Magen-Israel.Org – Our Protector and Holy Gatekeeper of the Holy Land

 

I would like to discuss a fellow we’ll call “Bernie”. But, before we do, we need to have a few preludes based on writings from the past.

Prelude 1 – It is a mitzva to live in Eretz Israel

I made Aliya back in 1997 because I considered it a big zechus and a big mitzva. I wrote about it in my book and made a special blog post about it back in 2009 and an update in 2020.

In the course of inquiring whether to make Aliyah, my first stop was not the Jewish Agency. I was not interested in their opinion. I went to Rav Chaim Kanievsky, ZTL, Rav Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, ZTL, and to the Gerrer Rebbe, Shlita.

Here is how I wrote about it in my book (slightly edited):

In August of that year, I undertook another business trip and, this time, I truly did come with more than one order of business. Through the assistance of my Bnei Brak brother-in-law, I merited an audience with Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, Shlit”a. I told him that I am an American businessman with a growing family and my wife has been on my case to settle in Eretz Israel me’az hayita l’frau.

 

He responded by quoting a Mishna in tractate Ketubot: “All [spouses] can demand immigration to Eretz Israel but not all [spouses] can demand emigration. This applies equally to the husbands and to the wives.” (This Mishna is brought down in Halacha in Even HaEzer 75.)

 

I thought it would be wise to get a second opinion from one whom I could converse with at length, and in my native tongue. I approached Rabbi Chaim Pinchas Scheinberg, Shlit”a and presented the issue. He didn’t seem to be too interested in particulars either; he merely said that “I am pro Eretz Israel.” To make one final stab at a dissenting vote, I approached the Rebbe of Gur, Shlit”a. No dice. He did nothing more than wish me Hatzlacha (success).

 

All told, it came down to a unanimous 3-0 decision. It’s a zechus to be able to come live in Eretz Israel; and once one has this zechus, it is certainly at least a mitzva kiyumis.

This essentially applies to any authentic Jewish person. It shouldn’t matter if they are not everyone’s favorite type of person. It shouldn’t matter who they are, and more so, who they were.

One thing is more than certain, any Jew that is already here has every right to stay, no matter what.

 

Prelude 2 – A Jew is always a Jew

Before I embarked into the murky waters of the Malka Leifer episode, I wrote a preamble post to “lay down the law” titled, Mesira XIII: Thinking Like a Jew. The purpose was to present the Halachic definition of the relevant concepts such as: “Giluy arayos”, “Rape”, “Child”, “Rodef”, “Mesira”, etc. At the end of that post, I threw in one closing topic:   

אף על פי שחטא, ישראל הוא – A Jew, even though he sins, is still a Jew (Sanhedrin 44a)

 

This concept goes together with: “The soul of a human lusts for illicit wealth – gezel - and forbidden relations – arayos” (Makkos 23b) and “The majority stumbles in gezel and a minority stumble in arayos and all people stumble in [avak] lashon hara” (Baba Basra 165a).

 

How many times have we been sitting at a Shabbos table or at a simcha discussing the latest scandal (avak lashon hara) and somebody mutters: “How can frum people do such a thing?” Whereupon some self-righteous person always exclaims: “I’ll tell you how, they are simply not frum!”

 

This is very wrong. People have lusts which they cannot always control and the gemara tells us that these two infractions, gezel and arayos, stand out at the top of the list. Yet, even if one stumbles in some of the 365 lo taasehs, this does not mitigate his Jewishness one iota. Anybody who believes in the 13 Ikarei Emunah and keeps Shabbos, wears tallis and tefillin and keeps all of the positive mitzvos is as “frum” as anybody else. He (or she) must obviously deal with their demons and make restitution to the people they hurt or be segregated from the community, but it cannot be said that their service to HKBH in unrelated areas is at all defective. There are "frum" ganavim and "frum" molesters and their infractions do not inhibit their rights and responsibilities to daven and learn and keep Shabbos and Yom tov and kosher, etc.

