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You may be interested in making Aliyah. If so, you may be interested in reading some advice from a veteran. Me. You may also be interested in reading the section in this website on Israel and the full website on Israel. I am happy to share my experiences with you. They may help your own aliyah experience become easier.
Let's start by saying that I cheated on my aliyah.
I got very much involved with it before coming. AACA. I had various philosophies about Judaism.
Figured if I was going to be Jewish, might as well go about it whole hog.
So I got involved in American Jewish communal life.
It started with SSSJ. They're the college kids who waved banners and demonstrated for the Soviet Jewry rallies. At the time, I wasn't sure what a Soviet Jew was (there weren't that many of them around at the time), and all I really knew was the publicity that I handed out.
But I felt good about the outlet. From there, I got somewhat involved in Yavneh, the Religious Jewish Students Association on campus. I was not a leader, but the others didn't really care if I ran some of the meetings.
One summer during my college career I took a trip to Israel. I took some courses in Bar Ilan, a college not far from Tel Aviv.
The dorms were OK, and the courses were OK, and I knew that I would be getting some college credit, but it was hard to take this place seriously.
There was a group of Israelis studying quietly, and we were the noisy Americans.
I realized that they were older and more mature than Americans when we went to college. Most of them had first gone to the Army. Many had been through a war or a few enemy campaigns, and they were often married.
They had passed the time of fooling around, but we hadn't. So we went around and toured Israel while they studied.
Some people from the group went around more, and saw more, and some went around less, but they weren't going to waste our time in college doing any studying. When we returned, we decided to make the most of what we had learned. I thought it would be good to live in Israel, but nothing pushed me either here or there. I then started working.
I was able to land a job teaching English at a local yeshiva.
Israeli salary. Told, what they really need is librarians. Told, the new up and coming job is guidance.
Starting to bring them into all the schools. Got here, told the new thing is journalism.
Took a course. Used none of the above.
Or perhaps, on second thought, I used all of the above.
Discovered that my niche has nothing to do with any of these.�Translating was a way of making a bit of extra money.
Boring. Computer, interesting. Found an old friend of mine one day from AACA days.
Taught Translation in a local college. I didn't earn a lot, but the fact that I taught in a college means that I reached a level never would have reached in the States. Now, with assistance of some friends, started a user club. Later, started an editors' association, together with a friend.
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