There's a very moving article on Aish right now, but I don't want to discuss the article, I want to mention two quotes in there that I thought summed up the relationship between America and Israel, particularly the second which really shows the difference in the spiritual vs. physical mentality of the two places.
When I stepped onto the El-Al plane, I felt like someone had ripped out my insides. Before I left, a rabbi had told me: The good, geshmak feeling you get from walking the streets of Israel, that's comparable to the pleasant feeling you get from a Shabbat in America. The soul-brimming-over high you get from Shabbat in Israel -- that compares to Yom Kippur in America. As for the spiritual high of Yom Kippur in Israel? For that no counterpart exists in America.
The clothes you wear every day in America, are those you wear for Shabbat in Israel. The clothes you wear for Shabbat in America -- you wear for a wedding in Israel. As for weddings in America, there's no such equivalent in Israel. "What about the clothes I wore every day in Israel?" I asked. "Those clothes?" she said. A look of consternation furrowed her forehead as she puzzled that one. "Ah." Her face relaxed and she answered, "Those are the clothes you take out the garbage or clean with."
1 comment:
When I walk the streets of Israel I feel dirty because of how they're maintained and I feel sad because of how people live (at least in Yerushalayim). On shabbos in America I feel good because I get time to sit and learn and relax. Most shabbosim I spent in Israel were pretty much the same, but I appreciate shabbos more in America because I need more than I need in Yeshiva. Yom Kippur was nice, but kinda depressing in a way because they deliberately shorten it as much as possible. I've definitely had better in America. As for clothes the Orchos Tzadikim speaks at great length about how you should wear nice clean clothes, whether you're here or in 19th century Europe or in Israel. I wear the same clothes in both countries, be it my shabbos suit (I have two now!) or my weekday clothes.
Also in my opinion the real fallacy is not that you wear better clothes in America, but that you notice. Secular culture tells people to dress in fancy and expensive clothing (again, both in Israel and America) and if your switch into the secular world causes you to buy nicer clothing, then perhaps THAT is the real issue here.
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