Looking for space

There's space in Israel which prompts the question why are people living on the Gaza and Lebanon borders and in the West Bank. There's plenty of space in the Galil and in the center of the country. I imagine that there are historical and political reasons, the latter of which includes expansionist ambitions, but I won't get into it. The point for today is the spacious places are not where you'll be living. You'll move to Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, Be'er Sheva, Rananana where there isn't much space. And since you'll now be in an apartment or maybe a house that's way smaller than what you have, you'll be short on space. Israeli apartments don't have closets, so you'll have even less space after you install a cheapo standing closet. You won't have room for your books, toys, or clothes.

But much worse, you won't have room for sleep over guests. Even if you host a kiddush, it will be uncomfortably crowded.

But worse, there will be complications with play dates. Where will they play? And if you have boys and girls, how do you manage the playdate without mixing? It's nearly impossible.

So the play dates decrease and your kids wind up all alone in the apartment, unable to keep themselves busy.

This can cause all kinds of problems for them and shalom bayis. 

There's also no space in cars, but the cars are much smaller, with only an occasional mini-van. Numerous times I have been told, we'd give you a ride, but we are full. In fact, that's generally response I get when trying to catch a ride. So usually, I take the bus which takes hours to get anywhere. 

It's all much worse, if you are coming from America and are not prepared for this, if your family is used to more space. As I stress often, an aliyah salesman or saleswoman can guilt you into moving to Israel, questioning your idealism for not doing it, but you can't make assumptions about what your family can handle. That you don't have  a right to do.