Moving to Israel

Nothing makes person who writes about and encourages moving to Israel happier than successful Aliyah stories and that’s why The Jerusalem Post’s Cafe Oleh section is such a great way for me to start my day. It is always inspiring to hear new stories of Olim who start over here in Israel and today was a great example with the progress of Simon Asher of London.

Simeon, who came here with his wife Galina and sons Gideon, 6, and Benjamin, 4, nearly three years ago, is a successful osteopath and left a booming practice in London to which he still returns for one week a month, and opened a new practice in Ra’anana which has really taken off. He grew up in London and until 23 was not religiously observant. He found religion through Lubavitch, just before he met Galina and they married in 1994. After 10 years of marriage, Gideon was born and two years later, Benjamin. On a visit here in 2007, they had dinner with friends and in the taxi on the way back they looked at each other and said “Let’s do it.” Looking back on the decision, Asher says, “You can’t really explain it if your heart brings you here.”

“When we think of our Aliyah, it’s been literally that, a going up and a wonderful experience that has surpassed all expectations,” says Asher. “Israelis don’t appreciate what they’ve got here, because they didn’t choose to live here the way we did. Living in England you are obsessed with news about Israel, and being here you have released yourself from that whole narrative. Israel only really makes sense when you’re here.”

Obviously, everyone has different experiences when making Aliyah and some are smoother than others. However, when reading the JPost’s Cafe Oleh section it makes for a great feeling for the rest of us Olim (and potential Olim) to see others in similar situations who manage to overcome their fear and apprehension to make Aliyah and moving to Israel a reality. It is a daily must read for many of my visitors and comes highly recommended by this North American Oleh.

Ari

When I and many of my fellow Olim move to Israel one of the tougher things to acclimate to is the loss of so many of the non-Jewish “holidays” that we grow accustomed to celebrating. I often hear how it is so hard to be away and miss the fun loving, carefree days of Thanksgiving, New Years, etc.

However, as this time of year rolls around all you have to do is walk the streets of Israel and be reminded that this is the ultimate place to celebrate and enjoy the true holidays that Hashem has gift wrapped for us. Starting today, as you go about your business in the Holy Land, you will hear many people repeat the phrase “Mi-she’nikhnas Adar marbim be-simcha” – “When Adar arrives, we increase joy.”

In other words the month of Adar has arrived and it is time to be happy and warm our hearts with memories of the some of the incredible miracles that Hashem has blessed us with throughout time. These are the true holidays of the Jewish year and these are truly the times to celebrate. We must always remember what in this world is truly important and, as an Oleh from North America, I can tell you that it is infinitely easier to remember and appreciate all the real blessings that G-d has bestowed upon us here in Israel, where the truly meaningful holidays are felt in the air for the entire “holiday season.”

Looking forward to a wonderful Adar and may everyone raise their level of joy to unprecedented heights as we bask in Hashem’s love for us.

Ari

As this blog is always trying to promote Aliyah and moving to Israel, we also like to keep tabs on Olim to get their feel for the pulse of immigrants throughout the country. On that note, it was interesting to see the news that a group of immigrant academics has written to Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, urging him to take a clear stand in opposition to the creation of a Palestinian state in Israel.

The group, consisting of many of the Russian-speaking community in Israel, said such a state would be ”foreign to and hostile to the Jewish people… inside [Israel’s] historical borders and adjacent to its largest cities.”

While the ceation of a PA state has been the subject of debate for what seems like an eternity here in Israel, it is important to point out the feeling from this group of immigrants who, like many of us who have made Aliyah in the past, make up a large, core group of the citizens of the country and it is therefore always crucial to let our voices and opinions be heard. Vital decisions for the welfare of the country could depend on it.

Ari

Regular readers of this moving to Israel blog are well aware of what a fan of Tamar Yonah, one of Israel’s most popular English-speaking radio show hosts, I am. I am a regular consumer of all her content and am frequently quoting to her.

Therefore, it should come as no surprise that the other day she came out with a spectacular blog post that is particularly fitting for my readers. The post is entitled “7 Steps to Help You Make Aliyah” and is, as you might imagine, a great mini-guide to helping with the process of making the move to the Holy Land. The post comes complete with letters from real people at various stages of the (potential) Aliyah process and provides a 7 step plan for making Aliyah “especially if you have family members who are not as into the idea as you are,” as she puts it.

This is a must read for all potential Olim and is, once again, a fantastic piece of writing by Tamar.

Ari

I wanted to share an extremely important piece of news for Olim that I saw in my TACHLIS news group. It was very alertly pointed out by Paula Stern of www.writepoint.com and applies to all potential Olim or those who have moved to Israel within the last ten years.

It seems the Misrad HaKlita (Min. of Immigrant Absorption) has just advertised that there is now a deadline for applying for its subsidy for Olim to get professional retraining. If you don’t get a voucher towards a course before December 15th they don’t know if the program will be renewed next year or at all. She mentions that, while she plans on working with Aliyah organizations to see if they can help turn this around, in the meantime this seems be a case of “use it or lose it.”

She goes on to suggest some action items for the applicable people and also adds how her personal technical writing course is working to accomodate potential students in light of the changes coming.

Thanks for the heads up Paula. We’ll help spread the word.

