Moving to Israel

Moving to Israel was never on my agenda, but as they say, you make plans and God laughs! After meeting my husband in Jerusalem in late 2005, I made aliyah (immigrated) with Nefesh B’ Nefesh on Dec 26th, 2006. The aliyah experience was surreal to say the least. I had four months to pack up my life, graduate college and plan a wedding. The night before the flight to Israel I started getting massive butterflies in my stomach. I didn’t sleep a wink the entire night. Was I really leaving home, the U.S., and all my friends? Sure, my mother is Israeli so I have plenty family in Israel but was I really ready to move to Israel and get married?

The following night, as our ElAl charter flight rolled down the runway at JFK , everyone erupted into cheers and applause. I still had massive butterflies in my stomach. During our flight we got to meet and thank many of the people from Nefesh B’ Nefesh who had helped us for months with the aliyah process. (It was very nice to finally put faces to names)! There were also photographers and reporters on board. Being a writer, I planned on doing some of my own reporting, but I was so nervous that I was glued to my seat for most of the flight.
The most surprising and one of the most heartwarming parts of the flight was when I realized that the founder and co-founder of Nefesh B’ Nefesh were on board. I was astounded to find out that they have been on nearly every Nefesh flight since the program’s inception!

I will never forget our landing in Israel on December 27th. There was turbulence as we descended into heavy clouds and pouring rain. Everyone was silent, many were gripping the arms of their seats. I shared a nervous smile with the woman sitting next to me. As I felt us getting closer to touch down, my heart started beating at a million miles an hour and I said out loud “This is it!” This is it!” Upon touchdown all 220 of us, wearing our Nefesh Aliyah hats and an immigrant sticker on our shirts, began to clap, cheer and sing. Everyone was on such a high that no one seemed to mind getting off the plane into freezing cold rain. Photographers from various press agencies stood on the runway oblivious to the rain, smiling as they took pictures of us as we disembarked . I was exhausted and confused about where I was supposed to go in the middle of all the celebration. Part of me wished everyone would hurry up a little so we could get on the bus to the warm, and dry terminal. Despite the horrible weather, an urgent need to use the bathroom and desperately wanting to see my fiancé whom I hadn’t seen in four months, I enjoyed the few minutes of picture taking and feeling like a celebrity.

The happiness on the runway paled in comparison to the welcoming we got at the terminal. Dozens upon dozens of people welcomed us singing and dancing in the pouring rain. While that was all incredibly beautiful, I groaned to myself thinking, I’d never make it inside to the bathroom and my fiancé. After what seemed like an interminable amount of time celebrating some more, I finally made it into the terminal and the bathroom. I didn’t see my fiancé right away. As time went on and I still didn’t see him, I got very sad thinking he forgot I was making aliyah that day. We finally saw each other and I flew straight into his arms. When I asked where he’d been and if he forgot I was making aliyah he looked at me as if I had grown a third eye and said, “Of course I didn’t forget. I’ve been here for hours!”
My fiancé told me that when my plane landed he went back and forth outside in the pouring rain looking for me, not thinking that I would be on the first bus into the terminal...neither did I.
Making aliyah was truly a day I will never forget.