Ten weeks. A wonderfully short time that feels like forever.
The ongoing saga of our family's Aliyah.
Monday, May 13, 2013
Entering the Home Stretch
It is now ten weeks, to the day, that we hope to be on the plane heading East.
Tuesday, May 7, 2013
גוי אחד בארץ
The past few weeks' worth of posts have revolved around religious viewpoints, naked and fatal idealism, arguments on Twitter, and other such musings.
I had an insight, a eureka moment, that I think warrants mentioning.
All of the disparate views, opinions, beliefs, and other differentiations and distinctions are needed in Klal Yisrael.
Think if the religious ran the government - would there be a sanitation service? An army capable of defending our borders? Would there be commerce, construction, culture?
Think if the Leftist G-dless secularists ran the government (Meretz, Tommy Lapid, etc.) - would there be yeshivot? Kashrut? Would Halacha have a place in the public discourse?
Think if Satmar didn't mount their insane PR campaign that proclaims (falsely) that true torah Jews are not Zionists. Unwittingly, it reminds everyone Mashiach is still not here, that the Beit HaMikdash is not rebuilt. Think if Lubavitch and Breslov didn't reach out to those who grew up unattached to their heritage (even if it is with the goal of spreading belief in their deified Rebbes). Or if the Dati Leumi didn't remind everyone religion and daily "secular" life can mix, and even be complementary, if not necessary for each other.
It is unfortunate that people think that being "right" is a zero sum proposition. It is the space carved out by the different movements, each dragging in a different direction, that provides us a place to love, to interact, to discover, to be.
Beis Shammai and Beis Hillel are held up as the paragon of a מחלוקת לשם שמים - and it is they who understood that personal beliefs, positions, opinions, and convictions are just a part of the public discourse - and so they did not refrain from marrying one another (even though they differed in opinion on how to legally conduct a marriage ceremony) or eating each others' food (though they differed on kashrut concerns); they understood the point of מחלוקת is not to be right, but to enlarge the public discourse so that all may come to a conclusion that is proper.
In short, Halacha is not a static, stagnant, unflinching iron ball and chain of unchanging definitions and demands. It was never meant to be. It is meant to be the Path that Yisrael travels, the Eay to discover the truth. Yes, it builds upon the past and previous, and yes, it is not egalitarian in nature, free to play with to suit your whims. But it is also not impersonal, fixed, or external to those who engage in its practice.
It is this, I think, that is meant in that Zohar I quoted earlier - מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ. אימתי ישראל אחד? בארץ - it is when a nation dwells as one, engages with each other as one, lives as one. Not in groups, in separated cities, with separated movements and schools systems and goals and dreams. As one - we are all בני אברהם יצחק ויעקב, they who lie sleeping in Chevron. We are all part of the enterprise of Yisrael. And we all should live as such.
And It's Done!
I type this sitting in the waiting area of the New York State Department of State in downtown Manhattan, waiting for the apostille on my marriage record to be handed to me.
It's all over, baby blue (gratuitous Grateful Dead reference!), the headless horserace is run and won.
Other than darling wife's birth certificate, we are done the paperwork. We're waiting for baby's passport to arrive in the mail.
Still gotta fax all this stuff to NBN and bring it to the Jewish Agency in person, but the crazy stuff is done. And I'm not complaining :)
Monday, May 6, 2013
"Life." Follow Up
True religion is real living; living with all one's soul, with all one's goodness and righteousness -Einstein.
This is a wonderful, concise, succinct summation of what I was trying to say. Simply, only, Life - with no agenda or belief imposed from outside, no self negation or belittlement, no artificial yardsticks or definitions. Living. Being. Becoming. As One.
It is this, I think, that Torah teaches, that our G-d demands.
This is a wonderful, concise, succinct summation of what I was trying to say. Simply, only, Life - with no agenda or belief imposed from outside, no self negation or belittlement, no artificial yardsticks or definitions. Living. Being. Becoming. As One.
It is this, I think, that Torah teaches, that our G-d demands.
Anticlimactic, and Goodly So
This period between making the decision to move and the impending flight has been oddly anticlimactic.
Here's where I am going to get in trouble, potentially alienate half my readers, and maybe, just maybe, encourage people to think. Which is what I like to do.
