B A LT I M O R E J E W I S H H O M E . C O M
THE BALTIMORE JEWISH HOME
JULY 21, 2016
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Baltimore Families Get Together For A Pre-Aliyah BBQ Although Baltimore has never been a community from which droves of its members make Aliyah, a significant number of families are taking the big step this summer. This past Sunday five of the families moving to Israel within the next few weeks (Messing, Rabinowitz, Lanner, Leichter, Milevsky) joined together for a BBQ hosted by the Milevsky family. The gathering was designed for everyone to get to know each other better and to offer support, chizuk, and inspiration. During the BBQ, the kids practiced their soccer skills (crucial for living in Israel) and then played a big soccer game together. Afterwards, they played an original board game called “The Game of Aliyah,” developed by Liora Milevsky, in which the board was designed with the steps that it takes to move to Israel and points were awarded for answering questions about how to accomplish those steps in real life. Adding to the excitement of the gathering was the fact that four out of the five families are moving to the same city, Ramat Beit Shemesh (or RBS). Ramat Beit Shemesh is a city that has a large Anglo community (Americans, Canadians, British, and South Africans). RBS features as aesthetically pleasing atmosphere with the beautiful Judean Hills in the distance as well as an impressive Americanized infrastructure including great American-style schools. Walking the hallways of the local schools is simi-
lar to walking the hallways of a TA or BY Baltimore. Additionally, from the local bagel place to the supermarket and shuls, English and the American mentality permeates daily life. So life in RBS is the fusion of many of the comforts of chutz la’aretz with the significant perk of being in Eretz Yisroel – what could be better? The existence of a place like RBS has removed an additional excuse to avoid contemplating relocating to Hashem’s gift to our people. Seeing what RBS has to offer
combine RBS with numerous religious, spiritual, and historical reasons for making Aliyah, it is easy to appreciate why these families are extremely excited about their upcoming move. Devorah Messing, whose family is settling in Ranana, another community with a large Anglo population, is moving because she believes “all Jewish People belong in Israel;” while her husband, Rachi, said, “why not? It’s safer than Baltimore.” Nachi Lanner plans on, “Live(ing) the dream” in Is-
makes the line “we can’t move because of the kids” tenuous. As Mutty Rabinowitz commented regarding his decision to move to Israel, “Donald Trump, Hillary Clinton, or RBS.” Ramat Beit Shemesh is definitely making the landing much softer for most of these families. When you
rael. The get-together also offered these families an opportunity to see for themselves how many other likeminded people in Baltimore who believe in the importance of living in Eretz Yisroel are finally realizing their dreams. Sara Lanner said, “we believe that the
Jews belong there (Israel) and all the time that we have been here our hearts have been there and now we have the zechus to truly go home”. Shoshanna Rabinowitz added, “It is a very wonderful place for my kids to grow up.” Each of these families has been preparing for this move for the past few months and throughout the BBQ everyone discussed their plans for jobs, kids’ schools, finding housing, and getting settled. Israel is now going to have two new computer experts from Baltimore, along with a lawyer, accountant, and psychologist. Many American jobs can transfer to Israel or can continue through telecommuting and flexible hours. Although they anticipate some initial difficulties, as any move entails, the gathered families share in the belief that the difficulties will be well worth it. David Leichter said, “Hashem has been calling us for 2,000 years to come home and it is time to answer the call.” Although a mass exodus of Baltimore families to Israel may be unrealistic, Iy”H, as many more families from Baltimore answer this call, it will begin a necessary communal discussion about what Israel has to offer nowadays for Baltimore families and what steps are being taken to, at a minimum, explore the marvelous possibility. As Avidan Milevsky, the host of the BBQ noted, “The arc of Jewish history bends toward Israel, and I want to be ahead of the curve.”