Families resolute about move to Israel despite renewed violence

By Lisa J. Huriash

South Florida Sun-Sentinel
http://www.kentucky.com/mld/kentucky/news/nation/15068381.htm
July 18, 2006

As Hezbollah rockets fall in Israel, families in the north spend nights 
in bomb shelters and the rest of the country worries where the next 
target will be. Yet some South Florida Jews are more determined 
than ever to move there.

"I haven't answered the phone in a week. My family is very concerned, 
my brothers, my father, my mother, my grandmother," said Edward 
Zucker, who will be leaving on a chartered flight to Israel on 
Wednesday with his wife Jill, and their children ages 4 years, 
2 years and 7 months.

The Zuckers will leave their 4,700-square-foot home in Fort Lauderdale 
and settle in Ra'anana, an affluent suburb of Tel Aviv where he will 
take Hebrew classes. Zucker, a businessman, said his desire to 
help "secure the future of the Jewish people is much more 
important than a big house."

Nefesh B' Nefesh, a movement founded by a Boca Raton, Fla., 
rabbi, is chartering more than half a dozen flights this summer to 
send the Zuckers and almost 100 other Jews from 21 South Florida 
cities to live in Israel. They will join hundreds more Jews leaving 
the United States to move to cities throughout the country, all but 
a few in the Jerusalem or Tel Aviv areas.

Nefesh B' Nefesh began in 2002 when it sent 500 immigrants to 
Israel, the largest number of American immigrants on one flight 
in Israel's history. This year, another 3,500 will arrive on flights 
scheduled from July to September. The group says when the 
summer is over, it will have sent 10,000 Americans and Canadians 
to Israel since 2002, and more than 300 babies have been born to 
Nefesh couples.

Almost 240 Jews from across the United States and Canada 
boarded the first flight on July 5. Wednesday's flight will carry 
230 people who will call Israel their new home by making aliyah, 
a Hebrew word meaning to "go up." It's used to describe the act 
of moving to Israel.

Immigration to Israel is made possible by the "Law of Return," 
passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950. It grants the right of 
Israeli citizenship to anyone with a Jewish parent or grandparent.

Charley Levine, spokesman for Nefesh B' Nefesh, said by telephone 
from Israel that there have been no cancellations for Wednesday's 
flight.

"There's concern, anybody in their right mind would be concerned, 
but it's not impacting anybody's desire to move there," he said. 
"Of the 10,000 people we've been dealing with, there are 10,000 
reasons why people decide to go. But the bottom line is similar 
for everyone: it is the act of Jews reconnecting to Israel as a 
religious Jew, as a secular Jew, as a Hebrew speaker, as an 
English speaker, the process of reconnecting is a historic one, 
this is a dream the Jewish people have held fiercely for literally 
thousands of years."

Nefesh B' Nefesh helps them find housing and jobs, deal with the 
bureaucracy of the move, and in many cases, helps the families 
pay the cost of shipping their property to Israel. The Israeli 
government covers about 20 percent of the organization's funding, 
with most of the rest coming from donations.

Among those leaving Wednesday are Shiri and Sammy Capuano, 
of Aventura, and their 6-month-old son Isaac. They are settling in 
a suburb between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv made up mostly of 
religious Americans.

Sammy Capuano, 28, a Web site designer, plans to continue his 
career there. He is leaving his parents in Florida as well as his 
extended family. His wife, Shiri, 21, is also leaving her parents in 
Florida, although she has siblings and cousins in Israel.

Capuano acknowledges life would certainly be easier if he stayed 
here.

"Life is not about comfort, life is not about luxury, life has a meaning," 
he said. "We're going because imagine if you had a brother in a 
place and he needed help. Would you go? You had a son, 
would you go? We feel the same about the Israeli people."

Yossi Silver, 39, of North Miami Beach, is leaving Wednesday 
with his wife, Louise, and two sons, ages 4 years and 3 months. 
He is a professional chef, and hopes to find a job in one of Israel's 
hotels. They will live in Efrat, a city near Jerusalem.

"We decided it's more important than ever to show solidarity now, 
it's our home and the situation does not faze us one bit," he said. 
"We have total faith we'll be all right."

Ami Emanuel, 25, born in Israel and raised in Florida, also departs 
Wednesday from his home in Key West. Emanuel, who sold 
real estate, is going to Jerusalem and hopes to be a writer.

He got rid of his rental apartment weeks ago and is staying with 
relatives until Wednesday, living out of a backpack and duffel bag.

"There's always fighting going on. I don't think its anything new, 
really. And I think that for people to stop making aliyah, that's 
a win for the terrorists, that's what the terrorists want."

Capuano acknowledges there's concern. He said his belief in 
God convinces him that this is the right choice.

"Of course it's scary," he said. "But if he wanted us to live in 
comfort, he would not have put Israel in the middle of the Arab 
countries."