What I Like About Israel By Joseph Berger
We have just celebrated the first year of our Aliyah. This gives us an opportunity to put the change in perspective. Because it has certainly been a change in many different ways. The most obvious perhaps, is the climate, moving from the very long, cold winter of Toronto to the mostly warm and sunny weather in Israel. This is more than just enjoying the warmth and sunshine. For many years I would say that older people should not be in cities like Toronto and Montreal in the winter. It was not just
has been one of the most enjoyable aspects of living in Israel. Accompanying that, the range of large, fully-kosher supermarkets, with such a wide variety of delicious food, is a great Israeli benefit. Celebrating Shabbat and Chagim and having Batei Knesset across the road or a ten minute walk away, makes living a Jewish life so much easier. We lived in Toronto for many years in very Jewish areas, but there were main roads that were unavoidable on our walk to shul, and on Shabbat and Chagim those, of course, were busy with buses and cars, detracting from the peaceful atmosphere My delight was that an apparently secular that we enjoy here. And that person was using a phrase straight out of positive “Jewish� mood is one the machzor. of the most inspiring things about this country. Even secular radio stations the cold. The frequent ice and snow are on Friday announce the times of actually quite dangerous for older Shabbat coming in and going out and people, who fall, break a large bone, what the weekly parsha is. This would which sadly, can often lead to very be unimaginable elsewhere. serious complications. So Israel is a We have been very warmly welcomed safer place to be, as well as enjoying by the communities here, with an walking along the beach for at least 8 attitude that we have found quite months of the year. different from the communities where For me, the profusion of kosher we lived before. restaurants, offering a variety of foods, During this first year, we, along with 32 |Pesach 2020
