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

Last night I met yet another man whose marriage fell apart in SSOI. It shouldn't be surprising. Don't they tell us that money is the biggest cause of martial strife? Well, in SSOI it's hard to earn a living. People get low level jobs, lose them, don't work for 6 months, get another low level job.  Yet the cost of living is higher. Real estate is roughly the price of that of Metro New York, but for half the living quarters. For $500,000, you get three small cruddy rooms in an apartment. And of course, in SSOI you make a third the salary of New York, and that's if you speak fluent Hebrew and had a skill that transfers over. Most people make 1/5th the salary or less! Gee, you think this might cause marital problems? But not only that, you live in tiny apartments, on top of each other. You don't have a room to escape to. Even your room is taken up by beds and a standing closet, because Israeli apartments don't come with built in closets.  You might not have a ca...

  "One thing, my father was not a Zionist despite what the Mizrachi may say. They have The Rav Speaks, c'v'yochel, which is a story in itself. If you are talking about Cultural Zionism, he thought it was ridiculous. The Torah was given in Chutzeh l'Aretz, the Babli was in Chutzeh l'Aretz, all the Rishonim were in Chutzeh l'Aretz. What are you talking about? If you are talking about the political framework, which existed in a shtetl, being a minority, in an alien society, obviously had to change. And you needed a state.  Jews needed a state. That's a political statement. From the point of view of the need of a state that will always be open to Jews (that) was perfectly clear to him. But in terms of cultural Zionism, he thought it was beneath contempt. I can only say I was not brought up in a Zionist home.  Ahavas Ha'Aretz is one thing. Zionism is something else."  Dr. Haym Soloveitchik, "Haym Soloveitchik: How Modernity Changed Our Relationship...

  I have talked about the American dentist, an aliyah pusher, who I consulted with before moving to ssoi. Dentists are doctors. They study for years. They give medical care. So I asked him about the medical care in ssoi and of course he lied, like all aliyah pushers. He gave me the impression that the medical care is on par with that of America.  And as it turns out, it isn't even close. Mammogram? 4-month wait.  Same with surgery on a toe. Same with an MRI or a sonogram. My friend had severe stomach pains. He said he feared he was dying. 4 month wait. That's on par?  So a woman I know who has been sick all week had trouble with her eyes on Shabbos. They were swollen, and bloodshot, and burning. You don't take chances with the eyes. But her city of 150,000 people doesn't have a hospital. It also doesn't have emergency care that is close by. There was something in Ezrat Achim which is an organization that provides bus services to the far away hospitals along with a f...

That's the standard comment of aliyah pushers when hearing a critique of their little country. And it's a typically moronic comment uttered by people who tend to make moronic comments.  Is it so simple? You came with a lift after securing an apartment. Maybe you own your apartment now if you happen to have had $800,000 in cash sitting around or could fork over the 40% down payment after finding a decent job even though you don't speak Hebrew. You are exhausted from the move to SSOI and from your ordeal here. Do you have the strength to head back, do you have the money to rent something in America, to hire another lift? Or will you leave everything behind? What will you leave behind? What about your grandfather's dresser? What about your library? Can you children deal with that? Can they deal with another change? You just moved them across the ocean? Now you'll move them back again?  Do they have the strength to deal with it? These are some of the factors involved. A...

Jews for eons have operated under the presumption that we are superior to the gentiles. This is meant spiritually and morally. It is not meant when it comes to goshmiyus. The whole idea of Esav is that he has olam hazeh. He has the big armies and the tall buildings. We have Torah. That's the religious outlook. But Zionists being materialistic people for the most part take this notion and apply it physically. Most Zionists are interested in the goshmiyus of Israel. While they falsely claim that people in Chutz don't move here because they can't give up their luxuries -- as if everybody in Chutz is living in luxury, actually, it's the people who move to Israel who tended to live better -- it is they who are materialistic because they have converted the entire religion to materialism: our own army, our own legislature,  our own roads, etc. And they assume since Jews are superior (really only morally, religiously - religious Jews that is)  that we are superior materially to...

