If You Made Aliyah - I need Advice!

notshanarishona

Thu, Jan 02 2025, 5:25 pm

amother OP wrote:

Sorry my post is lengthy! Also, I really hope that my post doesn’t offend anyone or rub them the wrong way. I included more detail in hopes of getting advice pertinent to my family.

My DH and I are considering making Aliyah within the next 18-24 months through Nefesh B’Nefesh, maybe even sooner if things go smoothly.

Background: We are in our early and mid-twenties, and we have two children ages 2 and 1, and one IYH on the way. We want to be able to move while the kids are still little, and we feel that the best time to do it would be as soon as possible. Our kids are really young and aren’t necessarily aware of what American life and luxuries are like, we don’t own a house that would have to be sold nor would we struggle to downsize from a 2,500 sqft house to a 1,000 sqft or smaller Israeli apartment, and we really don’t own much that would need to be shipped over. Most of our furniture is second hand and would be sold. We figured 18-24 months would give us time to learn some ivrit, save up more, do 1-2 pilot trips, speak to people and research, and hopefully get more qualified on a resume and career wise. Obviously, we could feel ready to move sooner than that. Regarding our lifestyle and hashkafa, we would describe ourselves as modern yeshivish/yeshivish/Baal habatish. My husband and I had similar upbringings. I grew up with movies, wanting to go to Disney, and got exposed to secular music later in high school, but don’t necessarily want that for my children. I dress tenuously and cover my hair completely. My husband learned in kollel for the first 3 years while I worked, and now he works and I am staying home. I have some college under my belt, but no degree yet (that was put on pause due to difficult pregnancies), and my husband doesn’t have a degree as he’s still fresh out of kollel. I am very interested in pursuing my doula certification, homeopathy and alternative medicine, and becoming a kallah teacher in the future. My husband works in finance/account management for nursing homes, and he really enjoys what he’s doing. Up until now, we have been saving for a down payment for a house and we live in an apartment. We have zero debt of any kind (ie student loans, medical, credit cards, and we own our car). We have about 35k saved and a separate emergency fund of about 16k. We budget, and don’t live a very lavish lifestyle, but still enjoy nice things assuming we can pay for it upfront.

If you have any tips (ie pilot trips, paperwork, searching for communities, adjusting to Israeli culture, finding schools, jobs, shopping, food, quality of goods etc), things to consider, hardships or setbacks you’ve faced, or just random things you miss or weren’t expecting I am all ears!

Random questions:

1. Did you bring American mattresses over? This is one thing I feel would be hard to adjust to if we didn’t bring American beds over. I hope that doesn’t sound petty! We would probably downgrade in terms of size from full beds to American-size twin beds. Is it a pain to ship then and find box springs, linen, and frames in israel that would fit?

No- didn’t bring American mattresses but we found good beds in Isrt

2. At what point did you decide that you needed a car in Israel, or does it depend on where you live?

We never got a car

3. As someone who has arthritis (autoimmune disease) but is not on any medication, is it hard to find specialists like rheumatologists and immunologists? BH I haven’t been on medicine in several years, but past pregnancies have caused flare ups in the past.

Not at all hard, you will just need a referral and might have a wait of a few months to get in for the first appointment (worth becoming an established patient before you need it so you can message someone if needed)

4. I have HG (hyperemesis gravidarum) with my pregnancies. It’s hard as it is to advocate for yourself and get doctors/midwives to take you seriously in America especially when you’re young. Does anyone living in Israel who has HG as well have positive experiences with the care there?

They are plenty familiar with HG in Israel. They will take you seriously. Nothing to do with age. The pregnancy care for high risk was great.

5. I’m curious, if you find that life in Israel requires a lot of phone apps? From what people tell me, it seems that there are a ton of apps that most people tend to use.

I had a kosher phone

6. Did you find the switchover from American toiletries and products to Israeli ones to be a big deal or does it just depend on the person and their level of “maintenance.” A lot of younger people I’ve spoken to complain about Israeli products, but also are the type to get wash and sets every month, buy a new wig every 2-3 years, get their nails done regularly, buy Starbucks/iced coffee multiple times a week, and are super into brand clothes and fashion. I wouldn’t describe myself as high maintenance persay and I would wear mostly pretied/tichels/snoods/mitpachat, and I rarely if ever get my nails done. I do however enjoy good quality products, but I don’t feel it’s a deal breaker.

No

7. Is furniture and the quality of workmanship on apartments and handiwork really lower quality/cheaply made/done or does it just vary and depend on who you use and where you buy things from?

Depends

8. This question is a little more niche, but due to health reasons I’ve become more diligent about “non-toxic” living, supplements, natural products, and often shop at health food stores or order online for hard-to-find items. Are these things harder to find in Israel? Are there many health foods stores, or stores that sell more natural toiletries and cleaners and essential oils? Someone told me that dye and fragrance free items are hard to come by.

Sometimes, depends where you live

Thank you so much in advance! Smile

amother

↑ OP

Fri, Jan 03 2025, 11:40 am

LovesHashem wrote:

1. You can get great mattresses here! We're very happy with ours from Tiv Harihit as well.

2. I think this depends on so many things, where you live, your jobs, commute, lifestyle, personal abilities, etc

3. I don't know but I'm very happy with the Healthcare.

4. I don't have HG but I do have high risk pregnancies and spend a lot of time. At the Dr, ER, Terem, etc and I've had amazing experiences. I do think in any hospital, anywhere in the world you do have to advocate for yourself to some degree. But overall the doctors are much nicer, and everyone really cares about you. Nurses shifts are only 8 hours here vs 12 and I think it makes a huge difference, in addition to other workers rights that don't exist in America. I know people with HG who have been very happy here.

5. Nah, most apps are for things you can access just fine on a computer. People just prefer to use apps.

6. I was in America recently and WOAH have prices shot up. Plenty of American toiletries are available here, some are even cheaper than in the USA. We buy some Israeli stuff and some American.

7. Depends where you buy from. Like everything worldwide craftsmanship and quality has gone down so much.

8. We have loads of health food stores with tons of products! In addition iherb ships here for free over 250 shekels and there's tonsss of stuff there and on amazon.

Israel is close to Europe, we just started importing more European products, I've found a lot of things from there have much less toxins and chemicals than American products, like pads.

I don't see alot of fragrance free items but I'm sure iherb has. I've never paid attention much to that.

Thank you!! I am very excited since learning about iherb I think that would be very helpful.