Monday, March 16, 2009

בס''ד

Erez Yisroel is Calling You!

Israel is in the news everyday. We are just a small country surrounded by enemies who want to see our destruction. I fear for my country. Our precious homeland has known many wars in our short 60 years of the modern state. Politics is the most popular discussion, every citizen and non citizen has an opinion....and of course all kids play soccer and/or basketball.


Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people and we must always be the majority.

Israel has too double its population. We have room for every Jew. Aliyah is the only answer.

On May 31st, 1994, my family made Aliyah. During the past fifteen years our lives have been enriched in many ways.

We notice things that we never noticed before, even though they were in front of our face. We don’t have any more money than we had in the ‘old country’, but we always have B"H what we need. We have an appreciation for rain. We appreciate the quiet. We just went through a war. I love to look at the perfect blue sky sometimes with soft white clouds.

When you walk the streets of the old city in Jerusalem or Beer Sheva....you know this is where Avraham Avinu walked. I live in Netivot and the original old city where Avraham Avinu lived is just 5 kms. away. Today, it is a nature park with a small stream where families go to picnic, hike and just relax. My grandchildren love to go to the ‘forest’. Sometimes if you are lucky and dig down a little in the earth you will find artifacts from biblical times.

There are many only in Israel stories.... interesting things that happen only in Israel.

-like the time when my brother was living at the Merkaz Klita in Kiryat Arba. He was sitting in the front seat of the bus when the bus was rocked by arabs throwing boulders. My brother had is arms crossed across his chest when a boulder flew through the front window and broke both his arms. After receiving medical attention, my sister-in-law asked if there was any compensation he could claim as he couldn’t work....the clerk said nonchalantly, “are you crazy, just be happy it wasn’t his head.”

-or the time when Avraham & I were sitting on a very full bus. A lady we didn’t know got on from the back door with an infant. She plopped the baby in my arms, yes literally plopped her baby and said she was going to the front to pay. Just imagine if this would happen in North America?

-or the time when we were living in Modi’in and across the street from a very large supermarket in the middle of the city was an empty field. We watched in amazement as the Bedouins' brought their goats, sheep and cows to graze in the field. The animals would sometimes break away and run along the busy thrufare. One time there was a posting on the Modi'in e-mail list. The subject line simply was... this is not a joke posting. The city is looking for people to help round-up the cows because they ran away and were seen on different city streets.

-where Christmas lights and tinsel are used to decorate the Sukka.

But the best only in Israel story is.....traffic lights everywhere in the world are red, yellow and green. Red means to stop, yellow slow down and green to go. Only in Israel does yellow mean to speed up before the light turns red. I guess that is why Israelis are horrible drivers.

Making Aliyah is a difficult decision. It affects every member of your family. Living in Israel is both a honour and priviledge.

I wrote a short poem called
Erez Yisroel is Calling You!

Jews of the world......
Erez Yisroel, the land of our people
is yearning for you.
This Holy land, a gift from Hashem
needs it’s children to come home.

You say, “how can I leave my city,
my job, my home, my security.
My family and friends will miss me so much
to go to a land with such uncertainties.”

“Where will I live?
Where will I work?
And to learn a new language
oy vay, oy vay
this pressure, I do not need.”

Our Holy land needs more Jews
to settle and populate.
The world thinks Israel is a puppet on a string
and our bitter enemy deserves our land.
Jews of the world, your country is calling YOU!

The One Above gave us this land
not to give away.
G-D forbid,
if we don’t populate
in years to come
we will be a minority in own homeland.

It’s up to you
Jews of the world
to fulfill the prophecy
Erez Yisroel, the homeland of the Jewish people
is here for now and all eternally.

Feel free to comment and pass around.

Miriam