The Big Move

I loved growing up in Bnei Brak. I had lots of friends and felt very comfortable there. My younger siblings, two brothers and a sister, were born in Eretz Yisrael. The part that was challenging for us was that we didn’t have any relatives in the country. All my friends often visited their grandparents and cousins. We had our own wonderful family, but no extended family, and that made me feel lonely.

When I was nine years old, my father called us kids into the kitchen one evening. He asked us if we would like to spend a Shabbos with our grandparents in Argentina. He said, “Would you like to spend Shabbos with our family in Buenos Aires? With your great-grandmothers, grandparents, uncles, aunts, and cousins?” We all got very excited.

“Yes! Of course!” we cheered.

My father’s eyes twinkled as he leaned forward. “How many Shabbatot would you like to spend there?” he asked.

“Four! Ten! One hundred!” I said.

My father leaned back in his seat. “Well, would you like to move there?” he asked. “Then we could spend every Shabbos with our relatives.” This sounded so exciting and marvelous that we all said yes. Afterward, I was surprised that we all agreed so quickly, because we were really all quite happy in Bnei Brak. Maybe we were excited at the thought of moving, or maybe we just were really glad to get to know our relatives. But together with the excitement, once the reality set in, I realized that I was also nervous. What would school be like in Argentina? What about friends? Though I did speak Spanish, my reading and writing skills were weak. And I loved living in Bnei Brak. The thought of living in a place full of goyim made me nervous. When we finally did get off the plane in Argentina, my fears were confirmed straight away: There were so many strange-looking people. For someone who grew up in Bnei Brak and was used to seeing mostly frum people, it was a big shock. In Buenos Aires, there were all different kinds of characters — goyim who wore strange clothes and strange hairstyles. I even saw children who dyed their hair different colors, like bright blue or green. There were many Jews, too, but I was struck by all the non-Jews everywhere.