ISRAEL: Debunking Demography Despair

Israel’s Jewish Demography Refutes Pessimism

In defiance of Israel’s “demographers of doom” – who have promoted the myth of an Arab demographic time bomb – the September 2019 data published by Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics (ICBS) documents the sustained Westernization of Arab fertility rate (number of births per woman), a persisting increase in the Jewish fertility rate, growing Aliyah (Jewish immigration) and the decline of Jewish emigration.

According to the ICBS, the Jewish fertility rate for 2018 ascended to 3.17 births per woman, while the westernized Arab fertility rate decreased to 3.04. When the Jewish father is Israeli-born, which points at the current trend, the Jewish fertility rate grows to 3.34 births per woman.

In 1969, the gap between Arab and Jewish fertility rates was six more births per Arab woman; in 2015, the gap was closed at 3.13 each.  This evolved into a Jewish edge in 2016 (3.16:3.11) and reached an all-time high Jewish edge in 2018 – 3.17:3.04.

The systematic Westernization of the Arab fertility rate characterizes the Muslim World, other than the Sub-Sahara societies.  According to the 2019 edition of the CIA World Fact Book, Jordan’s fertility rate is 3.14 births per woman, the West Bank – 3.2, Saudi Arabia – 2.04, Kuwait – 2.35, the UAE – 1.73, Egypt – 3.41, Iran – 1.96, etc. Israel’s Jewish fertility rate is higher than any Arab country other than Yemen, Iraq, Egypt and Sudan.

The Westernization of the fertility of Israeli Arabs (as well as the Arabs of Judea and Samaria) has been, primarily, a derivative of a rapid and substantial urbanization, as well as the enhanced stature of Arab women. Israeli Arab women are rapidly upgrading their integration in the education system (74% of registered Arab students from elementary schools through academic institutions), expanding their role in the job market and career opportunities, delaying wedding age to 23-25 year old (not 15 as it used to be), completing the fertility process at 45 (not 55 as it used to be) and dramatically increasing the use of contraceptives and resorting to abortion. There has also been a rise in the number of single Arab women.

In 2018, there were 141,000 Jewish births, 76.6% of total Israeli births, compared with 1995 when it was 69% of total births.  Contrary to conventional wisdom, the substantial increase in the number of Jewish births has occurred due to the rise in secular Jewish fertility, while the ultra-orthodox fertility rate has decreased mildly.  The growth of the Jewish fertility rate is attributed to a high level of optimism, patriotism, attachment to roots, collective responsibility and declining abortion.

Furthermore, in 1990, there were 14,200 additional Israeli emigrants, staying abroad for over a year (overall Israeli emigrants less than returning Israelis). According to the ICBS, in 2017 there were 5,900 additional emigrants – a reduction of 58%, compared to 1990, while Israel’s population doubled itself from 4.5 million to 9 million. A substantial decline in the number of emigrants started in 2007-2008, during the collapse of the global economy, attesting to the positive state of Israel’s economy.

While the world has accepted the official Palestinian population data, without examination/auditing, the Palestinian Authority has consistently inflated the size of its population in the following manner:

*Over 400,000 overseas residents – away for more than a year and mostly from Judea and Samaria – are included in the Palestinian census, contrary to internationally accepted standards, which authorize de-facto count. Such an illegal practice was pronounced by the Head of the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS), the PCBS website, the Palestinian Election Commission, the Palestinian Interior Undersecretary, etc.  The number grows through births.

*330,000 Jerusalem Arabs, possessing Israeli ID cards, are doubly counted: as Israeli Arabs by Israel and as West Bankers by the Palestinian Authority. The number grows through births.

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From The Ettinger Report, here.

Eretz Yisrael Is a Jew’s ‘Natural Habitat’

This Is Our Own

Various Perspectives and Experiences of English speakers Living in Eretz Yisroel

As a Jew, this is my real home. It’s my own culture, my own alphabet all around me. Prophecies come alive. A large portion of our Torah is relevant only here.

It’s only my first day in Eretz Yisroel and I already receive Bircas Kohanim. When I buy any produce, I have to make sure terumos and ma’aseros were separated or do it myself. This is HaShem’s special Land and His Presence is manifested also by His special rules for what grows here. It makes His Presence feel even more real.

For the Chinese, it’s China. That is their natural habitat and that is where they thrive. For the Japanese, it’s Japan. For the Spaniards, it’s Spain. For us Yidden, it’s Eretz Yisroel. This Land is suited to us, and we to the Land. Any place in golus has not held us for more than a few hundred years. We cannot really thrive anywhere else, not even in Williamsburg or Lakewood. This Land has grown the largest concentration of world-recognized gedolim from across the Torah spectrum.

