Not Kedai for most people--Moving to the secular state of israel (SSOI)

  This is an ad. This man is lying to you. He's bouncing around with excitement, tossing around terms like "community rabbi" and "shopping area" and "famous shtiblach". The camera follows him around. There's such drama to it. "You're everywhere you need to be within minutes," he says. What the heck does mean? You only need that three minute area in your whole life? It's everywhere? All at once? You'll have a job there? You'll vacation there? Your medical care is there? There's no hospital there. Wedding halls are there? Furniture stores? Schools? Everything? It's such a nonsensical comment. And what's the cost sir? A million dollars for a tiny apartment? Maybe you should mention that. Maybe you should mention the army draft. Notice he doesn't show you the new shopping area with all the shops. I promise you it's a pit, it's a collection of junk like nearly everything in Israel. Notice how he picks th...

"You cannot intelligently look at life without recognizing patterns. That's how we build our understanding of the world by recognizing patterns and categorizing things." Samantha Kelley https://www.youtube.com/clip/Ugkx5bpL76WPIDeLZBfNDdJdABdkTJAo7RRM 350 posts now detailing how outrageously bad is life in Israel. You must connect the dots in life and cannot chock up each bad encounter to be an isolated incident. That is, if you want to live intelligently.

What is the most famous passage from Ramban? I asked AI and here's what AI had to say: --- The most famous passage from the Ramban (Rabbi Moshe ben Nachman) is widely considered to be his commentary on  Leviticus 19:2 , regarding the commandment  "Kedoshim Tihyu" (You shall be holy) .  In this passage, the Ramban explains that it is possible for a person to technically observe all the laws of the Torah and still be a "scoundrel within the permissible realm of the Torah" ( navul b'reshut ha-torah ). Key Takeaways from the Passage: Beyond the Letter of the Law:  Ramban argues that the Torah requires a person to go beyond the strict letter of the law to achieve the spirit of the law. Moral Moderation:  He emphasizes that holiness is achieved by practicing moderation—avoiding gluttony, drunkenness, and excessive speech, even regarding permitted things. Ethical Behavior:  The goal is to act with kindness and integrity in ...

Look at the rooms they sit in as they promote life in Israel and aliyah while living in North America: They sit in offices. I don't have an office. I don't even have a den. I pack what books I can into my tiny all-purpose room that serves as a dining room and living room. Really it's a dining room table and couch with no room to spare.  Here's the house of a rabbi in New Jersey who called all the men into a special meeting to promote aliyah. He still lives in the house, 15 years later: Now ain't that swell. He has a car too. I can't afford a car. They are twice the price here Israel and salaries are 1/4 of that of the USA or less. See this house: This is owned by a guy who pushed aliyah on everyone he met. He said even gadolim had to do teshuvah for not moving to Israel. "Even Moshe Feinstein?" I asked. "Yes," even him.  A few months after that conversation he had this big house built in good old chutzeh l'aretz. He still lives there. Thi...

 Let me try again to give you a sense of what life in Israel is like.  This photo shows two apartment buildings that can be reached by car only via this parking lot. The building closer to us has an overhang that prevents delivery trucks from driving to the second building. For a truck to get to the second building, it must drive around the overhang through the parking spaces. Obviously, you must first beg the neighbors not to park their cars there. That is not a fun task. But that's all history for one of the lovely residents built a permanent shed in their parking spot. You see that white shed to the left of the overhang? That blocks moving trucks. So movers and delivery people have to park right where I was standing when I took this picture and carry everything to the second building. So what do we have here? We have stupid design and selfish people as well as tiny apartments that cost $800,000. They are so tiny that there's little room for guests or simchas so people basic...

A friend of mine encountered on the bus a young man who confided in him that he was on his way out of Torah observance. He had grown up in Bene Brak and had a bitter experience there. But not only him, but all six of his siblings were on their way out or long gone. My friend's attempts at kiruv were rejected. I asked, "What language did you speak to him in?" Then came the answer that made it all make sense, "English. His parents are American." Ah, olim. Another pair of foolish parents that made aliyah and lost all their children. They took them to an Israeli environment that they couldn't handle. This young man reports that his rabbis there told him that he was a loser and he should die. This is the Israeli way of doing kiruv. You have to be Israeli to handle the culture here, even Bene Brak. Haredi family loses all their children because they succumbed to Modern Orthodox foolishness and moved to Israel. I know so many stories like this.

You want to see how far from Torah values this country is? Look at this headline from Haaretz: The Gaza war advanced Israeli women's role in combat. The Haredi draft threatens it. Here's the start of the article: ---- Vera Weidenbach A new IDF directive expanding gender segregated units has raised concern that drafting ultra-Orthodox men could trigger a rollback of women's roles in the army Since the October 7 attacks, as stories emerged of women soldiers fighting terrorists with remarkable courage, even conservative commentators couldn't help but admit that women should serve in combat regardless of their sex. This shift in public opinion following the Hamas attacks and the ensuing Gaza war is not a matter of course but the result of decades of struggle by women and gender equality activists. Today, more than 80 percent of all positions in the Israel Defense Forces are open to women, and according to the IDF, one in every five fighters is female. In November 2024, the ...