 

(Note – I once had it out with a Rav after his shul sent a letter to a member who had been suspected of past abuse. The letter said that he can only daven there if this and that and he stays in his seat and…he is not entitled to get any kibudim or aliyos. I asked this Rav, “What are you going to do when he has yahrtzeit?” And this Rav just looked at me with a puzzled look on his face as if to say “It didn’t occur to me that he still has to be Jewish.”)

 

Thus, if a community must take measures to deal with a confirmed miscreant and certainly with one who is only suspected, there is no justification whatsoever to employ a method that will inhibit him from continuing to keep Torah and mitzvos faithfully as long as it can be avoided. I can assure you that anybody who participates in an action that impedes another Jew from continuing his (or her) observance of Torah and mitzvos will have to answer for it under a very, very hot lamp.

 

 

Prelude 3 – Yes, people can change

In my earlier analysis of the very flawed Kol koreh, I wrote a 2-part guide on how to deal with Jewish sexual offenders based on a long list of facts that many of us do not know or do not want to acknowledge. Some of these facts came from a frum psychologist/social worker who I know quite well.

Here are some that are relevant to our discussion (this post):

Fact #8 - Most offenders are not psychopaths and have no malicious intent. They are driven by urges that they cannot control. 

Fact #9 - As such, most offenders will continue doing their deeds even after being exposed as long as they are not thwarted from doing so. 

Fact #10 - However, upon being exposed, most offenders from the Orthodox community are exceedingly cooperative to preventative and/or rehabilitative measures.

When I analyzed these facts later in the post, I wrote:

Fact #10 tells us the most important and most unacknowledged chiddush of all.

 

It tells us that – in most cases - once a molester is exposed and confronted, he can be “managed”. This is most often true for the 90% family molesters because, after all, they usually care about their family status. For the 10% Class B (communal) molesters, such as a rebbe or the shul candy man, once he is exposed, it is quite easy to create a barrier between him and potential victims and avoid coming into contact with him in compromising circumstances.

 

What this says to us is that every molester has two phases to his “career”:

 

Phase A – Before his nefarious activities become known to anybody beside the victim(s).

 

Phase B – After he has been caught.

 

In other words, a Phase B molester is not the same kind of threat as a Phase A molester.

 

That was what I wrote then. I wish to add now that another two facts on the list are very important:

Fact #11 - Most offenders are victims of sexual abuse themselves.

Fact #12 - Of the above, many never received any professional help or offers of professional help and in some cases, they were even thwarted when they sought out help.

 

Regarding these two facts, it’s important to know that even if one was not previously abused, many of these people were initially suffering from personality disorders (anger, control, low self-esteem, narcissism, etc.) that, until they were exposed, went undiagnosed and untreated. Many of these conditions or disorders are highly treatable through therapy and/or medications.

If this is the case and the offender underwent treatment subsequent to being exposed, it is another reason to justify that we cannot compare his current status to his previous one. Especially if there have been no additional charges against him once he entered Phase B.

Sometimes all it takes is some TLC, a few years in the pen, and some mind-altering meds to straighten someone out.

 

Summary of Preludes

Let’s review these three preludes and see what they are telling us:

• It’s a big mitzva to live in Eretz Yisrael
  
  
• All Jews, regardless of whether they are nice folks or not such nice folks, are both entitled and obligated to keep mitzvos.
  
  
• Just because someone wasn’t very nice twenty years ago doesn’t mean he or she hasn’t gotten nicer since then
  
  

Save that thought.

 

Déjà vu all over again

Now, let’s talk about “Bernie”. Who is Bernie?

Bernie is a Jewish fellow who allegedly has an unsavory past that nobody should be proud of. According to the reports, it involved crossing many lines in terms of keeping his distance from females as well as numerous instances of bullying and physical violence to males and females alike. Plus, lots of abuse of authority and breach of trust.

After what is claimed as three decades of overindulgence, Bernie’s luck finally ran out and he was called to task for his multiple sins. It seems like these iniquities were investigated and confirmed (possibly never even denied) and Bernie went as far as three years in the slammer.

The relevant timeline seems as follows:

Bernie was born in 1949, started his mischief circa 1970, was first publicly exposed in 2000, initial conviction in 2002 but there were appeals, jailed in 2005 and released in 2008.