I suppose it is a testimony to the Aliyah propaganda machine (which, I suppose, I am now an unwitting and unwilling member of) that some people look at moving to Israel as some sort of minor, personal Messianic exercise, in which they leave the Land of the Unbelievers and arrive, breathless and arms outstretched, to the Land of G-d full of song and prayer, secure in the belief that they are fulfilling the prophecies of old.
They may have insane ideas about their futures, believing in the mysterious Hand of G-d that will Provide their every need, inventing jobs for them and friends as well; they invest little in planning, in research, in understanding their destination, instead preferring to live in the fantasy they are returning to the cocoon they inhabited in yeshiva, seminary, college, or similar period in their life. Their Israel may be the size of the northern quarter of modern Jerusalem, perhaps with some sites and sights to see elsewhere on Tiyulim and the like. They might come when their kids are blooming, in the most vulnerable and breakable periods of their lives, speaking no Hebrew and knowing no Israeli culture, in the trust that "HaShem will help the kids adjust and make friends". Perhaps they may move to Ramat Bet Shemesh Aleph, because its American, decide they are charedi because they wore a black hat in the US, and doom their children to failure when they are inevitably reminded they are NOT (Israeli) charedi, when they are thrown out of school.
You can read blogs like mine, of other olim, and read about the excitement, the joy, they sheer WOW of it all. Their writings can read almost like a novel - the inspirational dreamlike state of seeing the יד ה׳ in everyday life, the simple emunah in G-d's השגחה פרטית in bringing them all they need...
And sometimes, just sometimes, you can see the cracks in the facade...the assertions of the daily day to day grind of life, the petty and the small showing up amidst the grandeur and the pomp and circumstance. The vain attempts to balance a budget, navigate bureaucracy, make friends, find schools and services...the living life, as opposed to the declaring it - life has a funny way of reminding you that it shall always be a work in progress, until it progresses no more.
My Rebbi once mentioned, almost off the cuff, that Aliyah is a fascinating phenomenon - people feel the need to define (and defend) their reasons for moving to Eretz Yisrael. And, oddly enough, whatever they define Eretz Yisrael to be, is exactly the life they have there. Those who move to the Israel of religious inspiration and financial hardship, the Israel of their post high school years, get exactly that - a land that they may experience their relationship with HaShem, openly and visibly, and one of little to no income. Those who come for careers, find those - and little else. Those who come to fulfill a mitzva, have that - and other woes. In short, the Eretz Yisrael that G-d Gives you is the Eretz Yisrael you ask for.
Mashiach is not here, the Geulah barely begun, if at all. (I am already dreading the party at the airport for this reason - moving to Israel is a bittersweet move - one leaves behind what they know, their family, friends, culture, careers, neighbors, and embarking on a joirney filled with doubt, wonder, confusion, and perhaps happiness along the way. It is not something to dance about, as if none of this matters...) Coming to Eretz Yisrael is part of making a life for yourself, and family - not an abrogation of doing so. It is for this, I think, our experience has been so anticlimactic. There is no messianic component to our move, no wondrous belief that we are fulfilling anything (though, I am sure, we are) other than our desire to live in the most authentic and fulfilling way we can, engaged in the millennia long enterprise called Yisrael.
Here's where I am going to get in trouble, potentially alienate half my readers, and maybe, just maybe, encourage people to think. Which is what I like to do.
I suppose it is a testimony to the Aliyah propaganda machine (which, I suppose, I am now an unwitting and unwilling member of) that some people look at moving to Israel as some sort of minor, personal Messianic exercise, in which they leave the Land of the Unbelievers and arrive, breathless and arms outstretched, to the Land of G-d full of song and prayer, secure in the belief that they are fulfilling the prophecies of old.
They may have insane ideas about their futures, believing in the mysterious Hand of G-d that will Provide their every need, inventing jobs for them and friends as well; they invest little in planning, in research, in understanding their destination, instead preferring to live in the fantasy they are returning to the cocoon they inhabited in yeshiva, seminary, college, or similar period in their life. Their Israel may be the size of the northern quarter of modern Jerusalem, perhaps with some sites and sights to see elsewhere on Tiyulim and the like. They might come when their kids are blooming, in the most vulnerable and breakable periods of their lives, speaking no Hebrew and knowing no Israeli culture, in the trust that "HaShem will help the kids adjust and make friends". Perhaps they may move to Ramat Bet Shemesh Aleph, because its American, decide they are charedi because they wore a black hat in the US, and doom their children to failure when they are inevitably reminded they are NOT (Israeli) charedi, when they are thrown out of school.
