olim and not to mention English speaking Israelis to date here in Israel. (And by the way there are also Hebrew speaking Israelis.)

Personally I was a bit surprised because not only have I been getting just as many or more dates than I did in New York but I'm having better dates. I am meeting more and more like minded people that are just as committed to Aliyah and living in Israel as I am, since after all, they also "took the plunge" and did not let any excuses get in their way.

So if you are still hesitating to make Aliyah for some reason or another please ask yourself one simple question.

Are you keeping your options open or are you keeping your dreams closed?

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2. "Dreaming Of Nine To Five" by Tamar Wisemon
From Jerusalem Post

At 25, Chevy Weiss had parlayed over a decade of youthful political activism into a successful career as an independent political consultant in Washington, DC. With numerous Republican connections and her PhD in political science nearly complete, Weiss says moving to Israel was not on her agenda.

"I was born [in Israel] but my parents moved back to the US when I was two," she says. "I wasn't interested in moving back." But during a visit to Russia, Weiss met "a great guy living in Israel," eventually giving up a great career and friends to hop on a plane to Israel. Though she has continued to work long-distance for some of her American political clients, Weiss had to begin in Israel at entry level.

"You have to be willing to begin at the bottom and take baby steps," she says. "Israel is a hard place to work and you really have to learn your way around. That's what it takes to make it here, and I was very determined to be successful."

Today, many of Weiss' former employers have become her clients at Global Visions Israel, the public relations company she founded in 1998 near her home in Ramat Beit Shemesh. Current clients include the International Council of Jewish Women and Yeshiva University in Israel.

"I saw there was a huge need for a company like mine," Weiss says. Her company has thrived, she says, bringing "modern US PR strategy to Israel."

Weiss' hard work and professional patience appear to have worked. "We started as a one-person office and I now have eight employees," she says. "Our client list is growing and we have earned ourselves a good reputation; people have approached us to open additional offices in Tel Aviv.

"Our US clients come to us because we charge less for the same high quality; the Israelis come because we are familiar with foreign audiences. We don't pretend to be in the US. Our clients call us, we call them back and [then] have conference calls. [We] manage the rest through e-mail."

Despite her success in Israel, however, Weiss is still wistful about leaving Washington.

"The US political arena is more exciting - people making a change for the world and influencing it," she says. But, she adds, "What I do here is not remarkably different. I took my skills and channeled them into a different environment - public relations - which incorporates political, educational, business and non-profit institutions. Much of my political work involved researching public issues and planning campaign strategy, understanding the environment in which I was working and communicating, and that's the stuff I use here."

Weiss says she thinks many entrepreneurs born outside Israel make the mistake of moving too aggressively or giving up when trying to find a job. In Israel, she says, flexibility is key.

Danielle Slasky, director of employment at Nefesh B'Nefesh, an organization helping Jews from North America make aliya, claims the majority of Nefesh B'Nefesh immigrants have found work in Israel and only a handful have needed to formally retrain. Most of those who came with careers have stayed within their field, she says, though many have switched to new areas within that industry. She cites as examples computer programmers who became technical writers, journalists who entered other writing fields and scientists who have become patent writers.

"Very few people totally change their career," says Slasky. "We always want people to have realistic expectations. Some do have to take a step back, though many stay on the same level."

Leemor Machnai, Chief Executive Officer of Machnai, Weiss & Partners, an international executive search company based in Tel Aviv, says, "English is definitely relevant for 99% of the positions I work on... Hebrew is an advantage but it is not essential.

"I sometimes have very senior positions for which very few people in Israel have the requisite experience," Machnai admits, "we may even bring over talent from outside Israel if that particular talent is not here."

Because she looks for professionals who've worked for multi-national companies, Machnai considers corporate experience in the US very valuable. But she says of olim, "If they had a very unique niche position in a large company, here they may find themselves doing that position in addition to two or three other positions, because the companies are not as large."

Machnai's other advice: "Network, network and network. Try to focus on what you want to do and what type of skills you have to achieve such a job. Try to find friends, or friends of friends connected to that kind of industry. It is really hard to find jobs just through the regular channels."

AT WEISS'S public relations firm, the office manager, Ruth Wellins, graduated with a degree in psychology and the intention to become an industrial psychologist. But a pilot trip to Israel with Tehilla, the religious aliya organization, convinced her to take what she considers a more pragmatic approach.

"I spoke with many psychologists, and they all said that without good Hebrew and insight into Israeli society, I wouldn't be able to find a job in my profession," Wellins recalls. "So upon my return to Manchester, I studied for a certificate in TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language)."

That plan also turned out to have its shortcomings. While Wellins's husband, a former computer programmer at Intel UK, successfully transferred to Intel in Israel, Ruth juggled a variety of English teaching jobs until the couple moved to Ramat Bet Shemesh, home to a high proportion of English-speaking olim, and Wellins's English teaching skills lost much of their value. Searching for an alternative, she landed her administrative position at Global Visions Israel.

She calls the job "the perfect match - part-time, close to home, close to my children's schools and intellectually challenging."

Another immigrant who adapted her skills is Sarah Bronson, who made aliya with Nefesh B'Nefesh in July 2003, arriving in Israel with a Masters degree in journalism and freelancing experience at, among others, New York's Observer, The Jewish Week, Hadassah Magazine and the London Jewish Chronicle. Bronson hit the deck running.

"I started working as soon as I had my Internet connection and got back in touch with my previous clients," Bronson says. "One of the problems was that my Jewish media clients already had correspondents in Jerusalem, and there isn't as much room to break in."

Somewhat paradoxically, Bronson's move to Israel led her to focus on non-Israel-related topics, especially for women's magazines.

"I can do all the research on the phone and through the Internet, and it makes absolutely no difference where I live as long as I'm willing to stay up late enough at night to make my phone calls. The world is my office," Bronson says.

One of her key tools, she says, is a Packet8 telephone with a US telephone number. Unlike Weiss, who says she dislikes the sound quality of VOIP communication, Bronson points out the advantages of having a US phone number.

"The chances of a client or interviewee returning my call increase 10-fold if they can dial within the US," she explains.

Like Weiss, Bronson says most of her editors are aware of her location, and sometimes find it useful. "Figure magazine once had a feature on dating mores around the world and assigned me the Israel section," she says. Though working for overseas publications, Bronson is careful her payments are processed though Yiul Sachir, a service that converts her receipts to shekels and pays her national insurance, health fund and other taxes.

"The job market has not improved much over the past three years," says Chaim Fox-Emmett, the founder and CEO of job search firm ISRAEMPLOY. "There may be more jobs in some industries, but many people are not in the jobs of their choice."

An ISRAEMPLOY survey last year of 450 respondents found that most respondents are merely satisfied but not thrilled with their jobs. However, Fox-Emmett says, the survey showed that very few of them would be prepared to relocate within Israel for a better position - a finding he considers odd.

"If people can stay in their profession, obviously that is the best choice. But in the main, the majority are not fortunate enough to get what they trained for. When people first come, they are often not realistic enough to look beyond their first profession. When they do look further afield, some discover they are happier and have more satisfaction from their second profession," Fox-Emmett says.

The exceptions, he says, are licensed professionals - accountants, dentists and doctors, 95 percent of whom find work in their profession, though most of these require bilingual ability and a limited amount of study in Israel to qualify. The legal profession, on the other hand, already has too many people competing for positions here.

Fox-Emmett founded ISRAEMPLOY from his Ramat Bet Shemesh home in November 2002, when he was himself an unemployed new immigrant from London with a background in human resources. He created an e-mail list of job opportunities and related information for English-speakers, then watched the number of subscribers snowball.

In 2004, Fox-Emmett was awarded the first Venture Network Israel Social Entrepreneur Fellowship (ISEP) in a partnership with the New Israel Fund (NIF). This gave him the equivalent of a full-time stipend for two years, as well as the mentoring and connections needed to develop his list into the brand name it has become today.

With over 15,000 subscriptions, ISRAEMPLOY outgrew the mailing list and launched an interactive website in March that has attracted 40,000 unique hits and over 400,000 page views in its first eight weeks. Around 15 people join ISRAEMPLOY per day - but those who find jobs often unsubscribe from the service, a number he estimates to be about five people per day.

According to Fox-Emmett, the jobs most in demand today are in technical writing, software engineering and general administrative work.
"There are many Anglos who teach for private schools," he adds, "but the regular teaching profession in this country is not a desirous profession - teachers suffer from low pay [and] are subject to violence, and classroom management is an absolute nightmare."

One reason Fox-Emmett gives for the popularity of technical writing is that it can be done by English-speakers from many different work backgrounds. A Web group for technical writers, Techshoret, has around 1,300 members, all of whom are Anglos.

Because of the relative absence of ageism in technical writing, many of the applicants for writing positions are women.

"There are a lot of very intelligent women who stopped their careers to have families, and [they] see this as an ideal job to be retrained into," explains Lynn Kolber, co-founder and general manager of OnTarget, a documentation service for high tech companies. "One of our interns is in her 50s, we placed someone over 60 at Amdocs the other day. [The] oldest writer I know in the profession is 77." Kolber says technical writing is a great profession because it pays relatively well - a serious consideration when one recalls that many of the English-speaking immigrants who leave Israel do so due to financial difficulties.

Kolber made aliya from South Africa eight years ago, selling a successful training business that had six branches nationwide.

"I finished ulpan, was building a cottage [in Hod Hasharon] and saw lots of Anglos in technical writing. I had written courseware for my business and got a job on contract for Docustar," she explains. "After two years I decided to start my own business, together with a South African accountant I met here who began technical writing in his 50s."

Applicants for OnTarget's four-month internship program are carefully screened for the ability to write logically and fluently, and for persistence. The profession is not for every English speaker, Kolber warns, adding that "if you don't have the basic ability and attitude, it can be lethal." Of 25 applicants for the last internship, only eight were accepted, including a social worker, a real estate agent, a bookkeeper and a special needs teacher.

While the average technical writer doesn't need a technical background, he or she does need a lifelong aptitude for learning. A good command of Hebrew is not mandatory but provides a distinct advantage. Technical writing salaries range from between NIS 10,000 and 25,000 a month, making the profession very attractive for new olim.

LAURIE HELLER considers herself an exception to the aliya rule, having moved to Jerusalem 13 years ago after transferring her position as director of the Legacy Fund at the UJA-Federation of New York to the organization's Israel Office.

"I initiated the transfer," says Heller, "coming on a three-year trial. After six years in the Israel office it was time to move on." With 12 years of experience allocating over one hundred million dollars in Israel, Heller founded Laurie Heller Associates, which provides local non-profit organizations with fundraising, development and grant writing services from a funder's perspective.

"If I had stayed in the US, I would probably have remained in the Federation world and not gone to the other side of the table," says Heller. "I brought my experience as a funder to help organizations to obtain a grant, but I also had to learn new skills. I hadn't overseen grant writing before."

Heller employs four full-time and five part-time staff, but admits her writers need a grasp of Hebrew to connect with clients and work with documents. Nonetheless, she does hire new olim.

"Last year I hired someone from Nefesh B'Nefesh who had been here for four days," Heller says. "We have had lawyers, social workers, teachers. I don't look at the history of the person, other than ascertaining that they are reliable and stable."

While she realizes that money is a concern to new immigrants, Heller points out that olim don't move to Israel to get rich quick.

"Most people want to make a difference," she says. "Most days I feel very blessed with my work. My staff get a sense of gratification working with non-profits who are doing good things here."

Perhaps the best-known employer of Anglo immigrants today is Jerusalem-based IDT, an outsourcing center that offers English speakers the opportunity to continue working in their native language, albeit often during US business hours. One of IDT's first employees, Yoel Bender, 29, came to Israel from St. Louis four years ago to join the rest of his family, which had previously made aliya. Before his move, Bender was working in industrial graphic design for a shoe company.

"In the States, everyone warned me that I wouldn't be able to find a job here in my field... It was right after the high tech crash and I was a little concerned, but I stayed optimistic," he recalls.

Bender began an ulpan program but dropped out when he was accepted in the second intake of IDT's call-center staff.

"I started at the very birth of the company, before there were any graphic opportunities... it wasn't easy to find a job and so I did what was available. The [call center's nighttime] hours were hard, and of course I felt the lack and continued to look for other jobs and opportunities in my field," he says. "After a year the company began to expand into other professional services, and one was graphic design."

In the right place at the right time, Bender was asked to do some temporary graphics work for a client, which led to his position today as IDT's Creative Director. He's now responsible for graphic production and managing an in-house staff of five designers and two project managers.

"Career-wise, I am absolutely satisfied," he says. "I couldn't have asked for more." Plus, his department works regular Israeli business hours.

"As a general rule, not everybody here ends up doing what they were trained to do. That is the reality," he admits, and advises potential olim to make sure their CVs are up-to-date and that they have the required skills for their intended profession. "There is a high level of graphic design in the States, and I felt that with my skills I could make a difference in the industry here. I still don't see that as being out of reach."

"I would never discourage a person from making aliya based on their career," he continues. "If they are capable and have determination, they can come, succeed and create their place here."

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3. "Aliyah 2006: Here They Come!"
From YNET

Ten special flights of new immigrants to land in Israel this summer from North America, France and Great Britain. For the first time in decades - 650 new immigrants from France to arrive in one day.

This summer, 2,000 new immigrants from North America, France and Great Britain will arrive in Israel on ten special flights sponsored by the Jewish Agency, in conjunction with two organizations specializing in immigration and absorption assistance: North America-based group "Nefesh B'Nefesh" and France-based group AMI (Aliyah Meilleur Integration).

According to Jewish Agency estimates, 24,000 people, from countries all over the world, will immigrate to Israel in the course of the year 2006, up from the 22,657 people who made aliyah in 2005.

During the summer months, six El Al flights will land in Israel carrying 1,500 new immigrants from North America. By the end of the year, it is estimated that there will be a total of 3,400 new immigrants from North America, up from 2,987 in 2005.

In parallel, three special ISRAIR flights - two from Paris and one from Marseille - will land in Israel on July 25th, bringing 650 new immigrants from France. This is the first time in decades that such a large number of French immigrants has arrived in one day. There are expected to be 3,500 new immigrants from France this year, as opposed to 3005 in 2005.

Also this summer, for the first time, there will be a special El Al flight from Great Britain bringing 100 new immigrants. Since the beginning of the year, there has been a marked rise in immigration from Great Britain. By the end of May, the number of new immigrants from Britain was 219, up from 134 over the same period last year. By the end of the year 2006, 500 British immigrants are expected to have arrived in Israel.

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4. "Arrivals: From Worcester, Mass. to Jerusalem" by Helga Abraham
From Jerusalem Post

Although Itamar Ben Harav, 27, was born and educated in the US, it was the formative years he spent as a child on a kibbutz in Israel which left the deepest imprint.

"Those years formed my connection to Israel," affirms this amiable, highly committed Zionist. "I was only a child but when we returned to the US, I identified myself as an Israeli and was always determined to come back."

FAMILY HISTORY
Ben Harav's connections to Israel go much deeper than early childhood memories. Indeed, his family history is a colorful microcosm of Israeli history, covering pioneering settlement, the War of Independence and the birth of the Jewish state.

Ben Harav's maternal great grandfather left a wealthy living as a textile merchant in Iraq to come and live in Jerusalem, with all its hardships.

"My grandmother Yehudit, who was born in the Old City, tells me that the family was so poor they would boil up pots of water before Shabbat so the neighbors would not suspect they had no food," says Ben Harav. "And she still shudders as she recalls the riots of 1936, when the Arabs streamed out of the mosques brandishing swords and shouting "itbah el yahud, itbah el yahud" (death to the Jews)."

With the outbreak of the War of Independence, Yehudit joined the Palmah as a paramedic and met a Holocaust survivor from Poland. The two married and went off to build the settlement of Kfar Truman. The American connection entered the family jigsaw when their daughter, Ilana, Ben Harav's mother, met and married Arieh, a young American who had made aliya at 18 and joined the IDF. The family lived alternately in the US and on Kibbutz Tel Katzir in the Jordan Valley before settling permanently in Worcester.

BEFORE ARRIVAL
In Worcester, Ben Harav grew up with his three siblings in a mainly secular environment.

"My father made Friday night Kiddush, but we were not really associated with any synagogue. I attended regular high school and it was by pure chance that I went on to study at Yeshiva University."

Ben Harav studied economics and political science, and while inspired by the students and staff of Yeshiva University, he still remained secular.

"The process of becoming religious was very slow for me," admits Ben Harav. "It spread over many years and only really crystallized when I came to Israel."

As soon as he graduated from college in 2003, Ben Harav made aliya and volunteered for a special unit in the IDF.

UPON ARRIVAL
Ben Harav served in the army for two years.

"It was pretty frightening," he recalls. "We had to go into Arab areas in the middle of the night. I was 25, but the soldiers with me were just 18 and 19-year-old kids... they were incredibly brave and cool."

Ben Harav's absorption, he says, was facilitated by his army experience.

"The army gave me a base. I made friends and very quickly felt part of Israeli society. I also understand it better as a result," he says. After completing his service six months ago, Ben Harav decided to settle in Jerusalem and establish himself as a wedding photographer, a trade that runs in the family.

"My grandfather, mother and father are all professional photographers and as kids, we grew up helping out in the photography business." Ben Harav also works on a construction project in Nokdim and is studying graphic design.

ROUTINE
Ben Harav gets up at 5:45 a.m. to travel to Nokdim and returns in the evening. He then works from 7:00 p.m. until 1:00 a.m. developing his photographic business. On Shabbat, he rests.

"I wouldn't be able to function without Shabbat," he says.

LIVING ENVIRONMENT
Ben Harav shares an apartment in Katamonim with two American friends, Arieh, who runs an organization to spread the Torah to non-Jews, and Arieh Dan, who is researching bio-fuel techniques.

CIRCLE
Like his flatmates, Ben Harav's friends are mainly American religious immigrants who are in one way or another involved in pioneering enterprises. Ben Harav describes his friends as "amazing visionaries" whom he would not exchange for the likes of Brad Pitt or George Bush. The focus, however, of his circle is his fiance'e, Debbie, whom he met while in the army.

"She's a wonderful girl who comes from a religious family and we hope to marry sometime next year," he says.

FAITH
Ben Harav is an observant Jew who loves to synagogue hop and discover new traditions.

"I come from a family of rabbis on both sides. I used to be into Hassidut but I feel very connected to the Lithuanian tradition and I also like the Sephardi way of life. I am lucky to be descended from so many parts of Am Yisrael - I can relate to nearly everyone."

IDENTIFICATION
"My essential identification is as a Jew. I think Israel is the future of the Jewish people. If you want any chance of having a normal Jewish family life, of your kids being Jewish and loving their identity, you have to live in Israel. People say Chabad is the fastest growing Jewish organization in the world, but I say Israel is the fastest growing Jewish organization in the world, and we must make it work. However, to do so, we need to come to terms with the fact that we are Jews living in the Land of Israel - not just Israelis."

LANGUAGE
Ben Harav is fluent in Hebrew but speaks mainly English and is unapologetic about it.

"I don't see this as a sign of not being integrated," he says. "My friends are mostly American, but I don't keep an American lifestyle. The only American thing in my lifestyle is the language. I like speaking English but I also lapse into Hebrew when I want to say something important, because Hebrew is, after all, the language of the prophets, the language of truth and the language of the blueprint of the world."

FINANCES
With several jobs in hand, Ben Harav manages to make a living.

