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From: shg@pyuxu.UUCP (S Gamoran)
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Aliyah
Message-ID: <593@pyuxu.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 16-May-84 10:39:46 EDT
Article-I.D.: pyuxu.593
Posted: Wed May 16 10:39:46 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 17-May-84 03:53:14 EDT
Organization: Bell Communications Research, Piscataway N.J.
Lines: 56

I am b'ezrat hashem going to Israel this fall (you should have already
seen the notice last week putting my house up for sale - it's still
available!). I have accepted a one year appointment to the Weizmann
Institute as a visiting scientist in the computing center. Our intention
is to use that year to find a permanent job, decide where to live, etc.

What with all the discussion about Yom Ha'Atzmaut and Aliyah, I thought
I might post something about why we are going.

First of all, some NOT the reasons we are going:

1. Money - I make 3 times as much here as I will make there (gross, net
after taxes is even worse). The Israeli economy is as bad as ever. We
will definitely have a lower standard of living in Israel.

2. Jewish environment - Those who know Highland Park/Edison understand that
there is no dearth of Jewish life here. Even at work my group last year
consisted of 3 shomrei Shabbat and one non-jew. Half the supervisors and
our district manager are Jewish and sympathetic to needs such as Shabbat and
Yom Tov. Yes, we have kosher food at the annual picnic.

But there are some things that are missing, and these are what drives us to
pick up and leave.

1. Being Jewish is the norm in Israel. Yes, the majority of Israelis are
non-observant but in Israel there is a different quality even to that.
The Jewish holidays are national holidays, stores close on Shabbat. A story
to illustrate: I was sitting on a bus from Tel Aviv to Rehovot at 5:30AM
one day last January. I very moved by the fact that the radio station begins
their broadcast day with Kriyat Shma.

2. Every day we pray for the return to Jerusalem. At the seder we say next
year in Jerusalem. I find it hypocritical to sing that and really intend to
stay here. Besides, for the forst time in 2,000 years I really can go to
Jerusalem and all for getting up the courage to do it.

3. My son, Natan, will learn to speak Hebrew as a native language. This
also has not happened for 2,000 years.

4. My wife, Roxane, would like to go back to work. She is a meteorologist,
a profession which demands around-the-clock work and rotating shifts. She
got hassled to death by the government weather bureau about Shabbat and Yom Tov.
Its also been impossible for her to work with the baby. In Israel she can get
a job without the Shabbat hassles. She will also be better able to find
child care since most mothers work.

I could go on, but I don't want to take up any more disk space and
transmission time. One favor, anyone who has some practical advice for us -
please mail it to me or post it to the net. Bear in mind that we will have
a furnished apartment for the first year so we aren't shipping all that much
now (but we plan to in a year).

          Hayom kaf-tet yamim la'omer shehem arba shavuot v'yom echad la'omer
          Sam Gamoran (pyuxu!shg)
          Bellcore
          981-6320