As such, his transition from Phase A offender to Phase B offender took place in the year 2000 or, at the very latest, 2008.

Now that last date was 14 years ago and Bernie hasn’t made it to the headlines since until very, very recently.  

American rabbi convicted of sex abuse, is given residency status in Israel | Israel National News - Arutz Sheva

In the meanwhile, it looks like he’s been behaving himself. Moreover, he is currently 72 years old which is way past retirement age. I’m sure he is currently collecting Social Security for all those action-packed years at NCSY.

And now, it appears that Bernie wants to make Aliyah to Eretz Yisrael.

Is he entitled to do so?

Well, nobody disputes that he is Jewish and that it’s a big mitzva for any Jew to make Aliya and he is getting on in years and hasn’t bothered anybody for at least 14 if not 22 years. So, the answer is a resounding: YES.

Absolutely.

And this is the position that any G-d fearing Jew has to take despite how they feel about it. Truth is, taking any measures that are harmful to another Jewish person, and more so if they infringe on their fulfillment of Torah mitzvos, be it extraditing them out of Eretz Yisrael, blocking them from entering Eretz Yisrael, signing petitions or participating in rallies supporting these measures, and certainly reporting one to non-Jewish authorities, and even just taking their lunch money, are all issues in the realm of Choshen Mishpat which requires nothing less than a Beis Din acting in the presence of the person being judged.

And yet, we see people from the “Orthodox” community vocally and actively interfering with this G-d given right without any support from a Beis Din.

Who is at the forefront of this debacle?

The usual suspects.

The bi-line of the aforementioned Arutz 7 article reads as follows:

Orthodox activist group pushing Israel to deny citizenship to an American rabbi, citing his conviction for sexual assault.

 

Can you guess who this “Orthodox activist group” is?

There is no need. It says so clearly in the article. Yes, the “Orthodox” activist group is Magen-Israel.org led by our “Orthodox” activist do-gooder, Shana Aaronson.

Now, Shana Aaronson looks “Orthodox” and maybe even talks “Orthodox” and presents her organization as an “Orthodox” activist group. But we know it is not really “Orthodox” because, as I wrote previously, an Orthodox group is overseen by Orthodox Rabbanim and an Orthodox Beis Din when it is necessary.

This group is nothing of the kind.

And if the group isn’t Orthodox, neither is Shana Aaronson. An Orthodox Jew would not “push” or take measures to block a Jew from making Aliyah or doing anything against the interests of another Jew without the sanction of a Beis Din.

The only time a Jew is empowered to take a situation into his or her own hands is a case of rodef or Chillul Hashem in progress, as with our hero, Pinchas. As long as there is no calamity in progress, there is no excuse not to consult a Beis Din. Rambam says so in Hilchos Rotzeach 1:12 along with many others.

But Shana Aaronson has no need for these formalities. They just slow things down and interfere in her agenda to make the world a safer place. And she certainly does not respect the Rambam or the gemara in Sanhedrin 73 where it comes from.

This is not “Orthodox” to me.

Actually, I think it is a chillul Hashem for a medium like Arutz 7 to even refer to the organization as “Orthodox” if they are printing that it is in violation with our Halachos.

According to the article, Mrs. Aaronson is going to great lengths to find reasons to justify her active measures. Firstly, she openly and audaciously calls a decision to allow this Jewish person to immigrate to Israel, which is at least a mitzva kiyumis for all Jews a “morally bankrupt decision”:

“It’s more than disheartening, it’s infuriating that despite efforts by organizations like mine and by various government agencies, the government would make such a morally bankrupt decision like this,” Aaronson said.

 

Next, to justify her position (which apparently couldn't be morally bankrupt) she needs to build a case. First, she refers to a civil lawsuit that is currently being brought against Bernie:

A pending case like that should be reason enough to reconsider the rabbi's request for residency, said Shana Aaronson, director of Magen, an Israeli organization that advocates for sexual abuse victims, especially in the haredi Orthodox community.

 

Alas, civil lawsuits do not involve bail and flight risk injunctions. The man is free to travel. Besides, in today’s day and age, civil lawsuits can be carried out across oceans, can’t they, Shana? This need not stand in anyone’s way.