"People say it's hard to make it in Israel but I enjoy working here," he says. "In the US, everything is about immediate success, but I think it is also important to build and I am confident I can make it work here."

PLANS
Ben Harav and his fiance'e plan to settle in Jerusalem.

"I lived in Boston and in Manhattan, but Jerusalem is the most extraordinary city in the world. It's God's city, after all, and there is a palpable electricity here." But Ben Harav also nurtures another dream in his heart - to go out and settle the Land of Israel.

"My dream is to be a redneck and live in a caravan," he laughs, "but we shall have to see what the missus says!"

Issue 34 "BALAK" 5766

2006-07-06T07:52:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "240 North Americans Fly Home to Israel" by Hillel Fendel
2. "Matisyahu: Next year in Jerusalem" by Sagi Ben Nun
3. "Let My People Come" by Michael Freund
4. "The Israel No One Sees" By Dr. Eugene Narrett

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1. "240 North Americans Fly Home to Israel" by Hillel Fendel
From Israel National News

(CLICK ABOVE LINK FOR MUST-SEE PHOTOS)

The first of this summer's seven specially-chartered Nefesh B'Nefesh/Jewish Agency flights, bringing some 3,000 Western immigrants to Israel, arrived today. IsraelNationalRadio was aboard.

President Moshe Katzav, Absorption Minister Ze'ev Boim and other officials were on hand today to greet Israel's newest 240 citizens. Their move to Israel was facilitated by the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization, which has similarly helped some 7,000 Jews to come home over the past four years.

IsraelNationalRadio show hosts and Aliyah activists Yishai and Malkah Fleisher, who were on the plane, were visibly moved at being part of the homecoming of so many Jews. "But the most powerful moment of all," Yishai later said, "happened when I was talking to a little girl, 9 years old, who calls herself Mickey. I asked her why she wants to make Aliyah to Israel, and she said, 'Well, it's the holiest place in the world; G-d lives there, so that's where I'm going to be too.'" [Stay tuned to the IsraelNationalRadio homepage to hear the full conversation, as well as others.]

Another of the new olim, Dan Lande, in his 20s, told Yishai, "One of my most memorable moments was a few years ago, when I was at a wedding in Hevron... and the groom got up and called out to everyone, 'This Land' - and everyone answered him back all together, 'is our land!' I get goose bumps even now just thinking about it..." He will be learning Hebrew on a Kibbutz for the next five months: "It would have been a lot easier staying in America, but the main thing is living a life full of meaning - and tomorrow I will wake up knowing that I'm home."

Yishai said that he spoke with one hareidi-religious family - a Belzer hassid, his wife and several children - but only after the woman ascertained that their talk would help bring more olim to Israel. Coming from Monsey, New York, she said that she feels that "every Jew, deep down, wants to come to Israel, and I am happy to have the opportunity to do so."

Hand in Hand
"I was also talking to a couple in their late 80s who arrived together, hand-in-hand, to their new home in Israel," Yishai recounted. "I asked how they came to make Aliyah. The woman told me that their daughter, who lives in Israel with her family, had recently asked her father where he might want to be buried when the times comes. He said, 'In Israel.' So she said, 'Why don't you come here before then and get to see your grandchildren and great-grandchildren grow up?' He right away agreed - and she right away went to the internet to download the Nefesh B'Nefesh forms..."

Nefesh B'Nefesh - Jewish Souls United - was formed in late 2001 to "revitalize North American Aliyah and to expand it for generations to come by removing the financial, professional, social and logistical obstacles that are preventing many 'would-be' Olim [immigrants] from fulfilling their dream." It has been a great success, having helped over 7,000 American and Canadian newcomers come home to Israel, on 16 flights since 2002. 99% have remained in Israel, at least one spouse in 94% of the families are employed, 300 babies have been born to them, and 100 weddings have been celebrated among them.

The organization provides pre- and post-immigrations services such as loans that become grants, employment information and opportunities, and help in education and other areas.

"Our comprehensive Aliyah services, and the cooperative support of Israel's governmental and organizational resources [such as the Jewish Agency for Israel and the Interior Ministry], have played a pivotal role in our ongoing success," says Nefesh co-founder and chairman Tony Gelbart.

Gelbart's rabbi and co-founder, Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, welcomed the new Olim that no matter how many similar flights of new immigrants would arrive in Israel, "each one was just as momentous and miraculous as any other one. You are here today in fulfillment of the words 'bring us upright to our Land' - you are here, standing proud and tall, not running away from anything, but rather running towards something great and invaluable..."

The two, Rabbi Fass and Tony Gelbart, authored an inspirational letter to today's 240 olim, emphasizing the momentous decision they made:
"...We are on our way home... Please take a moment to reflect and consider the enormity of your precious undertaking. For centuries we have prayed, sung, studied about returning to Israel. What many Jews throughout history could not accomplish in their lifetime, you will be fortunate to be actualize in less than 11 hours. You will soon be calling Israel your home... Thank you for making the courageous choice of picking up your lives, taking on the challenges of Aliyah, and making this significant and life-altering dream a reality."

(Photos: Yishai Fleisher)

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2. "Matisyahu: Next year in Jerusalem" by Sagi Ben Nun
From YNET

Matisyahu has no problem singing with Sting about Roxanne the prostitute, and he is even willing to give up hockey for living in the Holy City

What do you think an internationally-acclaimed rapper does at the end of a show at a smoky rock club, just after entering the green room, dripping with sweat? Screws around with groupies? Downs some shots? Sniffs up some cocaine? The reality is much geekier as far as Hassidic rapper Matisyahu is concerned.

At the end of his hit performance at the Barbie Club in Tel Aviv, the wildest thing he did was eat a glatt kosher salad out of a plastic box that was prepared in advance.

According to Matisyahu, people want to turn him into a fantasy or a hero, but he's neither a superhero nor a rabbi. He is an ordinary, music-loving genuine person with a wife and kids.

At the peak of his greatest international success he visited Israel again and was the warm-up artist for Sting at Ramat Gan Stadium, where he sang "Roxanne." Even as someone who keeps the Jewish traditions, he had no problem performing a song written about a prostitute.

According to Matisyahu, the classic song deals with much more than a prostitute: The idea behind the song is that every person can be a prostitute in a certain sense, and certainly the entire Jewish people can act like a prostitute and sell itself short.

In his first album he mentioned the word "Mashiach" in Hebrew (Messiah), and on the second album, which came out on the Sony label, he preferred to use the word "redemption," which appeals to a wide Christian audience.

Jerusalem, here I come

In an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth Matisyahu mentioned that "It's true that in the new album there isn't a lot of Hebrew, unlike the first album. I actually wanted more Hebrew, but Sony was pressuring us to finish the album as fast as possible."

When asked what's the most surprising thing that people don't know about him, Matisyahu answered that he enjoys hockey and even used to play. He insists that he will immigrate within a year or two, despite the fact that ice-hockey is almost non-existent in Israel.

"If you hear of a nice house in Jerusalem, let me know," he told the reporter. "My move to Israel depends on a few things: If I make enough money to buy a good place to live in, if my family can come and visit me often and if it will work out as far as my career is concerned."

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3. "Let My People Come" by Michael Freund
From Jerusalem Post

For the past nine months, Ruti Joram and her four young children have been anxiously waiting to make aliya. It is not family matters which are holding them back, nor does the situation in the Middle East deter them from seeking to fulfill their dream.

Since last year, their bags have been packed, and all their other possessions were either sold or given away. They have said the requisite good-byes to family and friends, neighbors and co-workers, and prepared themselves to build new lives in the Jewish state.

So why, you might ask, are Ruti and her kids still waiting? What is preventing them from getting on an airplane and coming here? It might sound illogical, or even absurd, but the person standing in their way is none other than Israel's Minister of Immigrant Absorption, Ze'ev Boim.

That's right. The guy getting paid to promote aliya is actually doing his utmost to prevent it.

THE SAGA began last autumn, when Ruti and her children were among 218 people formally converted back to Judaism by Israel's Chief Rabbinate.

All are members of the Bnei Menashe, a community of 7,000 that resides primarily in the northeastern Indian states of Mizoram and Manipur, along the border with Burma and Bangladesh.

The Bnei Menashe claim descent from a lost tribe of Israel, and succeeded in preserving the memory of their Jewish ancestry over the centuries. They keep the Sabbath, practice circumcision on the eighth day, observe the laws of Kashrut and family purity, and have built dozens of synagogues across India's northeast, all of which face toward Jerusalem.

Over the past decade, nearly 1,000 members of the community have moved to Israel, where they play an active role in society. They are industrious people who serve in the army, lead productive lives and raise incredibly beautiful Jewish children.

Indeed, in March 2005, after thoroughly studying the community, its history and its traditions, Israel's Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar formally recognized the Bnei Menashe as "descendants of the Jewish people."

Subsequently, in September 2005, the Chief Rabbi dispatched a special rabbinical court to India, which carried out the conversion of the community members, all of whom wish to make aliya.

Nonetheless, even though the 218 Bnei Menashe were converted by Israel's Chief Rabbinate, and the entire process took place under the supervision of Israel's Conversion Authority, which is an arm of the Prime Minister's Office, the Absorption Ministry has refused to consent to their arrival.

And so, even though all the other relevant players - from the Interior Ministry to the Chief Rabbinate to the Jewish Agency - have all approved the Bnei Menashe aliya, it remains stuck thanks to Mr. Boim's misguided policy.

AND JUST what is that policy, you might be wondering? Well, it seems that Boim is not willing to allow the 218 Bnei Menashe Jews to move here until the government formulates an official stance regarding what to do vis- -vis the other 7,000 members of the community.

In other words, he wants Ruti Joram and her four children to continue waiting until Israel's bureaucracy gets its act together and makes some sort of decision, a process that could take months or even years to complete.

This approach is entirely unacceptable, for the simple reason that under the Law of Return, the moment that the 218 Bnei Menashe completed their conversions, they immediately became eligible to make aliya.

If Boim wants to devise an overall policy concerning the 7,000 remaining members of the Bnei Menashe community, let him go ahead and do so. But what does that have to do with the 218 who have already converted?

They are Jews in every respect, and neither Boim nor anyone else has the right to stall, delay, defer or postpone their arrival, or to link it to some protracted bureaucratic decision-making process.

Frankly, the Absorption Ministry's position is illegal and immoral. It runs counter to the basic values of Zionism and Judaism, and it cannot be allowed to stand. Whoever heard of an Israeli government minister blocking Jews from moving to Israel?

Formally speaking, the Absorption Ministry is not empowered to decide who moves to Israel, but it does play a central role in arranging new immigrants' affairs once they get here. So as long as they continue to withhold their approval, the Jewish Agency will not go ahead and bring the 218 Bnei Menashe Jews to Israel.

As Chairman of Shavei Israel, an organization that assists the Bnei Menashe, I have repeatedly appealed to Boim and to his Director-General, Mirala Gal, in recent months to allow the aliya to go forward, but neither has even bothered to respond.

And so, left with no choice, we have hired a prominent attorney, who sent a letter to Boim the other day insisting that he follow the law and immediately agree to facilitate the Bnei Menashe's arrival. If he fails to do so, we will not hesitate to go to the Supreme Court against him.

Never in my wildest imagination did I think it would be necessary to take the Israeli government to court in order to be allowed to bring Jews to Israel. Some have suggested that Boim, and others like him, are motivated by socioeconomic concerns, or even prejudice, and that they want to find a way to halt any more Bnei Menashe from coming here. I pray that is not the case.

The Bnei Menashe may not speak Yiddish, eat gefilte fish or identify with the character of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof, but that doesn't make them any less Jewish than Boim himself.

This past Yom Ha'atzma'ut, a young Bnei Menashe named Tamir Baite was honored as one of Israel's outstanding soldiers at an official state ceremony held in Jerusalem.

Baite, a lone soldier who made aliya four years ago, serves in the Givati Brigade's elite Shaked unit, and dreams of the day when his parents and siblings will make aliya.

When he is not busy defending the country, Baite rises early to put on his tefillin (phylacteries) and joins in reciting the morning prayers, where he pleads to be reunited with his family, and his community, here in the Jewish state.

It saddens me that we've reached the point where people such as Baite and Ruti Joram are treated so callously by our government, which seems to care little for the needless suffering and grief it is causing them.

I'm not quite sure how things have come to this, but there is one thing that should be clear: we cannot and will not rest until the Bnei Menashe come home to Zion.

They are our brothers and sisters, and it is time we started treating them as such.

The writer is chairman of Shavei Israel, a Jerusalem-based group that assists "lost Jews" seeking to return to the Jewish people. www.shavei.org

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4. "The Israel No One Sees" By Dr. Eugene Narrett
From World Net Daily

The world powers and their major media have been preoccupied, some would say obsessed, with Israel since its war for independence from Britain and Britain's Arab-created client states in 1948. We are numbed by the "Jewish land for Arab promises of peace" process from Camp David to Madrid, Oslo, Wye, Camp David II to the Road Map, which demands a freeze on Jewish settlement in the central parts of the Promised Land and the expulsion of Jews from ever greater portions of it. We also are familiar with the initial results of such processing: more terror, ethnic cleansing of Jews and now, Hamas terror states in the Gaza area and in the hills of northern Samaria (the Shomron).

There are, however, many aspects of Israel, often the most beautiful facets of the entire nation, land and people, that few of us ever get to see. Perhaps the world powers and their official organs of "truth" prefer it that way.

The following paragraphs reveal the beautiful and inspiring face of the Israel that exists behind the headlines and diplomatic slogans, the Israel that the world is in such a hurry to blot out, destroying its homes, farms, flocks, livelihoods and burying Jewish lives in that special oblivion intended for those who buck the modern world's dominant tendencies. It does not need to be. If the Jews of Judea and Samaria are uprooted, Americans, and not only Americans, will be endangered and impoverished.

Americans take note and beware: Israel and the Jews are the canary in the mine. If a league of governments can justify expelling Jews from their ancient homeland, any government can "justify" expelling any person from his home.

Travels

For 18 days beginning May 22, I traveled Israel from Yevul at the Egyptian border to Hispin in the Golan Heights. These travels included large swaths of the hilltop communities in the Shomron and Binyamin regions, the latter being the beautiful ridges and hills northeast of Jerusalem. The first eight days I was with an AFSI (Americans for a Safe Israel) tour, one of the very few groups that regularly visits those places where the cutting edge of the globalists "grand game" intersects with the lives of the people who are its target. The journey's purpose was largely educational, a fact-finding mission that included visits to many new communities, some of them refugee camps for those Jews expelled in August 2005 from the towns and farms they had built on the dunes in Gush Katif (the Gaza area), deported in the name of "peace."

And we saw the wall in many places; we heard rockets being fired over it and saw one that had recently landed right next to a greenhouse in Netiv Ha Assara, which, thanks to the expulsion of the Jews from GK (the ancient biblical territory of Gerar, Genesis 25) is now on the frontline with global jihad. Far from the lights, press conferences and suave diplomats, we also saw the people in these camps. Despite what they have been through, and despite the poverty and terror that the deals of politicians subject them and their children to every day, they are not discouraged, but have their eyes set on creating and flourishing in a future of dignified joy, one day at a time.

"Every place we settle we will create a Gush Katif," said Sara, mother of nine children and formerly from Netzarim. "We will return to Gush Katif; and if not us, our children will return." Such people cannot be defeated.

The beauty of the land and people

The land is astonishingly beautiful, with a uniquely stark, colorful, eye-arresting mix of hills, ridges, winding valleys and stream beds. And, yes, wherever Jews have settled and worked the land it is green, from the tomato, mango, date palm and orange plantings in the sun-baked Dead Sea valley, to the wheat fields, vineyards, herbs and flowers of the Negev, to the olive, fig and almond orchards of the Golan and Samaria. Perhaps this is what the powers of the world don't want people to see: that the promises of the Creator are real; that His covenant is real and everlasting.

Notwithstanding the marvel of this "green line," the people are the most beautiful and instructive feature of the Israel no one sees: gracious, cheerful, "grounded" we would say, living attuned to nature and to nature's Creator with simple unshakeable faith, honor for history and Scripture, and with inspiring persistence.

We began our travels in the hills of Ephraim, in the University town of Ariel at the southern edge of the Shomron. A lovely hotel, the Eshel haShomron, has a flower-surrounded pool, dry clear air and sits near the tip of a salient enclosed by the "security fence" at the very eastern edge of what the world leaders intend to permit for Jewish settlement. Ascending into the hills, one is astonished at the spaciousness and emptiness of nearly all the Jewish heartland. Fifty-six years after Israeli independence, most of the land is still waiting for its people. There is room for millions, for innumerable flocks and plantings, for a paradise on earth.

Exploring a new neighborhood of trailers (the Israelis euphemistically call them "caravans") housing refugees from the Gush Katif expulsion, I was invited for coffee by Ziv and Adi, a young couple with seven children, formerly from Netzarim. Having been uprooted several times before their temporary place at Ariel, their courtesy and good nature were remarkable:

"We want to make a permanent community, to build with teaching and spirit and love. The most terrible pain was not to us but to Israel. We worry about what will come from this kind of break in caring [about people]."

Nine people were living in a space barely suitable for four. Once employed now jobless, yet their hospitality and good nature shone out. They accompanied me on my way.

From Ariel we drove east to Kfar Tapuach (Apple village) and then, turning north on highway 60 sped through the chop shops and stalls of the Arab town of Hawara, noting the Jewish hilltop communities of Lehava and Hill 725 (meters) far above us on the west side of the road. Traveling this stretch, and many others like it, one grasps the need for those Israeli checkpoints the diplomats are always pressing Israel to close. It would be like pulling in your scouts and pickets at a battlefront, for thanks to Camp David, Oslo and the Road Map, Jews live under siege in their own nation. A detailed map of Oslo's partitioning of central Israel shows the mischief of that "peace accord," Balkanizing the land into myriad terrorist enclaves, with narrow corridors for Jews to inhabit and pass through – at their own risk. A long-suffering and gritty patience enables the Jews to persist and flourish, but this self-restraint also postpones the inevitable reckoning with an enemy that will not be appeased. Still, the planting and re-settlement of the land continues.

Vivid moments

In the highlands, we ranged from Yizhar and Shalhavet in the west to Itamar, Gidonim, Givat Olam ("eternal hills" – see Jacob's blessing to his sons, Genesis 49:26), and the outpost hills 830 and 777. Around the vineyards and orchards the earth was covered with thyme, purple phlox, rosemary and pale green grasses. In the breeze, with the vista of rugged hills angling together in innumerable lines, the fragrance, stillness and beauty were startling. Gazelles paused and then bounded across the far edges of the fields.

High in Itamar, despite its Alpine views and sweet people, the reality of being at the frontline of global jihad and great power games was brought home by Mike who trains dogs for community self-defense. "A dog shifts the element of surprise from the terrorist to the community patrol" he explained, then added words Americans should take to heart: "We're in an impossible situation. You can't win a war by defense."

On a nearby hilltop we saw a young man in an orange T-shirt building with his bare hands a stone house that he and his fiancé would dwell in after their marriage. Looking up from yellow wild flowers one sees, miles to the southeast, amazing clumps of red, plum-colored, chalky limestone and basalt crags overlooking the Jordan Valley.

In Yizhar we talked with Ariel who's adding 2,000 more vines to his existing 4,000, grafting chardonnay and cabernet sauvignon shoots onto the hardy stock that flourish in the local soils. His wife, tall with a long black skirt, checked shirt and two small children frisking around her, smiled and invited us into their "wine cellar" featuring dozens of barrels of the local best. There was an easygoing and serene friendliness that recalled the promise if not the reality of the late 1960s.

