Jerusalem. Your Home. Your Future.

Which means we effectively give birth to a new school every year. Our community is strongly rooted in Orthodoxy. Our community is strongly rooted in tradition and Sephardi lineage. Our challenge and opportunity at this point is to make the bridge to Israel place we all love much more serious. We're open to it. We're committed to it. The vibrancy of what we have here makes it challenging. So, we look to create a bridge and a communal structure between us and the political and business leaders of Jerusalem to enable us and our children to make Jerusalem more of a permanent place in our lives. >> Hi, good evening, everyone. My name is Shmuel Silver. I am a rabbi in Baltimore, Maryland, and Baruch Hashem, I'm privileged to lead a beautiful and wonderful and vibrant community. Not Not as large Baruch Hashem as my Sephardic community, but Baruch Hashem I'm close to 500 family units, thank God, of all backgrounds, all ages, all levels of observance. But before I tell you a little bit about what we're doing in Yerushalayim, I think it's important just to take a step back. I have to tell you this is my first real estate fair. I don't usually travel in these circles. Been to a lot of rabbinic conferences, but my first real estate fair. To come into a ballroom and to see an entire room filled with beautiful, high-end, elegant projects in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. Where the biggest problem is, thank God, real estate is so expensive in Eretz Yisrael, and especially in Yerushalayim. And to see all of this less than 100 years after the Shoah, less than 100 years after the Holocaust, is a literal actualization of the Geulah, Amen, Yeshua Tzion Beracha. And how >> [applause] >> And how privileged we are to live in these times, where literally Yerushalayim is alive. Yerushalayim is vibrant. Yerushalayim is exciting. Yerushalayim is beautiful in every single way, both with the gashmius as well as the ruchnius. What we're trying to create in our Kehilla is an Eretz Yisrael satellite community. For those of us in North America, we are very familiar with the typical structure of a Kehilla. Rav, programming, shiurim for all different ages, for men, for women, for children, both religious programming, social programming, and more importantly, the opportunity for a Kehilla, for a community, to come together. Now, while in North America this is very common, in Israel it's a little less common. And I truly believe with all of my heart and soul that this is what we North American Jewry have the ability to bring to the beautiful, modern-day state of Israel. A vibrant tzurah of a Kehilla with all of these spiritual and physical material accoutrements that we are used to here. So, I'm very privileged, baruch Hashem, to be working with Avraham Berger and the Berger Group in Katamon, and building a beautiful community there. Baruch Hashem, it's going to be comprised of many units. And I have to express our hakaras hatov to the mayor of Yerushalayim, to Moshe Lion, for his >> [applause] >> He's from the beginning of this project has only asked one question. What can I do to help? We want to build a community. We want to build a big Knesset America Z. We want to introduce an educational system in the heart of Yerushalayim that will cater to the needs of a live. And our incredible mayor of Yerushalayim has been there every step, every turn. Again, just asking what he can do to help. Mayor of Yerushalayim, I just want to express I'm just a simple Jew from the colonies. I just want to thank you on behalf of our entire kehilla that we have in Baltimore and on behalf of the entire kehilla that we are going to build in Katamon. In your success and all of it, thank you. And all may be [applause] together. Thank you. >> The rabbi spoke about community. We have many outstanding families in our community, one of which is the Ahal family. Albert Ahal, may he be blessed with life, was one of the leaders who enabled the struggling and trapped Syrian community in Halab to escape in that moment of time when they had the opportunity to do so. His son, Sammy, has taken on the torch >> [applause] >> of building bridges between our community and the state of Israel and key areas of focus. We want to, as well, thank the dear mayor for all his support. What we need as a community, dear mayor, is more of the tishkiot. The light rail is fabulous. The common areas around these buildings are critically important. We need but take Knesset, as the rabbi said. We need mikva'ot. We need social centers for our people to get together. We need to create a different level of dialogue where we can figure out how each of our families with multiple children can integrate where it's not just a parent's apartment, where it's an entire family providing for their future. That's the next opportunity. 1,500 children a year in our case, 80,000 person community committed to the state of Israel, committed to growing and building. We see the geula happening. We have to figure out how to take the next step where I buy an apartment as do each of my children and grandchildren. We're looking to you, dear Rosh Hayir, to guide us and to lead us in that process. We're committed to your leadership. >> [applause] >> Rabbi Just to build on that for one last moment, the idea of infrastructure is so incredibly important because I think what we're trying what we're both discussing is a paradigm shift. Whereas in the past aliyah has very much been focused on individual aliyah, we're looking to create a new reality on the ground where communities as a whole consider aliyah and not just aliyah. We have to change the conversation as well because there may be many people who are not ready for aliyah. The ability to have a home to I think to incentivize our communities that real home is in Eretz Yisrael. Perhaps you're not ready to pick up and move your entire family, but that shouldn't preclude you from creating an address. And if we create communities which allow people to literally feel a sense of home away from home. And together, our communities in Gush Etzion, together with our leadership in Yerushalayim, there is no telling what we can accomplish. Thank you. >> [applause] >> From our perspective, this is the greatest time possibly the greatest time in Jewish history. Certainly the greatest time in modern Jewish history. What Dr. Passow highlighted is spectacular, overwhelming. We all want to be part of it. We're We need to catch up. We're a step behind, but what we offer is communities that are dedicated, that are serious, and that have the wherewithal to make serious commitments. We support the Ayal family, the OP tourism project, and all of those who are moving forward with these innovative and great projects of foresight and courage. Thank you, and we look forward to working with you. >> [applause] >> Thank you, Rabbi Shmuel Silver. Thank you, Rabbi Ricky Cohen. Ladies and gentlemen, this great