Page 39 - issue
P. 39
Bnei Brak is a place where 31
everyone takes care of everyone
else’s kids. If you’re at the grocery
and see a baby crying in the
stroller, you take care of the baby.
Adults stop to help children cross
the street. People ask their Rav
questions relevant to many
“aspects of life, not just halacha.
by Bracha Shugarman
husband chose to settle in Bnei Brak.
◆◆◆
Raised in the Greenspring area of Baltimore in a modern
Orthodox family, Sheryl Friedman met her husband, Alon,
when he was learning as a bachur in Ner Israel and getting a
masters degree in computers. The couple agreed that they
would move to Eretz Yisrael in the future. Sheryl had visited
Israel on a number of occasions, including trips to attend
family simchos. Alon was born in Israel and lived a tradition-
al lifestyle in a secular neighborhood in Bnei Brak bordering
”Ramat Gan. At the age of ten, his family moved to the States
but kept their apartment in Israel as a rental property, in the
hope of coming back one day. It was when he became bar
mitzva that Alon began the process of becoming fully reli-
gious.
The Friedmans began their marriage in kollel in Baltimore
until they saw it was time for Alon to look for employment.
They decided to begin this next phase of their life in Eretz
Yisrael. Sheryl says, “I wanted to live as a Jew – not as an
American keeping the Jewish religion but living as a Jew.” She
wanted to be surrounded by religious life on a constant basis
and to raise her children in a purely Torah environment. In
1991, the Friedmans left Baltimore and made aliyah with
their three children aged three and under.
Instead of going into his the computer field , which he
u 410 358 8509 u
everyone takes care of everyone
else’s kids. If you’re at the grocery
and see a baby crying in the
stroller, you take care of the baby.
Adults stop to help children cross
the street. People ask their Rav
questions relevant to many
“aspects of life, not just halacha.
by Bracha Shugarman
husband chose to settle in Bnei Brak.
◆◆◆
Raised in the Greenspring area of Baltimore in a modern
Orthodox family, Sheryl Friedman met her husband, Alon,
when he was learning as a bachur in Ner Israel and getting a
masters degree in computers. The couple agreed that they
would move to Eretz Yisrael in the future. Sheryl had visited
Israel on a number of occasions, including trips to attend
family simchos. Alon was born in Israel and lived a tradition-
al lifestyle in a secular neighborhood in Bnei Brak bordering
”Ramat Gan. At the age of ten, his family moved to the States
but kept their apartment in Israel as a rental property, in the
hope of coming back one day. It was when he became bar
mitzva that Alon began the process of becoming fully reli-
gious.
The Friedmans began their marriage in kollel in Baltimore
until they saw it was time for Alon to look for employment.
They decided to begin this next phase of their life in Eretz
Yisrael. Sheryl says, “I wanted to live as a Jew – not as an
American keeping the Jewish religion but living as a Jew.” She
wanted to be surrounded by religious life on a constant basis
and to raise her children in a purely Torah environment. In
1991, the Friedmans left Baltimore and made aliyah with
their three children aged three and under.
Instead of going into his the computer field , which he
u 410 358 8509 u
