Get to Know: Sherri

What has been your biggest challenge in your preparations to move to Israel?

“Shipping organization and costs.”

What do you perceive your greatest needs/concerns will be once living in Israel?

“Finding enough work.”

Have you or anyone in your household experienced antisemitism?

“Yes, of course, sadly. I am 63 years old, and first heard ‘dirty Jew’ on the playground at age 9. I had experienced it in the workplace once when informing my new boss that I would be off in order to observe the High Holy Days of Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur…only to be told she would first need to check her calendar! I have heard the expressions of ‘being Jewed down’ in business, and of course, witnessed the recent vandalism to a shul (synagogue) in my neighborhood in L.A., as well as the shul of close friends in San Diego, which resulted in tragic shootings and death. I never remembered things like this in America growing up. My mom came from Europe after the war in 1948, so it’s especially frightening and alarming.”

Please give your reasons for making Aliyah, and some details of your story:

“I am making Aliyah for a variety of reasons, but primarily because if I don’t go now, I will miss this beautiful window of opportunity to see my grandchildren grow up; to know them and speak to them, hold them, go to the park with them, and have them come to see “Savta Sherri” anytime, instead of once a year.

HaShem has bestowed upon me the biggest blessing in my lifetime to have grandchildren…if I don’t go now, it would be a certainty that I would grow old and look back at my life wondering why didn’t I go while I was young and healthy.

This is my time to enjoy life as a grandma, a Jewish woman in Israel, being surrounded by the joy that our history, holidays, and my faith bring me with those that I love. I have had to wait for an opportunity to have an extreme surgery that has now enabled me to go with strength and a new lease on life.

A number of years ago just after 9/11, my parents, children and I, traveled to New York to pay respects and visit family. My Dad is from Brooklyn, and I was born there as well, so we went to visit and tour the Ellis Island museum/memorial where we have my paternal grandparent’s names inscribed on the memorial wall. While inside, I remember seeing the various large pictures all around of actual immigrants from all parts of the world that had passed through Ellis Island during those times of mass immigration. Each photo had next to it a description of who it was, where they were from and a bit about their experience coming to America. One particular photo left a strong and lasting impression on me; the photo was described as someone’s grandfather coming from Europe to this new country just after the Holocaust.

He had lost everything (and most likely, everyone), but being too proud to come to America with nothing, he traveled with an empty suitcase. I too, am going with a bit of an empty suitcase. I, too have lost much these last 10 years, except my faith and my Judaism. I travel with that always wherever I go, so in reality, when I think about what I’m taking, and who I’ll be with upon arrival in Israel, please G-d, I am very, very rich indeed!

I don’t profess to be any type of Torah scholar by any means, but the Parshah of the Shabbat just before I leave is ‘Lech Lecha’ and the first words are (to paraphrase just a bit) “And G-d said to Abraham, leave your land, and the place of your birth, and the home of your father, to the land which I will show you.” I am informed and prepared and familiar enough with much of Israel and Israeli life, but with just enough naiveté to be wide open to this beautiful life and new adventure awaiting me in “ha Haretz!”

Get to Know: Brandon & Family

What has been your biggest challenge in your preparations to move to Israel?

“My biggest challenge is making all the finances work for our move and reestablishing my career in Israel.”

What do you perceive your greatest needs/concerns will be once living in Israel?

“Our greatest need once in Israel will be to secure a proper income. We’ll need to get a car and set up our business.”

Have you or anyone in your household experienced antisemitism?

“I experienced ridicule as a child and my wife was harassed violently through elementary and middle school. Our neighborhood in Brooklyn now is experiencing periodic violence. Recently I’ve had negative experiences on the trains going to and from work with shouts and uncomfortable profiling and my children have experienced harassment on the playground.”

Please give your reasons for making Aliyah, and some details of your story:

“My wife and I feel deeply drawn to the Land of Israel at this time in our lives. It hit us this winter just after Hanukkah and has been quickly becoming a reality. Aliyah has been an ongoing discussion over the years and we feel that we should move this year before our children grow any older so as to allow them to form childhood friendships in Israel that will lead to adolescent and adult lasting relationships.

My family comes from a village outside of Minsk in Belarus and from the city of Budapest, Hungary. My great-grandparents moved from Europe to North America before the WWI. From Belarus to Toronto and from Budapest to New York City. My great-grandfather moved his family from Toronto to New York City sometime after serving as a soldier for the Canadian army during WWI.

Secularization and WWII was hard on my family. My grandfathers stopped practicing religion after fighting in the war. Who can say what seeing such atrocities can do to the mind? Our family in Europe was gathered and slaughtered in death camps. We know of none that escaped.

After three generations of irreligious life, my uncles, aunts, and cousins all became secular and married secular non-Jews. My grandmother pleaded, ‘No matter what happens we’ll be happy, but please marry a Jew.’ I’m the only grandchild in this generation from both sides to do so. I had always had a faithful heart and my mind sought G-d even without a rabbi to instruct me, or knowledge of anything Jewish, aside from the few pieces of wisdom my grandparents shared from time to time. I hadn’t seen a Hebrew letter until I began learning for my Bar Mitzvah that I initiated on my own at the age of 18 (better late than never!).

It was a blessing growing up in northwest Montana in a non-observant loving home, but was somewhat isolating spiritually. Life was financially difficult for us, but we grew or bartered for most of what we needed to eat and lived a modern, land-connected lifestyle, but without any real religious connection aside from a belief in G-d. I had a wholesome surrounding of non-Jewish friends that were either of Christian faith or secular, many of whom I remain in touch with today. They were always supportive of my search for my Jewish identity. The only Jews I knew were my immediate family, grandparents, and uncles. When I was eighteen, I met the few other Jewish families in my area, and shortly after made my way to Israel where I prayed to start my life anew.

After staying for several months in Israel, I decided to attend an ultra-orthodox rabbinic seminary, but we will be moving to the Golan Heights where we plan to acquire land to farm blueberries for Israeli consumption and on which to establish an agricultural education center. I’ve been in touch with schools in that region that see my project as an exciting addition to the educational infrastructure of the region. I’m now in the process of working with a small group that is founding a new religious school in the Golan Heights town of Katzrin where we will live. Over the next six months or more of organization, please Hashem, I hope to teach in this school. There’s also a need for a special education program there and a general need for overall development. My business partner (who is making Aliyah this year as well) and I are launching an organization that will assist with planning, staffing, and funding projects that range from agricultural development and public land management to educational and inter-group relations programming.

Thank G-d, the Lord has been good to us. Even with all the struggles we deal with financially, we’ve managed here in Brooklyn and things are improving. It seems crazy to move to another country and start over. A friend of mine told me on Pesach that the whole idea just doesn’t make any sense and that’s why he likes it! It’s a leap of faith and a trust in G-d that this is the path for us as a family. My mom, though I’ll miss her and see her less, said that she believes this is the best thing we could do, and I believe our G-dly mission leads us there. I’ve thought only to live in Israel from the time I was a child and to help make the Holy Land a place that reflects the glory of His might.”