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Making Aliyah
by Batya
Medad
Jul 19, '05 / 12 Tammuz
5765
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Of
all the 613 G-d-given mitzvot, commandments, the most
controversial is probably aliyah l'aretz, moving to our
Holy Land. It's a mitzvah for all of us, but even many
rabbis refuse, with all sorts of excuses, to obey it. In
addition, they're expert at rationalizing to their congregants
why they shouldn't obey it, either.
As many of you
already know, my husband and I made aliyah two months
after our wedding. Coming to Israel so young was very easy. We
also came with an attitude of "that's it; we're here forever."
It really wasn't complicated; we were young and
accepting.
Some of our friends also made aliyah
soon after getting married or as singles, and we all grew up
and old together in Israel. But others were always waiting
until.... Many of those still haven't finished all their
pre-aliyah requirements, a list that keeps on growing
and getting more and more complicated.
Since Nefesh
B'Nefesh (NBN) came on the scene, potential olim,
immigrants, are having an easier time. Basically, NBN is doing
what the Jewish Agency should have done all the decades it has
been in existence.
Nefesh B'Nefesh provides
pre-aliyah counseling to help the potential
oleh, immigrant, make plans that will facilitate an
"easy landing" and adjustment to living in a new country. Any
move is traumatic, whether it's to the other side of town, to
another city and state, and certainly to another country and
language. Each family member has his or her needs that must be
taken into account.
North American aliyah is
different from that of most other countries, because it's so
easily reversible. In addition, many North American Jews still
feel grateful for the opportunities their parents,
grandparents, great-grandparents or themselves were given by
living there. Many Jewish families arrived in North America
totally destitute and desperate. It makes it much more
difficult to accept that Jews should be living someplace
else.
Therefore, the decision to make aliyah is
a great one and the immigrant needs support. This support is
now gotten from Nefesh B'Nefesh.
In two weeks, I'm
going to be one of the privileged few Israelis on a Nefesh
B'Nefesh flight to Israel. I hope to get to speak to as many
immigrants as possible.
Thirty-five years after
sailing to Israel on aliyah, I'll be flying to Israel
with a few hundred olim. Then, I was a young bride;
now, I'm an old grandmother. But one thing has stayed the
same. I firmly believe that there's a place for every Jew in
Israel. Aliyah excites me as much today as it did then.
There are more opportunities today than thirty-five years ago.
Today, the standard of living is similar in both places. When
we came to Israel, you couldn't get "American conveniences"
even if you had lots of money. Today, everything is available
in Israel, and Israelis are in the forefront of
technology.
In another sense, aliyah is harder
today than it used to be. The very same things that make
living in Israel easy make it easier to return to chutz
la'aretz. Years ago, communication overseas was by mail,
snail mail; and if we wanted the letter to arrive in "just a
week or so", we had to get airmail stamps. They cost extra
money. Overseas calls were very expensive and many people
didn't have their own phone lines, so they had to go to the
central post office to make calls. A ticket to New York and
back cost more than my New York monthly salary. You thought
hard before coming and much harder to go back to the States.
We didn't go on "pilot trips" to scout out the land. Many
friends arrived in Israel the first time when they made
aliyah. And we're still here.
Today's easy
traveling makes Jews very comfortable as tourists, and they
have major problems wondering how they could trade in their
hotel suites for Israeli homes. For the past couple of
decades, foreign student programs in Israel have been little
"English speaking ghettos" rather than total immersion
Hebrew-Israeli cultural experiences. This also makes it harder
for North Americans to switch gears and look at Israel as a
home.
For that reason, I admire those making
aliyah today. I'm sure that if my husband and I had
listened to our families and stayed "just a few years to
finish our educations and earn some more money," aliyah
wouldn't have had been so easy. Maybe we would never have
come. I hate to think of it.
Baruch HaShem,
we're here, and we've been here since 1970. I welcome all the
newcomers and am glad that Nefesh B'Nefesh is part of the
welcoming committee.
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| Batya Medad |
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Batya Medad and
her husband made aliyah from New York in
1970, two months after their wedding and have been
living in Shiloh since 1981. Batya's a wife,
mother, grandmother, writer, photographer and
English teacher. She hitchhikes to and from Beit
El, where she teaches in the B'nei Akiva Yeshiva
High School. | |
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 Author's
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