Here in the Jewish towns, vineyards, farms and orchards of Samaria are the true beautiful people so much sought since those times: balanced, simple, quietly glad. They know who they are; they know what they are doing and that it's right. They live free, simply and with faith. They have a lot to offer the world, though they would never say so and probably don't think about it.

In Bracha, 890 meters above sea level (more than 4,000 feet above the Jordan Valley), I spoke with Eretz, a particularly cheerful young vintner who studied his craft in the coastal city of Netanya. Admiring his skill and energy I asked, "Why don't you move to France or California where you could live easily and make lots of money? Why work with the threat of terror attacks, expulsion and loss of your livelihood?"

"I stay here because of the holiness of the land. I don't need to go to Italy or America to make a lot of money." Asked again about the uncertainties he just smiled and said, "We will stay."

Bracha also overlooks the city of Shechem (mainstream media bury its real name in history by using the Arab "Nablus," a corruption of the Greco-Roman town, "Neapolis" built over the ruins of the original Hebrew settlement where Joseph and Joshua are buried). Since the Oslo deal, Jews have not been able to live, visit or even pray there. On one of the peaks of Bracha, in and around a 15-by-20-foot concrete shelter covered loosely with camouflage is a squad of paratroops, one of several that keep the city, a major center of terrorist activity, under constant surveillance. The destroyed tomb of Joseph and the ruins of the yeshiva that were there are among many testaments to the fate of holy places when Islam takes authority.

North of Shechem is Mount Ebal, where the Israelites built the first altar when they entered the land (Joshua 8; 24). I had a constant view of the site when I stayed in Elon Moreh (see Genesis 12:7) for the holy day of Shavuot ("Pentecost"). The altar has been excavated, identified and dated by archaeologist Adam Zartal of Haifa University since 1980. His book, "The Birth of a Nation," discussing the finds is in Hebrew, but a website in English gives abundant and intriguing details. One of the great ironies of our time is that as evidence of the historicity of the Hebrew Scriptures accumulates, the nations increase their efforts to blot out the history and Jewish identity of Israel. It recalls those lines from Orwell's "1984": "The past was erased. The erasure was forgotten. The lie became truth."

One of the main tools by which the powers pursue this dirty job is through ISM (the International Solidarity Movement) and other Euro-funded leftists who infest the hills and incite local Arabs to harass, rob and physically attack Jews, their farms and flocks. Every Jewish settlement we visited, from Elon Moreh and Scali's farm to Esh Kodesh and Hebron had stories to tell of invasions and incitement by leftists – and of the close ties of the provocateurs with the anti-Jewish Israeli judicial system. The apparent alignment of hostile aliens and the judicial establishment is not unique to America, but part of the fissionable aspects of our times.

Esh Kodesh, a community of about 20 Jews on a verdant hilltop overlooking green valleys and ridges about three miles east of Shiloh (where the tabernacle was set up in the days of the Judges), is a supremely beautiful place of work and dedication. The Jews living there in trailers with a one-room post and beam synagogue are holding the land by shepherding. They, too, are targeted by "Peace Now" and the ISM. If one wants to see the frontline of the war against religion and the past, go to Israel.

Voices of the refugees

One of the major stories of recent years is how thoroughly the official media and silk hats obscured and misrepresented the facts of the Israeli "Disengagement" from Gaza: the deportation of nearly 10,000 Jews, the total destruction of their homes and communities, and their dispersal throughout Israel. There is, of course, no disengagement, neither from the Arabs who continue to live, work, attempt and commit terror attacks in Israel, nor from their rockets shot from the site of ruined Jewish towns. The story here is the unheard voices of these uprooted people and their consistent message: We're going to stay together as a community. With this affirmation comes commitment to bonds between the generations, to a national identity, memory and mission, qualities with which modern culture is at odds.

"I hope my nation will return to Gush Katif, not for my home but for Hebron, Shechem and all our land. Every generation has its task and we are going to build more," said a mother of nine children. "I will not give up the task. This generation or the next will come back."

"We believe that people will come back by example, by our energy and without anger, by faith. We don't think in terms of the percent of our chances of success but about making a lasting impression through good deeds and active faith. The main reality is that the Jewish people have returned to the land of Israel. We have a long road, but the promise of Scripture is being fulfilled," says Sarah, who was from Atzmona and now lives in a camp in Yevul. "The goal is to build a holy nation and to live in it. We want a long-term and lasting success. …"

In America, we hear a lot about "community" usually from people of a certain political persuasion. But in Israel, one finds people who give their heart, soul and lives to building and maintaining communities under the most materially and morally difficult circumstances. The camps are like construction sites with exposed and leaky pipes, packed dumpsters, and everywhere wheeled plastic bins packed with belongings. In a kibbutz near what used to be the Jewish town of Alei Sinai, people have remained in a tent city by a highway rather than be scattered.

"I'm very happy for every day I spent in Gush Katif," remarks an elderly woman whose life has been reduced to rubble. Another adds, "Even though you could say that everything was destroyed, we believe that our active faith will persist. It's a law of physics and of spirituality, too." And looking to the challenge of starting life from scratch in difficult terrain she adds, "It's a great blessing to turn a place of desolation into a place of life," a comment which could underscore the entire story of the Jewish return to Zion since the massive exiles by the Romans began long ago.

In words that reflect the depersonalization these people suffered, Tova, originally from Netzer Hazzani and now living in Hispin on the Golan Heights, said, "Thank you to everyone in the United States who cares about us, to know us, what happened to us and to know that we are people." Na'ama from Katif, now living in Amatzia, adds, "We want to stay together, all the people of Gush Katif. We want to be a community that gives as much as it gets."

Lasting impressions of Israel today

It is a place filled with bird song, with birds darting, swooping, calling and singing everywhere, from the hills of Elon Moreh to the Temple Mount plaza packed with thousands of Jews praying on a Friday evening, the air filled with fragrance from innumerable bunches of mint.

It is a country of immense vitality stemming from people, not from government that is even more clumsily and maliciously obstructive than in America – a country of enormous growth, flourishing and spirit.

Israel is a nation under siege, a frontline community. High up in the north Judean hills, on Mt. Azazel 10 miles east of the Mount of Olives and the Temple Mount, I heard and watched a live-fire exercise south of Jericho and through binoculars saw tanks maneuvering behind the first ridge west of the Dead Sea. Around Shechem one hears exchanges of fire every night. On the southwest coast, in Ashkelon, artillery booms for public consumption, sporadic and lame responses to ongoing terrorist rocket attacks. In a hotel there I saw several uniformed members of an EU security team and their jeeps, festooned with the circle of stars, in the parking lot. The infiltration of Israel by official and unofficial enemies is as omnipresent as U.N. jeeps in Jerusalem.

The wall is everywhere, and the government and JNF collude in selling Jewish land to Arabs west as well as east of the wall. But Jewish building continues throughout "east" Jerusalem, as well as in the hills and camps.

Israel is a place where ancient history, the Bible and the promise of the Creator is being verified and affirmed every day, and the people most at risk affirm and live it.

The vastness and the singular beauty of the center of the nation, the steep hills, ridges and valleys of Judea and Samaria, the glorious view from Elon Moreh above the Tirzah valley down to Shiloh and beyond, the expanse of the Hebron hills seen from a one-room trailer-café in Gush Etzion whose smoothies are out of this world …

The amount of self-help, hospitality and neighborliness; the persistence and grit of the Jewish people in their land are qualities to inspire restoration of what is best in America. Behind the headlines, the children of Israel in their land still are a light to the nations.

Community, diversity, joy – we talk a lot about diversity in America but there is no blend of diversity and joy like that seen Yom Yerushalayim, the day celebrating the liberation and re-unification of Jerusalem in 1967. Jews from every corner of the world, of every color, accent and feature, sidewalk to sidewalk dancing with spirit and solidarity south down Jaffa Street past Zion Square toward the Temple Mount Plaza, rejoicing. This people cannot be defeated.

Eugene Narrett is professor and director of the BA in Multidisciplinary Studies at Cambridge College in Massachusetts. He has written extensively on American politics and culture and on Israel and the Middle East. His books include "Gathered Against Jerusalem" (Writers Club Press), "Israel Awakened" (AuthorHouse) and "Israel and the Endtimes."

Issue 33 "SHELACH - THE SPY WHO LOVED ME" 5766

2006-06-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "The Spy Who Loved Me" by Malkah Fleisher
2. "Shelach Lecha: A Lesson Still Not Learned" by Levi Chazen
3. "Thoughts From Texas" - A Letter To Kumah
4. "Coming Home" by Iris Maimon-Toledano
5. "Arrivals: From Teaneck to Jerusalem" Rena Rossner

Check it out at: http://kummunique.blogspot.com/

*Dedicated to the Refua Shlema of Leah bat Faiga

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1. "The Spy Who Loved Me" by Malkah Fleisher

About this time every summer, a mirror is put up to the face of every Jew, in every synagogue in the world. As the chronicle of the catastrophic biblical struggle unfolds, those of us who are given over to private introspection and spiritual growth peer into that mirror and look for that ancient Hebrew who stood on the threshold of freedom. We try to smell that smell, to see that vista, to hear those words, and to feel the impact of that choice – the choice to forsake the Land of Israel.

As you read parshat Shelach this week, take a moment to channel your Siniatic Jew. Suffer the pain of the fear-mongering reports. Search the face of Calev ben Yefuneh as he begs for your strength. Hear the rip as you rend your clothes, mourning the wrath of Hashem and the shame of the nation’s weakness. You have failed as a Jew. And you will pay.

The “sin of the spies” is a favorite biblical allusion of Israel activists. Twelve spies are sent by Moshe to scout and strategize Jewish entry into Israel. Instead of fulfilling their mission, ten of the spies return with scathing and dreadful predictions of suffering and catastrophe. Only two – Calev ben Yefuneh and Yehoshua ben Nun – testify to the greatness and goodness that life will afford them: “The Land that we passed through to spy it out – the Land is very, very good! If Hashem desires us, He will bring us to this Land and give it to us, a Land that flows with milk and honey…”(Bamidbar 14:7-9) Ultimately, the Jews believe the 10 spies, incurring the wrath of G-d, who condemns the men to death in the desert, and foretells of Jewish suffering throughout thousands of years of exile, as punishment for their rejection of Israel.

Obviously, this Torah portion provides us with the opportunity to warn Jews against rejecting our birthright and plunging ourselves and our nation into darkness. We look to this portion as an incontrovertible sign that the Land of Israel stores deep and brilliant secrets and blessings for the Jewish people that are irreplaceable and inexchangable.

In light of this parsha, soul-searching may reveal some flaws in our relationship to Israel. Complaints about the “difficulty” of earning a livelihood in Israel, the frustration of dealing with “brusque” Israelis, the challenge of living with “less” in Israel – these little falsehoods stem from the same slanderous impetus that overtook the 10 spies in the desert, and distance us from goodness and Truth.

Know that there is a treatment ready to restore the glint to your eyes and return the vigor and might to your heart. Calev is still calling for warriors. The Hebrew you’ve always wanted to be is waiting for you in the looking glass. The world, even some Jews, may try to convince you of your inability, your neediness, your fear. But listen to that small, clear voice that tells you that you can live the dream of your people and of your Creator. Take a look at everything our Land has to offer and say to yourself – “the Land is very, very good!”

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2. "Shelach Lecha: A Lesson Still Not Learned" by Levi Chazen
From Israel National News

When one dwells on the apparently harsh punishment meted out to the ten spies and to the entire congregation, one wonders: Does the punishment really fit the crime? Our rabbis teach us that the men who brought forth the evil report about the Land of Israel died in a plague before HaShem. Rashi explains that the plague was measure-for-measure; they sinned with their tongue, and so their punishment was that their tongues stretched to their navels and worms came out of their tongues and entered their navels.

The congregation was also punished harshly, by being totally killed off from the age of twenty and up. The entire generation - wiped out. Only because of the great Chilul HaShem that it would have caused if they were to be killed off all at once (what would Egypt say?) was the punishment spread out over a forty-year period.

Even more puzzling is that we find in last week's parsha that when Miriam spoke lashon hara - evil talk - about Moses, she was stricken with tzara'at and had to be removed from the camp for a period of only seven days. After that, she returned to her former position as one of the seven prophets the Jewish people had in our history. If so, why is it that in the case of the spies, they and the entire congregation were so severely punished?

The answer is just as relevant today for us as it was back then for the spies; and unfortunately, just as deadly. Firstly, the spies were men of little faith. HaShem had promised the Jewish people that He would bring them into a good land, being able to remove the nations that lived here. The spies, though, did not believe that G-d had the capability to conquer the nations that lived here. To the spies, the nations living in the land seemed stronger than HaShem Himself. Being the Torah giants of their time, what we would call today the Gedolei HaDor, they gave a psak - a Torah judgment - that the danger to life outweighs the commandment to conquer the Land.

Little did it concern them that he who dwells outside the Land of Israel is as if he worships idols; little did it concern them that over 300 times in the Torah G-d states that He is giving this land to the Jewish people; little did it concern them that over 300 of the commandments can only be done in the Land of Israel; that G-d's entire blueprint for the Jews and humanity was to have the Jews enter into their land right away and set up a G-dly kingdom in this world.

And so they, the leaders of the Jewish people - the Gedolim of their time - fell, and took all of us with them. Their only wish was to return to the fleshpots of Egypt - what they knew as the Goldene Medina. This, though, was not to be. Because of their lack of faith in HaShem - that He could not bring them into the land, a land that they thought was dangerous, a land in which they thought they could not make a living - they were punished, and punished severely.

And the Torah wears sackcloth, for the sin of the spies runs after us and overtakes us and is still not corrected. In the time of Ezra, when the call went out to return to the Holy Land, we find that the great majority of the Jewish people had all kinds of reasons for not coming home. It is too dangerous; you cannot make a living; we're waiting for Messiah; who is this Cyrus, king of Persia, anyway, that he should be telling us to come back home? He is not even Jewish; they're not religious enough for us; and on and on it went.

Our rabbis, though, tell us that because the Jewish people did not come back to their land en mass, G-d's Divine Presence also did not come back, paving the way for the destruction of the Second Temple. Resh Lakish, a leading Talmudic rabbi, yelled out in anguish over this and said: "G-d, how I hate them, for they could have brought the Redemption to the Jewish people if they would have come home!"

And what can we say today? Why do we not heed the call? Can anyone look over the past 60 years of history and not see the hand of HaShem bringing His people home? Is the G-d of Israel not great enough to give us a livelihood also over here? Sure, there are problems, but with an influx of three, four or five million good Jews into the Land we would be able to fix all the problems, ensuring that there would be no more expulsions like the one from Gush Katif. What will we answer our Maker on our Judgment Day, when we are called into account? Will we be able to say that "our hands have not shed this blood"?

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3. "Thoughts From Texas" - A Letter To Kumah

Hi Yishai and Malkah,

First, we want to say welcome to Texas and we are happy you are here, that you had a safe journey from Israel and have been reunited with your family. It is never easy to come back to such difficult circumstances however and we are praying here in Fort Worth, Texas for Malkah's mother, a complete and speedy recovery. May Hashem watch over you and your family as you face this difficult time.

Yishai, thanks for your talk, " Thoughts from Texas. " My husband and I plan on making aliyah in the summer 2007 and have just returned from Israel, our first pilot trip. We have been on a rollercoaster of emotions since we began the process last year. Each stage of preparation brings with it new moments of joy as well as stressors but we are keeping our sanity thanks to our local shaliach and all the good folks at Nefesh B'Nefesh.

Your comments on Texas were very interesting. As would be expected from future olim, we are struggling with the prospect of leaving all the "comforts" of life in the western world but really it is truly as you say, the culture of consumerism we have grown accustomed to living in. I don't mean to sound dramatic but I wonder if Texans have an even deeper struggle when making aliyah because it has been drilled into us from birth that by American standards " Everything is bigger and better in Texas. " The Texan pride is very strong and I never knew how much until I lived overseas in the 90's. I lived in the UK for 5 years and whenever someone asked me where I was from, instead of saying, I am American or I am from the United States, I would always say " I am from Texas. " Historians attribute this Texan mentality to the fact that Texas was its own nation from 1836 to1845. Hence, slogans like " Texas - it's like a whole other country " promoting tourism...and " Don't Mess With Texas"... the do not litter slogan.

When I look at our future home, Israel, she is so tiny compared to Texas. You could fit 28 Israels into the State of Texas. Having just spent a month in Israel, we learned about living simply, how living in Israel means living among family. After returning to Texas early this month, our mood became somewhat melancholy, we were missing Israel.

American culture seemed so excessive, it was depressing to walk into a Wal Mart and watch people consume so much with such little regard. Two, three, four cars in every household is a way of life here and Americans complain about gas prices at $2.75 a gallon! Oh brother. When we announced at our shul that gas was over $7.00 a gallon in Israel they were shocked. Although we struggle with leaving the "comforts" of western society behind, and most importantly family, friends etc... we know Israel is our home and long for it everyday. Maybe it sounds corny but we want to be joined to Israel for better or for worse....come what may. It is our true home.

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4. "Coming Home" by Iris Maimon-Toledano
From YNET

10 years abroad is a long time – too long. Still, it isn't easy packing up and starting again

A few weeks before I and my family return to Israel after ten years in Canada, we are in the throes of packing and checking – what do we have to do about health insurance and national insurance? What about import duty, education, and finding a new place to live?

We are closing our lives here, gathering up the things we'll need in Israel, and I my anticipation and my worries are keeping me awake just about every night.

Gripped by fear

But the panic that struck me today was different. Today, I was overtaken by fear, a debilitating panic so powerful I couldn't even concentrate on the things I was supposed to be putting in the cardboard boxes all around me. As I watched my children playing happily in the garden, by heart suddenly started racing, and for the first time in months I asked myself, "What the hell am I doing?"

And my standard answer – "I'm going home" – didn't work this time. Neither did my laconic answers, the ones constantly on the tip of my tongue like a mantra and come out almost automatically. "Because my children think Canada's their home. I want their only 'home' to be in Israel."

Or: "Because if I don't do it now, I never will." Or: "I've got to give Israel an honest chance. We've never lived there as a family, and Israel is supposed to be heaven for families." Or a host of other answers.

I don't have a lot of family left in Israel. Two sisters and their families, some uncles and cousins we see at family celebrations, and that's about it. The "glue" we all know so well is no more.

Even my return will not give me back the years lost, the time I wasn't by their sides. It also won't atone for feelings of regret and guilt.

Maybe it will be easier to mourn, and to connect to the loss. When you are far away, even the death of a parent can be considered so distant as to be unreal. When you are far away, it's amazing just how easy it is "to continue."

My Israel

I'm coming home to my beloved country, a land I love so much it hurts. My Israel makes my laugh and cry, it warms my heart and freezes me with shock and horror. My Israel gave me a stubborn root. Even if it were to be removed, nothing could replace the hole that would be left.

Israel is a mother, a daughter, a wise old man who has seen it all, and who sometimes dresses up in clothes that don't belong to it, adopts foreign customs that add nothing positive to the country or culture. No other country inspires its people to the same levels of anger and love, of loathing and admiration, happiness and sadness like Israel.

Israel's got everything, and yet the country is poor and shabby, and for some reason I am afraid that I and my children are going to live there.

