This is the famous philosophical question that is asked all the time.

The reason I’m thinking about it over the last few days is that I came across a Facebook post about a young woman, a young mother, who is desperately homesick and isn’t sure she wants to stay in Israel.

She’s navigating motherhood for the first time. Her husband is working all day, and she feels like she has no help, and everything in this country takes 5 steps to achieve that might be achieved in 1 step in the US, where deliveries come within a couple hours, customer service is paramount, and navigating life in your mother tongue makes things just so much easier in general.

She admitted to knowing that by leaving she would be giving up a more spiritually connected lifestyle for an easier materialistic one, but she was honestly not happy here. My heart broke for her.

There were hundreds of responses. I scanned them and one thing became crystal clear: most people who commented were not Israeli. There were a couple here and there who said they actually felt that life was easier here: friends became family, and were always available to lend a helping hand. Living in small communities and neighborhoods of like-minded people gave them a stronger sense of belonging. And education was definitely more affordable.

But those opinions were a drop in the bucket.

Most of the people urged her to leave; that a happy mother was a happy wife which made a happy life.

I actually don’t disagree with that statement.

I also believe that some things need to happen in the right time, and maybe living in Israel right now wasn’t the right time for her.

But one person argued (and I’m paraphrasing) that we are all in Galut anyways, and since........

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