Israel Matzav

A sacrifice too big?

Is aliya worth the sacrifice of the relatively easy Jewish life in the United States (in particular) and in some other western countries? What would Israel be like if all the people who talk about aliya (immigrating to Israel) actually did it?

When I left yeshiva here in 1980 to return to the US, I don't think there was a single member of my group who hadn't vowed he was coming back. When I came back a year later, having overcome what most in my generation considered the biggest hurdle to aliya (I had found a mate who was also committed to aliya), I sat in someone's living room on the yeshiva campus and was harangued for half an hour about how I'd 'never make aliya.' The Israeli who accompanied us on the trip was in shock: 'But he married someone who also wants to make aliya.' And the response: 'If I had one agora for every American who sat in that chair and told me they'd make aliya, I'd be a millionaire.'

I would estimate that 25-50% of my 'foreign' yeshiva colleagues now live in Israel. And I know of at least two 'American Israelis' among my yeshiva colleagues who moved back to the US, leaving their parents here. 

So get your excuses ready....

An ideal, yes. Am I going? No. This is the response I give. It is also the response I have received, time and time again, in return.

I don’t usually let the contradiction and inconsistency of this reply bother me. The response has enabled me to affirm my unwavering allegiance to the dream of Israel while simultaneously excusing my decision to stay here. Though we usually strive to achieve ideals, somehow we are okay with leaving the dream of aliyah respectfully untouched. Israel has become more a statement of ideology than a plan of action.

But sometimes the disingenuousness does bother me.

...

When we think about the aliyah question, do we do so within the context of sacrifice? Israel is a country built upon sacrifice. We acknowledge and celebrate this sacrifice when it comes to others: Soldiers who gave up their lives. Friends and relatives who gave up homes, jobs, and the smaller comforts of living in the States. But when it comes to our jobs, our plans, our comforts, our homes, the question immediately becomes more grey.  When it comes to our own lives, we hold sacrifice at arms length – even with libi ba’mizrach swinging around our necks and Israeli flags spotting our dorm room windows.

The inconsistency between thought and action is uncomfortable, when we pause to consider it. We sacrifice for other ideals. Why not this one?

Read the whole thing.

I am often harangued by commenters from the US who try to claim I'm not Zionist enough (some of those comments don't make it through moderation). I live in Jerusalem. Where do you live?

Labels: aliya, Zionism

posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 2:08 PM