Building tomorrow

Naomi Shemer wrote about a better, nicer "tomorrow." For the past year, I have been living inside songs such as "I have no other country" and "Songs from the land I love." Is the reality of my Israel to be found in these lines, or is the reality to be found in the prophecies I encounter day after day, year after year, when I sit down at my computer?

I want to come home so I can play a part in perfecting our society and creating that better "tomorrow" for my Israel. Over the past 10 years I have done this in a foreign country. Today, I have great dreams and faith in the power of my ability to do it all again.

The fear that has overtaken me came from a conversation I had with a dispirited Israel who somehow found his way to Vancouver. There are hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands like him around the world.

Kosher émigrés

I never closed my ears to all those "dispirited Israelis". We were Israelis who went abroad for "kosher" reasons – teaching, aliyah representatives, etc. These claims allowed me to survive for several years happily and with no pangs of a guilty conscious.

But the years go by too quickly. Our visions of serving the country abroad dimmed as we moved on to other positions. Eventually, the years catch up with you and you begin to feel uncomfortable.

The Israeli I met today caused me to feel radically uncomfortable. He ran away, he harbored a deep hatred. He had been broken by life in my Israel. When I told him my entire house was for sale, that I'd just packed up my 40th box, he looked at me like I was a fool. Not crazy, not innocent.

My beloved awaits

So I packed up my kids toys and bid farewell to my distressed friend. When I heard them babbling about the squirrel running up the tree and about the fact it was cold already, I was filled with fear, so much so that I couldn't think about anything else.

I went in the house, stared at 40 packed boxes in the corner and a lot more to go. There are Israeli passports to renew, a huge health insurance debt to repay, and a million other things to do.

10 years, a fool's happiness, a little girl killed by a shell in Gaza, another Pesach abroad, a child who calls me "Mommy." And my Israel, by beloved, awaits.

Iris Maimon-Toledano is the coordinator of the Vancouver Jewish Federation's fight against poverty

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5. "Arrivals: From Teaneck to Jerusalem" Rena Rossner
From Jerusalem Post

Rabbi Bob Carrol, 47, Ruthie Levi, 47, and Mona: The Lion of Zion

When Ruthie Levi received an e-mail response to her JDate profile from Rabbi Bob Carrol, she knew he was not the man for her.

"He had written in his profile that he wanted to make aliya. I had broken up relationships with other men because of the issue of aliya," she says.

But Bob persisted.

"We only lived one mile away from one another. Why not just meet and see?"

Now, Bob looks at Ruthie across the table of their temporary Baka rental, surrounded by unpacked boxes and quips, "I elicited your inner Zionist."

FAMILY HISTORY
Both Bob and Ruthie grew up in New Jersey but came from very different backgrounds. Ruthie grew up in a German-Jewish modern Orthodox home, "I was a thoroughbred yekke," and went to Hunter, a New York public school for gifted kids. At 15, she graduated and went to City College, later working at New York City's famed Dean and Deluca Market, where she ran their gourmet food importing division. She currently runs a gourmet food company that sells upscale food products to supermarkets all over the US.

Bob was raised in a Reform household and had his bar mitzva in the local Methodist Church, where the Reform congregation met. In high school he got involved with the Conservative movement's USY (United Synagogue Youth).

"When I went to my first USY convention, I was blown away. I have never seen Jews doing the stuff talked about in the Bible. It was explosive! I was hooked," he recalls.

But it wasn't until he went to Brandeis University that he was able to fully practice Judaism the way he wanted to. There, he studied Jewish studies and philosophy, and then went on to Rabbinical School and got a Masters in Jewish philosophy. He later studied at Yeshivat Hamivtar in Gush Etzion and at Yeshivat Darche Noam, also known as Shapell's, in Jerusalem.

After working for a few years as a Hillel director and as a computer project manager and network administrator, Bob landed his dream job as program director for EDAH, a Modern Orthodox web portal that explores all aspects of Modern Orthodoxy and runs seminars, events and lectures in New York and Jerusalem.

BEFORE ALIYA
Ruthie was very involved in her Teaneck community. She ran a Yahoo Group with over 7,000 members called "Teaneck Shuls" and was comfortable and happy.

"Aliya was never on my radar screen," she admits.

Bob was captivated by Israel from the age of 13.

"I felt that Israel was just such a captivating story to be a part of," he says. When he started working for EDAH six years ago, he came back to Israel for the first time in 15 years. "I realized that I didn't want to look back when I was 70 and say, why didn't I make aliya?"

When Bob and Ruthie met and dated, in the end it all came down to aliya.

"I didn't want to risk losing Bob," says Ruthie. "I did my community work in Teaneck and I realized it was time to move on to a new chapter in my life."

UPON ARRIVAL
Bob and Ruthie came on the December 27, 2005 Nefesh B'Nefesh flight and were married 10 days later on January 6, 2006 at the Kehillat Yedidya shul in Baka.

They went back to the US immediately afterwards and stayed there until March 29.

"We had a lot of loose ends to tie up and it took Bob longer than we expected to sell his house," Ruthie explains. They returned on March 29 with Mona, their cat. "We bought one business class seat and one regular seat so that Mona would be more comfortable," Ruthie explains.

"On the flight the stewardesses kept coming over to me and asking me if everything was okay," says Bob. "I was sitting on the floor taking care of Mona."

ROUTINE
"I don't really have a routine yet," explains Ruthie, "there are still so many loose ends to tie up. We generally spend our days sorting out all the bureaucratic stuff and work at night."

Both Bob and Ruthie are able to do all of their work virtually.

"It's a little strange going out with friends, coming home at 8:30 p.m., getting on the computer and starting to work," says Ruthie, "but we're getting used to it. A day without Internet here is not a good day."

Bob catches up on the news for about an hour in the morning and then usually sets out for a few meetings.

"The phone starts ringing off the hook here at about 6 p.m. There is no such thing as a restful evening in this house," Bob says.

LIVING ENVIRONMENT
For now, Bob and Ruthie are renting an apartment near the Talpiot industrial area.

"We started looking for something to buy right after our wedding. When we saw our apartment, we made an offer immediately. We fell in love with it," she says of the 3-bedroom apartment they just purchased in Baka.

"It was very important to us that we be located near Kehillat Yedidya, our shul of choice," explains Bob. "We are just about to begin renovations and we hope all will go well."

FAITH
"I consider myself a talmid of Rav Kook," explains Bob. "Not in the ideological sense, but in the logical, mystical sense."

Ruthie concurs: "I'm on the same page. We have the same sense of tradition and Halacha."

LANGUAGE
"I consider myself a davener," Ruthie says with a smile. "But we have so much going on that I don't have the time for ulpan. So for now I hired a private tutor who comes to our house 3 times per week for an hour. But I really speak mainly to Anglos."

Bob had a much stronger Hebrew background, but after 15 years of not being in the country he needs a bit of time to get his Hebrew back.

"I go to many meetings that are conducted in Hebrew, but I couldn't quite read a whole Hebrew newspaper," he says. "I try to read a few articles a day. I suspect that I'll be up to speed in a few months."

PLANS
"I'd like to do some volunteer work once I have more of a set schedule. I'd also like to expand my business here," Ruthie says. "It's not essential for the survival of the business, but I was the one who developed kosher balsamic vinegar in the US, and I'd like to do something similar here. But I need to get to know the market a little better."

Bob intends to continue what he is doing, too.

"I am committed to building a Judaism that has integrity, that is relevant and meaningful to a greater society. The potential for a truly productive and creative society that combines religion and state exists here. I want to do whatever I can do to be a part of that."

Issue 32 "BEHAALOTCHA" 5766

2006-06-09T06:41:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Stop Whining and Start Eating' by Malkah Fleisher
2. "Got The Fire, Now Light The Menorah" by Yishai Fleisher
3. "Unrest Spurs Venezuelan Jews' Interest In Aliya" by Ruth Eglash
4. "Israel And The Diaspora: A Post-Yehoshua Response" by Steven Bayme
5. "Dating Strategies Survival Tips for the Single Oleh"

*Dedicated to the Refua Shlema of Leah bat Faiga
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1. "Stop Whining and Start Eating' by Malkah Fleisher

In this week's Torah portion, the Children of Israel hit one of their all-time whiniest moments. Just one parsha after a series of beautiful nation-wide offerings through the princes of the 12 tribes, the Jews descend into epic crabbiness and faithlessness. Chaos insues - Moshe begs Hashem to free him from the hell of dealing with over a million abused slaves, Hashem starts burning down the camp - it doesn't look like good times will be coming around any time soon (sneak peak: they eventually do).

One of the most shameful moments in the collective tantrum occurs in response to Hashem's miraculous manna. Despite the fact that the Hebrews don't have to work for food, they're not starving, and that G-d personally selected their food source, they start to complain "Who will feed us meat? We remember the fish that we would eat in Egypt free of charge; the cucumbers, and the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. But now our life is parched, there is nothing; we have nothing before our eyes but the manna!" (Bamidbar 11:5-6)

Flash forward 2500 years, to a little Passover seder at the home of Yishai and Malkah Fleisher in the holy city of Beit El. Seated together with friends and their children, we reminisce on our liberation from Egypt and our miraculous return to the Land of Israel. With words of Torah and personal anecdotes, our seder this year exemplified the commandment to personalize the coming out of Egypt, the belief and understanding that this event happened to us personally.

Now that I live in the Land of Israel, I can see first hand how truly faithless and embarassing our outburst in the desert really was. With all of our wild fear and frantic impulse to return to Egypt, we were so short-sighted, almost shutting ourselves off from the blessings which were flowing down to us. What's worse, some of us continue this unseemly behavior today. On the national journey to the Land of Israel which the ENTIRE Jewish people is taking part in today (whether they know it or not), there are those who dig their claws into their Egypt, almost irrationally denying any goodness or survivability in Israel, refusing to make themselves a part of something which they adamantly attest is certain death, or at least, certain misery.

At our Passover seder this year, as a testimony to the joy and bounty of the Land of Israel, as a form of thanksgiving to the Master of the Universe, who has taken so much care to sweeten our lives with variety and quality of so many things here, we made a meal based around certain foods: meat, fish, cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. For all those Jews who were so convinced that G-d was abandoning them in the wilderness, leading them to a terrible, baren life in the Land of Israel - eat your heart out.

Here is one recipe from our seder:

Brisket in Wine Sauce, with Leeks, Onions, and Garlic.

1 hunk of meat (you can use something really fancy, or the cheapest piece you can find), at least one kilo.
2 bottles of dry red wine (you can use something really fancy, or the cheapest bottles you can find, but make it Israeli!)
2 leeks, sliced (discard the fibery green parts)
2 large onions, sliced or chopped
10 cloves of garlic, sliced or chopped
1/4-1/3 cup olive oil (from olives grown in the Land of Israel!)
salt to taste

Sweat the onions and half the garlic in the bottom of a large stock pot. Add the meat, and lightly brown on all sides, stirring occasionally. Pour in one bottle of wine, and half the leeks. Cook open until the liquid reduces, turning the meat every 15 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients, and cook until the liquid is reduced and the meat is dark brown on all sides. Slice carefully and serve hot after the fish, with a slice of melon, a cucumber salad, and a smile.

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2. "Got The Fire, Now Light The Menorah" by Yishai Fleisher

"Hashem spoke to Moses saying: "Speak to Aaron and say to him: BeHaalotcha, When you raise the lamp, toward the face of the Menorah shall the seven lamps cast light."

However, if you look at most translations the word BeHaalotcha "when you raise", is usually translated as "when you kindle".

Why?

Rashi offers one explanation:

Rashi to Numbers 8;2: "BEHAALOTCHA - WHEN YOU KINDLE - Because the flame rises, Scripture writes of their kindling using the term "Aliyah" [Behaalotcha] an expression of "rising"; for one must kindle until the flame rises by itself."

Indeed the connection between Aliyah and candle lighting is deep and meaningful. Each Jewish person is a candle unto himself, but in the Galut that candle is dim and the light is dispersed. When a Jew decides to bring his light up, to make Aliyah, that candle joins up with the fire of the entire Jewish people to make a great conflagration. As the verse tells us: "The house of Jacob will be a fire, and the house of Joseph a flame."

The Menorah is the symbol of the Jewish people's status as "A light unto the nations." The light of the Menorah represents the light of G-d that shines unto this world through the Jewish people. To make Aliyah, to go up, to make the mundane holy, is the great mission of this generation.

While we are surely responsible for our own physical and spiritual Aliyah, our job is also to inspire and facilitate the Aliyah of others - to ignite the flame of Aliyah passion in the hearts of our brothers and sisters. Encouragement, tips, and actual aid are all part of the package. However, the easiest and most important thing we can do is to speak well of Eretz Yisrael and to count its blessings. "For my brethren and friends, I will say, Peace be within thee. For the sake of the house of Hashem our God I will seek your good." (Psalms 122) By speaking good of Israel, we will turn on our fellow Jews to the wondrous gift of Israel, and undo the damage done by the Sin of the Spies who spoke ill of the Good Land.

In this week's Parsha we also find the only mention of the word "KUMAH" in the Five Books of Moses:

"And it came to pass, when the ark set forward, that Moses said, Kumah, Rise up, O Hashem, and let thine enemies be scattered; and let them that hate thee flee before thee."

Some people say that this passage and the one after it, which are separated from the rest of the Torah with upside down Nuns at the beginning and end of the paragraph, constitute a separate book of Moses, dividing the book of Numbers into three and bringing the sum total of the Books of Moses to seven. Why would this paragraph be its own book? Because these two verses are actually an uncompleted book, a book that is being constantly written, the book of the wanderings of the Jewish people. This week Steven Bayme, the noted Jewish historian wrote: "For the first time since the destruction of the First Jewish Commonwealth in 586 B.C.E., there will be more Jews living in the Jewish homeland than in the Diaspora." Well said! Our long exile is coming to an end, and our job is to speed that process along, and thereby bring an Aliyah to this world.

One illness that is prevalent in Israel today is post-Zionism, the feeling that "we are here, so now what?" So many people refuse to see is the reality of the Prophetic Return. However, when the Jewish people will all return, there will be no more room for post-Zionism, rather we will enter the era of post-Cynism. There will come a time when the people will understand that the prophecies are actually coming true and that Judaism is not just an ancient religion. Whenever a Nefesh plane, full of Olim, lands in Israel, it inspires people, it makes them believers, if even for a moment.

The Torah has a built-in guard against post-Zionism and cynicism and - you guessed it - it's called Aliyah! Even when the Jewish people all live in the Land we will always keep making Aliyah - we will always continue to go up!!! Three times a year, we will go en-mass on Aliyah to Yerushalayim. There, we will see all the Jewish people together in celebration, and we will witness the light of the Menorah shining bright. Shabbat Kumah Shalom!

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3. "Unrest Spurs Venezuelan Jews' Interest In Aliya" by Ruth Eglash
From the Jerusalem Post

A delegation of Jewish community leaders from Venezuela arrived here this week as part of a mission intended to explore options for Venezuelan Jews who want to leave the troubled South American country and move to Israel.

The members of the mission, including the 16 community leaders and their partners, met Wednesday with President Moshe Katsav in Jerusalem. They discussed issues ranging from Israeli politics to economic concerns. The visitors also told Katsav of the growing unrest in Venezuela and their fears for the future of the 15,000 Jews living there.

The trip was supposed to have been conducted under a low profile following growing friction between Venezuela and the US, as well as an alleged anti-Semitic statement made by Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez in December.

"The situation in Venezuela is very difficult," said Edwin Villamicar, 24, who moved to Israel in January. "It is a very violent country with many murders, and we have to work very hard to make a little bit of money."

Villamicar said that back home he did not feel connected to the Jewish community and that in Israel it was easier to connect with his Jewish roots and meet other young Jews.

Nathalie Mizrachi, 26, made aliya four years ago, leaving all her close relatives in Venezuela.
"They did not want to leave their lives and their jobs over there," she told The Jerusalem Post. "If something happens and Chavez says they might not be able to leave, then they will get out quickly."
"Venezuelan Jews are not really interested in coming to Israel," she said. "Most of them prefer to go to America, I think it is good that they are now encouraging Jews to come here."

"The situation over there is not good, but not specifically for the Jews, but in general," said Mizrachi. "There are no jobs and it is hard to make a living. Jews are now looking for other options."

"There is not a great feeling of anti-Semitism," she said. "There have been a few anti-Semitic remarks but nothing over the top."

Earlier this week, there were media reports that Chavez was planning to sell his country's fleet of 21 US-made F-16 fighter jets to another country, perhaps Iran. The reports were denied Tuesday by Venezuelan Defense Minister Orlando Maniglia. Previously, the US announced a ban on arms sales to Venezuela.

The visiting group, led by Freddie Pressner, president of the Confederation of Jewish Associations of Venezuela, visited a Tel Aviv University program for Spanish-speaking students on Wednesday, and on Thursday they will tour Kfar Saba, which has been designated by the Jewish Agency to absorb the growing number of Jews immigrating from Venezuela.

"The city of Kfar Saba is happy to be affiliated with the Venezuelan Jewish community," said Kfar Saba Mayor Yehuda Ben-Hamo, who is scheduled to visit Caracas next week. "I see this initiative as an important Zionist endeavor of which Kfar Saba is very proud." Ben-Hamo said that 25 families have settled in the city in recent months and that more Venezuelan immigrants are scheduled to make Kfar Saba their home this year.

The city offers new Venezuelan immigrants housing assistance, a program where families "adopt" older immigrants, extra assistance for children in the school system, information on work options and a network of immigrant organizations to help ease the transition into Israeli society.

Jewish Agency officials estimate there are around 2,000 Venezuelan Jews living in Israel and that just over 100 Venezuelan Jews arrived here during the past year.

"We expect that number to rise," one official told the Post.

In January, the Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center accused Chavez of making anti-Semitic comments during a Christmas Eve speech. The Wiesenthal Center even wrote to Chavez demanding he apologize for what it said was a negative reference to Jews.

At the time, The Forward reported that Venezuelan Jewish leaders had defended their president and criticized the Wiesenthal Center.

"You have interfered in the political status, in the security, and in the well-being of our community. You have acted on your own, without consulting us, on issues that you don't know or understand," they wrote in a letter.

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4. "Israel And The Diaspora: A Post-Yehoshua Response" by Steven Bayme
From The Jewish Week

Israeli novelist A.B. Yehoshua provoked controversy at the American Jewish Committee's Centennial Symposium in Washington, D.C., last month when he accused diaspora Jews of "playing with their Jewishness" and lamented the great failure of American Jewry in not immigrating to Israel in droves. The resulting debate, covered at length in the Israeli media, has stimulated salutary discussion both of the reality of American Jewish life and how Israel and American Jewry need to relate to one another. AJCommittee convened the symposium as part of a yearlong centennial program designed to foster precisely such a "battle of ideas" and hopefully identify fresh communal policy challenges and directions.

What about Yehoshua's actual arguments? First, they are hardly novel. Twenty years ago, Yehoshua described the diaspora as the "neurosis" of the Jewish people. However, a decade ago he claimed to have modified his position, affirming the importance of diaspora Jewry and urging a joint agenda on behalf of achieving literacy in the Hebrew language and advocacy of Jewish social values. Yet at the recent AJCommittee meeting Yehoshua seemingly reverted to an outdated position that affirms Jewish identity exclusively in the Jewish state.

These arguments and even accusations are by no means entirely without merit. The birth of Israel in 1948 changed the meaning and map of Jewish peoplehood and identity in irrevocable and unqualifiedly positive ways. The return of the Jews to sovereignty and statehood constitutes the single greatest success narrative of modern Jewish history. To be a Jew in the 21st century necessitates a relationship with the Jewish state.

