Aliyah Stories: Moshe Tzvi

Today I present to you the Aliyah story of Moshe Tzvi, from Cleveland, Ohio, who made Aliyah with his wife and four children ages 10, 9, 6, and 3 in August 2013, to Ma'alot in Northern Israel.

His wife is a practicing OB-GYN and he is a former software executive, with previous positions including CTO and Vice President of Product Management, who is currently looking for work in Israel. His wife attended medical ulpan upon arriving in Israel, but Moshe did not, as he is already proficient in Hebrew. The medical ulpan was very helpful for Moshe's wife, who says that there was no way she could have started out at her job as actively as she did if she had not had ulpan. She says she doesn’t know how anyone from the US could be a doctor in Israel without the medical ulpan (unless they were already fluent of course!)

More information on vocational ulpanim offered by the Ministry can be found here.

When planning the move, their biggest concern was for the kids' transition. In Ma'alot it's not predominantly English speakers. Most kids at school don't speak English, so they were worried. But, says Moshe, "thank G-d, it's been fantastic." The kids have acclimated remarkably well. They've made friends and have play dates at home and at their friends' houses. Moshe and his wife are very pleased with how well the kids have adjusted.

Moshe says he and his wife have always felt that Israel is their home. There was no question as to whether to make Aliyah, only a question of timing. They wanted to make the big move while their kids were young, so the adjustment would be easier for them. In addition, the process for medical certification for Moshe's wife took time. She had to finish all her certifications so her license would transfer over and she wouldn't have to re-do all of the testing. There was a lot of paperwork for her to get certified in Israel. Once she sent it all in the certification process worked relatively well. She has to do a three-month residency at a hospital here, which she has now started. But she had to wait a month initially for the bureaucratic details to be worked out. The Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption provides the hospital with funding for her during this period and they had to wait for this to be arranged with the hospital. Other than that wait, the process has been pretty smooth.

The Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption has numerous certification and professional training courses to help professionals transition to working in Israel. More information can be found here.

Moshe, his wife, and their family, have visited Israel many times over their lives. Moshe attended post-high school programs and summer programs, staffed different summer programs, and visited on family trips. Last April he and his wife participated in one of Nefesh B'Nefesh's pilot trips. Moshe describes it as a "very focused trip" where every day they visited a different city that could be their potential home. They met with principals of schools, other olim, and real estate agents in each place. The trip was "exceptionally helpful" for Moshe and his family.

Before the trip, Moshe and his wife were thinking of different cities to live in, but ended up changing their decision based on what they saw and heard during their visits. They had put Ma'alot, where they currently live, on the list because they didn't know much about it, but they were very happy with what they found there on the trip. On the other hand, other cities they had thought would be good fits before visiting turned out to raise questions. In the end, Moshe calls the pilot trip "critical" to their successful move.

Although Moshe has second cousins living in Israel, they don't have any close family, and nobody living near them. He says family in Israel was not a big concern in their Aliyah decision.

Moshe and his family love living in Ma'alot. Moshe and his wife like the suburban feel of the town, with a house and a yard like he and his wife grew up with. They really like the schools in the area as well. The principle of their sons' school actually just won an award a few months ago. They wanted to live somewhere with a more "Israeli" feel, not a mini-America within Israel like some towns are. They also found the northern climate very appealing, as it is cooler than in much of the country.

They have been trying to take advantage of all the beautiful nature in the north by going on hikes and visiting various attractions. They have a map of Israel provided by the National Park Service, with a checklist of the country's national parks, which the kids have started to check off, with the goal of visiting them all.

Upon first arriving in Israel, Moshe says, they felt "excited…certainly emotional" to be here. "We were cautious about the adventure ahead of us, we didn't really know how everything was going to work out, with the kids and work and everything." Moshe says they are definitely feeling more comfortable now, 8 months in. Every day that goes by things get more settled for them. The fact that their kids have done so well was "a huge confidence builder in regards to the move and to some of our uncertainties" he adds. Still looking for work, Moshe concedes that there is still a lot of uncertainty, but a number of their initial concerns have been addressed and sorted out, and they are still incredibly happy to be here. Looking into the future, he says he looks forward to having a job and integrating professionally. He looks forward to his kids growing up, being part of Israeli culture, and starting their own families, hopefully close by.  

"We believe this is the right place for us," Moshe concludes, "this is home…and we have a lot of excitement and confidence about what lies ahead."

Our Ministry is here to help families like Moshe’s, with financial assistance in the form of the Absorption basket, with professional development courses and ulpanim, and special programs for scientists, artists, and athletes. You can find more information about how the Ministry helps with employment here.

We also work with community groups and local government to help new olim absorb into their communities. For more information about any of the programs we offer, we encourage you to contact one of our local offices here.

Before making Aliyah you can also contact a Jewish Agency representative or Nefesh B’Nefesh in North America for more information. Arrange a one-on-one meeting with a Nefesh B'Nefesh representative here.   

