Haaretz Hatovah

Inspiration and Purpose Yehoshua Wiseman, Beis Yisroel, Yerushalayim   The blossoming of this Land of HaShem is a source of inspiration for me. It can be in the fields, by the trees, around the streams of water. In can be of the new Jewish homes being built, both the ones made of brick and mortar and the ones made of [...]

Frum Farm Dreams Can Come True Naomi Elbinger, Ramat Beit Shemesh   “Jewish girls don’t live on farms.” When Mum said this to me, there was an undertone of panic in her voice that I wasn’t used to hearing from my easy-going, upbeat mother. I knew she had nothing against farming, though it was a rather whimsical life-goal for a [...]

A New Makom Torah R' Dovid Hillel Bricks, HaCarmel, Chaifa (Haifa)   Between the ages of six and eighteen, I lived with my family in Migdal HaEmek. We had first come from New York to Moshav Matityahu, an agricultural moshav at the time, where we lived for about a year and a half, before moving to Rav Nachman Bulman zt”l's [...]

We All Get Along Mindy Meyer, Rasko, Nof HaGalil   Between our engagement and chasuna, we scoured the entire Eretz Yisroel to find a place to live which would suit our preferences. I personally love traveling around to see different places here, and it’s very empowering to know that each daled amos is also a mitzvah. I wanted a yishuv, while my husband was [...]

Not Just A Spectator Yedidya B., Yerushalayim   B”H, I am happily raising my family in Yerushalayim, making a living running a business I started, and learning Torah as well. Honestly, though, all of this is not something I take for granted. I grew up in a regular American yeshivish home in a frum community in New Jersey. I am fortunate to have ended [...]

Growth In – And Acceptance Of – A Different Culture And System Rachamim Schwab, Tel Tzion   Though I am now acclimated to the Israeli system, it was a gradual process. When I first got here as a bochur, I was basically living in a “little America.” I started out in a very American yeshivah (Derech); shiurim I attended were in English, and [...]

Haaretz Hatovah Real Life Stories and Experiences of Yidden Settling in Eretz Yisroel. Two Sides Of One Land Feivel A., Ramat Eshkol, Yerushalayim I grew up in Los Angeles as an ordinary frum kid, no different than many others on the block. My parents often spoke lovingly and longingly about Eretz Yisroel. We actually visited the Holy Land a few [...]

A Better Focus   Shmuel Diamond, Sanhedriya, Yerushalayim Living in Eretz Yisroel helped me understand that the world I had come from was not the only normal and functioning reality, as the Western world might make people feel. There may be nothing more correct about two yellow lines delineating a no-parking zone, as it is in my hometown of London, [...]