Yet, sadly, Yehoshua is correct in charging American Jews with failure. First, as AJCommittee research on young American Jews recently demonstrated, in pronounced contrast to the narrative of the Holocaust, the narrative of Israel has not penetrated the consciousness of young Jews today. The very same young people for whom Holocaust memory is critical to their Jewish identity know astonishingly little of modern Israeli history and culture. Courses on the Holocaust have proliferated on American campuses while Israel studies have remained very much in incipient stages.

Secondly, we are witnessing a demographic ascendancy of Israel over the diaspora. Within our lifetimes, for the first time since the destruction of the First Jewish Commonwealth in 586 B.C. E., there will be more Jews living in the Jewish homeland than in the diaspora. To some extent that demographic shift represents only the normalization that Yehoshua champions. However, it also confirms an age-old truism of Jewish history that Jewish immigration is driven primarily by economic conditions and opportunities. Affluent Jews, living in a relatively secure America, in turn make poor candidates for aliyah save among those ideologically committed to it.

In addition, Yehoshua correctly perceives an increased detachment from Israel among American Jews. As assimilation proceeds unchecked, a growing distancing of Israel occurs as part of a general distancing from matters Jewish. The very strength of American Jewry, namely its success as Americans, thus belies its weakness as Jews, translated as decreased attachment to Israel. Perhaps the best evidence of the detachment lies in the fact that fewer than 40 percent of the most affluent Jewish community in history has ever set foot in the Jewish state over the first six decades of her existence.

Yet Yehoshua erred in trivializing American Judaism. The resurgence of Orthodoxy, contrary to so many predictions of its demise, constitutes a remarkable statement of the viability of Judaism in the diaspora if Jews are indeed committed to its perseverance. The presence of diverse and pluralist options in defining one's Judaism in America constitutes a statement of Jewish vitality and strength rather than strictly a tribute to American democracy and separation of religion from state. Full-time Jewish education in a broad network of Jewish day schools is now available to more American Jews than ever before. Jews who avail themselves of these opportunities receive a strong Jewish education precisely at a time when leading Israelis are concerned about the weakness of Jewish education within Israel's school system.

Lastly, the growth of academic Jewish studies on virtually every American university of note underscores the intellectual attractiveness of Judaism within elite American culture while making possible the advanced study of the treasures of Judaic civilization for the overwhelming majority of today's Jewish youth.

Moreover, Yehoshua errs profoundly in dismissing the political significance of American Jewry. The special relationship between Washington and Jerusalem owes much to the vigilance and constant activism of the American Jewish community.

Most importantly, however, Yehoshua ignores time-honored Jewish values of peoplehood and mutual responsibility between Jews. Rather than advocate synergy between Israel and the diaspora in an effort to enhance the collective Jewish future, he effectively challenges American Jews either to move to Israel and become serious Jews, or stay in the diaspora and continue to "play with Jewishness."

In this context, Yehoshua inadvertently poses the correct challenge to the Jewish future: how seriously do we take our Jewishness? That challenge applies no less to Israelis than it does to diaspora Jews. In an age of freedom and volunteerism, Jews will survive as Jews only to the extent they seek to intensify their Jewishness and live creative Jewish lives.

Jewish identity needs to be constructed upon a language of Jewish values and traditions and pride in Jewish achievements. It is that challenge of creating a vital Jewish identity that should form the common agenda between Israel and the diaspora. In that sense, rather than lament the conflict provoked by Yehoshua's comments, we need to expand the dialogue and confront our common challenges as Jews seeking to give meaning to the concepts of Jewish identity and peoplehood in the 21st century. n

Steven Bayme serves as director of the Dorothy and Julius Koppelman Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations, the American Jewish Committee.

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5. "Dating Strategies Survival Tips for the Single Oleh"
From Sasson vSimcha.org

You've dreamed of building your life in Israel, and you hope you might meet someone there to share that life with. Before you pack, read some tips that canhelp you achieve a successful move and a great personal life.

Be as prepared as you can by learning the difficulties most olim (new immigrants to Israel) encounter during the first two years of aliyah (immigration to Israel). Advance knowledge of the challenges you may have to face (many of which may never materialize) and how you can effectively deal with them is half the battle for any oleh, but it is especially important for someone who doesn't have a spouse to lean on for mutual support.

Learn Hebrew. Aliyah will be a more positive experience if you at least have a working knowledge of Hebrew before you arrive. Once you're in Israel, enroll in an ulpan if your Hebrew still needs work. You'll experience a double benefit; your Hebrew will improve and you'll form mutually supportive friendships with other olim.

Leave your extra "baggage" behind. Your lift will be heavy enough. If you are weighed down with "baggage" from old relationships, have low self-esteem or struggle with depression or excessive anxiety, work on eliminating these obstacles to a successful klita (absorption) before your move. Don't hesitate to obtain the help of a qualified therapist, if necessary.

Set up an Israeli support system before your aliya. The first year or two of aliya is a challenge for everyone, and people who can rely on a support system fare better than those who have no one to turn to for advice, friendship and moral support. If you are one of the many olim who don't have close friends or relatives in Israel, work on developing contacts several months before your move. Approach friends, friends' friends, relatives, relatives' relatives, rabbis, teachers and acquaintances, and ask for the names, phone numbers or e-mail addresses of recent olim who may be willing to share their experiences or give you advice. many olim are happy to do so.

You should develop a long distance relationship with a core group of people in the months before you move, and touch base with them as soon as you arrive. If your relationships with the people in your support system grow into mutually beneficial friendships, as so many do, you will have caring, supportive friends whom you can turn to in good times as well as tough ones.

If you want to find a future spouse, don't rely on the social structure of densely populated singles neighborhoods to help your dating situation. The "singles scene" is self-perpetuating. Minimize any "group dating" and instead make dating a one-one-one process. We suggest you develop a network of people who can introduce you to suitable, marriage-minded members of the opposite sex.

Start with the people who first helped you acclimate to your new life. In addition, get to know rabbis, teachers, co-workers, relatives, friends, and acquaintances from your neighborhood and synagogue and ask them to keep you in mind when they look for matches for people they know. Ask to meet members of some of the grass-roots "matchmaking" committees that have formed in many communities. You can also take advantage of some programs that enable singles to meet in a friendly, small-scale atmosphere.

We also suggest that you find one or two shadchanim whom you feel comfortable working with and use them as a resource. (See "How to Make A Matchmaker Work For You"). You may also want to ask one of your married friends to be your "dating advisor" – to help you meet new people and to be available for advice and "handholding" should the need arise. (You'll find that your married friends add a perspective on dating that you won't get from a single.)

Keep and open mind. Aliyah is an amazing experience. However, if you come with unreasonably high expectations, you will be disappointed. If you are willing to be flexible and consider new options and ideas about both your personal and professional lives, you can make a great life for yourself in Israel.

Issue 31 "SHAVUOT" 5766

2006-06-01T00:53:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Shavuot-The Giving of the Torah and Eretz Yisrael" by Rav Moshe Lichtman
2. "Immigrants From The West Integrate Best" by Hilary Leila Krieger
3. "From UsTo The US" Yocheved Miriam Russo
4. "Next Time Invite American Olim Instead of A.B. Yehoshua" By David Chinitz
5. "Jerusalem Day, Arutz-7 Style" by Yishai Fleisher

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1. "Shavuot-The Giving of the Torah and Eretz Yisrael" by Rav Moshe Lichtman
From K'Cholmim

We have elaborated many times upon the strong relationship that exists between Torah and the Land of Israel. There are numerous statements of Chazal (not to mention explicit verses in the Torah) to the effect that all of our mitzvot are more complete and meaningful when performed in G-d's Chosen Land. Chazal also underscore the primacy of Torah-study in Eretz Yisrael over that of Chutz LaAretz.

Based on this premise, we can ask a formidable question: If Torah and Eretz Yisrael are so closely related and interdependent, why wasn't the Torah given in the Holy Land? Wouldn't it have made more sense for HaShem to give it in the place where He intended it to be kept? Allow me to present two answers to this question, one proposed by a great Torah authority and one, my own idea (truthfully, I probably saw it somewhere else, but I can't remember where).

The Mabit (R. Moshe Tirani, a colleague of R. Yosef Cairo) addresses this issue in his work Beit Elokim (Sha'ar HaYisodot, chap. 32): Chazal already commented on this, that had the Torah been given in Eretz Yisrael [the Jews] would have said to the nations of the world, "You have no portion in it." Therefore, it was given in the desert, an ownerless place, [to indicate] that whoever wants to receive it may come and receive it. However, based on what we said, that the main perfection and fulfillment of the Torah is in Eretz Yisrael, this is insufficient. It should have been given in the most fitting place, and then, if the nations come [to join us], we should accept them. Moreover, G-d already revealed Himself to all the nations, [asking them] if they wanted to accept the Torah, and they refused. Thus, it certainly should have been given in Eretz Yisrael, after which the Jews could say to them, "You have no portion in it, because you refused to accept it."

At this point the Mabit explains the famous Midrash which states that HaShem offered the Torah to all the nations of the world. What would have happened - he asks - had they accepted it? Would we, the Children of Israel, have lost out? How can that be? The Torah was created specifically for us. G-d even gave certain aspects of the Torah to our Patriarchs. Furthermore, the language of the Torah proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that it was meant for the Jewish people. For example: I am the L-rd your G-d Who took you out of the land of Egypt; The L-rd spoke to Moshe saying, speak to the Children of Israel... etc.

The Mabit explains that the nations were not offered to accept the Torah in place of the Jewish people. Rather, they were given the opportunity to elevate themselves to a level close to that of the Jews by embracing all 613 mitzvot (not just the seven). Nonetheless, they would have remained subordinate to us, for the Torah was really created for G-d's chosen people, the Children of Israel. After clarifying this Midrash the Mabit returns to our question:

Had G-d (may He be blessed) given Israel the Torah in Eretz Yisrael, two factors would have come together enabling the Jews to say to the nations of the world, "You have no part in it." [These two factors are]: the fact that the entire Torah speaks exclusively to the Jewish people and the fact that it was given in Eretz Yisrael, which was designated for them. [The Jews could have excluded the Gentiles] not only at the time of the giving of the Torah, but also after it was given. When descendants of the gentile nations who did not want to accept the Torah would have come to find shelter under the wings of the Shechinah and convert, the Jews would have been able to say to them, "You have no part in the Torah, since it refers to us and was given to us in Eretz Yisrael." However, now that it was given in the desert - an ownerless place, indicating that whoever wants to come and accept it may do so - even though the entire Torah refers to Israel and speaks to them, they cannot say to the original or subsequent generations of Gentiles, "You have no part in it." For even though it refers specifically to them, and even though Eretz Yisrael is designated for the Jewish people and not for the other nations, nonetheless, they too can take upon themselves the fulfillment of all the mitzvot, in a secondary capacity to the Jews. This is why we accept converts throughout the generations... They fulfill the mitzvot just as we do, but they are not like us in terms of leadership roles and in terms of receiving a portion in the Land...

In short, the Torah really should have been given in Eretz Yisrael, its natural habitat, if not for the fact that G-d wanted to make it accessible to the entire world.

However, I believe that there is a much simpler answer to the question, one that sheds much light on the true purpose of living in Eretz Yisrael. Simply put: Torah is a prerequisite for entering the Land. We cannot exist here for even a moment without the Torah. Furthermore, our entire claim to the Land is based on the Torah and dependent on our fulfilling its commandments. Thus, we could not have approached our territorial inheritance before receiving our spiritual inheritance. Therefore, G-d gave us the Torah in the desert, in order to provide us with the necessary "tools" with which to survive in His Land. Put differently: before entering the Palace of the King we had to be told how we were expected to act there.

Every year on the holiday of Shavuot, we have an opportunity to reaffirm and strengthen our commitment to Torah and mitzvot. Thank G-d, our generation is privileged to be able to do so in the place where the Torah really belongs. For some of us, it may be a little too late for this year, but let us hope that next year we will all re-receive the Torah together in the rebuilt Jerusalem. Amen.

Chag Samei'ach from the Torah's natural home

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2. "Immigrants From The West Integrate Best" by Hilary Leila Krieger
From Jerusalem Post

Immigrants from the West integrate into Israeli society faster than any other groups of newcomers, according to a new immigration index released Monday.

The Central Bureau of Statistics released the index - examining immigrants' standard of living, social integration, and employment successes - as part of its annual conference on aliya and absorption. An additional, subjective section on identity and satisfaction is to be added next year.

Some 51 percent of Western immigrants hold professional positions, similar to 58% of the native Ashkenazi population. When it comes to education, they do better than any other group, with 51.2% holding at least one university degree. Only 40% of the next highest group, Israeli-born Ashkenazim, have degrees.

The figures were culled from Central Bureau of Statistics surveys of 7,212 Israelis (49.8% of them immigrants) and analyzed by the Immigration and Social Integration Institute at the Rupin Academic Center.

Ronit Dolev, associate director for the institute, called the findings about Western immigrants "fantastic." She suggested that their more successful absorption stemmed from "what they brought with them."

It is "an educated aliya, an aliya that prepared itself better, an aliya that came with the funds to buy a house. They came prepared to move forward," she said.

She noted that the average time Western immigrants had been in Israel was only eight years, shorter than for any other kind of immigrant, yet they were much more likely to resemble native Israelis when it came to standard of living and economic characteristics.

According to the index, Ethiopian immigrants lag behind, as do the children of those who immigrated from North African and Asian countries soon after the founding of the state.

"With the aliya of the 1950s, we see a second and third generation still in difficulty," Dolev said, stressing that their situation needed to be examined so that "the same mistakes aren't made with the Ethiopians."

Dolev was particularly troubled by the surveys of former Soviet Union immigrants, defined as those who arrived after 1989. The index found that not only were they less satisfied with life in Israel than other groups, but they also didn't expect their situation to change. "A large group of people is in despair," she said.

"The Ethiopian aliya is a much more optimistic aliya," said Dolev. "Even though there are lots of difficulties, they are optimistic, and that's a great force for integration."

Still, Jewish Agency Chairman Ze'ev Bielski declared that "the absorption of Ethiopian immigrants is especially hard. If the society does not make a tremendous effort in their absorption, their fate will be sealed."

He continued, "We must dedicate ourselves to this mission or we will pay a heavy price in the course of the next 10 years."

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3. "From UsTo The US" Yocheved Miriam Russo
From Jerusalem Post

Say "Shavuot," and most of us react with "cheesecake." But the holiday of Shavuot is also a harvest festival. In many communities, fresh flowers are prime, recalling that when the Torah was given on Shavuot, the entire Mount Sinai burst into bloom.

In Israel, fresh blooms for decoration are locally grown. But now the tradition is spreading. All across America, fresh Israeli-grown roses are occupying a place of honor.

It's all possible because Israel Rose, an Israeli fresh flower business, perfected the art of overnight shipping fresh flowers from Israel to any place in the US.

Israel Rose, the brainchild of husband and wife growers Miriam Klein and Myron Sofer, features roses grown in Sde Nitzan, a Negev moshav located nine kilometers from the Gaza Strip.

Growing perfect roses, packing them, dealing with import/export issues and guaranteeing hand delivery to any individual in any US community - no matter how remote - within 24 hours sounds almost impossible. But for Klein and Sofer, who have successfully delivered a quarter of a million perfect roses to people in Israel and all 50 US states - it's both a business and a daily labor of love.

"Sometimes they're very long days," says Klein, who grew up as a city kid in Melbourne, Australia, and qualified as a psychologist before becoming a rose grower.

"Before the Jewish holidays or Thanksgiving, we work from well before dawn until after midnight. Last year we shipped 25,000 roses over a two-day period for Rosh Hashana. Because we personally track every order and monitor every delivery to make sure it arrives, we put in some very long days."

Chicago-born Sofer acquired a love for agriculture when he came to Israel right after high school in 1961.

"I was a real young halutz [pioneer]," he says. "I loved Israel, but first I had to get my education so I went back, got a BA and a master's in plant pathology, then came back to Israel. I read a Jerusalem Post article about Sde Nitzan, an agricultural moshav in the Negev started by Eddie Peretz, the grandnephew of the Yiddish author. After the Six Day War, Peretz discovered his heart pumped Jewish blood, so he came to Israel and founded the whole hothouse industry. Tomatoes were Peretz's passion and when I came for good in 1974 I joined him at Sde Nitzan and grew tomatoes. But it didn't take long to learn that tomatoes weren't economically feasible. So I looked around for another crop, and roses were where the money was. We started growing roses about 25 years ago and shipped our flowers to international wholesalers in Holland - which is really the flower center of the world," says Sofer.

Farming can be an economically hazardous business. Things went fine for Sofer for a few years, but then the World Bank began to subsidize flower growing in Africa. Growers in South America expanded, and oversupply drove down prices.

"We went from selling our roses at 50 cents each down to 8 cents. There's no way anyone could stay in business at 8 cents, and a third of the Israeli growers dropped out," Sofer says.

It was a monumental crisis, and the business spiraled downward.
"Each day, we told ourselves we had to hang on just a little longer," Klein recalls. "I took an office job so we'd have a salary. Myron worked the roses, and I helped after work. We were just a hair from giving up."

Sofer struggled to come up with an innovation that would improve things. One morning he had an idea: What about growing "Jewish" roses? Maybe promote the idea that the roses came from the Holy Land.

"I asked a lot of people, but almost everyone discouraged us. 'Just grow great roses, cheap,' they said. 'No one cares where they came from.' But one neighbor encouraged us, and we decided to go ahead. What we did then was completely unique - we sold our roses to individual buyers, not the Dutch wholesalers," he recounts.

Then came the intifada.

"It's hard to say it, but the intifada helped us." Sofer says. "People were afraid to come to Israel, but there was the whole 'buy-Israeli' movement. We were still in a terrible financial bind and things didn't change overnight, but one big order came in and gave us hope: A travel agent in Houston, Texas, was getting married and ordered 30 dozen roses. But could we ship fresh roses to Texas, in 40 heat? People told us we were nuts to try, but we went ahead. The roses arrived in perfect condition."

Packing and shipping techniques have since improved, and local weather is no longer a special concern. "But there's plenty of room for other problems - anything from being given a wrong address to bad weather delaying planes. That's why we track every order until it's marked 'Delivered,'" says Sofer.

The roses are nurtured in 12 hothouses, in plastic troughs filled with volcanic rock.

"Now everything is computerized. We irrigate with water and nutrients six times a day, and hothouse windows are raised and lowered by computers. In the early days, Miriam and I did everything ourselves but now hired workers do the routine chores - spraying, trimming and weeding. But when it's time to pack, we're all in the cold room assembling the orders," says Sofer.

Technology has changed the way the business operates.

"Orders come through e-mail or phone - we have a US 800 number that rings here," Klein says. "Even so, it takes tons of paperwork - we're obsessive about getting orders right, so we make paper copies of everything. The flowers ship with complete care instructions plus food. We label here, both for international shipping to New York, then by Fed Ex direct to the recipient. Once the boxes have left the moshav, we start tracking. Every Pessah, right before our own Seder, we're glued to the laptop making sure every Pessah order was delivered."

Israel Rose is the only Israeli flower grower that markets directly to international customers.

"Our biggest orders come from organizations - shuls, schools, JCCs - that use the roses as fundraisers," Sofer says. "We give them a good price for a bulk order, and then they resell them at a profit. Our biggest order was 250 dozen for a fundraiser in St. Louis, Missouri. Sephardic shuls and Chabad centers place big orders for Shavuot. Other holidays like Valentine's Day, Mother's Day and Thanksgiving are also busy."

