Onward to the Holy Land
By Cara Hogan

Boston native and Tufts graduate Ilan Navon in Israel.

Nefesh B'Nefesh makes it happen

For Jews who want to leave America behind and start a new life in Israel, Nefesh B'Nefesh will help with the details.

"Our one mission is to make things easier for Olim, North American Jews, who want to move to Israel," said Charley Levine, the spokesman for NBN. "There are many Jews who are considering aliyah and there are certain things no one is helping them with; finding employment, education for their kids, housing and vital basic services."
Levine said the organization was created six years ago to ease the transition to Israel and make it possible for anyone with the desire to go. NBN has an office in Jerusalem and helps find people jobs, which is an integral part of the program.
"We try our best to find a job for them that is similar to what they're doing in America," said Levine. "Within six months of arriving 93 percent of our people have jobs, either one or both people in a couple. It's an exceptionally high employment rate."

Levine said young families seem to be the most common group moving to Israel followed by single young men and women. He said many young people enlist in the Israeli army as a way of getting absorbed into the Israeli culture.

Twenty-three-year-old Ilan Navon, a former Boston resident and Tufts University graduate, will soon be an Israeli soldier and used NBN to arrange his new life.
"I always wanted to serve in the Israeli Army," said Navon in an e-mail from Israel. "So I went for it and begin my three year service in the infantry this coming November."

Navon said he has not found the change to be difficult and he is enjoying the new experience.

“It has only been two weeks and so far I am loving it," said Navon. "Moving to Israel is something I've always wanted to do. Having finished college I was ready to open a new chapter in life and Israel was part of that chapter.”

Navon said he would recommend aliyah for any Jewish person who loves Israel and feels it is their home. He also said the process of immigrating is difficult, but NBN helped him immensely.

"As far as using Nefesh B’Nefesh, I feel it's a must," said Navon. "They are so helpful and they assigned me an advisor here that guides me through the absorption process. They really help with much of the bureaucratic mess that is part of the Aliyah process."

According to Levine, the number of people using NBN to go to Israel has increased each year, with 2,000 more people currently being processed.

Gayle Berman of Springfield will also be moving to Israel in the next year with her husband and two young children and went through NBN.

"When we thought about moving on from Springfield, we thought where would we want to live?" said Berman about their decision. "Then we thought of Israel. We wanted a large Jewish community it doesn’t get much larger than that. We’ve always enjoyed vacationing there and our children love it."

Berman said they decided to move to the community of Ifrat after visiting Israel with NBN. She said the area has many English speakers, which will make them more comfortable.

"My husband and I have limited Hebrew, but our son is pretty strong because he’s gone to day school here," said Berman. "Our daughter will be going into kindergarten so within months she’ll be fluent. It will be hardest for us, the parents, to learn, but I'm looking forward to be at least semi-fluent."

Despite the challenges of uprooting their family, Berman said she, her husband and her children are excited for the change and she said she feels this is the right decision for her family.

"We definitely feel the pull, we feel like it's in the divine plan that we go," said Berman. "There's been a series of events that have led us to believe that our family should be in Israel."