Flowers in the Desert: A Hike Through the Anemones of Shmurat Pura

I recently discovered an English-speaking hiking group based out of Jerusalem and to escape my usual weekend routine (though I do love lying around watching TV, drinking coffee, and reading in my pajamas) I decided to go on a hike they advertised as a “flower hike”. The fact that it was Valentine’s Day back in the states and my boyfriend and I are separated by about 7,500 miles played no role in my desire to get out of the apartment and distract myself. None at all.

So I woke up at 5:30 Friday morning in order to meet them by 7. Everything went smoothly, so that at roughly 7:15 I was rolling away from the parking lot in Jerusalem in the back of a car with an olah chadash from America and two other veteran olim from the States. We chatted about our respective backgrounds and reasons for ending up in this beautiful crazy country. The new olah came to Israel because there is a lot of work for landscape architects. Another came to study, ended up taking a tour guide course, for which she made Aliyah (although it turned out not to be necessary) and in the process of that, decided to divorce her husband. Now she works as a hypnotherapist. But I didn't find that out until the ride home, as she initially introduced herself to me as a writer. How many jobs does this woman have? Frankly, I think her story must be fascinating. Maybe one day I’ll be able to hear her story in more detail and share it with you all here. I don’t remember her name though, which might be a problem. I am really bad with names and faces. Sorry, world.

Anyways, back to this hike. When I said I work for the Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption the new olah mentioned her difficulties in reaching an actual person to talk to here, and I told her to try asking us questions on Facebook, as we always try to respond and point people in the right direction. I don’t really know enough about how this giant ministry works to give more help than that, I've only been here 4 months and my less-than-perfect Hebrew knowledge makes t a bit more difficult to understand everything that's going on in this huge Ministry.

Anyways. So we get to Shmurat Pura, which apparently is famous for the flowers at this time of year. And sure enough, pretty little red flowers that looked like poppies carpeted the rolling green hills. Not as many as I’d hoped, it wasn’t exactly a thick red carpet, so I was slightly disappointed at the beginning, but I held out hope that it would improve as time went on. And it did! It was an easy 3-hour hike, which would probably be even faster with fewer people. For an area called the Northern Negev it was extremely green. There were lots of green fields of some plant—wheat perhaps? Hills spotted with red anemones (Fun fact: not poppies, poppies have black spots anemones lack, and anemones have a little wreath of green just underneath the blossom that poppies lack). I tend to be pretty quiet when hiking, as I look around me at nature and let my mind wander and reflect, so I mostly walked alone. Occasionally I would end up next to someone and we would chat. Our group of about 30 people combined with another group of about 30 that hikes to raise money for disabled children, so we had a pretty big group. I was definitely the youngest, as I usually am in my activities because I have the tastes of an old lady (no, I really do. I like cats, reading, tea, antiques, bed and breakfasts, flower hikes…the list goes on).



















When we were almost back the woman I was walking with spotted a smartphone lying on the ground. Someone had dropped it, so we tried calling the previous called number, which got us the name Jill and a home number, and luckily we found said Jill once we reached the parking lot. Success! The panicky fear of losing a phone is something I wish on no one.

At the parking lot, somebody had set up a little juice stand squeezing fresh juice. This was a genius idea, as Israelis love juice (well ok, who doesn’t?) and it was a pretty hot sunny afternoon. I didn’t get any juice, but on the way back we stopped at a gas station for a bathroom break and I got an ice café. That really hit the spot. If anyone reading this has never had an ice café…please, please try one. It’s like a coffee milkshake and it is so good my mouth waters every time I think about it. They have “diet” ice cafes too but…they just don’t have the same sinfully delicious taste. They sell them everywhere but I prefer the ones at a certain large café/bakery chain found all over Israel (that I cannot name for legal reasons, but hopefully you’ll figure it out).


I was home by early afternoon, tired, dusty, sweaty, and sticky from ice café drips, but glad I had forced myself out of the house to experience some of Israel’s gorgeous landscapes.


I have been on several hikes around Israel, including a daylong hike through the Negev during which we climbed an incredibly steep canyon (read: sheer cliff face with metal rings for handholds and occasional ropes) and I can see why it’s such a popular pastime here. Israel has some of the most beautiful natural landscapes I have ever seen. Lonely Planet listed Israel’s Negev desert as a top destination in the world and I have to agree. Those rocky formations and reddish brown vistas sweeping down to the salty sheen of the Dead Sea are breathtaking.






Our hike through the Negev


I’ve also done an uphill hike in the northern Galilee region, up to the ruins of a crusader castle, surrounded by forested hills. That was another gorgeous one.





The view as we began our hike

Compared to these hikes, this flower hike was very tame, but it was nice to meet new people and see some pretty flowers. I met another UCLA alum, who then gave me a ride to a UCLA alumni event in Tel Aviv a few days after the hike. Connections! Bruins! All good stuff.


Care to share some of your favorite hiking experiences in Israel? Feel free to comment! I’d love to hear about some new ones to try!