Israel: Where Bareheaded Blue-Collar Jews Correct Your Halacha Observance…

Haaretz Hatovah: Chaya Taub – Home at Last

Real Life Stories and Experiences of Yidden Settling in Eretz Yisroel

Until 2006, at the great pleading of good friends of ours, who had made Aliyah a few years back, my husband Dovid had never been to Eretz Yisroel and I had only come once before as a teenager on a sponsored trip. The entire trip was a total of three weeks. But those three weeks were our turning point.  We went home knowing we were coming back, for good. We just didn’t know when.

Dovid and I spent more than the last 40 years teaching, bringing up our 7 children, and involved with our Jewish community. Quebec, Canada had been our home from even before we got married. I taught Chumash, Navi, history to 4th graders in the day girls’ school and my husband taught 3rd graders and special Ed in the boys’ school.

Aliyah had never been a discussion, thought and certainly not in our plans for retirement. Between our fears of not being able to manage financially, heeding warnings of taking teenagers on Aliyah and caring for our elderly parents, besides not being fluent in the language making Aliya wasn’t on the radar.

But after that trip, my husband couldn’t stay away. He would visit every summer for a few weeks to breathe in the special kedusha of E.Y. He would ask yearly ‘should I start looking for a place?’  One year, I finally answered yes. Our (same) friend showed him a location on a beautiful hill top that was still undeveloped with the planned blueprints in his hands.  That was it. It seemed to fit everything we were looking for. We bought our new home on paper. It took a few years before it was done and we were ready to move in.

On the night President Trump won, our youngest daughter got married. As soon as we got home we started packing. A year later we moved into Ramat Beit Shemesh.  We were finally home.

I recently wrote a book about my grandfather, which I presented to the family on the occasion of my grandson’s bar mitzvah who is named after him.  And now I am writing for the family my father’s story.

My grandfather had come from Poland and moved to Frankfurt when my father was born. As Germany became more and more dangerous, they escaped and spent 9 years in Shanghai. When they finally were able to leave they landed in Quebec, Canada.  There they were tired of running. So they stayed.

Quebec has never really been friendly to Jews. And today it is getting worse. People are openly anti-Semitic more than before and a large influx of Moslems have settled there. Just like in New York and England, Canada’s educational boards are mixing into the Jewish schools’ curriculum.  The only difference is Canada has been doing longer, way ahead of other countries. It is truly a scary time in history. Only Israel is safe for Jews. Our family has been running, running for a long time. From Poland to Germany to Shanghai to Canada. We are done running. That is why we jumped to Israel. We are finally home.

Not that it is all easy. The hardest part is leaving our children.  Baruch Hashem, they are all married, have jobs and are doing well, but I don’t see them coming to live here anytime soon.  One couple is still in Canada and the other 6 couples are in the United States. I do see other olim, especially the older crowd, make Aliyah as they follow their children. We, however, welcome the grandchildren and nieces and nephews who come for their gap years. I don’t think they are going to make Aliyah so soon either. Recently BH, I went for three months for six different simichos in America.  It is definitely hard to be so far from our children.  Yet as the plane lands, I know we are home. This is home.

We have always been aware of Hashgacha pratis while we lived in Canada, yet it doesn’t compare to our daily awareness here.  It is in the air, it is part of our daily living, it with us all the time. I am so aware of how Hashem provides everything for us. Looking at the beautiful view I have from my back porch, I can’t get over how Hashem is so part of our lives. And it is not just us. Everyone knows it.  The taxi driver talks about it. The storekeeper gets it. Even the non-religious handyman understands. People here are different about it; they talk about it. Naturally. Normally.

I once had a Jewish worker who didn’t wear a kipa fixing something in our house when he started to yell at us. He had noticed that we hadn’t yet put up our mezuzahs. In chutz laretz, one has a leniency of putting up mezuzahs up in a month. In E.Y. the halacha is different. One needs to put them up immediately. The regular maintenance guy knew better than us.  And he cared. Like family.

We do believe it is important to come to Israel prepared. Whether it is with a job, money, friends, family, and a place to live.  Yet, one needs to be flexible and see what works. We were lucky that Ramat Beit Shemesh seems to fit us perfectly.

In Eretz Yisroel, we are all family.  The grocery stocker, the plumber, and the policeman.  We’re glad to be home.