Sofer's idea for product differentiation worked.

"We ship to many Christian clients, too. Orders come in all possible permutations - we just filled an order for 75 roses for someone's 75th birthday. For US shipping, we have a minimum four dozen order due to packing requirements, but within Israel we'll ship whatever a customer wants. There are cultural considerations - Russians don't want yellow roses because they signal a split-up with a partner, and they always order in odd numbers, not even. So for them, we'll ship 11 or 13 roses, but not a dozen."

"Because we keep such close track of our orders, we get to know our customers," adds Klein. "We know what the wedding will be like, we know who's in the hospital, we know about the bar-mitzva. Every day our e-mail box is full of warm notes, such as 'My house is filled with happy smiles from each bud,' one lady wrote. That makes all the work worthwhile."

Color is a big consideration.

"Flower colors are subject to fads," Klein explains. "Look at fashion magazines - colors change as they do in home decor. The most popular color is still red, but there are hundreds of varieties of red. Right now, a yellow rose with just a tinge of orange on the petal tips is popular."

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4. "Next Time Invite American Olim Instead of A.B. Yehoshua" By David Chinitz
From the Forward

Earlier this month Israeli author A.B. Yehoshua created a tempest in a teapot by stating that one cannot live a fully Jewish life outside of Israel. As an American immigrant to Israel, I read with amusement and frustration about Yehoshua's blast at the American Jewish Committee's 100th anniversary conference and about the predictable indignation of his hosts — amusement because we've seen this road show before, frustration because the script is always a dialogue between straw men.

Yehoshua is a straw man because reality flies in the face of the assertion that one cannot live a fully Jewish life outside of Israel. Numerous Jewish institutions of learning, culture and social action flourish all over the world. There is nothing in Jewish law or history to support the proposition that you have to have an Israeli address in order to have a Jewish identity.

Yehoshua knows this, of course, which is presumably why he hastened to clarify his comments as furor over them mounted. But he also knows that his hosts invite him over and over to state the egregiously ridiculous because they like hearing it as much as he likes getting hosted to say it.

American Jews like Leon Wieseltier, literary editor of the New Republic and himself active in AJCommittee, are likewise straw men. They respond to Yehoshua by saying that there is no way all Jews are going to move to Israel, when they know full well that neither Yehoshua nor most Israelis think that should, or could, happen.

Indeed, the Wieseltier types feast on Yehoshua's hyperbole, fretting and kvetching that the author's type of Israeli brashness only serves to further remove Jews from any connection with Israel. And they wonder with concern whether all Israelis think that way about them.

This never-ending clash of Israeli absolutism with Jewish Diaspora relativism — both charming, but sometimes aggravating, Jewish traits — is a perfect recipe for straw-man arguments. And where there is straw, there is usually someone making hay.

Yehoshua, and dozens of other Israeli intellectuals largely ignorant of their American audiences and speaking English crippled by Israeli accents, get notoriety and perhaps some pecuniary benefit. Wieseltier and his ilk, for their part, find justification for their endless search for the holy grail of Jewish identity.

Millions of dollars and rivers of ink are invested in trying to determine whether Jewish identity is based on the Holocaust, or on Jewish texts, or on knowledge of Hebrew, or on the link to Israel, or on the fight against assimilation, or on some combination of all of them. And, as in most such quests, every budget cycle adds new increments to those American and Israeli institutions that are happily involved in the never-ending story of Jewish identity.

The sad truth behind this story is that the only Israelis who really spend any time thinking about Jews in the Diaspora are those figures distinguished enough to be invited on speaking tours. Rank-and-file Israelis don't have much time to spend pondering relations with their Diaspora brethren, and therefore have no well-formed opinion on the matter.

There is, however, at least one group that actually has something empirically grounded to say about these issues: the 60,000 Anglo-Americans who by choice have moved from the West to Israel. But we are never included in these self-perpetuating debates. The reason is that what Anglo-Americans in Israel have to say is perceived as combustible material to men of straw on both sides.

Open discussion of large immigration to Israel has been considered out of bounds since the 1950s, when Israel's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, promised American Jewish leader Jacob Blaustein to keep the subject off the Jewish agenda. For American Jews, the risk of their children even considering moving to Israel was reduced, and for the Israeli establishment the money of American Jews was always preferred to their potential as local competitors for control over the Jewish state and economy.

Since no surveys have polled Anglo-American immigrants to Israel, permit me to suggest some hypotheses, based on my own experiences in the 25 years since I immigrated to Israel from the United States.

Only a tiny minority of us think that all Jews should live in Israel. What we would like to see, however, is more Jews at least consider the move realistically. In order for that to happen, the subject has to be tabled in the Jewish educational system — not as an ideology, but as a life option like any other. In reality this subject is ignored or systematically suppressed, including by the vaunted programs that bring American youth on visits to Israel.

In addition, Israel and the North American Jewish community should develop a strategy for supporting those young minds open to the idea of engaging in the exciting evolution of a society that combines Jewish and American values and enterprise. And American Jews living in Israel are the best source of input for developing these strategies.

The presence of, say, 1 million more American Jews in Israel would be a boon to the Israeli economy, lessening Israel's dependence on American aid. It would further develop Israel's democratic institutions, which are already impressive but still in need of improvement, with an infusion of people demanding standards of accountability associated with Western-style democracy.

Like the wave of Russian Jewish immigration in the early 1990s, an influx of American Jews to Israel would drive home to the Arab world the understanding that the Jewish state is a demographic reality that cannot be destroyed. Furthermore, issues of Jewish identity and Diaspora-Israel relations would likely fade, for the simple reason that most American Jews would have at least one relative who had moved to Israel.

And finally, Israel would cease to be perceived as little more than a haven for refugees and the residue of the Holocaust — as opposed to the vibrant expression of Jewish self-determination that is the country's real raison d'etre. In a world that is having to adjust to large waves of migration, accommodation of religious fundamentalism and adaptation of democracy to various cultural contexts, the project of Jewish immigration to Israel could be a source of important global learning.

Would that the periodic outbursts of Yehoshua and his fellow Israeli intellectuals, and the resultant American Jewish temper tantrums, serve as catalysts for such thinking in the organized Jewish world.

David Chinitz, a senior lecturer in health policy and management at Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health, immigrated to Israel from the United States in 1981.

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5. "Jerusalem Day, Arutz-7 Style" by Yishai Fleisher
From Israel National News

This past Friday, the 28th of Iyar, Yom Yerushalayim, two buses packed full of English speakers left Binyanei HaUmah, the national convention center, on the way to a unique Jerusalem Day experience.

In a bid to imbue Jerusalem Day with meaning and style, Arutz Sheva and the Jerusalem Capital Development Fund organized a special trip to some of the less visited holy sites in and around Jerusalem. The day began at the National Convention Center where almost 100 people met at 9 AM and boarded two yellow buses that which wisked them away to their first stop: Kever Shmuel HaNavi, the Tomb of Samuel the Prophet.

Kever Shmuel HaNavi is situated on the north-western outskirts of Jerusalem, near the neighborhood of Ramot. It is a long-standing Jewish practice to pray and study at the holy site, and especially on the 28th day of Iyar, the Prophet's Yartzeit (anniversary of his death).

Samuel is considered one of the Jewish people's greatest prophets, likened to Moses himself. It was Samuel who anointed Israel first King, Saul, and subsequently also anointed King David, the founder of Jewish Jerusalem. Samuel wrote three of the books of the Bible: Judges, the book of Samuel, and the Scroll of Ruth which is generally read aloud on the upcoming holiday of Shavuot, also known as the Feast of Weeks.

Samuel's Tomb is strategically placed at one of the northern entrances to Jerusalem and dominates the entire area, including parts of the main Tel Aviv-Jerusalem highway. During the Six Day War, the Arabs used the site as a military fortification, shelling Israeli forces and the passing traffic below. Providentially, Jewish soldiers entered the compound and liberated the Prophet's tomb from the Arabs on the 28th of Iyar, on the very day that Jews throughout generations marked his passing almost 3,000 years earlier.

The Arutz-7 group felt privileged to pay homage to the Prophet, to hear explanations, and to take in the awesome vistas afforded from the Tomb - from central Samaria in the north to southern Judea in the south, from the mountains of Moab in the east, to the coastal plain of Tel Aviv and the Mediterranean Sea in the west.

The group then boarded the buses and headed to the Mount of Olives (Har HaZeitim). While the Mount is famed for its graves of sages and dignitaries, the visitors took the opportunity to see the very vibrant and growing Jewish community known as Maaleh HaZeitim. Piling in to the makeshift synagogue at the basement of the gigantic new apartment complex at the Mount of Olives, the group heard resident Miriam Schwab tell the complex story of the purchase and development of this extraordinary plot.

The land, it turns out, was originally bought by a group of Hassidim for the purpose of burial, but the ruling Turks did not allow them to bury there. Instead, the Hassidim leased the land to an Arab farmer, who paid rent and grew wheat. The Hassidic group, however, continued to pay the property tax on the plot throughout the years - and many years later, when the Arab tenant claimed to own the land, the tax receipts convinced both Jordanian and Israeli courts that it was really the Hassidim who owned it. The Hassidic conglomerate later sold the land to Dr. Irving Moskovitz, the ideological land purchaser from Miami Beach, for the purpose of development.

After passing many hurdles and receiving the necessary permits, construction began. Immediately, Yasser Arafat, sensing yet another victory for Jewish land reclamation in Jerusalem, intervened and asked then-U.S. President Clinton to have the project stopped. Clinton leaned on then-Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Netanyahu in turn secured Moskowitz's pledge to stop construction for a year. At the end of the year though, Moskowitz resumed construction.

After hearing the fascinating tales associated with the property, the group ascended a staircase which opened up to the roof. Suddenly, it became clear why Arafat was so intent on stopping the project, and why Moskowitz was so intent on completing it. There, directly across from the roof, was the Temple Mount and the Muslim shrines that bedeck it today. The group uttered a prayer that the Jewish attempts to reclaim Jerusalem would be successful and that G-d should reveal His glory upon the Mount.

Back on the buses, the group sat and stared as the bus navigated streets swarming with Arabs heading to their Friday prayers on the Temple Mount. Past the Lions Gate, through which the IDF Paratroopers burst into the Old City 39 years ago on this day, past the Rockerfeller Museum which became an overnight command post in the Six Day War, the buses took a left and entered an area called Wadi Joz, full of mechanic shops and the smell of grease.

Chaim Silberstein, who heads the Jerusalem Capital Development Fund, one of a few organizations dedicated to purchasing lands from the Arabs, explained that Joz in Arabic means "nut" and that some cartographers therefore mistakenly call this area the "Vally of the Nut." In truth, Chaim added, this area was originally called Emek Yehoshafat, the Valley of Jehoshaphat (as mentioned in the Book of Joel), a name which the Arabs could not verbalize and therefore shortened 'Yehoshafat' to 'Joz.'

The buses then banked right and the participants got off near a complex of caves penetrating into a rock face in the side of the mountain. This is the Tomb of Shimon HaTzaddik - Simon the Pious - who is mentioned in Pirkei Avot (Chapters of the Fathers 1:2) as "among the last of the Great Assembly." He is the author of the famous dictum, "The world stands on three things: on study of the Torah, on service of G-d, and on the performance of kind deeds."

Shimon Hatzaddik was the "Kohen Gadol," a High Priest in the Second Temple period for 40 years, and he was able to uphold a high level of observance during his tenure, including the preparation of two red heifers. The Talmud relates the famous story of the meeting between Alexander the Great, the world-conquering Macedonian Emperor, and Shimon HaTzaddik. At the behest of Jew-haters, Alexander marched on Jerusalem, with intent to destroy it. Shimon the High Priest donned the White Priestly Garments that he wore on Yom Kippur when he would enter the Holy of Holies, and went out to meet Alexander. To the surprise of his entourage, when the Emperor saw Shimon HaTzaddik, he dismounted and prostrated himself before Shimon. Alexander's generals asked him why he was bowing to this Jew, to which he replied that every night before a battle, he would see in a dream the figure of that Jewish High Priest, who would advise him on tactics to use the following day - a service that never failed him.

Shimon HaTzaddik took Alexander the Great on a tour of the Temple. Alexander was very impressed and requested that a marble image of himself be placed in the Temple courtyard. Shimon explained that it was forbidden for the Jews to have images, and certainly not in the Temple, but he suggested an alternative way giving homage to the Emperor: that all male babies born that year would receive the name "Alexander." The Emperor accepted, and that is how "Alexander" became a Jewish name.

At the Tomb of Shimon HaTzaddik, lunch was served to the group as they sat together under an awning, while Breslov Chassidim played guitar and sang joyfully. Over cups of grape juice and wine from the Beit El winery, participants heard tales of Shimon HaTzaddik, the words of the Paratoopers who captured the area in the Six Day War, and an explanation of the purchase of the property around the Tomb by an affiliate of Jerusalem Capital Development Fund. Today, seven Jewish families live in the vicinity of the Tomb and a kollel of 20 students is on premises.

The tour was winding down, and the buses came to a stop where they started that morning at the Jerusalem International Convention Center. As the participants disembarked they thanked the staff and wished them Shabbat Shalom.

Among emails later received at Arutz-7 were the following:

"We wanted to thank you for all the work you did to make today a successful tiyul. We really enjoyed ourselves and we learned a lot about the history of Jerusalem. All the best and Shabbat Shalom, Sruly & Rivkah"

"Thank you and all of your friends at Arutz Sheva for the lovely tiyul [trip]. As new olim (just under 2 yrs. since coming home), we very much enjoyed learning more about our new home. Thanks to Yishai, Malkah and Baruch, Alex, and Chaim (and anyone else who made this wonderful tiyul possible). Shabbat Shalom, Yechiel & Tova"

For more information about purchase of land and reclamation Jewish property in Jerusalem, please send email to < info@jcdf.org>.

The Arutz-7/Jerusalem Capital Development Fund trip was subsidized in the memory of Alexander Fleisher.

Issue 30 "Jerusalem Day - Yom Yerushalayim" 5766

2006-05-25T09:32:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Nice Try, But Not Torah" Malkah's comment to an AISH article
2. "That's So Israeli" By Jonathan Udren
3. "Yom Yerushalayim" by Rabbi Yehudah Prero
4. "First And Foremost A Jew" by Yossi Beilin

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1. "Nice Try, But Not Torah" Malkah's comment to an AISH article
From AISH

Your article in defense of the Diaspora is a nice try, with a lot of good points, but ultimately you've missed the cruxt of what A.B . Yehoshua was saying.

Your article took a long time to say basically one thing: the Jews can't survive without the Torah. Absolutely, 100% true.

However, I believe that underlying Yehoshua's premise is a deep personal and national understanding that Israel is ALSO fundamental to Jewish existence.

Aside from the "easy out" you get from the ability to disregard Yehoshua as a secular Zionist, you completely ignore the fundamental truth of what he's saying.

Let's look at some texts:

"In all times, a Jew should live in the Land of Israel, even in a city where most of the residents are idol worshippers, rather then outside the land, even in a city where most of the residents are Jews." Talmud, Ketubot 110b (also Mishneh Torah, Laws of Kings 5:12)

Here's another one:

"Jews who dwell outside the Land of Israel are idol worshippers in purity." Talmud, Avoda Zara 8

And for good measure, let's add even another:

"In the Diaspora, whoever increases its settlement (by establishing a home, business, etc) adds to the destruction of the worship of G-d. But in the Land of Israel this same work is considered a mitzvah since it settles the land." The Chatam Sofer, on the Talmud Sukka 36a and Yoreh Deah p. 136

A.B. Yehoshua may not be a rabbi, but with all of the religious association to Israel, with the constant mention of the Land of Israel throughout the Torah, throughout Morning, Afternoon, and Evening prayers, in the blessings on food, in the obvious obsession with Israel that religious Jews carry with them, he is right to question religious Jews as to how they can fail to apply this aspect of Torah to their lives.

Religious society is deserving of secular condemnation on this point. It takes quite a bit of rationalization, and I dare say, purposeful misunderstanding and misusing of the Torah, to ignore G-d's continual recommendation and even commandment to settle and protect the Land of Israel.

Don't excuse yourselves from the mitzvah of settling the Land of Israel just because other people do. Don't reject the Land of Israel just because secular Jews have accepted it.

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2. "That's So Israeli" By Jonathan Udren
From JTA

EFRAT, West Bank, May 22 (JTA) — When I think back on my pre-aliyah Israeli experiences, there were several that influenced my decision to immigrate. One of those palpable memories was marching around the Old City walls during the Jerusalem Day parade.

Instead of Jordanian snipers perched on the tops of the Old City walls, as was the case before 1967, Israeli soldiers smiling with pride waved down to the thousands below. Israeli flags flooded my vision as the crowd circled the east gates of the Old City dancing and singing together, celebrating a modern-day miracle.

The passion at the parade was contagious; after so long Jerusalem was again in Jewish hands, and I was determined to become a part of that miracle, to be another brick in the wall of the rebuilt city.

Now, after living as an Israeli resident for more than two years, I see that the beauty of the wall is also its greatest challenge. Immigrants from France, the former Soviet Union, the United States, Ethiopia and South America all come together here, each representing a brick in the new walls of Jerusalem. And we all come with our own vision of Jerusalem and the greater State of Israel. But we also come with our own cultures and habits. We come with our favorite foods and our idea of good manners. And many times, those visions stand in stark contrast to one another.

And beyond that, we are standing on the backs of those who have already set the agenda and the social customs. I'm not talking about the philosophical differences between right and left, or the seemingly escalating rift between religious and non-religious Jews. I'm talking about the simple day-to-day happenings that can wear down an immigrant's idealism and positive attitude.

In order to keep from getting overwhelmed, my wife, Dena, and I make a joke called "That's so Israeli." After enduring an hourlong bureaucratic battle between two Ministry of Education clerks over who is going to print up a one-page document for me, instead of getting angry, I just say, "That's so Israeli."

When Dena and I were recently rear-ended in a rental car outside Tel Aviv, the driver got out, and after checking to see if we were OK and seeing that there was no damage, started yelling at me when I asked for his name and insurance information.

"What, is this the first time this has happened to you? This happens all the time. Don't make such a big deal about it," he yelled. "Just get in your car and go."

"That was so Israeli of him," my wife said after we left the scene.

"I know," I answered.

Compared to my American cultural norms, the Israeli personality often seems so unrefined, harsh, inflexible and well, just plain chutzpadik. And the differences only become increasingly pronounced the more I interact with Israeli society.

But there is another aspect of the daily life here. For every obnoxious Israeli experience, I can tell a warm, touching story. The way that the older Iraqi man at the kebab restaurant with the scratchy voice calls me "motek," or sweetheart, warms my heart like I'm seeing family. And once when Dena and I walked into a Tel Aviv hardware store for a quick errand, we ended up staying for an hour while the owner, an older Yemeni woman and her daughter, gave us blessing after blessing for health, a happy marriage and a long life in Israel. Yes there is chutzpah here, but there are so many random acts of warmth and love as well. And feeling like family with so many strangers is one reason that I would make aliyah all over again.

When Jerusalem Day comes, it reminds me of all the good, both the small acts of kindness that I see, and the big feelings of inspiration. It reminds me that I'm living inside a miracle, and that being here connects me to the destiny of the Jewish people in such a tangible way. I am a brick in the wall and I can have my say in the direction that it's going to be built.