So, she needs more "schmutz":

If granted citizenship, “he could tomorrow walk into any school and apply for a job and be given a certificate of good standing from Israel law enforcement and get a job working with kids,” she said.

Let's see. This fellow is now 72 years old, probably cannot speak conversational Hebrew, has stayed clean for 14-22 years, carries the mark of Cain, and is constantly being watched by hawks like Shana Aaronson. Short of death (ch”v) can a “potential” threat get any more diminished? Do you really think any school would give him a job? At his age and language level I don’t think he could even volunteer for a job!

One thing Shana Aaronson knows how to do very well is to “build a case”.

Still, who on earth does Shana Aaronson think she is that she can determine who has a right to live in Eretz Yisrael and who doesn’t? Ayelet Shaked?

Yes.  Ayelet Shaked.

It looks like Shana’s efforts have born forbidden fruit. In a more recent article published by Times of Israel (in the wake of the July 7 Haaretz article and the July 8 statements by Shana Aaronson), it was announced that the pro-extradition, grand protector of all Jews, Ayelet Shaked, Minister of the Interior, “clarified this morning that in light of his grave actions, she has no intention of approving his request to receive citizenship after the temporary residency visa he has expires.”

I personally suspect that Mrs. Aaronson has a great influence upon Ms. Shaked. I will go out on a limb and make an assumption that Shana Aaronson is personally acquainted with Ayelet Shaked from her old Ministry of Justice days and is in regular contact with her. They can correct me if I am wrong.

But it certainly isn’t only Shana Aaronson. There are a number of additional “Orthodox” Rabbis who seem are likewise pushing this un-orthodox agenda and leaning on Ayelet Shaked. The same Times of Israel article displays a letter addressed to Ayelet Shaked signed by American “Orthodox” Rabbis Binyamin Blau and Mark Dratch and written on official on RCA stationary with a zillion other names and proudly distributed by Rabbi Ken Brodkin explicitly imploring her to deny Bernie his rights to live in Eretz Israel.

When our leadership paskens based on their feelings and not on Toras Moshe we know we have reached the level of  פני הדור כפני הכלב and can look forward to the geula shleima very soon.

I am ready to sign off, but I know what many of my more cynical readers are thinking:

Would I protest if Bernie moved into my building in Har Nof?

The answer is, that it goes without saying that I prefer neighbors with clean records. However, we don’t all get neighbors that we prefer. Aside from the fact that I think he is anyway a tzeklopte hoshana (has-been) and not a genuine threat, once he is identified for who he is (or was), I know how to be מקרב בימין and  דוחה בשמאל. I am more concerned about other offenders who (a) are not retired and (b) I cannot identify.

So, the answer is: No, I would not protest it, nor do I think I, or anybody, has a right to.

Besides, it wouldn’t be the first time. And I didn’t protest it then either.

However, we can ask another similar question:

Would I protest if Shana Aaronson moved into my building in Har Nof?

And the answer is…

… It goes without saying that I prefer all of my neighbors to be Orthodox.

Tova HaAretz Meod Meod 2 – Update for 2020

Author's note - Please see the previous post on this topic if you have not yet done so.


Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein has a message for us. This made a bit of a splash last week. Apparently, it was an hour-long schmooze but this is the excerpt I got in my inbox.

(Note – Embedded video may not appear in email version. You can get an audio segment HERE).

Essentially, he is telling us that "It is time to go [to E"Y]" while acknowledging that he cannot bring himself to do it as of yet.  He is really struggling. So was I - 23 years ago. It isn’t easy.

We made aliya to Eretz Yisrael in 1997 and all I can say is that I am sure glad we did.

Why did “I” make Aliyah? (I am talking about myself right now, not my wife.)

·       Firstly, as the narrative in my previous post relates, it was my wife’s dream. You could say I did it for shalom bayis. And, yes, we are still talking.

