14 weeks to aliyah – Finding a place to live was our next objective.

Although Pearl and I always planned on “eventually” making aliya, we never took actions toward that goal. A few years ago I switched jobs and although the actual work that I did was quite enjoyable in many ways and I got along very well with practically everyone at the office, I felt that something was missing and I would frequently come home from the office and say “when are we moving to Israel”. About 3 years ago Pearl finally said that we should make a pilot trip and see if it is possible and either do it or stop talking about it.

Neve Daniel

We made our first serious pilot trip in the summer of 2011, visiting numerous communities and narrowing down our list to about 5 possibilities. Over the course of the following year, we researched further, through the NBN website, other online sources, the NBN contact for housing (he was particularly helpful), real estate agents and friends. That helped us to refine our list of finalists so we returned last summer to explore those towns in earnest, eventually making our choice. We were particularly fortunate to find a house that we loved in that town and started the process of purchasing it.

Where to live was a most important factor to us. We wanted to be sure that we would fit in well and be comfortable because we hoped that this would be the last time that we would move. Although one could never be certain, we believe that we found the right place for us. This is one part of our aliya that we knew would have to be resolved before we could consider dealing with all of the other details. That might not be the case for others – some people are perfectly comfortable deciding that they can live anywhere and so they leave this factor to the end stages of their aliya planning. You must decide for yourself what works best for you.

Firstly, I would like to point out that I changed my photo to one of me and Pearl because I feel that getting a job in Israel is really for the two of us, and I do feel that I have her support and encouragement and this is the way that I wanted to express that. 

15 weeks to aliyah – As we count down the days and weeks to aliyah I thought that it would be meaningful to talk about our personal experience. Of course, “your mileage may vary” and everyone has a different aliyah experience so although this could be viewed more or less as the roadmap that we followed, this might not work for everyone. 

The first decision we made was whether to make aliyah or not. That might seem obvious but it is really complex on a few levels. It means that you have to have a soul searching to think of the reasons that you are taking this step. There are many good reasons to move to Israel and there are a few bad ones so you might want to talk it over with someone if you are not sure that you have the right motivations. If you are moving in order to get a free flight to Israel, for instance, then your aliyah might turn out to be disastrous. 

We talked with our Rabbi about our decision. It made us think about how many people actually ask their Rabbis for advice when they decide *not* to move but ask him about a million other far less important matters. Yet the decision was a personal one and we ultimately made the choice on our own. The other reason that this is an important decision to make first is because it sets the stage for everything else. If you decide for sure to go, then where you live, how you will make a living and all of the other important and not so important other decisions become secondary. In our case, baruch HaShem, they all fell into place nicely. But we committed ourselves to going before we knew anything else. We picked a date (that is, a specific year – not a variable “X years from now” target date that tends to move with time) and let our friends know. There was no turning back.

One of the things that I have noticed since we started this journey that that we have been a lot more attuned to the aspect of hashkacha pratis and its role in our move. Some might call it coincidence, but there have been too many "coincidences" to just ignore them. Pearl and I came across this contest when we attended the Nefesh B'Nefesh mega event this past Sunday. Some of my friends were a bit bewildered as to why we would need to attend it at this point, thinking that we are pretty much up to speed by now on most of the details about moving to Israel. But there are always more details to be learned and a bit of review never hurt anyone. When I looked into the specific jobs being offered, I was surprised to find that one of them is actually a really good match to my skills and background. Again, you have to wonder what the odds are for 1 of these 8 jobs to be so appropriate when there are so many types of jobs out there. Just another "coincidence" I guess.