You can read blogs like mine, of other olim, and read about the excitement, the joy, they sheer WOW of it all. Their writings can read almost like a novel - the inspirational dreamlike state of seeing the יד ה׳ in everyday life, the simple emunah in G-d's השגחה פרטית in bringing them all they need...
And sometimes, just sometimes, you can see the cracks in the facade...the assertions of the daily day to day grind of life, the petty and the small showing up amidst the grandeur and the pomp and circumstance. The vain attempts to balance a budget, navigate bureaucracy, make friends, find schools and services...the living life, as opposed to the declaring it - life has a funny way of reminding you that it shall always be a work in progress, until it progresses no more.
My Rebbi once mentioned, almost off the cuff, that Aliyah is a fascinating phenomenon - people feel the need to define (and defend) their reasons for moving to Eretz Yisrael. And, oddly enough, whatever they define Eretz Yisrael to be, is exactly the life they have there. Those who move to the Israel of religious inspiration and financial hardship, the Israel of their post high school years, get exactly that - a land that they may experience their relationship with HaShem, openly and visibly, and one of little to no income. Those who come for careers, find those - and little else. Those who come to fulfill a mitzva, have that - and other woes. In short, the Eretz Yisrael that G-d Gives you is the Eretz Yisrael you ask for.
Mashiach is not here, the Geulah barely begun, if at all. (I am already dreading the party at the airport for this reason - moving to Israel is a bittersweet move - one leaves behind what they know, their family, friends, culture, careers, neighbors, and embarking on a joirney filled with doubt, wonder, confusion, and perhaps happiness along the way. It is not something to dance about, as if none of this matters...) Coming to Eretz Yisrael is part of making a life for yourself, and family - not an abrogation of doing so. It is for this, I think, our experience has been so anticlimactic. There is no messianic component to our move, no wondrous belief that we are fulfilling anything (though, I am sure, we are) other than our desire to live in the most authentic and fulfilling way we can, engaged in the millennia long enterprise called Yisrael.
Sunday, May 5, 2013
Money Money Money...It's a Rich Man's World
So I sat down to do a kind of budget forecast today.
I discovered that, assuming the inevitable over- and under- estimates balance each other out, it takes about ₪13,000 a month for a family such as mine (2 adults, two kids too young to go to school) to live relatively comfortably in Israel. This is without a car, and in an area such as Maaleh Adumim (read: not Yerushalayim proper, nor the coastal cities). I did not include Yamim Tovim, as they are not a recurring expense, nor some incidentals like date night or activities/Tiyulim to do with the kids.
₪13,000 a month. That's a lot for a social worker to be thinking about - I'd say the realistic average salary I can expect off the plane is about ₪5500-6500. Bit of a shortfall, there. There's also the pesky problem of actually finding a job, what with my horrific Hebrew speaking skills.
True, I am not going with the plan of creating a social work career, and am perfectly open to any other opportunities that may present themselves. In truth, this is so much the case that I am basically going with the degree as a backup option, a fallback plan, if you will.
There's also the startup costs (shipping, furniture to be bought, appliances, etc), which I think are going to be quite costly as well. Yes, sal klita does help, but we are going to have a whale of a time getting there...living, these days, is expensive anywhere I suppose, but there's a certain anxiety in moving to a country known for its haves and have nots financial structure when you are decidedly a have not.
But, still, it is nice to know we're not sailing blindly into the fog. Or not nearly as much, anyway. At least we have an idea of what we're shooting for budget wise. Here's to being able to make it :)
I discovered that, assuming the inevitable over- and under- estimates balance each other out, it takes about ₪13,000 a month for a family such as mine (2 adults, two kids too young to go to school) to live relatively comfortably in Israel. This is without a car, and in an area such as Maaleh Adumim (read: not Yerushalayim proper, nor the coastal cities). I did not include Yamim Tovim, as they are not a recurring expense, nor some incidentals like date night or activities/Tiyulim to do with the kids.