Ari

As the Jewish new year is upon us over here in Israel and throughout the world, we would like to wish all our readers and their families a happy and healthy new year. May the coming year bring only joy and bring more of us back to our homeland in Israel.

To sign off on the year, here is a cute video that was sent to me by Michal Moreno that I thought you might like. It’s a new video by the Israeli Ministry of Tourism and the Municipality of Jerusalem aiming to introduce Jerusalem to new crowds and to keep the city fresh in the minds of people who have already visited and might plan another trip in the future. Please pass it around to whomever you think might enjoy and let’s try to keep the visitors and Olim coming all year long and making the move to Israel.

Have the most wonderful year.

Ari

As this blog is a platform for encouraging people to move to Israel I thought I would share with you today a site that attempts to be THE resource on the subject. However, let me advise from the begining that it will be a somewhat biased analysis as the site is one of great signficance to me - it is mine and it was the inspiration for the creation of this blog which has been so successful over the course of the last few months and has, hopefully, helped to provide one more “friend” when making the very impactful move of leaving your lives and relocating to Israel.

As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, the site was originally set up to find people the best prices when shipping to or from Israel. It was created by myself and a former college roommate of mine, Ronen Levy, who have both made Aliyah in the last decade and who both experienced tremendous headaches when we were attempting to ship our (and our families’) belongings overseas.

The process that we kept finding when researching for good shipping companies was becoming all too familiar. We’d look at a company and go to the phone book or website where we would be prompted to fill out a form or call a representative. This is where the troubles usually started. Filling out a form would often take you to a page that let you know that the company was researching your data and would get back to you. Fair enough. However, when you’d finally speak to an agent the information would often be inaccurate or you’d be given a message that there could be no quotes until they came to your home and assesed the complete situation. Obviously, this delayed the process even further and then you multiply this process by all of the companies you’d like estimates from.

The troubles would get worse when, after agreeing to a price and selecting your agency, the stuff was sent only to be discovered when we were in the country that the price was actually different then from the one we had been quoted. Now here you are in a new country with your possesions being stored and you in obvious need of them. Hardly an ideal bargaining position to be in. In both of our cases and in others we’ve heard about over the years, this story, or similar variances thereof, have been common occurrences. After comparing notes of our stories the idea for http://www.shippingconsolidators.com was born.

We established a system where a person comes to our site and fills out a form with their moving information, just as described above. In our case, however, we then receive the form and personally take the information to find you the best shipping price from good, reliable companies. A few days later the visitor is sent an email giving them an approximate estimation of what their move will cost. While it is mentioned in the emails that these approximations are just those - approximations - and there will always be factors that will be needed to be determined by the shipping companies in person, the price given gives users an extremely reliable number that they can use as a guide in all future negotiations with other companies. In addition, the price estimate comes much faster than a visit from an agent would take and therefore the general price will already be established and budgetary issues can begin to be considered and implemented.

After the launch of the site and the positive feedback we received, we were informed that there are tons of other needs for Olim that begged to be addressed and that they were not getting answers to the vast number of questions they had. That’s when we decided to expand the site, establish the blog and turn them into true, complete resources for anyone moving to Israel that answers all questions while providing easy access to us where we can answer your questions directly and personally if the answers were not given on the site.

The best thing about everything mentioned above is the price - it’s free. There is no charge whatsoever. We do it all just as a way to promote moving to Israel and that is the only pay we hope for - more Olim. I say this not to brag but to further try and bring the site to everyones attention so they can use its vast amount of resources and save hours of trouble and hassles that we had to go through that are no longer necessary for you.

Overall the site has grown in popularity and we are thrilled with that. However, we need to get the word out more! With Aliyah and moving to Israel as important, if not more so, than ever, every little bit helps. Any resource or friendly advice that can be transferred over to potential Olim and possibly tip the scales in favor of them making the move is crucial. We need Olim. We need Jews to come home. Please spread the word about the site to anyone who is even thinking about moving to Israel and, if that includes you, please squeeze every amount of information you can get out of the site to use to your advantage. Whether you’re looking to ship to Israel, find a job in Israel, need to know your army obligation to Israel, want to see pictures of Israel or are just curious about anything even remotely connected with Israel, the site is here for you.

I hope you can forgive me for taking todays post for a little self plugging but, again, we cannot lose site of the ultimate goal of our blog and site: the encouragement and helping of people to come home to Israel. Enjoy the site and hope to see you keep coming back again and again.

 Ari

An old saying often used by Olim - How do you make a million dollars in Israel? Make Aliyah with 2 million.

The Finance Ministry of Israel has come up with a plan to further increase the economic divide between rich and poor - if you’re rich you don’t have to pay taxes.

According to the plan recently posted on Arutz7, any wealthy Jew who makes Aliyah would be exempt from paying taxes for the first 10 years. The ministry claims that as of now the exemption will be only on income that originates from outside of Israel. If one were to ponder on the finance ministry’s track record, a full tax exemption for the rich is not far behind. Just another step closer to ultimate goal of turning the average Israeli worker into a modern day slave,

Corruption in the Israeli political sphere is rampant and may be the real force pushing this new plan. Rich Israeli’s are very successful when it comes to wooing Israeli politicians and getting laws passed in the Knesset that benefit the rich and trodden on the poor.