I have talked about broken phones, clocks, sinks, smoke alarms, refrigerators, water coolers, water heaters, showers, Internet connections, phone connections, doors, light fixtures, and kitchen cabinets, keyboards, and ripped pants. I have talked about the high price of appliances, apartments, and automobiles. What about the stuff you can't even buy here? And that's not even the "modern conveniences" that Rabbi Hershel Schachter promises. I'm talking about a portable mechitza (room divider) for a shul. We looked for three years. I even spent a day in Tel Aviv looking in the handful of office supply stores. We couldn't find them anywhere and resorted to hanging disposable table covers from the old COVID plastic sheet lines that the government forced us to hang in the shuls years ago. It was a real pain in the neck setting them up every week for kiddush on Shabbos. Finally, after years, one guy found something. Same with wall mounted paper holders for displaying...

 Compare and contrast ssoi: The articles concern interrogation of a terrorist, a fallen soldier, airstrikes killing alleged terrorists in Gaza, Hamas and government after the military conflict is over, Hezbollah and terrorism, shooting victim, hostages, police commissioner vows vengeance on terrorists, more on killing terrorists, gunshots in Hebron. Every article about the secular state of israel is stressful and deals with violence. There are only two articles not concerning Israel: death toll from earthquake in China and elections in Lebanon.  The articles concern Gaza, military alert with Iran, Hezbollah and terrorism, a fallen soldier, hostages, Hamas, and the IDF soldier accused of war crimes in Brazil. In other words, war, war, war = stress. Cleveland, Ohio: You think of it as not one of the nicest American cities. You picture crime and rot as an example of the rust belt. (This is a myth by the way. It's a nice city.) But what's here in the news:  Data centers boomi...

  State to High Court: From 2026, IDF can recruit Haredim without restrictions The IDF will be able to recruit 3000 ultra-Orthodox soldiers in 2025, and starting in 2026, there will be no limit on the recruitment of ultra-Orthodox soldiers into the army, according to a document submitted by the state to the High Court of Justice on Wednesday morning. The state's position, submitted by Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, comes ahead of a Wednesday hearing in the Supreme Court.  From 2026, IDF can recruit Haredim without restrictions - The Jerusalem Post The Chazon Ish and many other gadolim have said that a Jew should give up his life rather than subject himself to the heresy of the israeli army.  Yitzchok Breitowitz of Yeshivas Ohr Somayach, who was raised Modern Orthodox and now pretends to be Yeshivish, says, foolishly, that you need a good excuse for not living in Israel. Where there are many good "excuses," but certainly this news about the draft is another one....

I didn't realize how good I had it in America. I never knew what it was like to be hated just for being part of a group. That's frowned upon in America. In Israel, it's a daily occurrence. I guess the problem starts with the hatred of Arabs. That practices everyone to despise another group. Once you do that, you'll do it to your own. It's remarkable that a country which many people claim to be justified because of the treatment by the Nazis has so many people that use the insults of the Nazis on their own.  You know the words. Parasite. Dirty. Enemies of the state. That's what they say about the Charedim. You could find those words in many a speech in Nuremburg. And it's not just non-religious people. The Dati Leumi do this. I know a few of them who regularly describe Charedim as dirty. The mikvahs have hair in them. They are filthy I am told.  But it's not true. I can't go around taking pictures of mikvas obviously. But I'm pretty finicky about ...

I hope that y ou realize by now that every utterance of aliyah pushers is a manipulation. So one of their tricks is the line that "the first year is hell." That suggests that you ignore all the evidence you are encountering about life in the SSOI and rather than leave you stay on. The suggestion is that magically - and magic is the key word - it will all get better and it will be worth it. This manipulative line takes other forms. "Don't even mention going back," is a line I heard from another yenta. I ask, "Why not?" You are not obligated to live in the land of Israel. If it is going to destroy your family, you should consider going back. Another line I heard, this time from a school principal, a very arrogant American, is "Only losers can't make it here." These are the kinds of people you encounter when you move to SSOI. They are not idealists. They are idiots. Here's a different approach to the subject. Your initial experiences are...