₪13,000 a month. That's a lot for a social worker to be thinking about - I'd say the realistic average salary I can expect off the plane is about ₪5500-6500. Bit of a shortfall, there. There's also the pesky problem of actually finding a job, what with my horrific Hebrew speaking skills.
True, I am not going with the plan of creating a social work career, and am perfectly open to any other opportunities that may present themselves. In truth, this is so much the case that I am basically going with the degree as a backup option, a fallback plan, if you will.
There's also the startup costs (shipping, furniture to be bought, appliances, etc), which I think are going to be quite costly as well. Yes, sal klita does help, but we are going to have a whale of a time getting there...living, these days, is expensive anywhere I suppose, but there's a certain anxiety in moving to a country known for its haves and have nots financial structure when you are decidedly a have not.
But, still, it is nice to know we're not sailing blindly into the fog. Or not nearly as much, anyway. At least we have an idea of what we're shooting for budget wise. Here's to being able to make it :)
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Life.
The clash of civilizations centered around Israel has been boiling since Israel's inception, with agendas and beliefs both ancient and modern contributing to violence, bloodshed, and argument.
The Islamic culture and the Western culture have been locked in a millennia-long war, since the original Muslim conquests and crusades. Both claim the moral high ground of G-d Given legitimacy to inflict their worldview on the Other, and both have been borrowing concepts from each other to suit their needs; justice, individual rights, worship, modernity, and imperialist drives have been invoked and denied by both sides as they wage their battle over what Man is meant to look like, be like, how he is meant to live. To hear agenda-pushers on both sides, Christianity/Western secular Individualism, or Islam/Eastern submissive spirituality is the paragons of humanity. To one side, Israel is a democracy, a humanist country, and a friend. To the other, Israel is a travesty, a catastrophe, and an enemy.
The whole world has an insane interest in Israel - the UN practically exists for no other reason other than to debate Israel's existence.
Israel stands at a crossroads of the world, physically and existentially. We have two distinct cultures within our society (Ashkenaz and Sfard) each having lived in a host culture for thousands of years and absorbed their ideas, their mannerisms, their worldviews. And as all who have visited her know, Israel is a land of the ancient and the modern, of the religious and secular, of the sacred and profane. Small wonder it stands at the center of the disparate forces of the world's debate of Humanity!
And yet...
There is no distinct Jewish philosophy advocated for, or argued, in that worldwide debate. In a people barely 15 million strong (and that number is based on self-identification, a completely arbitrary measurement) there are literally millions of opinions as to what it means to be jewish in the first place. Is it a religion, a nation, a movement, a matrilineally defined identity, a tradition, a philosophy...or something else, completely.
The existence of the State of Israel has brought these questions to the foreground of modern Jewish consciousness. The State has linked citizenship to being Jewish, and this has raised a plethora of uncomfortable questions - conversion, divorce, marriage, secular vs. religious law, Halacha vs. Individual rights...and every movement within the umbrella of Judaism weighs in with their arguments and opinions. Each claims to hold the Truth in their hands, bringing proofs and arguments from varied secular and religious sources (Rambam to Locke, Moses to Madonna, Torah to Magna Carta, and everything in between).
The religious posit the answer is a theocracy, granted by G-d alone, with a legal system of Halacha. They believe so strongly in this that some of the more literally minded (Satmar, Neturei Karta) advocate the dismantling of the State of Israel, regardless of cost to human life and its inhabitants, because no man dressed in white on a donkey declared himself the Messiah, and therefore the State is not G-d's Will.
The secular insist the answer is democracy, founded in humanist Western principals, that makes no distinction between religion, nationality, or anything else. The Torah is a nice source of morals, some outdated and some still relevant. Israel and its nationalist tendencies are an embarrassment to those Enlightened to the Truths of humanity being its own goal and reward. They insist Israel not have an official religion, much the same as it shouldn't have an official people - we are all human, and that is enough.
The National Religious camp and its overseas supporters insist it is precisely this nationalism that is the answer. We are a nation, a people like any other, only in possession of the Truth as given by G-d to Moses. After a period of Exile, we have been returned to our land. Our society is supposed to be based on Halacha while allowing individual choice in level of observance, with no judgement for anyone's actions. Some go as far as to grant the current incarnation of Israel with the same level of holiness as the G-d Sanctioned Kingdoms of old (insisting the government has the halachic status of a Malchut), while others admit, pragmatically, it is a work in progress.
