What I Like About Israel

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 the cold. The frequent ice and snow are actually quite dangerous for older people, who fall, break a large bone, which sadly, can often lead to very serious complications. So Israel is a safer place to be, as well as enjoying walking along the beach for at least 8 months of the year.

For me, the profusion of kosher restaurants, offering a variety of foods, 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 that we enjoy here. And that positive “Jewish” mood is one of the most inspiring things about this country.

Even secular radio stations on Friday announce the times of Shabbat coming in and going out and what the weekly parsha is. This would be unimaginable elsewhere.

We have been very warmly welcomed by the communities here, with an attitude that we have found quite different from the communities where we lived before.

During this first year, we, along with My delight was that an apparently secular person was using a phrase straight out of the machzor.

all other Israelis, have been quite troubled by the seriously dysfunctional political system. And yet, it is remarkable that for the most part, with the exception of certain border areas, people get on with their lives in an everyday normal manner, and the country keeps on running. People outside of Israel always express concerns and fears about the violence from our Arab neighbours. Yet, that is mostly kept under very good control, in spite of our government being unable to fully function for some time.

Torah learning exists chutz la’aretz, but it has quite a different flavour here. There is depth in Jewish learning elsewhere, but it is very limited outside a few major urban areas. In Israel there is a huge amount of in-depth Torah learning everywhere.

It still pleasantly surprises me to hear people that outwardly do not appear to be observant frum Jews, almost casually saying “Baruch Hashem” or “Toda La’El ”, wishing each other “Shabbat Shalom,” “Shavua Tov” or “Chag Sameach”.

I heard today on the radio while I was

driving, somebody responding to an interviewer’s question with the words: אני לא בוחן כליות ולב Literally translated that means ‘I am not an examiner of people’s hearts and kidneys’, meaning I don’t know what is really in people’s minds. But the beauty is that this is a phrase from the Yamim Noraim Machzor and refers to Hashem being able to see “inside” a person and see what are a person’s true inner thoughts and feelings. My delight was that an apparently secular person was using a phrase straight out of the machzor. This is something that outside a frum community is nonexistent in chutz la’aretz, and is one of the most pleasurable things about being here.

There are various material comforts and benefits that we gave up to come and live in Israel, but I have tried to outline some of the many great positives that we have experienced in our first year—the combination of physical and spiritual delight. o