Avira D’Eretz Yisroel – A grassroots effort to help facilitate long-term Yishuv Eretz Yisroel for the English-speaking Yeshiva community in Eretz Yisroel
Many of us have come to Eretz Yisroel as bochurim or young avreichim, to take advantage of the special “avira d’Eretz Yisroel,” as a springboard for our personal advancement in Torah and Avodas HaShem. As we continue to grow and start building our families, we have the additional zechus and challenge of starting to raise our families in this special atmosphere.
At some point, many of us are faced with a unique challenge. Financial assistance from abroad is not what it used to be, our families, bli ayin hara, have grown, and our expenses have increased. The rising cost of housing, as well, has become a great financial burden. We cannot afford to buy a house or apartment that would be a source of stability for us. Alternatively, the communities we live in may have been suitable for us as young couples, but are not the places in which we want to continue to grow or raise our children. We still find our Avodas HaShem benefitting much from the same avira d’Eretz Yisroel that brought us here in the first place, or perhaps even see Yishuv Eretz Yisroel as part of our Avodas HaShem.
The solution seems to lie, at least in part, with finding existing communities with affordable housing, that have an atmosphere that will allow for our integration. But how will we know about such places? Do they even exist?
This is exactly where the Avira project comes in. It is about creating the connections between us and the English-speakers who have already made the various relevant Yeshiva/Chareidi communities their home. Many of them will be more than happy to let us know about and get a feel for their communities, whether by providing relevant information, taking us around, or maybe even hosting us for a Shabbos. It would not be an overestimation to say that there is even some excitement about the prospect of additional English-speakers joining them in their communities.
In order to let us hear from those Nachshon-ben-Aminadavs who have already made the jump into their communities – “splitting the sea” for us to join, and enabling the shidduch between us and our future places of residence and Avodas HaShem – we are now, b’ezras HaShem, creating a network of contacts in the various communities, and putting together a publication. It will also serve as a platform for the exchange of relevant ideas, for the forming of groups of families interested in moving together, and for anything else that will serve our common purpose.
If this project may address your need, or if you are otherwise interested in being involved in this project, please send an email to aviraderetzyisroel@gmail.com, or leave a message at 072-298-6213.
Behatzlacha!
[The above announcement will be advertised this Sunday in the 14,000 copy “Pirsumit” distributed among the Anglo neighborhoods of Yerushalayim.]