The Beginning

My aliyah journey starts from the first time I was in Israel in May 2009, actually it was the only time I've been in Israel. My family and I went for my brothers Bar Mitzvah which we had been planning for years. We were finally on our plane and near landing, the best part of the flight. I remember being near the ground flying over the Mediterranean and looking at the shore of Tel Aviv, it was absolutely beautiful, that's when I started crying. We were in Israel for two weeks mostly touring. We visited Chevron, Tel Aviv, Masada, Ein Gedi, the Dead Sea, Kever Rachel, but we mostly stayed in Jerusalem walking around to Ben Yehuda, Machane Yehuda, and The Old City. My brother had his Bar Mitzvah at the Kotel, it was my first time there and it looked nothing like I had imagined but it was totally incredible. By the time we had to leave I remember people in Chicago telling me 'the second you get off the plane you'll feel the holiness, you'll feel the connection.' Well that's not when I felt that connection, I felt it siting in our rented car driving through the beautiful mountains and valleys at 4 in the morning on our way back to Ben Gurion. The next few months back in Chicago were hard, My Abba was talking about aliyah which was scary, because I was desperate to be back in Israel but I wanted to get through high school first. My mind changed after one of my best friends made aliyah in the middle of the summer, I decided that Israel was certainly the place that I had to be and soon. My Abba and I both felt the same about Israel, and we wanted the rest of the family to agree, which they did but they were not emotionally ready to make the move. It took a little while but in February my Mom finally agreed to make aliyah in the summer of 2011. So this is were my journey begins