You were right in pointing out that there are relevant issues to take into consideration when contemplating aliyah, not least among them parnassah. I also firmly believe that Hashem doesn’t have the same plans for all of us and there is definitely a reason for our being in golus. By the way, we have close friends in Israel as well as in the States and no one offers up criticisms for our personal choices.
We still dream of one day retiring to the Holy Land. Hopefully things will be easier without our having to worry about supporting a growing family.
Relieved at having returned
Dear Readers,
Thank you for sharing your personal experiences, which clearly demonstrate Yad Hashem. The shidduch that was meant to be could not be circumvented, and it was obviously bashert for a son to be actively involved in his father’s remaining years on this earth. (In no way does any of this exonerate the son-in-law’s deceitfulness or pardon the Israeli employer’s total disregard for the sanctity of Shabbos.)
I must add that your poignant messages and lucid articulation stand in stark contrast to the tone of a smattering of emails received by this column.
One foaming-at-the-mouth critic accuses this columnist of unleashing a “sycophanting [sic] attack on Israel,” while another reader denounces my “anti Israel tirade” and charges me with “drinking the poisonous Kool-Aid of the Lakewood/Satmar medina bashers.”
Yet another livid reader takes me to task for “encouraging Yidden to stay away from Eretz Hakdosha” and fumes that “it takes a certain amount of chutzpah to give your point of view any legitimization.”
In case my memory was chas v’sholom failing me, I re-read the column to see how my “point of view” could have triggered such vitriol. I even ran it by some neutral-minded acquaintances who hadn’t yet seen it, for their honest and objective opinion. To my relief, they too were mystified by the extreme reaction to a rather non-judgmental, analytical response that merely presented the wide-ranging views of scores of Jews across the globe.
In all sincerity, and in the spirit of ve’ahavta lere’acha kamocha (love your friend as yourself), I harbor no grudge against the readers behind the scathing remarks and unmerited censure. Essentially, we all share the same desire – and ahavas Yisroel is, after all, a vital component in realizing our dream of having the Beis HaMikdash rebuilt in our day.