Our Aliyah Chronicle

From time to time I will get an e‑mail from a reader commenting upon something I have written. Sometimes, when I have taken a strong stand on something, I get several e‑mails. Other times, I may get a single comment on a point I made or an experience I related that really hit home with a particular reader. I enjoy these e‑mails (even the nasty ones) because it tells me that people are reading and considering what I have to say.
Occasionally, I may even interject a comment in a later article based upon constructive criticism I may have gotten from readers. I remember a specific case where I had used a broad label to identify a small group of people and it was reader feedback that prompted me to be more specific in subsequent columns. However, this might be only the second or third time I have ever quoted a reader e‑mail, and certainly the first time I am quoting one in its entirety.
For the past few years, I have written a special column for Parashat Shelach, extolling a list of ten reasons that you should follow in our footsteps and come live in Israel. A couple of times I have mentioned the benefit of a single day of yom tov, or in this year’s case, the lack of multiple three-day chagim and/or having to prepare a second Seder, etc.
In response to that column, I received the following e‑mail (quoted with permission from the writer, who was willing to include their name, but whom I will refer to as Mrs. S. (not her real last initial):
“I recently read an article of yours in which you list reasons for making aliyah. While your reasons are quite compelling, there was one reason listed that our family always considers the one sad thing about making aliyah and that is the less yom tov days celebrated.
“While we look forward one day to live in Eretz Yisrael, during every yom tov that we celebrate in galut, we end up mentioning how if we would already be in Eretz, we would have a day less and we can’t imagine how hard it would be. During Pesach, we cannot imagine only having one Seder. While we often enter the first Seder quite tired from all the preparation, we are always thrilled to know that we will have a second one the next night, which, after our yom tov naps, we enjoy even more.
“We cannot imagine Shavuot being one day. Our first day of Shavuot is spent half asleep, as the men (and sometimes the girls) have spent the whole night learning. We can’t imagine the loss of not having a second day when everyone is more awake to enjoy the yom tov meal and shiurim that take place that day. We can’t imagine how the seriousness of Shemini Atzeret and the joyfulness of Simchat Torah have to be combined into just one day.
“Please do not be upset with me for my suggestion that perhaps your yom tov celebration is missing something if you conceive that less yom tov is a wonderful advantage.
“May all your yomim tovim be an inspiration and a source of spiritual growth and may we meet soon B’eretz HaKedoshah.
“Have a wonderful summer.”
Mrs. S
At first glance, I was intrigued by this e‑mail. Although it is a bit condescending and insinuates that I have less spiritual connection to the chagim than Mrs. S and her family, it does seem to raise a point that might have merit. After all, additional yom tov time does indeed mean an ability to experience Shemini Atzeret and Simchat Torah separately as well as some of the other benefits Mrs. S. spells out. I myself have written about how shortchanged I feel after Shavuot because the chag is over so quickly.
However, after the first 30 seconds or so, I realized what self-serving drivel this e‑mail really was. Seeing through the veil of spirituality, it dawned upon me that this attitude is yet another example of the self-excusing galut mentality that people use to justify why they stay in the USA. I am not saying that there are not legitimate reasons for people to be in chutz la’aretz. I am saying that if you have to do so, at least be honest about it and not wrap yourself up in a cloak of spirituality while pitying us in Israel for our “handicap.”
Mrs. S. “cannot imagine” (as she puts it several times) having one day of Shavuot or combining the spirituality of Shemini Atzeret with the joyfulness of Simchat Torah, among other things. Well, I know someone who can imagine it. G‑d.
After all, didn’t He establish the chagim as a single day? Did He not establish that Shavuot be one day and that Shemini Atzeret be one day? If so, I am fairly confident that He knew what he was doing a lot better than we do. Or are you really trying to say that he was in error when he set them up and that the galut way is better??
Even our chol ha’moed is more spiritual. After all, we get to go to Birkat Kohanim at the Kotel with thousands of other kohanim, while you get to go to the New York Hall of Science or the Long Island Children’s Museum or whatever. We get to teach our kids a hands-on lesson in the laws of terumah and ma’aser in our visit to the orange orchard/family fun park while you get to enjoy Adventureland. Our chol ha’moed, just like our daily lives, are filled with the history and kedushah of our people and our land. Chag here does last for the entire seven days. It is only yom tov that is one day.
Yes, Mrs. S., I do take offense to your assertion that you value yom tov more than I. But, I understand why you think so. It is because life in galut is so devoid of a connection to chag that yom tov is the only way you can connect to it. We in Israel have Birkat Kohanim every day of the year and you have it only on yom tov and perhaps that is exemplary of the true reason that you yearn for additional yom tov days. What we have here every single day simply because we live here is something that you can only have on yom tov and that is why you cherish it all the more.
So Mrs. S., I respond to you that rather than suggesting that my “yom tov celebration is missing something,” you should perhaps consider that your entire life is missing something. I get to celebrate yom tov the way that Hashem established it (well, as much as possible without a Beit HaMikdash). I have the privilege of combining the seriousness of Shemini Atzeret with the joyfulness of Simchat Torah, while sadly you do not. Rather than slave away to prepare two Seders, my wife gets to enjoy the Seder without having to be tired from all the preparations.
As for everyone else, I realize that aliyah is difficult (and it really is) and, as Shlomo HaMelech has taught us, there is a time for aliyah as well— and this might not be the right time for you. Yet, I hope and pray that you still yearn for it, that you understand that there is something missing from your life in galut, and that you hope and pray, as I do, that we all have the merit and privilege of experiencing a true yom tov and complete chag with aliyah l’regel and the performance of the proper yom tov avodah/korbanot in the rebuilt Beit HaMikdash.

Shmuel Katz his wife Goldie, and their six children made aliyah in July of 2006. Prior to his aliyah, Shmuel was the executive director of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett. You can contact him at shmuel@katzfamily.co.il.