When I'm caught up in the minutiae of rude clerks and merging traffic it's hard to see what we are all building. From up close, the wall looks so flawed and grotesque. But when I step back, I see that everyone's piece is coming together toward part of a miraculous greater whole. Yes, the building is a slow and tiring process, and sometimes we lose direction. But there is nothing greater for me than being actively involved in that process.

As I march around the Old City walls this year on Jerusalem Day, and Dena and I march through the Lions Gate in the footsteps of the paratroopers that redeemed the ancient capital, I'm going to try to see the greater wall. I'm going to push aside the daily frustrations and cultural differences for a glance at the great wall that is the modern Jewish state and the city of Jerusalem, and feel blessed that I have the privilege of being annoyed, yet comforted, by its construction.

Jonathan Udren is a freelance journalist and editor from Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He made aliyah in 2003.

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3. "Yom Yerushalayim" by Rabbi Yehudah Prero
From Torah.org

Friday is Yom Yerushalayim, Jerusalem Day, the 39th anniversary of the liberation of Eastern Jerusalem by the Israel Defense Forces.

In the Mussaf prayer recited on the Shalosh Regalim, the Three Pilgrimage Festivals of Pesach, Shavu'os and Sukkos, we find the following expression: "Because of our sins, we were exiled from our land and distanced from our soil...." Why is there a repetition here - "exiled" and "distanced?" One explanation is that the term "exiled" refers to the actual physical expulsion from the land of Israel. However, the term "distanced" refers to something else entirely. One we were exiled and forced to live amongst the nations of the world, we eventually became accustomed to that way of life and in fact became quite comfortable with living in foreign lands. This had the effect of causing ourselves to become distanced from our homeland. This is very true nowadays, and it is therefore important that we do not forget the significance of the land of Israel and Jerusalem.

In Psalms, King David wrote "Halelu Avdei Hashem," "Rejoice servants of G-d." Who was King David referring to? The servants of G-d who King David was addressing his comments to were only those people who lived in the land of Israel. Only in the land of Israel can one reach true perfection in his or her service to the Almighty, rejoicing as a true servant of G-d. Conversely, our Sages tell us by the story of Purim, after the Jews were victorious over their enemies, the Jews were so respected and feared by their enemies that many Gentiles tried to convert to Judaism. Even at this pinnacle of triumph, the Jews were still considered to be "servants of King Achashverosh." Why? It was because the Jews at that time were still in exile and living amongst the nations of the world that they were called servants of Achashversoh. When the Jew lives in the Diaspora, the influence of his non-Jewish neighbors is strongly felt and has great effect on the Jew. In fact, Rabbi Yisroel Salanter said that if the nations of the world knew the effect that hearing the peal of church bells had on a Jew, they would ring them all day long.

In the tractate of Kesubos (100b), our Sages tell us that it is preferable to live in the land of Israel in a city populated mostly by gentiles than to live in the Diaspora and live in a city populated mostly by Jews. Why is this so? Surely one would think that living among his brethren would strengthen a Jew's commitment to the Torah and to performing Mitzvos! However, only in the land of Israel are we truly at home. In the Diaspora, even in a community of Jews, there is always others looking over our shoulders. In the Diaspora, we are always foreigners, strangers in the gentile's land, subject to the strong influences of his immoral ways. However, the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem are ours. It is our home, and it is where we belong. Even if we are surrounded by Gentiles, they are the ones out of place, not we.

The land of Israel is the holiest of all lands, and the city of Jerusalem the holiest of all places in the land of Israel. Only when we are in that environment of holiness, our homeland given to us by G-d, can we truly and fully keep the Torah and fulfill the desire of G-d. In the merit of the Torah we learn, the Mitzvos we keep, and the love and care we express towards our home land and Jerusalem, may we merit to have them returned to us soon, so we may all return home to celebrate the construction of the Third Temple, at the time of the arrival of Moshiach.

May we merit to see the teaching of the Talmud, that "all who mourn the loss of Jerusalem will merit and see it in its happiness," be fulfilled speedily, in our days!

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4. "First And Foremost A Jew" by Yossi Beilin
From Haaretz

The storm in the Jewish world that has been whipped up by A.B. Yehoshua's remarks reminds me very much of the storm generated by comments I made a dozen years ago, to the effect that it is better for the Jewish world to invest money in Jewish continuity and funding visits to Israel than to give aid to the state of Israel, which is one of the world's wealthier countries.

Then, too, the remarks were interpreted as an Israeli desire to disengage, heaven forbid, from Diaspora Jewry, instead of being understood as an almost desperate call to work together to ensure the continued existence of the Jewish people, rather than making do with sending checks to people who can exist perfectly well without them.

This time, too, in response to Yehoshua's comments that only in Israel is it possible to live a full Jewish life, there were those who argued that without the Diaspora, Israel would not be able to exist, as it is Diaspora Jews who guarantee it financial and diplomatic aid. There is no greater nonsense than this.

A state with 13 million Jews is of far more significance to the future of the Jewish people than all the efforts of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) - some of which have indeed helped Israel, but some of which have done it very serious damage - and of more significance than all the aid from the United Jewish Appeal and loans from Israel Bonds combined.

Like Yehoshua, I am a secular person, and like him I believe that the true fulfillment of Zionism is normality - a normal life in the state of Israel, in the framework of which Jews can live like human beings able to fulfill themselves. Unlike Yehoshua, I see myself as first and foremost a Jew, and only afterward as an Israeli, though I must admit that this distinction is only intellectual: It does not have any practical significance in my private life because I have never been required, and I assume by now that I will never be required, to choose between the two.

My Judaism is my extended family, which I love and of which I am proud because I was born into it. I am always glad to meet a distant cousin, happy to listen to Hebrew, Ladino or Yiddish in unexpected places and am moved to tears to hear someone recite "Hear, O Israel" in the furthest corner of the globe, because this is the slogan of my extended family. Religion, tradition, the many Jewish texts - all these are part of our self-definition, and even if they are not the be-all and end-all, dealing with them is important, and deepens Jewish identity.

Israel's great advantage is that the majority of its inhabitants are Jewish, and therefore the danger of assimilation does not exist here. Anyone for whom Jewish continuity is important, as it is for me, must make great efforts to achieve this end in the Diaspora. Among other things, he will find himself in a synagogue belonging to one Jewish movement or another, even if he is not religiously observant at all.

In Israel, you can stay away from religious ritual and still know that your children will remain Jewish, because their environment is a Jewish environment, they speak Hebrew and from kindergarten through university they study subjects connected to Jewish heritage (even if we have criticisms of the quantity and quality of these studies).

But our role, the role of Jewish intellectuals and Jewish leaders worldwide for whom the issue of Jewish continuity is important, cannot be confined to making statements like "come to Israel or you will disappear."

We must reinvent ourselves both with respect to ideas and with respect to organization in order to ensure Jewish continuity in a world that, for all its anti-Semitic phenomena, is prepared to smile at Jews in a way it has never before smiled, and where a Jewish spouse is not a disaster but often even a great blessing.

Immigration to Israel is the most effective solution, but it is practical only for very few in the wealthy countries. When I initiated the birthright project, I did this in the conviction that Israel must be a meeting point for the Jewish people as part of the effort to ensure Jewish continuity. The project's success should convince the Israeli government and Jewish communities worldwide to expand it, so that no Jewish young person who wants to visit Israel will be unable to do so.

Secular Jewry must formulate for itself its own definition of who is a Jew, and it must not grant religious Jewry a monopoly on this definition. It is untenable that a person whose father is Jewish and who wants to be defined as a Jew should be rejected by us and required to undergo religious conversion. It is untenable that spouses who marry Jews and who see themselves as Jews are required to undergo religious conversion, even if they themselves are agnostic, for example.

We must make significant changes in the Jewish world. It is inconceivable that the global Jewish organization should continue to be the Jewish Agency for Israel, that the World Zionist Organization should continue to act as though the Jewish state had not yet been established and that the representative of American Jewry should be the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, many of whose member organizations are nothing more than an empty mailbox.

It is necessary to establish a global Jewish organization in which a real discussion about Jewish continuity will be conducted, and which will advance innovative projects suited to the technological developments of the 21st century and afford an answer to the question of our extended family's existence even in a situation in which it is not persecuted, does not live in a ghetto and is not facing numerus clausus laws.

The initiative that was proposed on this subject by President Moshe Katsav could well be an opening toward the establishment of such an important global framework. Yehoshua's contribution - whether or not we agree with it - has raised the subject of Jewish continuity from its slumber, and for this he deserves thanks.

Issue 29 "Behar - Bechukotai" 5766

2006-05-18T07:48:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Dear Gilead" by Malkah Fleisher
2. "Never Again?" By Charles Krauthammer
3. "Olmert To Diaspora Jews: Come Home" by Attila Somfalvi
4. "Daniel Wultz Remembered In J'lem" By Joshua Brannon
5. "Israelis And American Jews: Still Talking Past Each Other" by Abraham Foxman

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1. "Dear Gilead" by Malkah Fleisher

Shalom! I received your e-mail from Yishai, and thought I would reply. You wrote:

"Dear Yishai, I'm really hurting. I have filled my Aliyah papers for my family and I, yet the more I read the news the more sick I become. I DO NOT WANT THE TAXES I PAY TO FEED MY ENEMIES!!!!!!!!!!!!! Please give me some words of chizuk!"

Look - none of us want our taxes to feed our enemies. But ultimately, that's not what life in Israel is about!

There are many ways to think about your aliyah:

1. You can think about how your aliyah serves YOU - your children's significantly advanced Jewish/Torah education, raising them with a sense of community and belonging, never being without a minyan, signing your checks with the date on the Hebrew calendar, eating special milk and honey flavored yogurt around Rosh Hashanah time.

2. You can think about how your aliyah serves ISRAEL - increasing the Jewish presence, adding to feelings of Jewish pride/growth/strength, growing children who will grow their children, and their children, and their children... adding to the brain trust and the spiritual power of the Jewish people in the Land of Israel.

3. You can think about how your aliyah serves THE MASTER OF THE UNIVERSE - Showing Him that you choose His land, that you buy into His Torah, that you love His people, and that you would rather spend your life fighting and struggling to bring His light into this world than sitting comfortably in America, far away from the birth pains of a growing Israel.

This is not a time for despair. Frankly, we don't have that luxury, and you should not allow yourself to give into those feelings (believe me, I know how much they want to suck you down into their vortex sometimes). When faced with such an evil impulse, you should smash those feelings and renew your determination to keep your eyes on the prize, to fully invest yourself in the biblical events we are undergoing.

Never forget the incredible love that brought you to consider making Aliyah in the first place - that revelation is one of the greatest truths you have ever experienced.

Good luck, and G-d speed. We look forward to seeing you soon.

All the best, Malkah

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2. "Never Again?" By Charles Krauthammer
From Jewish World Review

The creation of the Zionist state was supposed to protect the post-Holocaust Jew forever

When something happens for the first time in 1,871 years, it is worth noting. In the year 70, and again in 135, the Roman Empire brutally put down Jewish revolts in Judea, destroying Jerusalem, killing hundreds of thousands of Jews and sending hundreds of thousands more into slavery and exile. For nearly two millennia, the Jews wandered the world. And now, in 2006, for the first time since then, there are once again more Jews living in Israel — the successor state to Judea — than in any other place on Earth.

Israel's Jewish population has just passed 5.6 million. America's Jewish population was about 5.5 million in 1990, dropped to about 5.2 million 10 years later and is in a precipitous decline that, because of low fertility rates and high levels of assimilation, will cut that number in half by mid-century.

When 6 million European Jews were killed in the Holocaust, only two main centers of Jewish life remained: America and Israel. That binary star system remains today, but a tipping point has just been reached. With every year, as the Jewish population continues to rise in Israel and decline in America (and in the rest of the Diaspora), Israel increasingly becomes, as it was at the time of Jesus, the center of the Jewish world.

An epic restoration, and one of the most improbable. To take just one of the remarkable achievements of the return: Hebrew is the only "dead" language in recorded history to have been brought back to daily use as the living language of a nation. But there is a price and a danger to this transformation. It radically alters the prospects for Jewish survival.

For 2,000 years, Jews found protection in dispersion — protection not for individual communities, which were routinely persecuted and massacred, but protection for the Jewish people as a whole. Decimated here, they could survive there. They could be persecuted in Spain and find refuge in Constantinople. They could be massacred in the Rhineland during the Crusades or in the Ukraine during the Khmelnytsky Insurrection of 1648-49 and yet survive in the rest of Europe.

Hitler put an end to that illusion. He demonstrated that modern anti-Semitism married to modern technology — railroads, disciplined bureaucracies, gas chambers that kill with industrial efficiency — could take a scattered people and "concentrate" them for annihilation.

The establishment of Israel was a Jewish declaration to a world that had allowed the Holocaust to happen — after Hitler had made his intentions perfectly clear — that the Jews would henceforth resort to self-protection and self-reliance. And so they have, building a Jewish army, the first in 2,000 years, that prevailed in three great wars of survival (1948-49, 1967 and 1973).

But in a cruel historical irony, doing so required concentration — putting all the eggs back in one basket, a tiny territory hard by the Mediterranean, eight miles wide at its waist. A tempting target for those who would finish Hitler's work.

His successors now reside in Tehran. The world has paid ample attention to President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's declaration that Israel must be destroyed. Less attention has been paid to Iranian leaders' pronouncements on exactly how Israel would be "eliminated by one storm," as Ahmadinejad has promised.

Former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, the presumed moderate of this gang, has explained that "the use of a nuclear bomb in Israel will leave nothing on the ground, whereas it will only damage the world of Islam." The logic is impeccable, the intention clear: A nuclear attack would effectively destroy tiny Israel, while any retaliation launched by a dying Israel would have no major effect on an Islamic civilization of a billion people stretching from Mauritania to Indonesia.

As it races to acquire nuclear weapons, Iran makes clear that if there is any trouble, the Jews will be the first to suffer. "We have announced that wherever [in Iran] America does make any mischief, the first place we target will be Israel," said Gen. Mohammad Ebrahim Dehghani, a top Revolutionary Guards commander. Hitler was only slightly more direct when he announced seven months before invading Poland that, if there was another war, "the result will be . . . the annihilation of the Jewish race in Europe."

Last week Bernard Lewis, America's dean of Islamic studies, who just turned 90 and remembers the 20th century well, confessed that for the first time he feels it is 1938 again. He did not need to add that in 1938, in the face of the gathering storm — a fanatical, aggressive, openly declared enemy of the West, and most determinedly of the Jews — the world did nothing.

When Iran's mullahs acquire their coveted nukes in the next few years, the number of Jews in Israel will just be reaching 6 million. Never again?

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3. "Olmert To Diaspora Jews: Come Home" by Attila Somfalvi
From YNET

PM calls on hundreds of Jewish youngsters visiting country within framework of the Jewish Agency's MASA - Israel Journey project to make aliyah: 'Go back, stay a while, then pack up and come home'

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert called Monday on hundreds of Jewish youngsters visiting the country within the framework of the Jewish Agency's MASA - Israel Journey project to make aliyah.

During the project's closing ceremony, which was held at the Latrun Amphitheater, the prime minister was received with a round of applause, apart from a few chants of "traitor" and "a Jew does not expel another Jew."

Former Jewish Agency head Sallai Meridor and ministers Gideon Ezra and Zeev Boim were among those on hand for the event.

Olmert's associates mentioned that last year former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was greeted more harshly.

The prime minister was unfazed by the taunts, and resumed his speech once the hecklers were silenced. He praised Sharon for initiating the MASA project and called on the young Jewish people to come live in Israel.

"Go back, stay a while, then pack up and come home," Olmert pleaded.

"There is nothing we need more than to have you in the State of Israel."

Some 7,000 Jews aged 18-30 made aliyah within the framework of MASA. Lior Shilat, a former Sharon aide who is currently involved in running the project, told Ynet that 40 percent of all those who participate in the project eventually immigrate to Israel.

During the project's closing ceremony, which was held at the Latrun Amphitheater, the prime minister was received with a round of applause, apart from a few chants of "traitor" and "a Jew does not expel another Jew."

Former Jewish Agency head Sallai Meridor and ministers Gideon Ezra and Zeev Boim were among those on hand for the event.

Olmert's associates mentioned that last year former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon was greeted more harshly.

The prime minister was unfazed by the taunts, and resumed his speech once the hecklers were silenced. He praised Sharon for initiating the MASA project and called on the young Jewish people to come live in Israel.

"Go back, stay a while, then pack up and come home," Olmert pleaded.

"There is nothing we need more than to have you in the State of Israel."

Some 7,000 Jews aged 18-30 made aliyah within the framework of MASA. Lior Shilat, a former Sharon aide who is currently involved in running the project, told Ynet that 40 percent of all those who participate in the project eventually immigrate to Israel.

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4. "Daniel Wultz Remembered In J'lem" By Joshua Brannon
From Jerusalem Post

The collective grief of some 400 mourners filled the Nitzanim Synagogue and spilled into the streets of Jerusalem's tree-lined Baka neighborhood Monday, as family, friends and strangers inspired by Daniel Wultz's courageous 27-day fight for life came to pay last respects to the American teen before his body was flown to his home in Weston, Florida, for burial.

The service was restrained, but murmuring among those assembled expressed satisfaction that IDF troops and elite border policemen had shot dead seven Palestinians Sunday - among them Elias Ashkar, the mastermind of the April 17 felafel stand bombing that claimed the lives of Wultz and 10 others.

Dubbed Israel's most-wanted terrorist, Ashkar assembled the explosives belt used in the attack and is believed to have been behind all the Islamic Jihad suicide attacks during the past year, according to the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency).

"It will not bring Daniel back, but it will send a definite message to those that seek to kill Jews," said Menahem Kuttner, director of activities of Tzeirei Chabad Terror Victims Projects, who organized Monday's service. "It is not only the IDF's duty to defend, but to prevent and to retaliate after terrorist attacks."

"On one hand it's poetic justice, but it also shows the futility of it all," said a family member. "Daniel's still dead. Nothings changes."

"Our biggest revenge is showing that we are not stopping our lives," said Yuval Wultz, Daniel's cousin.

Those who eulogized Wultz chose to speak of the teenager's strength of character and his inspirational fight for life.

"Daniel was 16 years old, and I need 16 years to tell you about Daniel, because every day was different," said his father Tuly, who suffered wounds to his legs when the bomber blew up meters from where he and Daniel sat for lunch. "You left us, Daniel. You did a heroic, unbelievable fight, the fight of your life. But it was too much. I was honored to be your father, and privileged and lucky to have you for 16 years."

Others described Wultz a a deeply spiritual young man with a passion for basketball and for Israel. "Daniel was a person who radiated kindness and peace and love to anyone he was around," said Eitan Lukin, 16, who studied and played pick-up games with him at the David Posnack Hebrew Day school in Florida, before he made aliya with his family nine months ago. "He loved Israel, and he wanted to live here after he finished high school."

US Ambassador Richard Jones offered condolences to the bereaved family and placed a triangular folded flag on the casket. He also praised Wultz's strength in fighting to survive for 27 days, considering the severity of his wounds.

"Although the bloodthirsty terrorists took Daniel's life, they cannot deprive us of his spirit," he said.

Wultz died of complications associated with infections stemming from his massive injuries on Sunday to become the 11th fatality of the attack.

He will be buried on Tuesday following a memorial service at the Chabad Lubavitch synagogue in Weston.

