Rabbi Elan Adler compares his family’s decision to make aliyah to one of those carnival games in which you shoot a steady stream of water into a clown’s mouth to fill a balloon.
“I felt like my guts were ripped out,” Rabbi Adler said of his step-daughter’s moving. “We really felt like a major part of our life was re-shifting in Israel. If she had gone to Bolivia, we wouldn’t have gone to Bolivia. Ariella has some big years coming up, so we decided to go sooner than anticipated.”
Last month, Rabbi Adler informed his synagogue of nearly 10 years, Pikesville’s Moses Montefiore Anshe Emunah (MMAE) Hebrew Congregation, that his last day as spiritual leader there will be June 30, 2010.
The Adlers — who for five years have owned an apartment in Ma’ale Adumim, an Israeli city five miles east of Jerusalem — plan to relocate to Israel in early July through Nefesh B’Nefesh, a group that helps facilitate aliyot.
“I could have stayed at Moses Montefiore another 20 years. I’m happy, they’re happy,” said Rabbi Adler, who has offered to return for High Holiday services if his successor is not hired by that time, as well as for monthly services in the interim.
But he said his family craves a life of spiritual fulfillment. “In Israel, they’re involved in the intensity of survival, not focused on [reality TV personality] Jon Gosselin or [real estate heiress] Ivanka Trump, or who’s doing what to whom,” he said.
Dr. Adler, former director of adult education for the Center for Jewish Education, said there are political and theological reasons for the family’s move.
“I’ve been feeling an increasing level of discomfort about the future of American Jewry and that our collective time in this Diaspora community is coming to an end,” she said. “I want to get my family out while we can still leave comfortably. I think assimilation is killing us off.”
In addition, Dr. Adler said she believes such recent developments as the economic downturn and President Obama’s election demonstrate that “God is closing the doors for Jewish life in America, to bring on the redemption and bring us home.
“Our current president embodies the lineage of Esau and Ishmael. I’m not saying he’s an evil person, but that’s symbolic,” she said. “He’s no friend of Israel and he’s changing the historical friendship between Israel and America. … Everything about his presidency reminds me of God’s plan.”
Rabbi Adler said he hopes his family’s aliyah will inspire others. “Maybe there’s a greater role we can play for people who’ve been thinking of a greater commitment to Israel,” he said. “Staying here may not be the best leadership needed at this time in Jewish history. People keep coming up to me and saying, ‘I envy you.’ I keep thinking, ‘If you envy me, why not go, too?’”
Rabbi Adler, who was born in the Israeli city of Jaffa and moved to the United States at age 6, admitted the decision to make aliyah was not easy. “It’s been very emotional for us,” he said. Besides having parents and friends here, the Adlers’ youngest daughter, Shani, 15, attends Yeshivat Rambam, and she will move with the family. “She has many friends, her father Michael Caplan and his wife Michelle here in Baltimore, and that will be hard,” said Rabbi Adler.
But with e-mail, Facebook, cell phones, Skype video software and other technological advances, the Adlers note that living in Israel and keeping in touch with people in the U.S. is easier than ever before. And even though they do not have jobs lined up yet in Israel, the Adlers say they already have a support system of friends, family members and colleagues there.
“Each time we leave Israel, it’s getting more painful for us. We’re in tears on the way to the airport,” said Rabbi Adler. “It’s home to us. With every trip, my ‘innerSabra’ comes out more and more.”
The Adlers, who are in the process of selling their Pikesville residence, are quite confident they will remain in Israel for the long haul.
“I really believe this is what God wants from us,” said Dr. Adler. “Coming back to America is not an option. We’re prepared to tough it out.”
Her husband, who is functionally fluent in Hebrew and has visited Israel more than 50 times, is also optimistic. “The idea of doing something new in Israel is very exciting,” he said.
MMAE president Jeff Forman said the synagogue is working with Yeshiva University on a successor. “Our goal is to have a rabbi by the time Rabbi Adler leaves,” he said. “We’re sad for our sake, but happy for him. This is something he needs to do.”
As for his shul of 260 members, Rabbi Adler, who moved to Baltimore in 1993, said he is confident about its future.
“It’s a strong, growing congregation,” he said. “The people there have been wonderful, but sad. I share that sadness.
“I don’t feel scared,” Rabbi Adler said of making aliyah. “I feel like God is leading us and we have a lot of things in place to make us successful. We know where we’re going.”
(Source: Baltimore Jewish Times)
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