The Possible Dream

By: Larry Gordon

Last week we did an in-depth look into the life of a single Israeli soldier who spent 18 months defending Israel in Gaza. As with most soldiers, he completed his military stint for the most part physically unscathed.

Last week, Nefesh B’Nefesh sponsored their first charter flight since October 7, 2023. It’s important to note that since October 7, over 7,000 Jews from around the world have made aliyah. In most cases, it might seem counterintuitive to uproot your family from life in the U.S. and move to Israel, a country that is at war on multiple fronts, but new olim keep defying the odds in an incredible display of optimism and unconditional love.

Jeffrey and Meira Goldgrab and their family in Israel

Today we are focusing on one family that has made that decision with the same level of determination, optimism, and love. We met the Goldgrabs in Boca Raton and became familiar with the important role they played in the evolution of Jewish life in that part of Florida.

Jeffrey Goldgrab served as executive director of the Boca Raton Synagogue and played a vital role in managing the disparate members of the community under the leadership of Rabbi Efrem Goldberg, who for the last decade has become an influential and high-profile Orthodox Jewish leader and spiritual leader of a changing Boca Raton.

Jeffrey, together with his wife, Meira, and their four children, ages 3 to 10, have taken the giant step of making aliyah after what he calls a “thought process” that took three years from conception until they finally boarded the flight to Israel.

“It’s something that was always on our minds, and that is to make Israel our home,” said Jeffrey. He explains that it was important to make the move at this juncture because the experts point out that the best age to make aliyah for a child is below the age of ten, which is the exact age of Goldgrab’s oldest child.

Jeffrey, 37, and his wife Meira, 36, are not just doing an important thing for their personal lives. Like so many young people who make aliyah, they are an inspiration to their family and friends. And you don’t even have to know them personally to find their move inspiring.

At this period in the history of Israel, making aliyah is inspiring on a number of levels. On one level, it’s just a decision made by one young Jewish-American family to settle in their ancient homeland. On another level, when Jews make aliyah it sends a loud and clear message to the world: that Israel is the Jewish homeland and the Jewish people are committed to building a safe, strong, prosperous home. Make no mistake, people are watching, and they note the strength of that unbreakable attachment the Jewish people have for the land of Israel.

In fact, the attempts to globally isolate Israel may have backfired. Jeffrey confides that one of his primary motivations to make aliyah at this time was precisely because of the international community’s efforts to ostracize Israel and the Jewish people.

The interesting aspect about aliyah is the way it unfolds on two levels simultaneously. On one level you have the international statement of solidarity and unity among the Jewish people and with Israel. On another level, making aliyah is a deeply personal decision that deals with all the personal and familial aspects about what it means to uproot a family and replant them in another country six thousand miles away.

After years of living in Boca Raton, the Goldgrabs have now settled in Bet Shemesh. Jeffrey is pursuing leads for a position similar to the type of work he has been doing up to this point. He certainly has a great résumé and comes with the highest qualifications and references. Meira worked as a nurse back in Florida and continues to work in a similar capacity, but in an online version for now.

For the last few years, the couple has worked at Camp HASC in the Catskills where they met families that would come for the summer to work at the internationally famous camp that caters to developmentally disabled young people. As a result, Jeffrey and Meira explain that their children already have friends who live in Israel, so making the move was just a matter of picking up where they left off during the summer.

There are numerous challenges that a family like this has to deal with once they settle into everyday life in Israel. Perhaps one of the greatest obstacles is the language barrier. The Goldgrabs relate that the educational experts involved in this process say that a child’s scholastic performance at this point is not the most important aspect. Even though they are young, the children receive the full 12-hour program of instruction at the Ulpan, which teaches them how to think, learn, and speak comfortably in Hebrew.

Like so many other aspects of aliyah, the full process of becoming absorbed into Israel takes time to complete. In reality, it’s probably not accurate to write that the goal of the process is to finish. One thing is certain, there is something unique about being able to get on a plane with all your earthly belongings, fly thousands of miles, and find yourself living in a community that is not much different from the community you left behind, which is just one of the magical dimensions of aliyah.

That is the uniqueness of the special attachment the Jewish people have for the land of Israel. Wherever a Jew goes, he is somehow either in Israel or all he has to do is close his eyes and recite a prayer and a significant dimension of Eretz Yisrael is already in him.

So, for the past three years, the Goldgrabs were focused on making Israel home. Jeffrey is job-hunting. He has some good leads and will hopefully land one soon. Meira is doing what she knows best in healthcare. The children are preparing to start school, with part of the day in English and part in Hebrew.

More than anything else, it’s a beautiful dream come true for the Goldgrabs and the people of Israel.

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.