32 | JULY 15 • 2021

C

atching up with my friend and
former rebbetzin Rena Spolter, 46, I
got the chance to ask her all about
her aliyah, 13 years later. Anyone who knows
her is aware of how inspirational she is, and
her aliyah story and message are wonderful
examples.

Q: What motivated you to make Aliyah?
Rena Spolter: The first time I visited
Israel I was 13 and in eighth grade when
my grandmother took both her daughters
and all her grandchildren to Israel for two
weeks. When we left at the end of the trip,
I remember this sinking feeling in my chest
area when the plane took off. It felt like how
you feel when you are leaving home. After
that, every time I visited Israel, when I left
to go back to America, I felt the same vis-
ceral connection to the land.
When I was dating my husband, Reuven,
he said he wanted to be a shul rabbi, which
is not a full-time job in Israel. I wanted to
only date people who wanted to make ali-
yah, but there were other great things about
him, so, in the end, we got married, and I
kept the aliyah dream in my mind.
When Young Israel of Oak Park member

Joe Weiss died in a car accident, my hus-
band and a few other men started learning
from a book that was very dear to Joe. It
was all about the yearning for and the con-
nection to the Land of Israel. After studying
the book together as a group, they came
to Israel to celebrate finishing studying the
book together. He came back and he said,
“You can’t learn a book like that and not
want to go.
” So, we started planning.

Q: How was your aliyah announcement
received in Detroit?
RS: We lived a very public life in Detroit
as the rabbi and rebbetzin of the Young
Israel of Oak Park, and we knew that when
we made aliyah there would be questions,
like what we were going to do profession-
ally; how we were going to make money;
and what kind of job we were going to get.
For our aliyah flight, we even made T-shirts
with the four most-asked questions on the
back and our answers.

Q: How old were your kids then, and what are
they up to now?
RS: Simcha was going into sixth grade
— it was the year before his bar mitzvah

— and he is now 24, married and a father.
Bezalel was going into fourth grade and
is now 21 and volunteering in the Israeli
Air Force. Leah was going into first grade
and is now 18 and finishing her first year
of two years of national service. Petachya
was 3 and is now finishing 10th grade.
Moriyah, 11, is our Sabra who was born
here. Moriyah is one of the names of
Jerusalem, and she was born right around
Yom Yerushalayim at Hadassah Hospital in
Jerusalem.

Q: What have you and the rabbi been doing
professionally since you came to Israel?
RS: My husband works at Herzog College
as the coordinator for a teacher training
program for Judaic teachers in the diaspora.
In addition, he has started an online Jewish
learning platform, called Kitah (kitah.org),
for junior high school kids, teaching Jewish
subjects to children around the world.
For the first two years, I taught at a semi-
nary. I was a Judaic Studies teacher at Akiva
(now Farber), so it was a natural progres-
sion. Eventually, I retrained to be a high
school English teacher, which I have been
doing for the past 11 years.
For the past two years, I also have been
in an intensive program training to be a
yoetzet halachah where I am learning to
answer halachic questions pertaining to
women.

Q: What do you miss about Detroit?
RS: I miss the people. We had very warm
connections with different generations.
Here, it is not as natural to have relation-
ships with people in different generations.
I also miss Jerusalem Pizza, especially the
barbecue chicken pizza. My husband misses
the kishka pizza.

Q: Do you have a message that you would like
to share?
RS: People who make aliyah miss the
people from home. We, including your fam-
ily and friends who live here, appreciate and
need your support and love. On a national
level, Israel needs every voice of support it
can get. I encourage each and every read-
er to be actively involved in Israel-related
activities. It really does make a difference.

Former Young Israel of Oak Park rebbetzin
reflects on her decision to make aliyah.
Rena Spolter

AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ERETZ

MEET THE OLIM

COURTESY OF THE SPOLTERS

Rena and Rabbi
Reuven Spolter