If you were to dig under my former house in Brooklyn, you would probably find nothing, maybe mechanical oil. Anywhere in our Land, the ground is saturated with history—our own history. There are kivrei tzaddikim all around. Even Adam HaRishon is buried here, and that’s world history.

Not so far outside of the Williamsburg bubble I lived in, kosher food is just a small percentage of what’s available. In our own country, the percentages are the other way around.

My first exposure to the beautiful fabric of this nation we are part of was in Uman on Rosh Hashana. (I always say if you would like to see how we will look like after the redemption, just come to Uman Rosh Hashana. It’s a yearly rehearsal of the geula hosted by Rabbi Nachman.) I identified strongly with a scene from a story of Rabbi Nachman of Breslov, where two people lost in a forest take shelter in a tree from where they hear the scary sounds of all the different kinds of wild animals. At first, they were shaken with fear and did not pay attention to the sounds, but as they paid closer attention, they heard there was a very wondrous sound of music and song which was an extremely awesome and powerful pleasure to hear. It was me who was lost in that scary forest of all different kinds of Eretz Yisroel’s people in Uman, originally as foreign and scary to me as the “wild animals” in the story, but as time went on and I became more comfortable with the “sounds,” I picked up on the beauty and wonder of the makeup of Am Yisroel.

Back in Williamsburg, I would daven at “The Shtiebel,” where there is a big map of Eretz Yisroel hanging on the wall and the mizrach was designed to resemble the Kosel. Eretz Yisroel is the primary subject over there. Also, many Israelis would pass through in another shul that I attended, some of them collecting funds for marrying off their children. I would tell them that creating such a necessity for them to fundraise abroad, is HaShem’s way of making sure to bring a lifeline—the atmosphere of Eretz Yisroel—to us Yidden in chutz la’Aretz.

After the second year I was in Uman Rosh Hashana, as a chosson already, I took the opportunity to continue for a short visit to Eretz Yisroel, primarily to get hadracha from R’ Yaakov Meir Shechter, shlit”a. I of course also went around to the mekomos hakedoshim, including Meron, Tzefas, and T’veria. A short while before that, I remember saying from R’ Nosson of Breslov’s Likuttei Tefillos, “vezakeini lavo l’Eretz Yisroel,” and not understanding why it’s such a zechus to come to Eretz Yisroel, but I figured that if he wrote it, I’m not going to skip it. It took some more time for my connection to Eretz Yisroel to develop, and for the first seven years of married life, I was still in Williamsburg.

At one point in time, I decided to quit my full-time job and become self-employed as an IT guy. At that time, one of the Israelis who knew me heard that I was free from my job, so he offered me a job in Eretz Yisroel with a very generous weekly salary, but only if I would give an answer that I am ready to move there within two weeks. It was too short of a notice for me, but it did make me aware that a decent parnossa is possible in Eretz Yisroel.

I always knew that I didn’t want to invest heavily in being connected to chutz la’Aretz, so I was glad that my first car lease in NY was only for twenty-four months. I didn’t want any magnetizing ratzon keeping me from moving on.

A lot of people I know don’t think of Eretz Yisroel as a normal place to live comfortably. They are not aware that there are tens, if not hundreds and thousands, of chutznikim that are living here and enjoying it . With research, you can find people here just like you—Yeshivish, Heimish, or any type of Chareidi.

There is an important teaching of R’ Nachman to keep in mind though—the middah of arichus apayim (patience) is a prerequisite for being zoche to Eretz Yisroel, and Eretz Yisroel is a catalyst for developing arichus apayim. Be excited, but don’t jump into things; you’ve got to have bitachon, but be careful and calculated. Flexibility is also of utmost importance.

After the Holocaust, America was an amazing and beautiful stop, but why stay in golus if HaShem is “screaming” in His way that we should come home?

Vacation Is Over, but We’re Still Here

One year, while we were still living in the US and our oldest child was six years old, we made a calculation that instead of going to the mountains for the summer we could financially pull off a five-week summer vacation in Eretz Yisroel.

Once here, it ended up working out for us to stay for Elul and Tishrei as well, so we enrolled our children in the local mosdos. Once they were accepted to the mosdos, why should we go back?

As an IT freelancer, I still worked with my customers remotely. Eventually, I migrated from working remotely with clients from abroad in NY. I launched my “Computer Expert” services in the local market in the Yerushalayim area, and I now perform as a Chassidic singer with my own music band for kumzitzim and boutique events.

During the first winter, we ended up going back to the US for a month and a-half for the weddings of two siblings. My children attended their original schools, and this way we all had the chance to part from our family and friends before coming back to our new life in Eretz Yisroel, which started almost by chance—or more accurately—by the Hashgacha Pratis that surrounds us here.