The Reform and Conservative each insist that Judaism is a personal identity based on religious truths, and demand a pluralistic State, with no interference in its official Religion.
I alone posit a new opinion, a perhaps oversimplified view of things, in which every last one of them is right, and every last one of them is wrong. My view has the added benefit of being supported by the only facts that can be proven empirically - that of simple history.
Our G-d is the G-d of Life, our Torah the Torah of Life, standing in for a Tree of Life. You see, Adam did not pick between Good and Evil, but between Life and Knowledge. To paraphrase Byron how famously put it, we continuously mourn the fact we constantly and consistently discover that the Tree of Knowledge is NOT the Tree of Life.
It isn't Truth we are meant to chase, but Life.
And I dare anyone to find a culture, a society, so intent on living Life in its totality - its lows and highs, truths and falsehoods, sacred and profane, sensual and ascetic, with G-d and without Him, than the modern State of Israel.
There is no jewish answer to what it means to be Man because Life is not a question meant to be "answered" in logic, or even definably. None of us can sum up their life, its richness and paradoxical nature, in ANY words. We aren't meant to. The Jewish answer is to Live - a mother's choice to die covering her child in a bombing is a bigger choice of Life than the idiot mother who sends her child strapped with TNT for the sake of Truth. It is Life itself we live for, the constant search and struggle to improve, learn, grow, FLOWER into human beings that is what we stand for, and always have.
That which Is, speaks for itself as the Will of G-d. The continued growth of the State, its march of progress, its people's advance from simplistic farmer ideologues to sophisticated and well educated cosmopolitan philosophers (in the true sense of the word - lovers of knowledge) who insist it is Life that is most important of all and so insist at being at the forefront if its propagation - be it humanitarian works, technological advancement, taking care of the less fortunate, or simply engaged in the human struggle of raising children to be healthy, happy, balanced and well adjusted adults - this is G-d's Will, and history has borne this out. What exists, exists as the word of G-d, as we all know - and it is not a stretch to declare the אלקים חיים Who Gave a תורת חיים Wants a people dedicated to Life.
It is simply this that the Jewish people, with all its groups, all its factions, all its political parties, all its differences in opinion in Halacha and philosophy, all its movements and sects and individuals, is meant to be.
As the Zohar puts it so succinctly, and powerfully, מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ - אימתי ישראל אחד? בארץ.
We are meant to live, in constant and open debate about ourselves, our תורה, our future, and meant to do so as one - united by the Life we live, stand for, and intimately share with the G-d of Life Himself.
The Islamic culture and the Western culture have been locked in a millennia-long war, since the original Muslim conquests and crusades. Both claim the moral high ground of G-d Given legitimacy to inflict their worldview on the Other, and both have been borrowing concepts from each other to suit their needs; justice, individual rights, worship, modernity, and imperialist drives have been invoked and denied by both sides as they wage their battle over what Man is meant to look like, be like, how he is meant to live. To hear agenda-pushers on both sides, Christianity/Western secular Individualism, or Islam/Eastern submissive spirituality is the paragons of humanity. To one side, Israel is a democracy, a humanist country, and a friend. To the other, Israel is a travesty, a catastrophe, and an enemy.
The whole world has an insane interest in Israel - the UN practically exists for no other reason other than to debate Israel's existence.
Israel stands at a crossroads of the world, physically and existentially. We have two distinct cultures within our society (Ashkenaz and Sfard) each having lived in a host culture for thousands of years and absorbed their ideas, their mannerisms, their worldviews. And as all who have visited her know, Israel is a land of the ancient and the modern, of the religious and secular, of the sacred and profane. Small wonder it stands at the center of the disparate forces of the world's debate of Humanity!
And yet...
There is no distinct Jewish philosophy advocated for, or argued, in that worldwide debate. In a people barely 15 million strong (and that number is based on self-identification, a completely arbitrary measurement) there are literally millions of opinions as to what it means to be jewish in the first place. Is it a religion, a nation, a movement, a matrilineally defined identity, a tradition, a philosophy...or something else, completely.
