Driving with some friends in the Binyamin region of Eretz Yisrael, just a few short minutes north of the Yerushalayim neighborhood of Neve Yaakov, we pass by the hilltop outpost of Giv’at Asaf. It consists of several houses, built using light construction materials. These structures made of panels of insulated sheet-metal are commonly known in Israel as caravanim. Though you probably won’t find this definition in an English dictionary, an English speaker in Israel who uses the word caravan is more likely to be referring to one of these than to a mobile home.

   I came as a  bachur to the Mir Yeshivah, and then got married here in Eretz Yisrael.

I continued learning in the Mir, while my wife worked for Otzar HaChochma, the world’s largest digital sefarim library, in its beginning stages of amassing and scanning thousands of sefarim.

We then moved to Modi’in Illit, where, with the help of our parents for the down payment, we purchased our first apartment. As is common in this country, we bought “on paper,” paying the contractor in installments as the apartment was built. Meanwhile, we rented down the block. It was an interesting experience watching the progress of the construction of our apartment.