Could We Live Here?

I’m enamored and intrigued by those Nefesh B’Nefesh ads that appear here on occasion promoting events that encourage and facilitate aliyah, promoting the idea that American Jews should emigrate to Israel.

I literally love the idea of moving to Israel, but after spending ten days here on several occasions (I’m not saying that’s my limit), Esta and I found ourselves briefly discussing whether or not we could at this stage of our lives (or frankly, at any stage of life), adapt to living in Israel.

For my part, I understand that it is difficult to make a simple and objective assessment of what life in Israel is like because, as tourists, once we arrive, our daily schedule is conducted at such a frenetic pace that is plain and simply exhausting. Of course, it’s not like that when you live here full-time, without the pressure of cramming in all these activities. But some people say it is. Who knows?

Building up and supporting Eretz Yisrael should be a priority on some level for all of us. Back in the late 1980s, I worked at a radio station in New York owned by Salem Media. The programming was mostly Christian-oriented, but they made about seven hours a day available for Jewish programming, which I managed.

My station manager was James DeYoung and we became close friends. After I moved on from there and he left as GM, he and his family actually moved to Israel while we stayed in New York. Jimmy loved Israel, I can tell you that, but his motivations for moving there were far different from what our motivations would have been.

Jimmy’s motivations were Christian-oriented, and I don’t want to go off on a tangent about that now except to say that regardless of the details of why Jimmy settled in Jerusalem, we did not.

Around ten years earlier, I had interviewed Rabbi Meir Kahane, H’yd, founder of the important Jewish Defense League (which we so desperately need again today) on a different radio station. At the time, Rabbi Kahane and his family had made aliyah, but he was back in the States frequently for speaking engagements.

On the program, we were taking calls from listeners when a woman called to say that her daughter and her family had made aliyah and they were complaining about a shortage of meat and eggs at that time in Israel. The rabbi became indignant and raised his voice somewhat, saying: “We’re building the Jewish home! So, you won’t eat meat, you won’t eat eggs. You’ll survive!”

Thankfully today there’s plenty of meat and eggs in Israel. That’s no longer an obstacle at any level to making aliyah. In fact, with the creation and advent of Nefesh B’Nefesh, there are hardly any obstacles or hurdles in the way of making one’s home in Israel nowadays. Since its creation, Nefesh B’Nefesh recently marked a major milestone of facilitating 50,000 people to make aliyah.

One of the young families I know that made aliyah through Nefesh B’Nefesh last year was that of Jeffrey and Meira Goldgrab, formerly of Boca Raton, Florida. Jeffrey worked as executive director of the popular and well-known Boca Raton Synagogue [See: The Possible Dream, 5TJT, August 27, 2025]. He and his wife Meira and their children ages, 11, 9, 7, and 4—two boys and two girls—are all adjusting well to the cultural change of moving to Israel, and Jeffrey adds that his four-year-old has taken on the Hebrew language so well that she often serves as translator if he finds himself stuck inside a difficult Hebrew conversation.

Jeffrey further explains that the children in his estimation have experienced a remarkable transformation. He says they’ve adjusted well socially and have become quite independent.

Goldgrab adds that they’ve made it a point to give their children a real love of Israel. And they’ve recently explored many different sites around the country so they will grow up with a better understanding and appreciation of the history and culture of the Jewish homeland.

Whether on the radio or on these pages during the last 26 years, we’ve often featured stories about aliyahexperiences. So, what about us? Especially in the aftermath of spending an immensely enjoyable Sukkos yom tov in Israel. Of course, I have more than just a few friends who’ve made aliyah over the last 50 years. One of them I grew up with and went to high school with, Shalom Pollack, called me when he heard I was in Israel to see if I would like to accompany him to see the Hilltop Youth (No’ar HaGva’ot) and all they have accomplished in the Shomron, a vital part of Judea and Samaria.

We didn’t end up meeting this time, but one of the things he told me was that the area of Shomron dominated by the Hilltop Youth is a greater area than where currently hundreds of thousands of Jews reside.

I remember when Shalom told me that he was moving to Israel. I thought it was a great and admirable thing to do, but I couldn’t really break it down any further or internalize it.

I loved sitting in the radio studio talking with Rabbi Kahane, looking him in the eyes and agreeing with him about the sacrifice required to make aliyah.

Sometimes I think that considering that my dad came to the U.S. as a teenager from Belarus and my in-laws were the sole survivors of large Jewish families from Poland, perhaps they needed a rest from all the intercontinental drama. But that didn’t stop other members of the family from picking up and making that bold decision to move to Israel.

Yet, I’ve often thought that we have too much of a tourist orientation regarding Israel. You can’t understand what living in Israel is really like by strolling through the Mamilla Mall every day. That’s the Israeli equivalent of being in Times Square every day. Who would want to live there?

I admire the people I know who have been able to make aliyah work. I consider it a personal disappointment and even something of a failure that we haven’t made aliyah. Perhaps we could have done it at some point or maybe some of our grandchildren will still make the move someday. We need to have an open mind because when it comes to Israel, there’s so much to consider and so much to deeply love. 

Read more of Larry Gordon’s articles at 5TJT.com. Follow 5 Towns Jewish Times on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for updates and live videos. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome at 5TJT.com and on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.