– Yosef Zev Braver, Romema, Yerushalayim

 

This article is part of our Eretz Chemdah series featuring Anglo-Chareidim living in, settling, and building up Eretz Yisroel. A joint project of Avira D’Eretz Yisroel, Kedushas Tzion and Naava Kodesh, coordinated by Yoel Berman – info@naavakodesh.org.

Reprinted with permission from Naava Kodesh.

שיר אודות תקרובת ע”ז בפאה נכרית

פאות מהודו – תקרובת עבודה זרה

חרוזים אודות הפאות מהודו ● רֵאשִׁית גֵּז, עַד הַכְרִית! ● מאת: א. להט ● תקרובת עבודה זרה ● ולא תביא תועבה אל ביתך ● אפשרות לבישת פאה

05:37 (26/09/19) מכון בריתי יצחק ● הרב יצחק ברנד

המשך לקרוא…

מאתר בריתי יצחק – הרב ברנד שליט”א, כאן.

Mohammedanism Appeasement: The ‘Paradox of Tolerance’ IN ACTION…

The genius of the ‘Islam is right about women’ stunt

Posters bearing that message have appeared in a town in Massachusetts. No one knows how to react.

ALAA AL-AMERI

Trolling the woke left has become a popular pastime. It can be clever and funny, but it can just as often be a crude attempt to elicit outrage for its own sake. Rarely, however, does something show up that is easily dismissed as ‘trolling’, but which is so remarkably incisive and apt that it rises not only to the level of satire, but borders on civil disobedience.

Think of Posie Parker’s billboards quoting the dictionary definition of the word ‘woman’. The power of such acts comes from two things. First, they acknowledge – usually with irreducible simplicity – that something that went without saying a moment ago has suddenly become unsayable. Secondly, the outrage they provoke does not come from any epithet, caricature or insult, but rather from having the nerve to draw the viewer’s attention to an act of cognitive dissonance that we are all engaging in, but would rather not acknowledge.

The result is that those who attempt to explain why the act is offensive end up simply tying themselves in knots, while revealing that they have never given a moment’s thought to the position they find themselves defending. This seems to generate even more anger, with the inevitable online mob quickly joined by politicians, journalists and other public figures, eager to see that the heretic is made an example of.

At their best, these acts of public disobedience are examples of real-life Winston Smiths pointing out to the rest of us that ‘Freedom is the freedom to say that two plus two make four’. Their persecutors, like his, are those who know and fear the truth of Smith’s next sentence: ‘If that is granted, all else follows.’

The example of perfectly crafted dissent that I’d like to submit here appears in this video from Massachusetts local TV news, showing some reactions to the fly-posting of white sheets of paper bearing the statement ‘Islam is right about women’. The reactions are deeply revealing. Nobody can clearly point out why they object to the statement – indeed, nobody seems to object to the statement at all on its face. Yet most seem to express offence at it – if a little unconvincingly.

The reason for their dilemma is obvious enough to anyone who has been paying attention. Western society has managed to convince itself (at least in public) that any statement criticising any aspect of Islam is, by definition, bigotry. As a result, Western societies have effectively decided to enforce Islamic restrictions on blasphemy, and called it ‘tolerance’.

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From Spiked, here.

סבור שקיבוץ גלויות בימינו סתם ‘מעשה שטן’? לא יצאת י”ח ברכת המזון מימיך! – הרב ברנד

בירור מהותה של ברכת הארץ שבברכת המזון

שֶׁהִנְחַלְתָּ לַאֲבוֹתֵינוּ אֶרֶץ חֶמְדָה ● האם צריך חילוק נחלות? ● כוונה נוספת בזה ● גם בבית שני נתן לנו הקב”ה את הארץ ● דינו של הכופר בכך שהקב”ה נתן לנו את הארץ ● טענות שלא הקב”ה נתן לנו את הארץ לקיים ברית האבות, והפירכות עליהן ● ברכה מעין שלוש ● אין צריך לומר, שכל זה אינו מכשיר את הָרֶשַׁע ● מסקנה לענין ברכת המזון ● הוספה [“שהנחלת לאבותינו”, או “לנו”?]

19:37 (03/07/17) מכון בריתי יצחק ● הרב יצחק ברנד

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נוסח ברכת המזון המתוקן:

Download (PDF, 1.21MB)

(ניתן גם לראות את המאמר כפי שהופיע לראשונה בצבע קרם ובצירוף תמונה בעלון קדושת ציון כאן.)

מאתר בריתי יצחק – הרב ברנד שליט”א, כאן.