 Hi guys, welcome back to Daniel Rosell plus here on YouTube. My name is Daniel Rosell. This is a YouTube channel I set up in order to house my excess excess overrun YouTube videos from my main channel So if it's your first time here, thank you for Thank you for tuning in and if it's if it's not your first time welcome back here I want to talk today about a You know a video that I think is sort of important that as someone makes I'm sure I'm not the first person to to make it But that is regarding this idea of why do Jews Move to Israel because probably the most common topic of question I guess when I'm speaking with non-Jewish people, which is most people in the world and which is most of Possibly most of most of my conversations at least with you know, I it's people who are not here in Israel is Why did you move to Israel? Like what? Why would somebody do that? It's difficult to explain that in a sort of typical casual conversation like if I'm having sort of a you know Zoom call with people I'm working on a project with in Germany and it's kind of a it's a professional context But they ask that question and it's sort of it's not appropriate really to get you feel like it's not appropriate to give them a religious lecture In return of like the Jewish connection to Israel and how you saw yourself as fulfilling that So there's always a temptation to sort of like at least for me to reduce it to kind of simplistic reasoning like oh Well, you know, I was looking for a place with more Religious opportunity or something like that even when people hear that much they hear religion They're kind of like you can see their eyes glazing over and putting your putting you in the box of the you know Crazy religious fundamentalist which I assume most people watching this video will probably come away with that impression about me If you haven't already done so, but that's that's that's okay. I'm gonna I'm gonna explain the reason so basically why I'll explain My reason for moving to Israel and because I think it's kind of a classic reason the circumstances may be a little bit different But it's a it's a it's a it's a instance of a particular Situation so I moved to Israel. I grew up in a Jewish community in the diaspora What we in Judaism refer to as the Jewish diaspora is basically the fact that Jewish people are spread all over the world Which is a situation which has really existed since the Jews were forced out of the land of Israel way back in in biblical times specifically after the Destruction of the second temple starting with nearby Babylonian from there to other places in the world So when we talk about the Jewish diaspora We're talking about the fact that they're a Jewish community spread all over the world and we think of that as a diaspora much as a You know country with people who had to leave because of economic hardship Maybe the Irish diaspora right where people had to leave in you know After the after the famine or even in the in the early decades of the 20th century because there wasn't enough economic Opportunity in Ireland and they moved to different countries and we refer to them as the Irish diaspora so in the Jewish world, it's kind of the same concept. We have the Jewish diaspora So I grew up in a community in Ireland in Cork. There wasn't really very much Jewish life There, you know, there is a bit of Jewish life in Dublin and Cork really not so much at least when I was there Still the case now there isn't kosher food services might be like once a month except for the The hageem the festivals but very little and I was like the only Jewish kids And I generally don't like using American English, but I'm going to make an exception here because it sounds more More classic or cliche. I was the only Jewish kid In my high school my secondary school. Uh, so I didn't have Jewish friends growing up I has you know, my Jewish family and a very very limited Jewish life in Cork So at a certain at a certain point I became aware of the state of Israel and Zionism You know, probably when I was like 13 14 Maybe a little younger started reading the news and it blew my mind that there was a country that was a Jewish country where You didn't have to be sort of the odd one out where your religious festivals Weren't the exception and it's important to note that Jewish by Jewish religious festivals I'm talking about sort of religious events in our calendar where we typically refrain from working so you'd have to if you're you know, if you're a Orthodox Jew living in the US or anywhere really for that matter You generally have to use your vacation days as an employee in order to get those off kosher food generally you have to go to a kosher restaurant or buy it from a From a kosher section in the supermarket and that kind of becomes your your life It's a very sort of segmented or segway or sort of I don't want to use the word like kind of a ghetto lifestyle But in a certain extent it requires separating yourself From the community around you in order to maintain your tradition so when I saw that there was a state where the the state was organized to accommodate Judaism where this was like the gathering point of Judaism That was to me absolutely mind-blowing and I think it was from the Point whereby I had that first trip to Israel and I'm not even talking here about anti Zionism in Ireland and in Europe That eventually really did become a bothersome force for me But at the time my focus was less on that negative stuff and more just on This is the attraction forces like this is amazing. So I think for my first trip to Israel I kind of like already decided that This was this is a place I'd like to live now that might seem astounding to Non-Jewish friends I had at the time who were like well you lived in Ireland all your life This is a country you knew this is a country of your birth and then suddenly you get on a plane trip And I think too from that perspective It's just