Across the entire Gaza Strip, an estimated 70 percent of all buildings have been completely destroyed or damaged to the point where they are no longer habitable. This is in addition to the vast majority of public buildings, roads and infrastructure. The United Nations estimates that all the rubble in Gaza amounts to about 50 million tons, or 137 kilograms per square meter. Removing it will take at least 21 years, it predicts.
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Wednesday, July 23, 2025
Monday, July 21, 2025
Friday, July 18, 2025
Rabbinic counseling and the decision to move to Israel
Rabbinic
counseling and the decision to move to Israel
For years when I asked rabbis their
opinion on whether I should move to Israel, I received two types of responses.
The Modern Orthodox rabbis always excitedly said to go as if there were no
factors in the decision. It could only be good. They wish they could go. Yeshivish
rabbis would only ask, “Can you earn a parnassah there?” That seemed to be the
only issue that they knew of.
But there are so many more. “Do you
speak Hebrew?” would be a good question. You cannot function in a society whose
language you don’t speak. If you are above the age of forty, you aren’t likely
to learn conversational Hebrew, and you will not be able to earn a decent
parnassah if you don’t speak Hebrew. Thus, the question about Hebrew goes with
the question about parnassah. Many olim take essentially sweat shop level jobs,
working American hours for minimum wage, sometimes at home on the Internet (in
front of their children who get drawn into the Internet) because of their
inability to speak Hebrew. The nerves wear thin when you can’t read leases,
utility bills, or scary letters from the government, not to mention being
unable to help children with their homework or have a conversation with 90% of
the people you meet.
Another question is, can you deal with
Israelis? Go to Queens and spend some time around Israelis and determine if you
can handle their aggressiveness, argumentativeness, and extreme views. You
can’t move to Latvia if you don’t like being around Latvians.
Can you deal with religious extremism?
In Israel, the Dati Leumi or Modern Orthodox are to the left of Teaneck, and
the Haredim are of the no-secular studies, no parnassah, no blue shirts
variety. If you are a middle of the road kind of person, you can feel very
lonely here.
Can you deal with militarism? There are
soldiers everywhere. This can be an off-putting sight for a New Yorker or
Californian. America has a big military, but it’s not part of daily life in
Jewish parts of the country. In Israel, the military might close roads or
declare a region off limits for the week. Clocks show military time, and people
are militaristic, i.e. bossy. Fighter jets fly overhead every day. The news is
full of articles about the army, war, and soldiers getting killed or maimed for
life. Over the last one and a half years, over 850 soldiers have been killed
and Zahal Disabled Veteran Organization is expecting 20,000 permanently
disabled soldiers! (Times of Israel)
Are your kids above the age of 3? If
they are, don’t go. It’s too late. The adjustment puts them at risk. Even those
who learn to speak decent Hebrew often feel uncomfortable speaking it. Even
children of Anglo families who are born in Israel oftentimes find interaction
with Israelis to be unsettling and try to avoid them, as if that’s possible. Olim
parents sit in their tiny Anglo ghettos and don’t have to deal with the general
society nearly as much as their children do. The parents don’t sit in Israeli schools
and deal with the bullying, not just of the other students but some of the
teachers. Shouting is frequent. The schools like everything can be
militaristic. Children who don’t grow up with that, aren’t likely to be able to
adjust to it. It seems at times that every family of olim has a child who is
struggling or off the derech. If your child is aidel (gentle), then all
the more so, this is not the place for him or her.
Can you deal with the small size of the
place? The country starts effectively in Beer Sheva. South of there is a desert.
It’s a two-hour drive to Haifa, another hour to Lebanon. That’s the length of
the country. The width is one-hour. And even within that limited space are all
the dangerous parts that you must avoid. If you are Haredi you’ll probably want
to avoid all the anti-Haredi parts which is most of the remainder. You will
find yourself going to the same places over and over again, particularly if you
don’t have a car. Will you feel boxed in? News alert: happiness is a factor in
life. Sad-faced religious parents don’t inspire children to pursue Orthodox
Judaism.
