Enough tzioinish recruiting here, please.
I know of maybe 2 out of hundreds of Western “oleh” (and you are only an “oleh” if you come from somewhere south of EY like Australia, otherwise you are going south which is “yerida” – “oleh” should be reserved for what it once meant which was people going to Yerushalayim to bring a korban to the Beis haMikdash) who did not lose terribly by going to EY once married and established – and even before. I mean loss of health due to bad medical care or in one case due to a car accident L”A which is very common thanks to the awful drivers in EY, loss of children to the streets, loss of career, loss of investment money and even loss of Yiddishkeit because of disappointment with the great paradise that the memsheles hazadoin made of artzeinu hakdoisha. In the case of one of the two who did not suffer, he did tshuva in EY as well – he was a former member of a kefira movement – so that may be why he did not suffer. The other one is not only wealthy from home, but is laundering money for a family member who declared bankruptcy “Creedmoorishly” after he was hit by a lawsuit for something I can’t even discuss here.
You want to live there? Work your tuches off where you are, retire early (or get yourself to the point you can do everything online – I actually can and I don’t want to live there even though I could go tomorrow), or buy a vacation home there like successful Americans do. Then you have the mitzva without getting swallowed by the medine which is maaseh sitra achra. And even then, make sure you can afford a Volvo if you intend to drive there because it is the only car that might keep you safe on those highways.
Besides, going to EY can be the biggest copout. Anyone can be a Yid in EY (well, this was the case until 500,000 non-Jews came from the FSU as Jews and now intermarriage and shmad are threats in EY as well). Tuition is free or near-free; you can laze around like so many people in EY do in make-work jobs and still manage tuition.
EY is kedusha. The medine is a sick, sick society – and I live in an unstable place myself so I know what a sick society is. That medine belongs in EY like a loaf of bread belongs on a seder plate. If you go when you are older and not working, then you get the mitzvah and you can isolate yourself from the society. If not, then you are taking a huge chance both spiritually and physically, and the results are usually no good.
And the “economic boom” in EY is an illusion that can come crashing down at any moment, so don’t think you will not get there and then – the end – the bust comes and you’ll want to take the next plane back – but you left your job behind back home and there aren’t many to choose from anymore. You can’t pay people $1200 a month after taxes and expect them to pay $2 for a single serving of cottage cheese – it is all a scam to make sure people live on overdraft, in constant thrall to the banks, which at the end of the day control the whole crooked economy in EY.