A Soulful Journey

A Russian Jew is being interviewed on arriving in Israel. "What did you think of the food in Russia?" "I can't complain." "What did you think of the lifestyle?" "I can't complain." "What did you think of the architecture?" "I can't complain." "Then why did you leave and come to Israel?" "Because here I can complain!" -Rabbi Dov Peretz Elkins

The first legal immigrant to land in the state of Israel was a tired, shabby old man called Samuel Brand, a survivor of Buchenwald. In his hand he clutched a crumpled slip of paper. It said only, “The right to settle in Israel is hereby given”; but it was signed by the “Immigration Department” of the state, and it was the first visa we ever issued .   -Golda Meir