Reactions - Theirs, and Mine

I never ceased to be amazed by the comments I receive from some of my well meaning friends and family when I tell them we are making aliyah.

"You know, you should stay here a few more years until you save up more money."
Yes, in a perfect world I would be going with my untold millions in my pocket and blowing my nose on $20 bills. But I am only temporarily employed in a grant funded position, and in a job that I am technically overqualified for based on my degree (though the economy is so bad most of my coworkers are also "overqualified", as due to the major number of unemployed people it is easy to hire people who bring more to the table than what you are paying them for). I have no guarantee of being employed after the grant runs out, and the prospects for the field seem dim (the entry level jobs go to people with three years of experience!). Even now that I AM employed, and so is darling wife, and we still barely break even each month. As if we can save money in the first place. And we DO have money saved up, from previously, anyway.
We are pretty employable people, positive and go-getters, and bring a Masters degree (on my side) and being trilingual (darling wife) to the table. There are no guarantees anywhere (though for some insane reason, Americans continue to believe that in the US you can always get a good job, so much so that it's implied as a given in the comment). And waiting for your material comfort's sake has another pratfall built in - come once your children are a certain age, you're begging for problems by moving and putting them through a language change and culture shock. Thank G-d our family is in the perfect window both age wise, comfort level wise, and money wise. And what many Americans don't get is that it isn't money that determines success, it's the will to succeed.

"You know, life in Israel is very hard, and while it's a big mitzva to live there, I don't think it's יהרג ועל יעבור!"
So it's ease that determines which מצוות to keep?
And besides. Who's talking מצוות? Is your whole connection to הקב״ה so external that everything needs to be rationalized and externalized as a מצוה, a rule, a "commandment"? Maybe, just maybe, someone can be motivated by love, by connection, by wanting to be where their Lover is? Perhaps hardship doesn't matter?
And what's this יהרג ועל יעבר stuff? Convenience and lower prices, cheap restaurants and two cars per family, Walmart and Target and Whole Foods is the barest minimum for a happy life??? I am not saying everyone should move to Israel. I am not saying there isn't a positive aspect to a higher standard of living. But that doesn't mean these are objective needs, or values, and that living with it is considered a must.

More comments and commentary coming as people continue to say things to me.