Written By Tziyona Kantrowitz

This article is part of our Haaretz Hatovah series featuring Yidden living in, settling, and building up Eretz Yisroel. For more info please contact info@naavakodesh.org or visit naavakodesh.org/haaretz-hatovah

From Naava Kodesh, here.

Feiglin: Pols, Cronies, and Wonks Getting Paid to Stop ‘Working for Us’ – SMILE!

Not to interfere

The impasse that has paralyzed the Israeli regime is producing a feeling of despondency. Whether you support the government or oppose it – you want there to be one.

Stable national leadership is one of the cornerstones of one’s self-confidence.

Just as one should know where his next meal will come from, just as he needs a roof over his head, he also needs to know that there’s someone managing the basic national interests – that is, protecting the national structure from external enemies and from internal disintegration.

Something about this impasse is disturbing to us – regardless of which side of the dispute we’re on.

So allow me to shine a positive side on all of this chaotic mess, and even if it may sound funny, it’s very serious.

For almost a full year, every Knesset member, along with their assistants and those working for the Knesset and its systems, have received a salary for doing nothing. Worth every penny…

I actually think this is a worthwhile investment because for a whole year, they’ve done no harm.

No – I’m not writing a satirical post – I don’t think Knesset members are useless, on the contrary, they are very talented people, which is how they managed to insert themselves into this so sought-after role.

Nor do I think they don’t want to be of benefit and make a difference.

So why am I willing to pay them to continue their vacation?

The thing is, in Israeli political culture, an MK’s success is measured by the number of private member bills he passes – or at least files.

Israel’s parliament passes more laws than its counterpart in any other legislature in the world.

I used to call this disease “legislative fever”. It seems that even if the Knesset were to continue to sit actionless for another two years, the number of private bills that will be tabled in the coming decade will still be greater than any other parliament in the world.

And why is that so awful?

Because every law, even if it’s perfect for the purpose for which it was filed, constitutes another limitation within the system as a whole. The more laws there are, the less liberty we all have.

No – I’m not saying that there shouldn’t be any laws at all, and we clearly require a legislative process.

But look at the general picture during the-almost a-year when this process hasn’t been taking place.

Israeli GDP figures continue to rise, the Israeli shekel insists on strengthening, a young person’s chances of obtaining an apartment remain the same… The Tel Aviv skyline (among others) continues to climb, the number of rockets we’ve been attacked with is rising at the same rate (no higher…), schools are teaching at the same level, we’re getting the same services at hospitals, and from the police as well. Bottom line, for better or for worse, everything’s staying more or less the same.

For those who imagined that the state functions because of the dedicated people behind the national steering wheel – I suggest considering another possibility. That it doesn’t happen *because* of their existence but *despite* their existence… it happens because they don’t interfere too much.

“What is the first law you want to pass?” – I was once asked on the Knesset channel. “That for every bill submitted, two previous laws need to be repealed,” I replied.

Whenever they asked me what I plan to do when I get to the Knesset – I answered, I mostly plan not to interfere.

  • Not to interfere with patients being cured as they wish.
  • Not to interfere with parents educating their children.
  • Not to interfere with entrepreneurs opening businesses.
  • Not to interfere with contractors building.

And after many more such instances of “not to interfere” to get to the main thing –

Not to interfere with the citizens of Israel choosing their own way in faith and culture. Allow them to examine one another without fear of coercion, to enrich ourselves one from the other, and also to let our Jewish/Israeli identity shoot up to new heights instead of getting stuck in years of endless wrangling.

Smile, friends. As of now, at least they aren’t interfering.

From Zehut, here.

עדות גויה אחת על ספר בגן האמונה

סיפר הרב מאיר מאזוז שליט”א (עלון בית נאמן גליון 179# פרשת נצבים כ”ח אלול תשע”ט הערה 21):

אשת שר ערבי בתוניסיה שאלה את הספר “בגן האמונה” (בצרפתית) מבית רנה טרבלסי (שר יהודי תוניסאי נערץ, לשעבר שגריר) וקראה את כולו. בסיום קריאתה העירה: עכשיו אני מבינה מדוע היהודים שורדים הכל, וכמה שעברו עליהם צרות החזיקו מעמד, בגלל האמונה והפשטות שלכם.