Can you deal with the huge drop in
standard of living? In Israel, housing is three times the price of most of
America, and that’s for small apartments. For equivalent housing, it’s more
like six times the price. Cars are double the price as is gas. Yet, income is
less than a third of what Jews typically earn. For olim it’s even less. Can you
live in a small space, without a yard. Kids have no room to play and frequently
get into fights. Can you manage without a car, riding the bus, and waiting for
the bus in the heat. Can you deal with junky products and limited selection
because that’s what you get in Israel.
Are you Yeshivish or Chassidish? Historically,
your sons had two options, the military, which the gadolim tell them to stay
clear from, and learning Talmud all day and night to maintain their draft
exemption. Will they be productive? You can destroy a boy by putting him a
situation that’s not appropriate for him. Is your son a learner or should he be
working? The Israeli government won’t let him work.
But even that difficult choice is moot for
officially there is no exemption anymore. The court nullified it. The
government is coming after everybody, may HaShem save us. Can you handle that?
Israelis are built like Brillo pads, so the strain and worry doesn’t bother
them quite as much. If you are a nice law-abiding American, Canadian, or
Englishman, the strain can kill you.
Do you have medical issues? The medical
care in Israel is noticeably inferior to that of the USA. You can wait six
months to see a surgeon here, four months for an MRI. Most procedures take
place only in a hospital, yet many large cities lack hospitals. With medical
care in particular, after you move to Israel you realize how good you used to
have it.
Do you have family and friends in chutz?
Being a world apart geographically puts tremendous strain on people. Ah, you
are thinking that moving to Israel is “going home,” yet you might find yourself
deeply homesick for the people you care about or simply can relate to. You
aren’t likely to replace them in Israel. You’ll be lucky to get a Shabbos
invitation now and again.
Can you handle all of the fighting
between groups, even religious groups? In chutz, there is strain, but
there is plenty of cordial intermingling and overlap. In Israel, it’s a war,
and the war party with the most power is the anti-religious one. They run the
country. No, you are not necessarily “coming home” when you move to Israel. As
Rabbi Avigdor Miller said, it’s a “double-golus” in Israel.
These are some of the factors. There are
many more. You want to say that this is all negative? There are positive
aspects to the place that you have heard about in exaggerated fashion a
thousand times. You don't need me to talk about them. If they don’t outweigh
the negative ones for you, then you best stay where you are.
Rabbis Moshe Feinstein and Joseph
Soloveitchik held that living in Israel is an optional mitzvah even according
to the Ramban. It is not an obligation. Rabbi Soloveitchik explained that mitzvos
are no better if done in Israel. Thus, the wearing of tefillin in Greenland, is
just as effective as wearing them in Israel. So, the question is will you lose
mitzvos by moving to Israel? Many people have less time for Torah study and
less resources for chesed and find that their middos decline. Overall, they are
less productive and happy. Many are miserable. For some, this is not the case.
It depends on the person. Rabbi Soloveitchik and the Lubavitcher Rebbe
counseled people to live where they can function best as a Jew.
Rabbis need to know about all this to
counsel people. Just as they need to know basic laws of kashrus, they need to
know about specific issues in the huge decision of whether to move to Israel.
It’s a decision that is difficult to reverse, so it must be made with extreme
care and good counsel.
Thursday, July 17, 2025
Wednesday, July 16, 2025
Men and women are different
Post from Quora
This is Katie Ledecky
She might be the best female swimmer of all time. She has won 14 Olympic medals, 9 of them gold. In the 2024 Olympics, she won her signature event, the 1500m freestyle, by 10 seconds (an eternity in a sport where the margin of victory is often fractions of a second). In the 1500m, she owns the 20 fastest times ever swum by a woman. She is unquestionably the best ever at the 1500m freestyle.
