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

 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 ...

I recall hearing the reason that food is so spicy in warm climates is that it serves as a preservative so the food doesn't spoil. Today, we have refrigerators so the spice isn't necessary, although it has long been a style of cooking in warm weather climates like India. Israel has a warm weather climate. How warm? Here's how people walk around at the end of January. No coats, no problem. This means that you must be extra careful to keep food cool, particularly in the summer. But here's what many  grocery stores  refrigerators , nearly all in my neighborhood, look like  in  Israel : No doors on the milk or meat. And the fridges aren't even high powered, or maybe the managers turn down the thermostat to save on electricity. Whatever air is cooled just flows out into the room. The result is that the meat is nearly warm. Same with the milk.  Tell me what your mother would say if you left the fridge door open all night. Would she be happy about that? This is what the...

  I pulled up Google street view in maps and showed her the school buildings I had attended and neighborhood I had grown up in. .... “You can’t see the room I was in for first grade, because it’s below ground,” I finally found the words. “There were two windows for the classroom that opened to a courtyard below street level.” “It looks like a prison,” she observed. “Why are there bars everywhere?” .... “I happen to know the building looks even worse now,” I told her. “They’ve put tarps over the bars so you can’t even see through them.” I continue the tour, showing her all three buildings where I spent 11 years of my life. “This was where the community garbage room used to overflow, and trash would pile up right to the door of the school building.” I showed her the window I sat beside, in 8th grade. It was covered in steel mesh, further contributing to the prison chic aesthetic. “But the window pane was broken, and during the winter I froze when I sat there. I ended up getting pneum...

Today I left the house a bit later than usual, just in time for children's rush hour. That is the time when all the young people are rushing off to school. That means jam packed buses because mass transportation in Israel is underfunded and subpar like everything here. I was reminded of my commute decades ago on the #6 train on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The train was so packed, that it was impossible to cram oneself inside. Three trains would go by before there was some kind of opening. I remember once standing there, bodies  pressed all around me, when I muttered half aloud, "Why do we live like this?" A man heard me and responded, "We choose to." These children don't choose to. Most were born into it. Some were born to lunatic parents who brought them from civilized countries to Israel because they were sure that geulah had come or because enough deranged Modern Orthodox rabbis convinced them that it was their duty. The parents generally are afflue...

Friend of a friend: his kid went to the airport to pick up luggage. Face recognition alerted security that he was a draft evader. They tackled him to the floor, shackled his hands and feet, and carried him off. Same friend was in a car leaving Beitar. At the road block, a soldier ripped open his door and demanded "Papers!" All of this was at gunpoint. The soldier explained that he was looking for draft evaders. What you didn't care about treatment of the local Arabs. You were so naïve to think that the Israelis would not eventually do the same to Haredim? A different acquaintance, soldiers came to the door, demanded to see the son, and carried him off, hands and feet shackled. Haredim are being hunted here. In my view, the Haredi olam in chutz should stop coming to Israel. Don't give El Al your money. Send a message.