tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post8258757408339849721..comments2023-08-16T11:24:07.170+03:00Comments on Chopping Wood: Shabbat Aliyah in Antwerp Part 2: Will the Last Person Out, Please Turn off the LightsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-57121019055002441862012-11-08T08:55:54.243+02:002012-11-08T08:55:54.243+02:00Arik, thanks for your beautiful comments. I'd ...Arik, thanks for your beautiful comments. I'd be interested to know whether there's an organized effort on the part of the community to integrate new children coming up through the system, or whether they find their way on their own.Reuven Spolterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03140606911685229164noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-66433379317684681812012-11-06T12:29:32.634+02:002012-11-06T12:29:32.634+02:00Hi,
My name is Arik Speaker and I was a proud mem...Hi,<br /><br />My name is Arik Speaker and I was a proud member of the Mizrahi community in Antwerp including its school, Yavne, and it Snif of Bnei Akiva.<br /><br />There're many interesting issues that your article raises which we can't, of course, discuss here in depth:<br />- Is there a need or even a justification for Jewish life in the diaspora? (To my opinion - clearly no)<br />- Is there a difference between Religious Zionism and Modern-orthodoxy? You tend to hop from one term to the other. (To my opinion - yes)<br />- Is having a RZ community like the Mizrahi needed for the local Hareidi community. (Difficult to tell. Probably more important for the traditional/secular. In any case I wouldn't sacrifice my staying there just because it would be important for the others)<br /><br />But there's one point I would like to raise. I think there's an entirely different way to view the Mizrahi's destiny. <br /><br />It would be wrong to say that this special community disappeared or is disintegrating. This can be said for instance about communities suffering from a terrible rate of assimilation.<br /><br />But not in this case. Because, at the end of the day, what is a community? The building? The institutions? Or is it rather the people and especially the bond between them?<br />The community of Mizrahi Antwerp is, in its real sense, very much alive and kicking. It just moved to the place and lifestyle it believed and believes in since a century. <br /><br />What you didn't mention in your blog is that most of the ex-members from every age -meaning including those who left at the age of 18 more than 20 years ago and also the retired parents and grand-parents who made Aliya during the last years, following their children - live in small or big groups of Belgians in places like Ra'anana, Jerusalem, Petach Tikva and Givat Shmuel. <br /><br />Although all of them are also very involved with other Israeli or Chutznikim communities in those places, they still keep a very strong bond with each other, and with their mother community even after many years and would gladly recon themselves as products of the Mizrahi comm. <br /><br />This is why I would like to correct my first sentence which was mistaken (don't believe what you read on the Internet, right?!), by saying that:<br /><br />My name is Arik Speaker, I AM a proud member of the Mizrahi Community AntwerpAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04925122957594032521noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7626974447429315601.post-19587806335918324542012-10-31T16:45:17.041+02:002012-10-31T16:45:17.041+02:00Languages really are a forte here, a big help for ...Languages really are a forte here, a big help for people moving to different countries at some point.<br /><br />Glad we impressed you :)<br /><br />Pragmaticianhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08724757238921859366noreply@blogger.com