·      Secondly, as the son of a Holocaust survivor and a “student” of holocaust history, I knew only too well how the comfort of the tolerant “Western” society is a mere illusion that could vanish in a moment. At the time, in 1997, my father asked me why I want to make Aliyah? In addition to the previous point, I told him, “Look, we are in golus here just like we were in Europe. Sooner or later there is going to be a mahapeicha (upheaval) here just like there was in Spain and Europe and everywhere else. There has always been. HKBH sees to it. So there will have to be another one. It’s only a question of ‘when?’.  Why should I stick around here and entrench my family and wait for it to happen?” He could not disagree with me on this. (Incidentally, his immediate goal after liberation was to get to Eretz Yisrael. However, he was stymied by the Zionist anti-religious bureaucracy and wound up in the US instead.)

·       Thirdly, the religious Zionist Bnei Akiva indoctrination of my youth left a lasting impression on me and a sense on nationalistic pride – ahavas ha’aretz – even though I had long felt that they fell quite short in ahavas Torah and I had to move on to “blacker” pastures.

·       Fourthly, we had six children at the time and had no plans of shutting down the factory (we have since more than doubled). The excessive tuition and health care costs made it impossible for a large growing family to get ahead financially by natural means. It would always be a struggle. And, as many other olim have said. “If we’re going to struggle anyway, may as well struggle here in E”Y.”

·       And, finally, because I could.

This last point has several connotations. At its simplest level, it means that the door is open in ways that did not exist in previous generations.

At a stronger level, it means not only that I can, but that this is a very auspicious opportunity and it is not likely to stay this way. I was at the prime of my life and the prime of my financial strength and the Israeli economy and international standing (post-Oslo) were in their prime as well. I felt it is sort of a “now or never” situation.

But at the most profound level, I saw it as a responsibility. The conditions were so favorable that it was as if I saw a “heavenly” neon light with an arrow pointing to Eretz Yisroel blinking as if to say, “Go this way >> Go this way >> Go this way >>”. I honestly felt that I would be betraying the fulfillment of the aspirations of generations of ancestors if I did not capitalize on this opportunity.

I also felt a responsibility to my diaspora neighbors. If people like me who have such an opportunity don’t take advantage of it and go, why should anybody go? If I can set an example for others, I need to do it.

So we did. No regrets. I can’t stop thanking my wife, and my Dad, and HKBH.

So last week, Rav Zechariah Wallerstein got onto the Net and told us like it is. It is time to go. He’ll shut the lights.

We all know that the United States of today is not the United States of yesterday. It may not be a communist country, but it is getting closer every day to George Orwell’s Animal Farm – with genuine two-legged animals. In Animal Farm, the mantra “All Animals are Created Equal” was amended to say, “All Animals are Created Equal – but some are more Equal than Others.”

America is a bit different. The mantra “All Men are Created Equal” has been amended to say, “All Men and Women and Children and Animals and Illegal Aliens and Criminals and Straights and Gays and Democrats are Created Equal”. America has become much too equal.

The American masses are starting to discover that we Jews are not created equal. All the non-law-abiding moslems are created equal. All the LGBTQIXYZ are created equal. Black Lives Matter, M-13 Lives Matter, sexual deviants’ lives matter and any chicken’s life matters – but your Jewish life doesn’t matter. Not to them.

More and more distinguished people are saying that it’s time to go (or time to come). Until now it was easy to brush off. Now, it’s getting serious. The most common excuses are: (1) “I have my parnassah here. I have no idea how I will make a living in Israel” and (2) “My extended family is here. How can I disconnect myself?”.

Enter Covid-19! (May it exit just as fast.)

Covid-19 has wiped out the parnassah of 25% of the population. And it has made a significant dent in that of everyone else. It doesn’t answer the question of how one will make it in Eretz Yisroel but, “If we’re going to struggle anyway…”

Covid-19 also introduced may of us to Zoom and its clones. After faxes, emails, electronic banking and online purchasing, distance doesn’t matter as much anymore. I have been more “in touch” and “face to face” with my parents in the US since this crisis began than ever. Of course, I wish they were here, but I am not out of touch. Sure we can’t all be at all the weddings and bar mitzvas, but lately a lot of us have been missing weddings and bar mitzvas even while living in the same town!!!

Moreover, as I wrote in my essay which is displayed in my previous post, Aliyah causes a snowball effect – one sibling goes, then another, then the parents decide they may as well go and be near the siblings who went…and then the rest of the siblings go.

