OTD

The OTD problem is much worse for olim in Israel than it is for anybody in America. Why? Because olim are immigrants and “Immigration is never good for the Jews.” I never met an American that just packed up and moved to a foreign country whose language he didn't speak, where he didn't have family or a job, that had a higher cost of living, that was many steps down culturally, socially, medically, and economically, that has a mandatory draft of three years, that is a much more stressful place to live. I know one or two that moved to Mexico, without children, where the cost of living is way lower, where people are accepting and friendly, where the pace of life is way slower, where they are not an ocean away from home. But Israel? It's across the sea. And the Torah tells us that you do not have to cross the sea. But Modern Orthodox rabbis, and that includes people like Yitzchok Berkowitz, convince innocent BTs that its their religious duty to move to Israel. And BTs are easily manipulated. 

The aliyah fetish is like Christianity. They toss away the mitzvos so they have no way to connect to God, so they try to represent Him with something tangible, in their case a man. With Zionism, the replacement is a place, a flag, young men and women in green army fatigues. That gives people the false impression that they are experiencing something spiritual.

The parents live in fantasy. The children suffer from the reality of their parents' foolish choices.