S
hen Stefanie and Brian Goldman began
looking for a new home four years ago, they
set their criteria but soon discovered that nothing
was going to match what they wanted, exactly.
They wanted waterfront, they wanted privacy, they
wanted spectacular.
"What we found was an old, old house on an
incredible lot, on a great lake, with lots of
privacy, " said Brian. They decided this was the
house of their future, moved in and then called
Gittleman Construction Company.
"As soon as we met Scott (Gittleman) I knew we
would work with him," said Brian. "He not only
had great ideas, he had a lot of vision."
Over the next six months, Scott and his team
moved walls and replaced them with panoramic windows, gutted the kitchen and rebuilt it
with everything state-of-the-art, installed hardwood floors. Basically, said Brian, they
transformed the Goldman's "dingy...worst of the 80's house" into something "fabulous."
"We are very pleased with everything they did. They made it more functional for our lifestyle"
not to mention absolutely gorgeous, he said. "These people really know what they are doing."
Now Brian, Stefanie and their 11-month old daughter Ellory enjoy a Tommy Bahama
lifestyle in a luxury home they never want to leave — and rarely do. Said Brian, "It's like
coming home to a vacation paradise every single night."
So next time you find a lot that you love with a house you don't like, remember that one
phone call to Gittleman Construction Company can turn it into the home of your dreams.
JUST ASK THE GOLDMAN'S.
•- •GC
GITTLEMAN
CONSTRUCTION inc
28580 ORCHARD LAKE RD., SUITE 102
FARMINGTON HILLS, MI 48334
248.538.5400
www.gittleman.net
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46
May 18 • 2006
'14
r
r
e n t
Giving Up America
Israeli-born reporter profiles
3 U.S. families who started
new lives in the Jewish state.
Sandee Brawarsky
Special to the Jewish News
hen the pilgrims were making their
way to the land that would become
America, Liel Leibovitz's German
ancestors were moving to the Holy Land.
A cultural writer for the Jewish
Week newspaper, Leibovitz is a
ninth-generation Israeli, now living
in New York City. His own story - of
leaving Israel – for now – and his
constant grappling with that question
is the back story for his compelling
and original new book, Aliya: Three
Generations of American-Jewish
Immigration to Israel (St. Martin's
Press; $24.95), in which he profiles
three families who made aliyah at dif-
ferent points in Israel's history: 1947,
1969 and 2001.
Since 1947, approximately 100,000
American Jews have made aliyah. Last
year, 3,100 new immigrants from North
America arrived in Israel, an increase
of 15 percent over 2004, and the high-
est number since 1983. In fact, aliyah
numbers have been rising steadily
over the last three years, with a lull in
Israeli-Palestinian violence and an
improving economy.
Through detailed, intimate
reporting about his subjects' lives,
Leibovitz describes their motiva-
tions, but comes to understand
that stated reasons aren't enough,
that the "real answer simply isn't
available to the cognitive facili-
ties. It must be felt. It is sensed
when one walks down the streets
of Jerusalem, realizing that one's
ancestors walked those same
streets centuries ago."
As he explains, it's a spirituality
that has less to do with texts and
ritual than with "the air and the
hills and the sea."
Leibovitz is a fine storyteller,
and he succeeds in capturing the
character and mindset of his char-
acters. His three families represent
the three main waves of immigra-
tion:
W
The first, between 1947 and 1952
including people who had experienced
World War II in some way; the second
and strongest wave, between 1967 and
1972, inspired by the Six-Day War and
the American sociopolitical culture
of the late 1960s; and the third wave,
from 1980 to the present, when the
largest group of immigrants were
Orthodox families.
What the three families – who never
met one another – share is a passion-
ate commitment to Zionism and, on
a certain level, to Judaism, Leibovitz
explains. He also points out the tre-
mendous hardships all have accepted:
All of them, in different ways, have
dodged their share of bullets. But for
the most part, these are not people
who questioned their decisions to
move.
At home on Manhattan's Upper
West Side, Leibovitz and his wife,
an American who has lived in Israel,
speak a private blend of Hebrew and
English, and move among several
communities. He has come to believe
"that it doesn't matter where you live,
it matters what's in your heart." i I