No, it’s not easy. But it isn’t going to get any easier. Right now, the planes aren’t flying. But I believe HKBH will give us (i.e., you) another chance. The planes will get back up there…for a while. But the next time they go down, you may need to pump those bicycle tires like in Roy Neuberger’s 2020 book.

What do you need to do? And what does Rabbi Zechariah Wallerstein need to do?

You need to contact Nefesh B’Nefesh and open up an Aliyah file even if you have no current plans to go. Just go through the motions. Make believe. It only costs $65 to open a file and maybe $130 for a mandatory FBI clearance check (we did not need these). Get the letter from the Rabbi and a photocopy of the wife’s/mother’s kesuba (nobody asked us to show ours when we landed.) And update all of those passports!

If you don’t go through with it, you can always renew the file. NBN will tell you all the rules. You probably won’t even need to set a date up front because the planes aren’t flying anyway. Just be ready for when they are.

Another thing you can do is to open a bank account here in shekels. Not a big one to give you tax issues but enough to have something to come to. Incidentally, the dollar has been slipping against the shekel for the past ten years. If it totally collapses, the shekels will be here.

My dear parents already own an apartment here and they bought karka on Har Hazeisim years ago. But they still live in the US as do two of my married siblings. We want very much for them to come for good on the upper part of the plane with all the seats. So, I asked my father, the Holocaust survivor whose 60 year diamond business was finally KO'ed by Corona, why he doesn’t just come? He told me if “this shmegega” (Joe Biden) reaches the White House, then he’s done with the US.

I told him, “Just for this, I am going to vote for him!”

The only way to succeed at making Aliyah is to commit yourself to making Aliyah. There are no shortcuts!

When I announced my intentions to make Aliyah to my community, some people came and asked me if we are only going on a trial basis to see if we manage or going full steam and burning my bridges?

I answered that we are uprooting a house with six children aged one to ten packing things, selling things, buying things, and shipping things all being subsidized by the Jewish agency. It’s a monumental undertaking. Imagine if in a number of years I have seven, eight, or nine kids and I feel like undoing it all and coming back without any subsidies from the Jewish Agency. Would I be able to manage such a thing? 

So we are here in Eretz Yisrael. We are still here. Yes, I am out of work (lots of time to learn!), which is why I write, but I am far from hungry, B"H. We eat mahn and we drink mei be'er and we are here watching our loved ones in the US trying to stay afloat. We are concerned. We don't like what we see. Decay never reverses itself.

We always tell ourselves, "Someday, we would love to move to Eretz Yisrael." For years, the Jewish Never Again activists have been crying "Never Again is now!" And we (including Rabbi Wallerstein) are crying, "Someday is now!"

Listen to me. Listen to Rabbi Wallerstein. Let Rabbi Wallerstein listen to Rabbi Wallerstein. 

I guarantee you that you will all thank me…in much less than 23 years.

Tova HaAretz Meod Meod 1 - Repost of Original from June 2009

This is from my blog eleven years ago. Next post will be an update...

Anyone who has ever made aliya will tell you that you will never get here by talking about making aliya, no matter how much talking you do. There is only one way to make aliya – you must (figuratively) open a calendar and throw a dart at it. When the dart hits a date, you mark it as the day that you are going, and don’t pull out the dart! Our “dart” hit at July of 1997...

The above paragraph did not make it into the final cut of my book but, maybe, it should have. In any case, for those of us already here in Eretz Yisrael, Parshas Shelach is up this week. You folks still straggling behind in Chutz l'Aretz are - well - still straggling behind.

Parshas Shelach represents the challenges in bitachon that are part of living in Eretz Yisrael. Though I can attest that moving an established family to Eretz Yisrael is no small feat, once done, it is no small achievement, either. Not everybody is zocheh. But everybody can be zocheh. It depends on why you want to come. The key is bitachon and emunah. To make a successful Aliya one must be willing to feel like a grasshopper. But then he can become a giant.

