Why I made Aliyah

Even after nearly five years, I still get asked this question on a near to daily basis.  The moment people pick up on my American accent, the next thing that comes out of their mouths is "Why are you in Israel?"  and once they find out I'm from LA, that's when they really go nuts, "Why the &@#$ would you leave LA for Israel?"  For some reason most of Israelis think of LA as an absolute paradise - don't get me wrong, LA is awesome, but I didn't leave LA because of the city itself, I had other, more meaningful reasons for making Aliyah.

Reason #1:  My mother is Israeli, and I have quite a few relatives here.  Throughout my childhood, we would come and visit my mother's family once every few years.  When I was 15 years old, we spent 2 and half months here, and I had the time of my life!  I had so much fun hanging out with all my cousins and going around Tel Aviv on Friday nights to all the late night cafes, it was an unforgettable experience.  From that moment on, I knew that at some point in my life I'd spend at least a year in Israel, to learn Hebrew and get to know my Israeli family that much better.

Reason #2:  As I got older, I began to notice how many people seemed to not really care, or know too much about other countries or cultures.  Between the ages of 16-19, I used to wear a necklace with a Star of David pendant.  You wouldn't believe how many times people commented me on my necklace with the following statement: "Wow, that's a really beautiful necklace!  What does that symbol mean?"  The very first time I heard that, it just so happened to be a young blond girl, so naturally I just assumed that she was wonderfully living up to her stereotype, because really, you don't have to be Jewish to know what 2 triangles, one inverted and placed on top of the other represents.  You simply needed to have been conscious during European History class in school, but you'd be surprised at how many people are out there that honestly have never known what a Star of David means.  My whole life I had been the only or one out of the few Jewish kids at school, so the notion of being around "my people" also influenced me to come to Israel.

Reason #3:  Once I felt ready to make that venture to Israel, I began searching online for programs or groups going to Israel.  I was 18 at the time, and halfway through my first year of college.  I thought that I would do some sort of foreign exchange student program.  During my search, I came across a government scholarship for new immigrants to Israel, or Olim Chadashim as they're called in Hebrew.  The scholarship pays up to 120 credits (or 3 years) of any degree at any school in Israel.  As soon as I saw that, my mind was made up, I was moving to Israel.

At that moment, I had quit my current studies, and began preparing myself for the move.  I finally made it to Israel in July 2004, I was 19.  It was a slow process at the beginning, but now I feel that I made the right choice.  Not only am I multilingual (I also learned Russian during my time here), I've gained so much more than just a college education, I've grown as a person in so many ways - ways that I never would have experienced if I had stayed in the States.