I immigrated to Israel in August 2004 with my non-Israeli passport to assume a position as a lecturer in Hebrew linguistics at one Israeli university other than the one where I did my doctorate in the same discipline. Since then I received tenure and Israeli citizenship and lost my former citizenship. Since I left at the end of September 2020 what had seemed to be a "dream job" and started my own coaching business targeted for one country which I thought and still think can benefit from this coaching than many other countries I know, I've been asked the same question by a sufficiently large number of those living in this target country.
Their question is why I don't leave Israel and live in their country. Seemingly, this makes perfect sense. Actually, before I was exposed to Hasidism, I had been thinking of leaving Israel but for some other country I care about. Now it seems to me that continuing to live in Jerusalem makes more sense.
My Jewish life coaching is a means to an end, which is to help people wake up from the illusions of their ego. This coaching is based on the teachings of Chabad Hasidism.
In order to influence others we have to be able to protect ourselves from the negativity of our surroundings first. Unfortunately, I can't say yet that I've developed for myself a kind of inner spiritual recharger I can carry with myself everywhere to protect myself from any negative energy I may encounter. In the meanwhile Jerusalem seems to be an ideal place for continuing to develop my own portable inner spiritual recharger for two reasons.
The first reason is the presence of people who can serve as my role models, incorporating the noble teachings of Chabad Hasidism in their daily life in the physical body. We may be able to acquire knowledge solely from books, but we seem to need the physical contact with the wise in order to acquire and incorporate wisdom. Fortunately, Jerusalem seem to be more blessed with such Jewish sages than the above mentioned two countries.
The second reason is the presence of three Jewish bookstores in Jerusalem. The first is Pomeranz, which deals with Jewish books in general mostly in English, the second is Heichal Menachem, which specializes in Chabad books in Hebrew and English, and the third is Yahad, which specializes in Chabad books in Russian. Since I was exposed to Chabad Hasidism about five years ago, I've purchased about 400 Chabad books in Hebrew (about 55%), English (about 30%), Russian (about 10%), and Yiddish (about 5%). And my Chabad library is continuing to grow constantly. I don't think there is any other city in the world where one can buy Chabad books in Hebrew, English and Russian so easily.
In short, I'm grateful every day for the privilege of living in Jerusalem.