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Zeev Shemer is a writer and full-time teacher who works with B'Ahavat Yisrael, a charitable organization that helps Jews worldwide
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By Zeev Shemer
March 14, 2007
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Why make Aliyah? What is there to look for in Israel? What will you find once you get here. Will it be worth it? Will it last? These are all valid questions, and as an Oleh Hadash (3 years now), once a resident of Florida and its sandy beaches, overwhelming humidity and oversized mosquitoes, I will answer these questions with a bluntness that might not sit well with many of you.
Why make Aliyah? There is the religious reason -- because you have come to accept the belief in God, and His demand for us to settle the Land of Israel, and thus shouting "Next year in Jerusalem" both in Yom Kippur and Passover, makes you feel dishonest. Why make Aliyah? In short -- idealism. There are more reasons of course; we'll leave them for a bit later.
What is there to look for in Israel? You will want to bond with fellow Jews. And they are everywhere: The baker in the supermarket, the owner of the bookshop, the bus driver and the Jews that will join you Shabbat after Shabbat in the synagogue of your liking. You will search for higher spirituality. You will search for inspiring Torah classes. You will search for good schools for your children and a decent job that will help you make ends meet.
What will you find once you get here? Torah classes are in Hebrew (ouch!). The schools you will find for your children are at best average. There is no way you will bond with the baker or the bus driver, and even the folk in the synagogue not all will be as nice as you expected. You will find that Israelis, religious or not, share the greatest lack of "derech eretz" on planet earth. You will be pushed in the supermarket, cut in line at the grocery store, at the bank, and forget about the post office, with luck, you will learn to avoid heavy injuries as you are flung from one side to another. At the doctor's office you will be yelled at by people who think have the right to go in before you, and more of these people you will meet at the teachers-parent conferences and other 'social' events.
There might be a job waiting. If there is, it will be hard and tedious. You will soon find out that customer service means you need ten signed and stamped forms and to speak to six different people before the correct person can give you the misinformation that he/she could have given you from the very beginning.
You will find that Arabs walk around with a sense of ownership that once belonged to the founders of this country. If you are lucky, you will only read on the news about the stabbings, shootings and terror attempts. And if you worry a bit, 90% of pharmacists in Israel are Arabs, 30% of the doctors and 40% of the nurses (outside Tel Aviv). These 'nice' Israeli citizens will make you feel right in the Middle East where you wanted to be!
Will it be worth it? If you are allergic to radiation, as Iran nears to the completion of its nuclear program, or allergic to shrapnel, as the Syrian army continues to build bunkers around the Golan, as the Hezbollah continues to rearm in Lebanon, and as Hamas and Fatah continue to smuggle weapons from Egypt to supply the terror cells in both Gaza and the West Bank, the answer is, right up to the day that all hell brakes loose, maybe. You'll never be 100% sure.
Will it last? The old joke that says that the only way to be a millionaire in Israel is to come as a multi-millionaire is a sad reminder that things are not easy over here. The dollars you bring will not last as much as you need them to. Your spouse will have second thoughts, and so will you. Your children will adapt, they for sure will not want to go back to America or to your country of origin. But you will think about leaving. You will consider different options. Most of us will end up staying. With our allergies and all, we will stay to the very end and hope that it will indeed last.
We continue to live in Israel; surrounded by rude and nasty people, and a few good ones that are so amazing and so nice that you can find them only here in the Holy Land; but know that the majority rules.
What are your other options? To stay in America? To pay exorbitant amounts for health insurance and private school tuition? To downgrade? To move to a hick town to cut on expenses, then suddenly see your son will come home with a pierced nipple, and your daughter wearing so much makeup you'll think it's Purim? Wait, I mean Halloween. And their redneck friends, they will not all be bad, I'm sure their parents will make great teammates on bowling night and you might even get invited to go hunting. Maybe you will be able to borrow some of your daughter's makeup to paint your face in support of the local football team. Jug down a couple of beers and if you still remember you were born Jewish, then jug down a few more.
If I were to leave Israel, I would miss the Jewish baker in the supermarket, the owner of the bookshop and even the nasty bus driver. And if anything terrible were to happen to them, how could I live with myself?
Why make Aliyah? Maybe because Jewish guilt is a genetic defect we all share. So if anyone ever asks you why you made Aliyah, just say you were born genetically predisposed. We once owned a huge and beautiful home with a swimming pool in our backyard.
I had a job at a hi-tech company, two SUV's, a housekeeper, a gardener and a bunch of friends. Then we made Aliyah. Would I do it all over again? You better believe it. Life in Israel is existing. Never a dull moment, with the good and the bad, the feeling of being 'home' is always present. If you have doubts, that is a good sign. Don't make too much of it, pack your bags and commence a journey you will never forget. Maybe this coming Passover, when you repeat 'next year in Jerusalem' the feeling will be honest; and stop worrying so much, unless that, too, is genetically embedded.
Views expressed by the author do not
necessarily reflect those of israelinsider.
 
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