A return engagement

ELIZABETH NICHOLLS SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN

When former Congregation Beth Hamidrash spiritual leader Rabbi Yosef Benarroch, his wife Elana and their seven children left Vancouver in 1999 and made aliyah, they gave themselves two years to adjust to a much different way of life in Israel. Learning how to live in a new country – and how to survive the second intifada – hasn't been easy, but the Benarroches love Israel and are thriving in their new home.

Those interested in hearing the rabbi's story will get a chance to later this month. Benarroch will be in Vancouver Feb. 25 to talk about his family's new life in Israel and the impact of the second intifada on the country. Titled From Efrat to Jerusalem - Life on Israel's Frontline, the rabbi's talk will keynote a festive Sephardi evening at the Wosk Auditorium in Schara Tzedeck Synagogue. The event is being held to raise funds for the completion of Beth Hamidrash's new building.

Making aliyah should be a natural move for every Jew, according to Benarroch.
"Israel is our home, so naturally a Jew should always be thinking about coming home," he said.

Benarroch and his wife began to think seriously about moving from Vancouver to Israel when their oldest daughter, Ruchama, was finishing elementary school.

"We had three options," the rabbi said. "The first was to send her away to the east for school. The second was to move east and find the right schools for her and our other children. And the third was to make aliyah. We chose aliyah because we realized that the older our children got, the more difficult it would be [to make aliyah]."

The Benarroches moved to Israel in August 1999, settling in Efrat, just south of Jerusalem. They chose the city because of its close proximity to Jerusalem and because of its slower paced lifestyle and relative quiet, Benarroch said. The last two-and-a-half years have been anything but quiet, however, as the intifada has turned travel to and from Efrat into a great risk.

"I personally have had stones thrown at my car on a number of occasions, most recently in the middle of January," said Benarroch. "Friends have been shot at and my wife lost a close friend last year."

Benarroch was spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Hamidrash between 1991 and 1999. The years he lived in Vancouver "were a dream come true," he said. "The community was everything a rabbi could hope for." So when the time came to choose between staying in Canada and moving to Israel, the decision was difficult.

"It wasn't a question of not liking North America; it's that there were just things that we wanted that didn't exist there, the most important being a proper educational environment for our children.

"I felt my time in Vancouver was a God-sent mission," he continued, "To be involved in a community and to bring people closer to Torah and their Jewish roots is, to me, the most important mission to be on. So we were very torn when the time came to decide whether to leave or not."

But there are still aspects of Jewish life in North America that the rabbi misses.

"One that immediately comes to mind is more openness, especially between the religious and non-religious," he said. "I could look out at the congregation of Beth Hamidrash on any given Shabbat and see so many different people attending services, from observant to non-observant. In Israel, non-observant people just don't attend synagogues and feel very alienated from religious life."

Tickets for the Sephardi festive evening are $250, $2,500 for a table of 10 and $1,000 for a benefactor's ticket, which includes admission for two, as well as recognition in the evening's commemorative program. Approximately 75 per cent of the ticket price is tax deductible and tax receipts will be issued. Tickets are available from Raziel Ross at 604-872-4222.

Elizabeth Nicholls is the treasurer of Congregation Beth Hamidrash.

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