hard to understand how much of an outsider Something like a different religion and I think the Judaism is really a religion and a racial identity When you're the only one and I think in Cork Ireland that was kind of a classic case You're not quite as much the only one in london or new york, but you're still a minority That is very alienating and I don't think it's a situation Most people if they had a choice would want to be in to be a might to be a minority community So when I experienced Israel for the first time and it was just like you know a week in the country It was a trip. What's known as birthright Um instantly that appealed to me and I worked to Get there. I was initially going to move at 19 and then circumstances in my family pushed that off So I ended up going to university in Ireland and then Finally working for a little bit and finally making it to israel in 25 Still one of the bigger regrets of my life that I moved to israel at 25 and not at 19 when I originally intended But uh that is face, you know when people ask me why I moved to israel It's a big question to sort of unpack and it's nothing to do with trivial factors like well The weather was nice here or you know all that kind of stuff I see israel and this is how I would say most modern jews would see israel as The biggest event to happen in the jewish world the biggest nationalistic event the biggest national event at least let's say since The destruction of the jewish temples and the beginning of the jewish diaspora We see this as returning to israel Where it all started from where our people all started from where the tradition all started from for me personally I do feel I was going to say almost but actually an obligation to take an active role in that process Of now you're going to say well, what about the palestinians and are you not aware that when I am I am aware of that fact my Not everyone who is zionist says he wants to say screw the palestinian. I do see that as a huge problem. There was other people in israel in 1948 when israel was established and the situation we have at the moment is Is problematic and there has to be a equitable solution found for those two groups of of people but to me that's not going to The jewish people have a right to have still have a right to be there irrespective Of that from from my perspective and from the perspective of many many jews I would say probably but also many not jews. That's really kind of my world view for being here I don't feel like I'm in israel. There's things that criticize frequently about life in israel because You know, there is definitely right now. We're seeing the rise of a far right-wing ultra-nationalist government And I don't like that government because I lean to the left politically But again, if you understand that I came to israel like millions of people because I felt this was Monumentally important not just for me as a person to be in a country where Personal decision to be in a country where I could be part of the majority Just a massive massive event in jewish history and to make my life significant to build Up this country in whatever little way that I can so that to me is The motive the motivating factor so when I complain like many people here about the absurd cost of living About the crazy politic. I mean and there and there's tons and tons of positives about living in israel I'm just highlighting a couple of sort of token negatives because those are the obvious ones right israel is way too expensive Which makes living here. I would say unnecessarily hard um, it's too expensive the salaries outside of a Certain part of the workforce called high tech are just not up to the cost of living and that makes life You're difficult. There's other ways life is difficult. There's you know, there's war Going on periodically in countries around you, but for the most part, it's a great country to live in but My decision to stay here is not rat is not rational. It's not based on well If the cost of living is bad and too bad I'm gonna like move to a different country for me My whole desire to be here desire to stay here is based on commitment to This ideology so I've talked about before moving abroad for a few years for career advancement Perhaps stuff like that But I'd still aspire to return to israel because I feel like this is where I should be in the world It doesn't mean that everyone who you know, um It gets born in a country these days spends their whole life living in that country And I feel that that should be the same for israel It's quite common to go away for a few years whether you're a german or an irish person or a australian Living in a different country. Uh, so that's something I have considered but long term. I want to remain committed to Uh, to israel now the question a lot of us at classic zionist Perhaps you could you could call that are wondering right now is well does our zionism have limits? Regarding israel's political system if israel turns into a certain Type of government does that mean we're out? And for me it would be it would take an extreme form of government For me to say yes to that question Realistically honestly, there's a lot I'd put up with just out of this sense of commitment other people less so And I don't want to say exactly where that line would be drawn. Uh at the at the moment So that's why I moved to israel and that's why it's it's such a long and sort of complex answer that it's not something I generally Relish speaking about when people ask me the question I always look for a sort of ways to explain that in a less loaded fashion than a more simple fashion But that's the kind of full version if you want to get more videos for me on this youtube channel about all topics related to Related to israel etc Then feel free to subscribe and if you're watching this in israel get ready for poor just around the corner It's going to be fun. Thank you guys for watching. Have a good day