The existence of the State of Israel has brought these questions to the foreground of modern Jewish consciousness. The State has linked citizenship to being Jewish, and this has raised a plethora of uncomfortable questions - conversion, divorce, marriage, secular vs. religious law, Halacha vs. Individual rights...and every movement within the umbrella of Judaism weighs in with their arguments and opinions. Each claims to hold the Truth in their hands, bringing proofs and arguments from varied secular and religious sources (Rambam to Locke, Moses to Madonna, Torah to Magna Carta, and everything in between).
The religious posit the answer is a theocracy, granted by G-d alone, with a legal system of Halacha. They believe so strongly in this that some of the more literally minded (Satmar, Neturei Karta) advocate the dismantling of the State of Israel, regardless of cost to human life and its inhabitants, because no man dressed in white on a donkey declared himself the Messiah, and therefore the State is not G-d's Will.
The secular insist the answer is democracy, founded in humanist Western principals, that makes no distinction between religion, nationality, or anything else. The Torah is a nice source of morals, some outdated and some still relevant. Israel and its nationalist tendencies are an embarrassment to those Enlightened to the Truths of humanity being its own goal and reward. They insist Israel not have an official religion, much the same as it shouldn't have an official people - we are all human, and that is enough.
The National Religious camp and its overseas supporters insist it is precisely this nationalism that is the answer. We are a nation, a people like any other, only in possession of the Truth as given by G-d to Moses. After a period of Exile, we have been returned to our land. Our society is supposed to be based on Halacha while allowing individual choice in level of observance, with no judgement for anyone's actions. Some go as far as to grant the current incarnation of Israel with the same level of holiness as the G-d Sanctioned Kingdoms of old (insisting the government has the halachic status of a Malchut), while others admit, pragmatically, it is a work in progress.
The Reform and Conservative each insist that Judaism is a personal identity based on religious truths, and demand a pluralistic State, with no interference in its official Religion.
I alone posit a new opinion, a perhaps oversimplified view of things, in which every last one of them is right, and every last one of them is wrong. My view has the added benefit of being supported by the only facts that can be proven empirically - that of simple history.
Our G-d is the G-d of Life, our Torah the Torah of Life, standing in for a Tree of Life. You see, Adam did not pick between Good and Evil, but between Life and Knowledge. To paraphrase Byron how famously put it, we continuously mourn the fact we constantly and consistently discover that the Tree of Knowledge is NOT the Tree of Life.
It isn't Truth we are meant to chase, but Life.
And I dare anyone to find a culture, a society, so intent on living Life in its totality - its lows and highs, truths and falsehoods, sacred and profane, sensual and ascetic, with G-d and without Him, than the modern State of Israel.
There is no jewish answer to what it means to be Man because Life is not a question meant to be "answered" in logic, or even definably. None of us can sum up their life, its richness and paradoxical nature, in ANY words. We aren't meant to. The Jewish answer is to Live - a mother's choice to die covering her child in a bombing is a bigger choice of Life than the idiot mother who sends her child strapped with TNT for the sake of Truth. It is Life itself we live for, the constant search and struggle to improve, learn, grow, FLOWER into human beings that is what we stand for, and always have.
That which Is, speaks for itself as the Will of G-d. The continued growth of the State, its march of progress, its people's advance from simplistic farmer ideologues to sophisticated and well educated cosmopolitan philosophers (in the true sense of the word - lovers of knowledge) who insist it is Life that is most important of all and so insist at being at the forefront if its propagation - be it humanitarian works, technological advancement, taking care of the less fortunate, or simply engaged in the human struggle of raising children to be healthy, happy, balanced and well adjusted adults - this is G-d's Will, and history has borne this out. What exists, exists as the word of G-d, as we all know - and it is not a stretch to declare the אלקים חיים Who Gave a תורת חיים Wants a people dedicated to Life.
It is simply this that the Jewish people, with all its groups, all its factions, all its political parties, all its differences in opinion in Halacha and philosophy, all its movements and sects and individuals, is meant to be.
As the Zohar puts it so succinctly, and powerfully, מי כעמך ישראל גוי אחד בארץ - אימתי ישראל אחד? בארץ.
We are meant to live, in constant and open debate about ourselves, our תורה, our future, and meant to do so as one - united by the Life we live, stand for, and intimately share with the G-d of Life Himself.
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