This week, I’d like to share something a little different. As the second anniversary of October 7 and the outbreak of the war approaches, I was curious why some olim chose to make aliyah during a war, or why others chose to stay.
I interviewed several olim and asked them these exact questions. Here are the responses that I received from several of my conversations.
Benny
Benny, from Houston, Texas, has been in Israel for three years. He first arrived on a Masa Israel Teaching Fellows (MITF) program and later made aliyah from within Israel right after the war began. The conflict didn’t deter him, he explained - he had already decided to stay.
When asked why, Benny said he felt that Israel’s arts, culture, and people represented him better than anywhere else he had lived. He wanted to be part of it forever.
Though he admits it is challenging to live here during this dark period, Benny says he feels lucky to have found a strong support network that helps him push through. “We define our own reality and our own future,” he told me. Making aliyah, he added, can inspire other like-minded people to do the same.
“We don’t want our lives to be dominated by war and conflict. It’s up to us to take actions that reflect our vision of what this country is and can be.”
Miriam
Miriam made aliyah on August 9, 2023, just two months before the war. For her, the decision had been years in the making.
On paper, she said, her life in America was perfect. She had a good job, a decent salary, and a car. But after George Floyd’s death, she felt antisemitism rising even more than usual in the US and globally. “It was always there,” she explained, “but it got worse. I was almost waiting for a modern-day Kristallnacht. I knew that if this happened, things would get drastically worse for Jews in America.”
It was these fears that pushed her to make the move to Israel. “I don’t want to be there [the US] when it gets really bad,” she thought.
Her last few years in America also pointed her towards Israel: challenges with finding work and in the dating world, along with recurring dreams about traveling that always ended in Israel, surrounded by Jerusalem stones - felt like divine signs confirming that Israel was where she was meant to be.
But when October 7 came, her fears were confirmed. Even so, Miriam chose to stay in Israel, saying that the war only strengthened her convictions and cemented her commitment to Israel and to Zionism even more. “God gave us this land. There’s no question about it,” she said.
For Miriam, there was also a spiritual dimension. She believes that Mashiach is coming soon, and she wants to be in Israel when this happens and when the shofar is blown. Since making aliyah, she has returned to the US only once, to visit her father. “I don’t want to leave Israel again,” she said. “This is my home.”
Liora
Liora, originally from Manchester, made aliyah three years ago, before the war. While some olim considered returning abroad when the war broke out, she said the thought never crossed her mind. ‘I chose to make Israel my home three years ago - through the good and the bad. Israel is my home, and its people are my people. I won’t abandon them when things get tough.’
More than this, Liora added, with the rise of antisemitism worldwide, she feels safest in Israel and cannot imagine being anywhere else. “Here we have our land. Here we have the IDF. No other country can offer us this protection.” Now more than ever, she said, we need to be united, whether in Israel or in the Diaspora.
Although each story is unique, they are all bound by a shared resolve and deep solidarity with Israel and its people. Whether guided by identity, faith, or a sense of destiny, these olim chose to begin their lives in Israel during one of its darkest chapters and in doing so, affirmed that their future is inseparably tied to this land.