Menachem Weiss, Susya

My name is Menachem Weiss. My wife Limor and our three children have been living in Israel for nearly five years now. I am originally from San Diego, California and am 37 years old. Limor is 35 and originally from a small moshav in Israel. Two of our kids (ages 12 and 8) were born in America and one (age 2 and a half) was born in Israel. We have basically been living in Susya, a small settlement a half hour from Beer Sheva and a half hour from Gush Etzion, since we moved to Israel. Our original plans were to live in Eilat where I had a job with the Israeli Environmental Protection Agency. After living there for two months, I got laid off from my job and we decided to move to Susya since I found a better job anyway in Beer Sheva. I was accepted as a PhD student in the Geology and Environmental Sciences Department at Ben Gurion University where I receive a small salary for teaching undergraduates and I also receive a grant. I will be finishing the PhD within a year and afterwards will continue teaching at a yeshiva high school here in Susya which specializes in environmental studies. I also hope to be opening up a small business (organic winery) soon. I have a small field where I grow olives and grapes along with some of the other people that live here.

Susya

Susya has been around for nearly 20 years. There are 70 families here with the average size family having about 6 or 7 kids. There are many new, young couples here as well as a few old-timers. Susya is the central settlement of the southern Hebron Hills Region which includes 10 different settlements. We boast the regions elementary school, junior high school, yeshiva high school for boys, a field school associated with a nearby archeological site, a supermarket and an auditorium/gymnasium. We also enjoy clean air at an elevation of 850 meters surrounded by fertile wadis and rocky hills. At some of the neighboring settlements you can find special education facilities for children, hesder yeshivas, and a girls seminary specializing in art. In Susya, everybody keeps Shabbat, 99% of the women cover their heads, and we have a good overall atmosphere of love for Torah, Mitzvot and Eretz Yisrael. Boys and girls learn separately in the school from first grade. Lots of after school activities are available for the kids including music lessons, judo, soccer, field trips and talmud torah. Our Rav (Eliezar Altshuler) is a dayan and talmid of Rav Druckman having learned at Ohr Etzion. He consults with Rav Dov Lior from Kiryat Arba and with Rav Mordecai Eliyahu in Jerusalem. Lots of shiurim, three minyans to choose from in the morning, two minchas and two maarivs. Many people in Susya volunteer on various committees formed to help the community as a whole. Many work as Ravs and or teachers in the community while other commute to Beer Sheva, Arad, Gush Etzion or Jerusalem. We also have nurses, lawyers, politicians, engineers, janitors, geologists, farmers and more. Many of the people involved in agriculture grow organically.

We have about five or six new families coming to Susya each year. At first, a new family rents one of the three bedroom homes available for about $100 a month. After six months you have the option of continuing to rent or you can buy a home (or you can leave). There are about 20 new homes available which cost about $100,000 and have big yards. They require just about zero down and mortgage payments are for 25 years with about 20% of the price being turned into a grant after 15 years. There are no second hand homes for sale (nobody has ever left!). Others have decided to build their own house from scratch on an empty plot of land.