The land of Israel is very important to me. It is not as if I attended Bnei Akiva as a child or made many trips during my formative years to visit our homeland. In fact, we visited Israel together as a couple for the first time just a few months after our son Akiva was born, which means that I was 28. It was directly after the Yom Kippur War, and the RCA (Rabbinical Council of America) was encouraging rabbis to visit Israel at the time as there were no tourists going.

We signed up, scurrying to leave our young children with friends, and for the first time ever there we were. I was able to visit my aunt and uncle who I had never met, the cemetery where my grandparents were buried in Haifa, and I told myself that this was where we needed to be. I was hooked.

I could not get over the fact that the postal workers were Jewish, the garbage men as well. I was totally blown away. It was a time, so long ago, when American tourists were nowhere to be seen because the war had caused the streets and hotels to be empty and businesses to be hurting. Here it is 2025 and it is a deja vu!

We all know that in life there are certain things that make our personal choices impossible, and that is what halted our dreams of making aliyah as a family. It took a few years for us to make an exploratory trip to see how our daughter, Naama, would fit into Israeli society and what facilities were available for her in terms of education, socialization, etc., and we were vehemently told by many at that time that Israel’s priorities were not dealing with children with special needs as they had so many more significant worries in terms of figuring out to deal with the many chayalim who were injured in the war and other combat catastrophes, etc.

At that time our concerns were just not of great concern in the country, understandably so. Wow, things have changed! Anyone now knows that organizations such as Shalva are world-class when it comes to the care and well-being of the special needs population.

As a result of my knowledge that Canada was going to be my home (I thought forever), I worked diligently in doing whatever I could to help Israelis and support many of their efforts each year. On Yom Ha’atzmaut we would make a barbecue on our back deck and have as many people as possible to celebrate the occasion. Years later we visited Israel during the intifada and saw the big signs on the stores on Ben Yehuda which said “Welcome Brave American Tourists.”

So I gave birth to the idea of bringing the vendors to Montreal. Although I then found out that this phenomenon was already occurring in the U.S., it had never been done in Canada. The word went out to several vendors and within a very short time I became very popular with Israeli storekeepers who contacted me, and my idea, my dream, became a reality. I privately raised enough money to pay for the plane tickets of all of the vendors (38) and made sure that they were all taken care of in royal fashion.

Our fair took place in a large shopping mall in which I was given a store to myself as an office, and with a tremendous amount of work and passion I think that at our first sale we had 10,000 shoppers. On the last night of the sale we made a party at our home and I remember saying to the vendors that they had the zechut of living in Israel and this was our way of paying homage to them. This event took place two years in a row, and by the time word got out about the second fair, my popularity had really grown and I went to Israel to meet with those interested in coming. It was one of the most gratifying experiences of my life and to this day I still consider many of those who visited Montreal part of our family.

Since Oct. 7 I have tried so hard to think of ways that I could be of assistance to Israel without being there and without having the funds to support every organization that is in such need.

It was one day last year, I believe in November, that I suggested to Moshe at The Link that we needed to do more to support Israel. My idea of a trip, that had been percolating in my mind, was shared and he agreed that The Link would do everything to publicize the event, and I assured him that I would take care of every drop of the logistics (which I did). Not without heartache, as I worried each day if the trip would happen; one day two couples were ready to sign up, the next day they canceled, and everyone in the office can attest to the fact that I was going slightly crazy and was extremely nervous.

Lo and behold, our group, which was intimate (about 20 people), developed into a family and each participant came back invigorated by what we had seen and done and totally feeling great to have walked the streets in Israel and by doing so showing people how much we cared about them. The fact that we were accompanied by Peter Abelow, whose knowledge of the country is extraordinary, only enhanced each moment of the trip.

Fast forward to this year and once again I thought we should be carrying on this mission. I tried and we advertised and I spoke to many and the result of it all is that today I made the very painful decision to cancel our mission. I could not take the responsibility of signing people up with the knowledge that unless we had a guaranteed number our trip was not viable. I intentionally chose not the most deluxe hotel in Yerushalayim (although it was great, comfortable and the location amazing). I changed the dates when more air space seemed available at more reasonable prices (nothing today is particularly reasonable). I thought of every possible way to make this work and today I felt as though I could no longer walk around with this burden.

I am especially sorry for the people of Israel who depend upon seeing us on their streets, patronizing their stores, restaurants, etc. Winter break will soon be over as quickly as it has come and once again everything will be quiet. As I have said in the past, how many who have children this year in Israel would have visited had their children not been there? People are spending money and going away. I for one consider going to Israel a priority and not a luxury. I made the call today to Peter Abelow to inform him that I do not see this happening and he was trying to console me with the knowledge that I had tried.

As I have shared many of my thoughts and feelings through this column I need to convey to all of you my sense of failure in not thinking of a better way to make this happen.

Perhaps, l’shana ha’ba b’Yerushalayim.