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It’s also a matter of derech Eretz, isn’t it?
It’s possible. Many sabras do, and many Olim do. If you go without a plan, without reasonable expectations of Israeli (not American) lifestyle, without sufficient secular education, marketable skills, and valued experience, then it will be much harder. As the Israeli economy grows and standards of living drives up prices of everything it will become harder for those least prepared and for Israeli natives who are least prepared.
“Sir” in English is a form of personal address, more respectful than “hey, what’s-your-name”. Being knighted by a monarch also conveys it as an honorific (mistakenly called a “prefix” to a name) like Mister, Miss, Doctor… eg. “Sir James”
In the military, it’s also a form of address to a commissioned officer but when asked as a question “Sir?” it is a respectful way of expressing confusion about an order given by or statement made by a superior officer or it can be a subtle but nominally respectful way of disagreement with a superior officer through feigning confusion, sort of an implied “Sir, have you really thought this through?”
Jewelry at retail cost is not a very good investment over the long term. The markups by retailers and designers raise your cost basis so as to diminish returns. Even at wholesale prices, it’s not something to count on it put your children thorugh yeshiva and pay for chasunahs.
At best, the long term prices for gold stay about the same, after adjusting for inflation. In that sense, some, depending on their tolerance for volatility, use it as a hedge against catasrophe. Harder to tell for diamonds as the supply might be artificially constrained by DeBeers.
In times of crisis, human greed, materialism, and ego make gold and silver, diamonds an other gems commodities that can be traded for something, even if not equivalent in cash to what you originally paid for the item.
It all depends on the individual investor’s needs for portfolio diversivication, tolerance for risk, utility of marginal return on investment, and other factors. The intrinsic value of gold and diamonds remains fairly high because there are few functional substitutes in industrial applications. But the intrinsic value is not the same as market price. Even if you feel like you need and want precious minerals and gems as investments, you have to “know the price of tomatos” before you buy them, so you can tell if you are getting a reasonable price or not.
I’ll try to remember that advice the next time that I’m unconscious in the Emergency Room and female doctors and nurses are working on saving my life.
HKBH makes matches that we have no right to judge. If someone is married and happy, who are we to judge what is too old? We are all allowed preferences, but over time, priorities may change in our shidduch criteria.