CPCL #20 • Shabbat Parshat Chayei Sara 5764, contact: aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il Editor: Batsheva Pomerantz, Shabbat Chanuka - Vayeishev 5764, contact: aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il This monthly feature is geared towards encouraging Aliyah... AND encouraging veteran and new Olim to become more involved in encouraging and easing the Aliyah of others. Aloh Na'aleh's Third Conference:
Educating Towards Aliyah A panel of five olim, ranging from very recent to quite veteran, corroborated this fact when discussing their Aliyah. Thankful that they are fulfilling the mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz, they emphasized that living in Israel belongs in another dimension, with this move differing from any other move. They described themselves as being passionate about the step, and overcoming inertia, a factor that prevents many from making Aliyah. These olim who have a successful Aliyah make a positive statement to former community members about life in Israel. Many religious American Jews are passionate about Eretz Yisrael. When it comes to Medinat Yisrael, where certain issues are not so idyllic, that's another story. This was the message of Rabbi Dr. Chaim Brovender, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Ha'Mivtar-Orot Lev, and President of Atid Academy for Torah Initiatives and Directives. Many Jews have the start-up attitude of waiting to see how Medinat Yisrael turns out, instead of the attitude of being there to mold it into the way they would want it to be. "The most important thing for Jews today is to show that it's a project, an undertaking and a challenge, not just a start-up," stated Rabbi Brovender. It is necessary "to insist that there's no difference between Eretz Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael, with an obligation to bring the two closer. This obligation must be assumed passionately. Religious Jews have to come to Eretz Yisrael to make Eretz Yisrael and Medinat Yisrael indistinguishable." Rabbi Dr. Aharon Adler, Rosh Yeshiva of Ner Tamid Yeshiva High School in Hashmonaim, and rabbi of the Ramot Alef, Jerusalem community, sees the lack of education on the mitzvah of yishuv ha'aretz as a factor in why religious American Jews don't put Aliyah on their halachic agenda. Rabbi Adler described how in Western culture one's identify is nurtured by the definition of success in profession and standard of living. "The real Israel (not the one read about in the press) is effervescent with chessed. The challenge of education is to eradicate Western culture - no less difficult than the parting of the Red Sea". Rabbi Adler stressed the importance of infiltrating the school system with the message of Aliyah, and encouraging tourism and pilot trips. Five simultaneous workshops developed strategies to motivate different groups. Among the ideas discussed by the committee to motivate educators were: promoting Bar/Bat Mitzvah trips, summer trips, holding reunions of graduates of the Israeli one-year programs back in the US, and sending entire schools to visit. (Last month the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy of Greater Washington was the trailblazer.) The retiree workshop focused on tackling retirees' interests in medical issues, quality of life and taxation. The workshop for motivating rabbis and their communities discussed having a span of a few years for rabbis and community members to plan and implement their Aliyah, and get the rabbinical organizations more involved. Many participated in the marketing workshop, discussing their motives for Aliyah and how to market the idea to target groups. The participants of the marketing workshop will meet again to develop their ideas. The youth workshop suggested encouraging study in Israel not only in Yeshivot but also in universities and other Jewish Agency programs. They also discussed ways to get one-year students to establish roots instead of living in a North American ghetto during their stay in Israel. Over 100 people, many of them new participants, attended the conference moderated by Elana Rozenman. Those interested in volunteering for Aloh Na'aleh, or providing more suggestions and implementing the above ideas, please contact: aloh-naaleh@aaci.org.il Aloh Na'aleh thanks all the volunteers who helped make the event a success, as well as co-sponsors AACI, Bnei Akiva, OU Israel Center, Council of Y.I. Rabbis, Yavneh Olami and Tehilla. Eretz Yisrael in Our Sources - He who
dwells in the Land of Israel is compared to one who has a G-d, while he who
