Sizes: 28 through 56
Cups: A through J
Personal Attention
by Expert Fitters
Ties That Bind
Torah links Orthodox Jews to Israel.
DINA KRAFT
Jewish Telegraphic Agency
Jerusalem
orth American modern
Orthodox Jews say they can
explain their connection to
Israel in one word: Torah.
"It's an organic existence. An Ortho-
dox Jew grows up and believes that Eretz
Yisrael and the people of Israel are one.
The fulfillment of Torah is Eretz Yisraeh"
said David Cohen, director of Orthodox
Union (O.U.) activities in Israel. "It's
not about connection. It's who we are."
It's this Torah-observant lifestyle,
Cohen says, that brings the Orthodox
on aliyah in disproportionately large
numbers and has led them to visit Israel
even during the darkest days of intifada
violence and to send their children to
Israel to study.
It also accounts for the record num-
bers of participants at the Orthodox
Union convention in Jerusalem last
week, organizers said.
More than 800 O.U. members from
25 states and Canada gathered in
Jerusalem over the Thanksgiving holiday,
and hundreds more were turned away
for lack of space. This was the first year
the convention was held in Jerusalem;
and attendance far surpassed the 500 or
so people who typically turn out for
O.U. conventions, said convention chair-
man Stanley Weinstein of Miami Beach.
"A Zionist connection and Orthodox
learning were the main reasons we sent
our children to (Yeshivat) Akiva (in
Sduthfield)," said Ruvi Singal of
Southfield. She supported the statements
coming from the O.U. convention.
"We wanted a school that stressed the
importance of our children learning in
Israel and making aliyah," she said.
After studying in Israel for 2 1 /2 years,
Singal's son Dovy joined the army, where
he will be until the end of February.
"When he told me he planned to
joined the army and make aliyah, he said
he knew it was what his religious Zionist
schooling taught him to do," Ruvi said.
Dovy and his wife, fellow Akiva grad-
uate Naama, live in Givat Shmuel, near
Tel Aviv. "Naama was born in Israel and
Dovy plans to stay there," said his father.
"We're thrilled about his choice," Ruvi
said. "And I look forward to the day
when we will move there, too.
The Orthodox Union represents
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2004
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Israel's Ashkenazi and Sephardi
Yona Metzger and Shlomo Amar,
attend the opening of the Orthodox Union
meeting in Jerusalem.
mainstream modern Orthodox Judaism
in North America. About 125 syna-
gogues were represented at the confer-
ence, including smaller congregations
from places like Newfoundland and
Texas.
"There are very few Jewish organiza-
tions that could bring so many people to
Israel at this difficult time when tourism
has been so deeply affected by
Palestinian terror," said Harvey Blitz, the
O.U.'s outgoing president.
Children in the Orthodox community
are raised with an Israel focus from a
young age, Blitz said. They're taught
about Israel in school and are encour-
aged to spend time at Israeli yeshivot
after they graduate high school.
So its not surprising that a large per-
centage of immigrants to Israel from
North America are from the Orthodox
community, he said. "If Israel is part of
your vocabulary and the way you think,
then it's much more natural" to make
the decision to move there, Blitz said.
The Orthodox community always has
encouraged aliyah, but in recent years,
efforts have become more organized, he
said. He cited the establishment of