But this amazing swimmer would never have been heard of if she swam against men. Because the top men swim the 1500m freestyle almost a full minute faster than she does. Even her world record time of 15:20 would have only been good for 12th place in the preliminary heats at the 2024 men’s US Olympic trials, when swimmers are not even going full out. Again, the world record time for a woman would not have been enough to even qualify for the finals at those trials. Not only would Ledecky have no Olympic medals if she had to compete against men, the only way she could have even gone to the Olympics would have been to buy a ticket.
We could go on. A team composed of current and former members of the US women’s national soccer team (best in the world) got obliterated 12–0 by what was essentially a minor league men’s team in a match. The top women’s college basketball teams sometimes practice (and lose) against male students from their schools (not the actual men’s team). Roger Bannister famously ran the mile in under 4 minutes in 1954, and the record is now 3:43. Seventy years after Bannister, no woman has ever run it in under 4:07. Serena Williams won a total of 23 Grand Slam singles titles in her career. She herself said that against a top male player she would lose “6‑0, 6‑0 in five to six minutes, maybe 10 minutes… I only want to play girls, because I don’t want to be embarrassed.”
And that’s why dedicated women’s sports exist. If the sport depends on strength, speed, coordination, or endurance (i.e. almost all of them), top women can’t compete with mediocre men, much less the top men. It turns out that there are, shockingly enough, actual biological differences between men and women that affect how good they are at sports. The NFL, MLB, NBA, NHL, and other sports leagues don't keep women out because they are sexist. They keep them out because they aren’t good enough to play there. If you put Paige Bueckers on an NBA roster tomorrow, she’d be the shortest, slowest, weakest player on the team. She would get all of her shots blocked and would be unable to defend anyone. She wouldn’t belong on the court at all. And that would be a shame, because there is a court she does belong on. Because conversely, women’s leagues keep men out because in most sports they have a competitive advantage.
So if you like watching women’s sports or are a current or aspiring female athlete yourself, celebrate things like the WNBA rather than lament that women don't play in the NBA against men.
Tuesday, July 15, 2025
Tuesday, July 8, 2025
Sunday, July 6, 2025
Lee Elmer Handley
Lee Elmer Handley (July 13, 1913 – April 8, 1970) was an American professional baseball second baseman and third baseman.
Jackie Robinson named Handley, who played for the Phillies in 1947, as the first opposing player to wish him well,[3] and stated that he even apologized for the behavior of his teammates, who were acting on instructions of Ben Chapman, their manager, who was racist.[4]
Tuesday, July 1, 2025
Is Torah learning in Eretz Yisrael more valuable than Torah learning in Chutz La'aretz?
Rav Avigdor Miller: Now, it's well known that the avirei Eretz Yisrael is machkim. However, you have to learn everything with perushim. If a person goes to Eretz Yisrael and doesn't learn, then the avirei Eretz Yisrael won't be machkim him. If he has the same opportunities there as here, then he'll succeed more over there. But if he has more opportunities here, he shouldn't go there.
Le'olam yadur adam bimkom rabbo. Man should always live where his rebbe is. Because Ezra never wanted to forsake Bavel as long as his Rebbe, Boruch ben Neriah was still in existence. And although Eretz Yisrael is waiting for him, Anshei Knesses Hagedolah, and binyan Beis Hamikdash, he didn't go. Because building yourself up is more important than building a Beis Hamikdash! Building yourself up. And he sat with his rebbe as long as his old rebbe was still alive. Only after Baruch ben Neriah passed away, then Ezra went to Eretz Yisrael.
And therefore, it's important not to make any mistakes. And people go to Eretz Yisrael just because of Eretz Yisrael. But to sacrifice opportunities that they have elsewhere, they have to ask and take counsel before they do anything like that.
I know cases where Gedolim said, "Do not go to Eretz Yisrael." Even Rav Yisrael Salanter, zichrono livracha, told people not to go. They have to understand where it is better for you in ruchniyus.
And therefore, a person shouldn't just pick himself up and go. He has to find out if that's a place where he's going to succeed in ruchniyus.
(September 1992)