Finding Your Footing – Workshop Series for Olim

Making Aliyah is one of the most courageous and profound endeavors a person can undertake. As a new arrival you are navigating unfamiliar systems, rebuilding social networks from scratch, and processing a quiet but profound identity shift, often while managing full-time work, bureaucratic requirements, and family responsibilities. The disorientation you’re feeling in these first months — the exhaustion, the frustration, the moments of wondering why everything is harder than it should be — is not a flaw in you. It is a predictable, well-documented, and ultimately temporary stage of one of life’s most significant transitions.
The research on international relocation is clear: people who understand what they’re going through move through it faster, more gracefully, and with greater confidence. Integration and genuine belonging in Israel are not just possible — they are well within your reach.
This four-session series gives Olim that framework — and returns them each week with fresh language, practical tools, and a cohort of peers who are navigating the same journey.

A Message from Your Facilitator
I’m Melanie Emerson — a fellow Olah Chadasha, and someone who has spent decades doing professionally what many do but once in a lifetime: starting over in a new country. I’ve lived and worked in 15 countries, traveled to an additional 30, served as a Peace Corps Volunteer and Country Director, and had an international development career built around the science and practice of cultural transition. I know it’s not easy. I see Olim struggling and I am here to help.