I have fielded questions and perplexed reactions from people who find the idea of aliyah off-putting: But your children are doing so nicely in school. And what about the services provided here (OT, SLT, SETTS, and all that alphabet soup)? Do you speak good Hebrew? Aren’t you scared? How will you manage parnassah-wise? Are you worried about having to send your son to the army? (He’s eight, for the record, and we will be both petrified and proud when the time comes for him to serve.) And so on…
Unfortunately, too many Jews in the Diaspora do not yearn for Zion. Whether yishuv ha’Aretz is a mitzvah in force today, and if so, whether it is biblical or rabbinic in nature at this time, is a complicated question of halachic debate; that it is indeed a mitzvah is not. Any overview of the corpus of Torah and tefillah proclaims through and through the centrality of the Land of Israel to our faith.
Forget about Zionism and the merits and shortcomings of the modern state. Love of Israel has nothing to do with Bibi or Livni or whether the buses run on Shabbos (tragic as that may be). The attraction is to what lies beneath the surface. A primal attachment like that of child to parent. As Rabbi Yehuda HaLevi famously wrote, “Libi b’Mizrach, va’Anochi besof Ma’arav” – my heart is in the East, and I am far into the West.
Many Jews don’t ever make it to Israel, but they have an abiding love and longing for the land –you can just picture them being first in line for the Eagles’ Wings Transport when Mashiach comes. I think of my grandmother, a”h, who, when already a senior citizen, was finally able to make a couple of visits to the Holy Land. Her first time there was my first visit as well – she was in her 70s, I in kindergarten. Later on, saddened that she could no longer make the trip, she beamed when talking about her grandchildren who had made aliyah and the three great-grandsons she had serving simultaneously in the IDF.
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Though not everyone aspires to or even understands the draw of aliyah, the majority of people have responded with encouragement when we shared our plans. The vicarious enthusiasm of others boosts my own morale. But some are so positive it seems they are, unintentionally, making light of the challenges ahead.
In particular, although everyone knows it is easier for young children to acclimate than it is for older kids or adults, that doesn’t mean the move is simply a piece of cake for them. Looking at it from their pint-sized perspective, the world as they know it changes overnight. Out with the comfortable and familiar, in with the new, new, new. Yes, in most cases they make a much faster adjustment and pick up the language more easily. But there are still hurdles to overcome and feelings to be validated. Already my son has voiced worries about having no friends and missing his school, and my daughter, not even six, has been peppering me with questions about next year.
It will be difficult – but worth it. That’s how my husband and I think about aliyah, and it’s the message we are trying to impart to our children.
The ideals that are drawing us to the Holy Land will, we hope, transmit successfully to them. We believe strongly that, with Hashem’s help and blessing, the benefits to them will outweigh the costs. For what greater gift can we give them – especially now in their youth so they won’t have to take up the arduous move on their own accord – than to grow up in their homeland? To be free to develop, express, and explore their Jewish identity fully and openly?
