I read “An apology from your American Jewish parents,” and it felt like it was written directly to me.

I was the child you raised.

I went to Yeshivish yeshivas. I wore a black hat. You pushed me to take school seriously and to get good grades because you believed excellence mattered. At the same time, you taught me Torah, Yiras Shamayim, and commitment to Jewish life.

I followed the path you set me on. I learned in yeshiva. I went to college while continuing to learn Torah. I went to medical school. I completed residency. I got married and built a family.

In many ways, I achieved exactly what the American Orthodox dream promised.

But then my wife and I realized something: all the tools you gave us — education, discipline, ambition, resilience — did not need to culminate in America.

They could be brought to Israel.

Not only to build a life for ourselves, but to help continue building the incredible country that generations before us dreamed of, davened for, and sacrificed to make possible. And also, it’s simple: Our sages speak extensively about the importance of living in Eretz Yisrael.

Over time, moving to Israel stopped feeling like one good option among many. For us, it simply felt like the right thing to do.

And what I want to tell you is this: moving to Israel did not require abandoning the values you raised us with. If anything, it allowed us to live them more fully.

We are thriving here, Baruch Hashem.

Part of that is something hard to explain until you experience it.

Yes, there is incredible meaning in knowing that a short drive can bring us to the Kotel, the Tomb of the Patriarchs, Rachel’s Tomb, and countless other places our grandparents deeply yearned for and could only dream of seeing.

But the holiness and greatness of living in Israel is not only in the famous holy places.

It is in the ordinary moments.

It is the taxi driver wishing you “Shabbat Shalom” on Friday afternoon.

It is Jewish music playing........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)