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 CUSTOM RENOVATIONS 1054280 LEASE PULL-AHEAD IS BACK! On All Leases Expiring Before April 30th 2007" HURRY iN FOR YOUR PEST SELECTION 2006 CADILLAC SRX rim* /mo - $96 Orrarng 2006. 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Must quality for GMS. — GM will pay up to 3 Payments. 1111720 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