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5. "Israelis And American Jews: Still Talking Past Each Other" by Abraham Foxman
From Haaretz

What most surprised and disturbed me about A.B. Yehoshua's remarks before the American Jewish Committee were the black and white images he projected. This is particularly unsettling considering the nuanced characters that populate his works of fiction.

Life in Israel and in the Diaspora is not so simple as to put it in terms of: one is good, the other is not, one has value, the other doesn't.

I believe that a Jew can fulfill his or her "greatest potential" as a Jew in Israel. I emphasize the words "greatest" and "potential" to make clear that despite Israel holding out the lure of the fullest Jewish life, it has tremendous challenges in order to reach that potential, while a very satisfying Jewish life is also possible in the Diaspora.

Yehoshua's description of what it means to an Israeli, alone among Jews in the world, to be in the majority, to make decisions on a governmental and societal level that affect ones life, indeed to have the totality of ones Jewishness in one's country, is compelling. His description, however, takes for granted the maintenance of one's Jewish identity simply by being an Israeli citizen.

This is an illusion. Yehoshua's shrugging off problems of assimilation among Israeli Jews is short-sighted. Particularly, if the Middle East someday becomes a more hospitable place to Israel, the question of Jewish identity will perhaps emerge in force.

It is in that sense that Yehoshua's dismissal of Jewish life in the Diaspora, as represented in his words by "texts and spirituality" is so inappropriate. It will not be enough to sustain the Jewish people by virtue of governance and judiciaries, though the existence of these institutions has fundamentally changed the Jewish condition. The unique values of Judaism and Jewish history, as well as the land of Israel, are what have sustained the Jewish people for thousands of years and will continue to do so in the future.

Far better to talk about how Israel and the American Jewish community can work together on their common challenge - maintaining Jewish identity -and what each brings to the table to meet that challenge and to help the other, rather than to revisit old rivalries about who is more important for the future of the Jewish people.

Israelis bring to the table their sense of self-confidence about who they are, that comes from living in their Jewish-dominated society. This sense of pride also benefits American Jews.

On the other hand, American Jews, engaging in much soul-searching over how to prevent assimilation in a society that has few limits, bring concepts and experience to the discussion about maintaining one's identity as a Jew without closing oneself off from the world. This subject may not appear to have relevance for many Israelis, but it does.

If Yehoshua was merely interested in stimulating a new discussion about Israel and the Diaspora, he has succeeded, and good that he has. If he truly believes all that he said, then it shows how much we are still talking past each other.

Abraham H. Foxman is National Director of the Anti-Defamation League and author of "Never Again? The Threat of the New Semitism"

Issue 28 "Pesach Sheini" 5766

2006-05-11T08:57:00.000-07:00

Shalom! We are proud to present another issue of Kummunique.
This issue is filled with Aliyah and Eretz Yisrael inspiration - so enjoy!

In this issue you will find:

1. "Pesach Sheini" by Malkah Fleisher
2. "The New Book of Exodus" by Jenna Portnoy
3. "Better Than We Thought" by Yair Lapid
4. "Alienated Jews" by Amiram Barkat

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1. "Pesach Sheini" by Malkah Fleisher

If Jewish holidays existed on a map of Jewish recognition, excitement, and participation, Pesach might be Jerusalem, Sukkot might be Beer Sheva, Hanukkah might be Tzfat. Pesach Sheini, however, would probably land somewhere around Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Even amongst the super-pious, Jewishly enthusiastic, Pesach Sheini usually slides by without so much as a thought, and nary a nibble of matzah.

However, the Torah gives us big clues into our relationship with G-d through the provision of this modest, unsung holiday.

In discussing the Passover festival and when to bring it, the Jews hit a snag:
There were, however, certain persons who had become ritually impure through contact with a dead body and therefore could not prepare the Passover offering on that day... and they said: "...Why should we be deprived, and not be able to present G-ds offering in its time, amongst the children of Israel?"… And G-d spoke to Moses, saying: "… Any person who is contaminated by death, or is on a distant road, whether among you now or in future generations, shall prepare a Passover offering to G-d. They shall prepare it on the afternoon of the fourteenth day of the second month, and shall eat it with matzahs and bitter herbs...." (Numbers 9:1-12)

Shavuot and Succot are also "inconveniences" for the Jews (G-d forbid!) – everyone has to drop what they're doing to make the pilgrimage to Jerusalem. Why does Pesach get a special redo?

Perhaps it's because Pesach requires extra focus – not only do we remove all of our leavening and conduct a seder, but we make special efforts to reduce our egos into humbler sizes.

Instead of imposing harsher judgement on the Jews a month after this process ("Hey – you guys should be humbler by now? What gives?"), he exercises extra patience with us ("Listen, I know it's tough, and you didn't QUITE make it to the levels of humility and subservience to Me that I was hoping for, so here's another chance").

What do we learn from this characteristic? G-d will bend over backwards to forgive the Jews, both nationally and individually. He's aching to forgive us, looking for any excuse, any loophole to allow us to create merit for ourselves.

In times like these, we should take solace in this idea. In situations in which we feel disempowered to affect the national situation, we should do some inner housecleaning, yet again. In fact, we should do it again, and again, and again. G-d wants us to succeed. Let's start with ourselves, and work outward.

This Pesach Sheini, I will be sitting down to a delicious matzah-based meal, and reapplying myself to the values of Pesach. In turn, I believe G-d will remember His belief in second chances, and His desire to redeem his beloved nation.

Malkah's Matzah Lasagna

Four pieces of machine matzah
1 medium container tomato paste
2 zucchini, sliced thin
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1-2 large onions, chopped and
Thyme, oregano, basil
1 package of Tnuva, unsalted farmer's cheese (comes in clear wrapper)
1 small container of white "Israeli" spreading cheese
1 and a half cups of shredded mozzarella

Fry the garlic, zucchini, and onions until the onions are just golden.
Mix the tomato paste, 3/4 cup of water, thyme, oregano, and basil to taste. Add garlic, zucchi, and onions, and stir.
In a separate bowl, mix the white cheese and farmer's cheese.

In square casserole dish, place a sheet of matzah, spread with layer of cheese mixture, cover with tomato sauce mixture. Repeat until the last piece of matzah lies on top. Cover this last piece with tomato sauce, and sprinkle with the shredded cheese. Bake at 350 until the cheese is golden brown.

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[The following is a small part of a huge article on American Aliyah. Follow the link for the full story- ed.]

2. "The New Book of Exodus" by Jenna Portnoy
From Philadelphia City Paper

Despite the danger, more Philadelphia Jews are making a one-way trip to Israel.

Are you Jewish?" the man asked. He had called to clear me for an interview with the consul general of Israel in Philadelphia. I assumed security might need my driver's license or want to perform a criminal background check. But not this. "Have you ever been to Israel?"

What could these questions possibly have to do with the story?

The next day, I arrived at a nondescript office building in the heart of Center City and someone buzzed me up. The elevator doors opened into a small, bomb-safe chamber with a metal detector, stool and bullet-proof glass window. From beyond the window, a male voice instructed me to empty the contents of my purse, take my shoes off and step through the metal detector.

Within seconds, a door leading to another small, sterile chamber opened revealing a stern-faced woman wearing latex gloves.

A muscle-bound man mumbled something and unfurled a curtain.

The woman passed a wand over my body and thoroughly patted me down. She even made me lift up my shirt. As the woman flattened my hair in search of explosives and examined my stocking feet, she traded a few terse words with the man in Hebrew. I picked up beseder, meaning "good," and let out a breath.

Satisfied I was not there to blow up the consulate, the man gave me back my stuff—minus an ID and cell phone—and led me to a waiting area.

"The consul general will be right with you," he said, finally cracking a smile. "Would you like something to drink?"

I shook my head.

In America, even where high-profile public officials are concerned, media security checks rarely include invasive searches or personal questions. Details about the reporter are irrelevant and should be. But Israel is different. Yes, it's a democracy, but Israelis don't mess around when it comes to security. They can't afford to. Anyone could be a terrorist. Even a reporter.

Israel has, of course, learned this lesson the hard way.

While Israeli civilian deaths from suicide attacks have steadily declined in recent years, a Passover bombing at a food stand in Tel Aviv killed nine and wounded more than 60. The April 17 attack was the first suicide bombing in the Jewish state since the radical Islamic movement, Hamas, took over the Palestinian Authority three weeks earlier, and the most deadly since August 2004. Hamas has called the bombing a "legitimate response to Israeli aggression."

The prolonged Israeli-Palestinian conflict has also been exacerbated by the war in Iraq and tensions with Iran. An Iranian senior commander recently told reporters Israel would be Iran's first target in response to any "evil" acts by the United States.

But despite the dangerous, volatile state of affairs in Israel, thousands of Americans and Canadians, and an increasing number of Philadelphians, willingly move there every year. Many feel it is their responsibility to strengthen the Jewish state, which was founded 58 years ago this month on the concept that Israel would be a home for Jews scattered throughout the world.

The process of immigrating to Israel is called aliyah (ah-lee-yah), which means "ascent" in Hebrew. Those who make aliyah are called olim (ol-eem). Former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who has shown no sign of emerging from a coma doctors induced after he suffered massive stroke on Jan. 4, has said, "Aliyah is the central goal of the State of Israel."

Founded in 1948 with about 600,000 Jews, Israel's population has swelled to 7 million people. Last year, Israel surpassed the United States as the country with the largest Jewish population. (About 206,000 Jewish people live in the greater Philadelphia area, according to a 1997 Jewish Federation-sponsored study.)

Unlike Jewish refugees who enter Israel to escape persecution or anti-Semitism, North American Jews typically make aliyah for religious, cultural and political reasons. Nearly 3,000 made aliyah in 2005—the biggest number in 23 years and double the number of olim in 2001, according to the Israel Aliyah Center (www.aliyah.org), an organization that helps people join the Jewish state.

This year, 60 Philadelphians are expected to make aliyah. That's three times as many as two years ago.

The majority of olim are Orthodox—a denomination of Judaism characterized by strict interpretation of Jewish law—but the rate of olim who identify with other religious movements, such as Conservatism, is growing.

Israel offers olim a cash payment of $3,300, a free one-way plane ticket, Hebrew lessons called ulpan, tax exceptions and academic scholarships. A family of four or five could be entitled to $15,000 to $30,000 through various programs, according to the IAC, which has stepped up education and marketing campaigns.

Nefesh B'Nefesh (nbn.org.il), an agency whose name means "Jewish souls united," also helps olim navigate Israel's bureaucracy and get jobs. On the condition that they stay in Israel for three years, olim may receive NBN grants averaging $5,000 each.

In addition to these incentives, in the global economy, it is easier than ever to live and work abroad. And after Sept. 11, American Jews who were hesitant to move to Israel because of terrorism suddenly realized no country is completely safe. Still, for most olim these factors do not play a significant part in their desire to make aliyah. The seeds are usually planted with a trip to Israel.

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3. "Better Than We Thought" by Yair Lapid
From YNET

There are many options open to you average Israeli. The fact that most of us choose to live here says a lot about this country

Here's a trivia question: What is the second largest Greek city in the world?

Don't run to the atlas. The second largest Greek city in the world is Melbourne, Australia. Only Athens has a larger Greek population. The reason that so many Greeks migrated to Australia is because they were unhappy in Greece and looked for a different place to call "home."

The second largest Israeli city is Tel Aviv; followed by Haifa, Beer Sheva, Holon, etc. New York would be somewhere on the list, but pretty far down. In the final analysis, the majority of Israelis prefer to live in Israel.

It's not that there are no alternatives. The average Israeli speaks better English than most Greeks. He has more years of schooling, uses the Internet more often and frequently flies abroad (Everybody knows we hold all the worlds' records for international travel.) and has at his disposal – one way or another – a fabulous network of Jewish communities. There is a synagogue in every major city; a Jewish community center, a B'nai Brith chapter or at the very least, Chabad. If they arrive with the children and a container, chances are there'll be someone there to meet them at the airport.

But most of us don't leave and that's not something to sniff at. In the not-so-roaring eighties it seemed that our numbers were shrinking. Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin slammed Israelis who left the country as "wusses" and it did not come out of a vacuum.

Ultimate test

In 1987, when I worked in Los Angeles as a reporter, I was sent on assignment to a small street in the San Fernando Valley. Half of the residents of the street were from Kibbutz Beit Alfa. There was a neat row of houses, backyard swimming pool included, a nice home renovations business, three cars in the driveway. It seemed like they were waiting for the rest of the kibbutz to take up residence on the other half of the street. It did not happen.

Twenty years later, you can go to www.beit-alfa.com and reserve a charming cabin at the foot of the Gilboa Mountains, air conditioning and breakfast included. It's supposed to be charming.

As Israel begins its 59th year of independence the country passes the ultimate test of any nation, with flying colors: Israelis love to complain but wouldn't live anywhere else. They make due with the high taxes, the security problems, the widening social gap, and the country's embarrassing body politic. They are even willing to gamble on the country: Close to 75 percent of the apartments in Israel are owned by the people who live in them. This is a higher percentage than in England, Canada, the US, Japan, Germany and Holland. The big question is why? What is this country giving them that does not show up in the statistics?

There are several standard answers: the Holocaust is one, fear of anti-Semitism, a Jewish identity, Friday afternoon reading the newspaper and eating sunflower seeds. Each of these answers is correct but none of them is enough. I have another explanation:

Perceptive economics

The Hebrew translation of the best-selling book "Freakonomics" by Steven Levitt, Stephen Dubner came out this month. It's one of the most perceptive studies of economics I have ever encountered. It talks about – amongst other things - something that was tried here in Israel: A Haifa child-care center was having trouble with parents arriving on time to pick up their children. To combat the phenomenon, management imposed a 10 shekel (two dollars) fine on parents who were late in picking up their kids.

After several months of this policy a clear trend became evident. What do you think happened?

The number of late parents tripled.

How do you explain it? Before the policy was introduced, parents were embarrassed to arrive late to pick up their children. Everyone is familiar with the feeling - you are stuck in traffic, sweating, imagining your child is the last one left behind, crying, feeling abandoned. You are the worst parent in the world.

As soon as there was a tax for lateness, parents did the math. Better to leave in the middle of a meeting where your promotion is being discussed or pay the ten shekels? The answer is clear.

Levitt's example (Dubner just helped with the writing) proves, and not for the first time, that people will do a little more in order to feel they are good people. Other incentives – money, promotion, comfort – are less powerful.

Needing people

In recent years, I have had the opportunity to take part in a number of televised charity drives benefiting various causes – children at risk, education, meals for the needy – but the campaign strategy was always the same: people sitting at home are asked to pick up the phone and make a donation.

Socially, they have no incentive to give: their names aren't mentioned, no one outside of the members of their families knew they were making a contribution. There was no immediate gratification or glory. And despite this, each charity drive raised more money than the organizers anticipated.

This is because people know how to appreciate the fact they are needed. It doesn't always need to be as dramatic as Churchill's "I have nothing to give you but blood, sweat and tears" or Kennedy's "Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country."

Earning vitality

But we have lived in this country for 58 years. We know it. We love it. We are ready to do almost anything for it.

The prime minister is wasting his time and ours when he promises us that in another four years this will be a wonderful place to live. We have chosen this place. We have chosen 30 days (at least) of IDF reserve duty a year, income tax, religious - secular tensions, the Palestinian threat. We have chosen and we continue to choose every day. This makes us better people because we matter and that allows us to feel that between our birth and our death, something vital and real is happening to us.

There aren't many countries that give their citizens that kind of feeling.

This year, Israel's Independence Day coincided with the forming of a new government. A lot of empty promises were scattered along the way. Empty and unnecessary. If instead of those promises, someone tells us what he wants us to do as a nation, then we will do the best that we can.

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4. "Alienated Jews" by Amiram Barkat
From Haaretz

Members of the American Jewish Committee, who identify with Israel and care about its welfare, were astounded and offended to the depths of their souls this week when they heard author A.B. Yehoshua say he feels no sense of identification with them and their fate. Yehoshua's "I have no brother" speech is doubtless harsh-sounding and infuriating to anyone for whom belonging to the Jewish collective means something. But rather than attack Yehoshua, those "good Jews" should direct complaints at themselves, for having done almost nothing to find out how they are perceived by their brethren in Israel.

Had the American Jewish Committee people displayed an interest in the intellectual discourse that has been taking place in Israel for some time, they would have known that Yehoshua's words express a widespread and accepted way of thinking. They would have learned that prominent intellectuals in Israel view relations with them as a harmful anachronism that undermines the efforts of Israeli society to grant its non-Jewish citizens a sense of belonging. They would have discovered that the philosopher Menachem Brinker, for example, thinks the Arabs of Umm al-Fahm and Lod are part of his nation much more so than the Jews of Manhattan or Chicago - the connection with whom, in his eyes, is a thing of the past. They would perhaps have been surprised to know that journalist Yaron London views foreign workers who wish to settle in Israel more worthy than themselves to be considered members of his people, since those migrants, contrary to them, speak his language and share in his destiny.

Israel fulfills a central role, for good or bad, in the Jewish identity of Jews in the United States. Because of this, many of the Jews there mistakenly think the attitude is mutual and that Israelis, too, are interested in them and anxious for their future. According to the report in Haaretz, the commonplace response to Yehoshua's words was to ask, "Does everyone in Israel think this way?" But while the Jewish establishment in the U.S. constantly checks the strength of American Jews' emotional ties to Israel, the ties going the other way have never been seriously checked.

There seems to be no need for an empirical foundation to answer the AJC people's question. Indifference, ignorance and alienation characterize the attitude of the Jewish public in Israel toward the Jews of the U.S. The indifference is reflected, for example, in the minuscule number of Knesset members who bother to participate in the many forums dealing with Diaspora-Israel relations: Yossi Beilin, Natan Sharansky, Colette Avital and Rabbi Michael Melchior.

The ignorance is shown by the fact that pupils in Israeli schools do not learn anything about the existence of Jews in the world today. The country that had no trouble absorbing billions of dollars from Diaspora Jews does not see fit to devote even a single hour of class time to teach its citizens about the existence of those Jews and the problems troubling them. A lone study program, which was initiated by the AJC, aims to change that situation.

As for the alienation, American Jews need not go as far as Israel to grasp the degree of detachment Israelis feel toward them. It is enough for them to ask themselves why the vast majority of the hundreds of thousands of Israelis living in the U.S. do not participate in the life of the Jewish community, do not attend its institutions and do not contribute a thing to its existence.

Zionism and Orthodox Judaism alike instilled in the Israeli public ignorance of and alienation from the Jews of the Diaspora, in no small part because of anxiety about the wealthy and attractive alternatives to Jewish existence on offer in foreign fields. On the Israeli left, hostility to Diaspora Jews is growing in tandem with the belief in a state of all its citizens and the more the country's Jewishness is perceived as political incorrectness.

Israelis are not solely to blame for this detachment, but also U.S. Jews themselves. The heads of the American Jewish organizations do almost nothing to alter the perceptions common in the Israeli public. Their leaders who come here several times a year return to their country brimming with delight having heard the prime minister, foreign minister and chair of the Jewish Agency pay lip service in speaking about Israel's obligation to the Jewish people and its future.

The Jews in the U.S. who are worried about the future of ties to Israel should ask themselves what is done with the funds they transfer every year to the Jewish Agency and other bodies in Israel. Why does only a tiny percentage of these find its way into programs that deal with studying the Diaspora or conducting a genuine dialog between Israelis and Jews living overseas. The detachment and alienation between the world's two largest concentrations of Jews may be a fact, but certainly not an inexorable fate.