Hamas War

Thursday, July 28, 2011

More English in the Streets?

In recent years we've been hearing more and more French on Israeli streets.  Many French Jews are buying homes in Israel for vacation and/or refuge.  France is no longer considered a good investment for Jewish life.

Will the downward-spiraling American economy send American Jewry to Israel, too?  Considering that American housing hasn't picked up, it'll become more and more difficult for American Jews to buy homes/apartments in the major cities.  The Israeli Shekel is strong

Those who want suburban life including a home and a yard can always go to a small community in Judea/Samaria.  Many have schools, stores and recrational facilities such as a swimming pool, like Shiloh.

I don't see the United States' economy picking up and improving all that quickly.  I just saw a quick "news comedy" that showed a string of comedians and newsbytes mocking the present economic situation, including Republican Presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's foreign made campaign tee shirts.

Friends in the states told us they're trying change their dollars into shekels and invest them here.  Good idea.

12 comments:

AvifromParis said...

French Jews (especially Sephardic) have such a strong attachment to Israel. I was born in Brooklyn but now live in Paris with my French wife. Almost everyone I know here has a "pied a terre" in Israel. I was thinking how interesting it is that the chumash and the talmud are "surrounded" by the French (Rashi and Tosfot!)and so it's only natural that French Jews play a major role in the geulah. Are there any French living in Shiloh?

Anonymous said...

oy. as good as israels economy is and as down as the us's is, israel wishes its economy were as good as america's.
have you ever seen a us shnorrer working in israel?

Batya said...

Avi, yes, we have French immigrants here, but they've been in Israel quite a while.

I think that especially post-Holocaust European Jews are less afraid to move/change than American Jews.

a, most Israelis still think that America is richer, and the USA does have great potentional, but the actual national economies today show a different picture. It is still easier for most Jews to live in Israel.

Beny said...

"Those who want suburban life including a home and a yard can always go to a small community in Judea/Samaria. Many have schools, stores and recrational facilities such as a swimming pool, like Shiloh."

But don't forget that the ground under your feet can be taken away at any minute, so you would be well advised to rent, rather than buy, in order to limit the loss.

To buy A house in the territories is probably a much worse investment than to buy a house in France, since the risk of being expelled is way more imminent, especially of communities like Shiloh that are far away from the green line and from Jerusalem and would be given up in any peace deal.

Batya said...

Beny, we're here for thirty years already. Most of the Judea/Samaria housing has increased in value. Don't think we're so easily pushed out.

Yakov Butterfield said...

We made Aliyah last September from Los Angeles. I'm hearing more and more English spoken in the Markets as I see American Oleh Hadashim (new immigrants) arrive in Jerusalem. It's wonderful. Even with Ulpan, I still slip into English. On the bright side, our teenage daughters speak perfect Hebrew. I know that they will have a better life here then in Los Angeles.

Batya said...

Yakov, good luck and all the best to you and your family. We're celebrating 41 years since aliyah, the best thing ever.

Beny said...

Well, if you have lived in your house for 30 years, I suppose it is fully amortised by now, so you will not have any loss. All the better for you.

However, for some reason, risk perception is often inversely proportional to actual risk: the longer you go, the safer you feel, while in reality the risk of having to leave increases.

In the world of the settlers, this means that they would buy new houses for their children in the settlements, and it might be that those would have to be abandoned.

For some reason, settlers were always outraged when they had to abandon their houses, even though they were aware of the shaky conditions right from the beginning. Take Yamit, take gush kativ, where settlers coined the phrase "Yehudi lo megaresh yehudi".

In reality, they just took a bet a and lost. Of course it hurts. But they knew they were taking a bet...

Batya said...

Beny, Without Judea/Samaria, Israel is small, indefensible and not viable.

Beny said...

Oh, I thought that the settlements were just a bargaining chip for peace negotiations...

Were you told you were a bargaining chip? How do you feel in this role?

Personally, I would not invest the price of a house in order to become a bargaining chip for politicians who do not care about me as a person.

Batya said...

We're Israeli patriots, Torah observant Jews, neither pawns nor bargaining chips. We'll have the last laugh, no doubt in my mind.

Beny said...

There is no contradiction here. You can be used as pawn or bargaining chips because of your patriotic and religious ideology. Actually, it is easier to use people with strong convictions, especially when their aims go parallel with the aims of those who use them.

I suppose you think you can wag the dog, but you are just the tail.