dwells outside the Land is compared to one who has no G-d. (Ketubot 110) Many teens have written to the monitored bulletin board during their planning stages of Aliyah as well as soon after they arrived in Israel. Aliyah can be particularly difficult for teens and their need for support is strong. Teen-To-Teen matches teenagers who have been through the experience with new olim. Numerous friendships have blossomed over the course of their correspondences. The peer network is a potent tool to help teens cope with their immersion in a new society and to strengthen Jewish community . Many teens have expressed their gratitude for the help they have received from their participation in the website. Teen-To-Teen is a project of an Amutah that was created and maintained by Susan Suna and Sarale Cohen. For further information, please contact: Sarale Cohen, (02) 567-1785, write@ttt.org.il Aliyah Pen Pals - Potential olim can contact David Magence at magence@netvision.net.il for names and addresses of Aliyah pen pals. Aliyah pen pals, listed according to profession, are veteran or recent olim interested in providing assistance. Here to Stay Janet Tur-Malca of Jerusalem combined passion with action during her youth to help make Israel a home for the Jews. I grew up in a strongly Zionist religious home in New York City. Eretz Yisrael was a very important part of our Jewish consciousness. At home, of course, and also in our strongly Zionist Hebrew school, our Hapoel Hamizrachi shul, and in my Shomer Hadati (pre-Bnei Akiva) youth group, the awareness of "Palestine" was a prime factor in shaping our plans for our future. On Shabbat my father spoke only Hebrew. Imperfect, but Hebrew. On the east wall of our dining room were pictures of Jews at the Western Wall and of Rachel's Tomb. As teenagers, our Bnei Akiva groups were actively finding ways to help raise funds for the flood of post-war refugees being brought to pre-state Israel. The older boys would go through the subways collecting money in pushkes. Others would go evenings, especially Saturday nights, to busy corners in Times Square, two of us spreading out our Jewish blue and white flags like a hammock, to catch the coins and bills from passers-by. We even went into bars! In those post-World War II days, unaccompanied females were not permitted in bars, so we went in as couples. People sitting there, some of them half drunk, would scoop up all their change and toss it into lidless coffee cans. We didn't expect that these kind donors would manage the little slot in a pushke. We also arranged to picket the British Embassy, demanding free immigration to Palestine for the hapless Jews from war-torn Europe. I met my husband on a picket line. We knew a woman whose East River
apartment was opposite the Brooklyn dock, across the river from where our
friends would sail away to the re-established State of Israel. She painted "Tzetchem
l'Shalom" in large letters on a big white sheet which she hung on her
balcony whenever a ship left. I enjoyed living in New York, but I could never feel long Jewish roots there for my future. And here in Israel the deep connection in daily life is so obvious, so taken for granted. Just things like the names of streets, cities, schools, even legal courtroom terminology are all from our heritage, from heroes and heroines of our history, ancient and modern. There are even among us, one of them a neighbor, those who are descended from families who had always remained here, who never went into exile. For hundreds of years Jews could only pray and dream, and see only the pictures. We have the reality. I feel like saying "Shehechiyanu" for the privilege of living in this historic generation. And I envy the generations now for whom there has always been a world with the State of Israel. Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter - The Rova by David Magence Licensed Tour Guide During the 19 years of Jordanian occupation, the Jewish Quarter suffered great damage. Immediately after the Old City's liberation in the Six Day War, it was decided to rebuild the Jewish Quarter. Almost every time digging was done for construction, something of archeological interest was discovered, creating a dilemma. While it was important to preserve the ancient, it was necessary to turn the Quarter back into a living quarter. Whenever archeological finds were uncovered during construction, work was suspended and archeologists were given the opportunity to excavate. Upon completing the excavations, the ancient structural remains were covered to protect them, and modern buildings were built above them. Often after completion of construction, ancient remains were again uncovered. Throughout the Jewish Quarter, many archeological sites are literally in the basements of modern buildings. The Herodian Quarter is a striking example of the balance between preserving the ancient together with a modern living quarter. The site includes remains of at least 6 homes from the late Second Temple Period, (when the area was known as the Upper City) and it was Jerusalem's most exclusive residential neighborhood. Each of the homes had at least one mikve. It is likely that among the families living in these homes were kohanim, who had an immediate need for a mikve. A suggestion that the "Mansion" may be the remains of the Hasmonean palace, (ancient sources locate the palace in the Upper City) is an indication that kohanim clearly lived here, since the Hasmonean kings were kohanim. [The Parshat Vai-chi Homepage]
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