In honor of Parshas Shelach I am presenting the complete Aliya story from my One Above and Seven Below autobiography. Some parts made it into the book but most of it did not. Some people will be able to relate to it, and others will say that their personal circumstances are not as favorable as ours were. Still, one thing I must tell everyone: if you have a serious opportunity to come here, it is a message to you. Do not ignore it. Don't get yourself wait-listed for the last flight out.

Still, at the end of the day, everybody winds up where HKBH wants him to. One thing I said over at my daughter's sheva brachos was:

40 days before the yetziras havlad, a bas kol goes out and says בת פלוני לפלוני . Taken at its word, this chazal is saying that sometime about 25 years ago, a bas kol went out and pronounced that the daughter of Yechezkel Hirshman is destined to be the wife of this young man. The interesting thing is that, 25 years ago, Yechezkel Hirshman didn't happen to be married! He was hanging around Lakewood, New Jersey and telling shadchanim that he needs a girl who is willing to follow him to Natwich (pseudonym for my home town) so he could go into the wholesale diamond business. Meanwhile, this fellow was a zygote by some family in Beit-El (not exactly the chareidi capitol of the world)! Yet, here we are 25 years later in Yerushalayim celebrating the sheva brachos of the new couple. How did we get here from there?

Well, here's how:

Aliya Story by binhersh on Scribd

Tuition Rates are just Off the Charters

It’s always quite gratifying to see somebody who agrees with me. It happens so rarely!

Of course, it is more likely to happen through somebody who hasn’t read my blog and doesn’t know that he is agreeing with me.

In this case, I am referring to an issue that is not exclusive to the chareidi camp and, as such, my newfound ally is not a member of the chareidi camp. Yet, he is addressing a crisis that affects all shades of religious Jews and so we are all in the same boat.

The issue at hand is the prohibitive cost of day school and high school tuitions in the United States. I wrote about it back in January, 2016  (click HERE) from the comfort of Eretz Yisroel where we are not overwhelmed by this plague. I made two suggestions:

1.   Get out of the US and move here (works for me)

2.   Drop the secular education from the Jewish school system and replace it with state funded and accredited online education (distance learning).

Well, I am gratified to see a fellow oleh to Eretz Yisroel get on to a blog site (click HERE) and preach what amounts to almost the exact same two suggestions. His name is Reuven Spolter formerly from Oak Park, Michigan. This is what he suggests:  

1.   Get out of the US and move here (works for him)

2.   Drop the secular education from the Jewish school system and replace it with state funded and accredited charter schools.

A number of commenters have challenged his charter school idea as being discriminatory. There are numerous other issues:

·       Such schools, as a physical facility, will need to be located somewhere other than the religious school and will thus force students and parents to have to deal with two school locations on a standard school day.

·       The states are not likely to set up a parallel secular school for each religious school, but rather large regional ones to deal with a big population. As such, the charter school serving Lakewood and Deal, for example, may wind up in Freehold.  

·       The hours will need to be unconventional.

·       It is questionable if religious needs for being gender segregated or other thing will be upheld by the government.

All of these concerns do not apply to my online distance learning plan. The only problem with my plan is that it is currently not operational in many of the most vital states. I wrote that I think this problem can be fixed.

As I wrote, it is very gratifying to see somebody from a different sector take up this issue and propose a similar course of action. This is for two reasons:

·       If you would like to consider my proposal a harebrained idea put out by a radical free-thinking farfrumta chareidi from the dark ages, I can now point to somebody who isn’t a radical free-thinking farfrumta chareidi from the dark ages who seems to be just as harebrained.

·       If somebody who isn’t a radical free-thinking farfrumta chareidi from the dark ages makes such a proposal, maybe somebody will actually listen.

Rabbi Spolter and I do have one thing in common. We are both living in Eretz Yisroel, out of the loop. Far away from all of the American askanim who really count, and who must know better. Who is wiser? Is the sun getting the best of us or is the pollution (and GMOs) getting the best of the Americans?

Of course, I (and Rabbi Spolter), am still advocating the preferred course of action: make Aliya.

You know why?

Not only because health and education is so much more affordable, but also because:

אווירא דארעא מחכים!

Been There – Done That

Moving onto 15 years, ken yirbu...

Cartoon is from http://www.jewishpress.com/cartoons/proof-of-judaism/