Dana Miller

From: Orchard Lake

Age: 26

Date of Aliyah: 1994

Marital status; Engaged

Profession: Development coordi

nator and foreign liaison at the New
Israel Fund

City of residence: Jerusalem

One reason for making aliyah: "I

went on Volunteers for Israel the
summer after the Gulf War and it
happened to be at the same time as
the magical Ethiopian aliyah.
It was then that I knew that I
had to try living in Israel."

What's challenging about
Israel: "The lack of religious

pluralism and the increase in
religious coercion is very frus-
trating, particularly while liv-
ing in Jerusalem."

Noam Koenigsburg

From Oak Park

Age: 24

Date of Aliyah: Has lived in

Israel since 1994

Marital status: Married

Profession: Student at

yeshiva

City of residence: Sha'alvira,
between Jerusalem and Tel
Aviv

One reason for making
aliyah: "I was educated with

the belief that the Jewish peo-
ple should return to Israel...God
told us in Torah many times
that the Jewish people are sup-
posed to be in Israel."

What he misses about
Michigan: His parents, Trop-

icana orange juice, the Tigers
and the Red Wings.

Sharon Lapides

From Farmington. Hills

Age: 38

Date of Aliyah: 1995

continues on next page

Koenigsburg has lived in Israel since portant as marriage should be a cere-
1994 and is studying at a yeshiva outside mony we believed in," she explained. "It's
Jerusalem. Although he has not official- frustrating for me as a non-Orthodox Jew
ly made aliyah, he plans to do so in the that my beliefs are not legitimate here
[in Israel]."
next few years.
There are certain challenges to Israeli
While Orthodox Jews often are at-
tracted to Israel because of the religious life that affect almost all North Ameri-
opportunities there, Conservative, Re- can immigrants, regardless of religious
form and Reconstructionist Jews find the or political views. Many Americans grow
religious status quo in Israel limiting. up with an idealized view of the country.
Ms. Miller and her Israeli-born fiancé Although many say Israel is becoming
will marry in Michigan, not Jerusalem, increasingly Americanized, it retains a
so that they can have a Conservative distinct culture, one which takes some
wedding. Because Orthodox Judaism is getting used to.
"I think a reason a lot of people leave Is-
the only officially recognized stream of
Judaism in Israel, weddings performed rael is because they have very high expec-
by rabbis of other denominations are rec- tations of the country, ie, they expect people
to be doing the hora when they get
ognized by the Israeli government
Sharo n, liana off the plane," Ms. Miller said. "And
only if performed abroad.
and th eir dog, it is a difficult place to live."
'We felt that something as im-
M iki•

Unless they arrive fluent in Hebrew,
new immigrants must learn a new lan-
guage, find a place to live, make friends
and find a job in a professional market
where the rules are often quite different
from in the United States. They also
must make a living in a country where
prices are high but salaries are, on av-
erage, lower than in the United States.
And then there's the politics.
"Emotionally, it's a real roller coast-
er," said Sharon Lapides of Farmington
Hills, who made aliyah with her daugh-
ter in 1995, one month before Prime Min-
ister Yitzhak Rabin was assassinated.
Within a year she had witnessed nu-
merous suicide bombings and the up-
heaval following the opening of a tunnel
below the Temple Mount in Jerusalem.
"I love being in Israel, but it's a diffi-
cult adjustment," she said.
In addition to adjusting to
the threat of war and terror-
ism, new immigrants have to
get used to their fellow Israeli
citizens who often seem
abrupt, even rude.
"There's a certain Israeli
mentality that I'm still not
used to," said Susan Kagan,
who made aliyah from Detroit
15 years ago. "I either avoid it
or try not to get upset about it.
It's a lot of yelling instead of
talking."
"It's hard to become an Is-
raeli," Ms. Himelhoch said.
"On the one hand, I want to fit
in; on the other hand, I don't
want to. Israelis are known for
their pushiness and some-
times rude behavior, and I
never want that. However, I
would like to make sure that
I am aggressive enough to get
things done and not be taken
advantage of."
Perhaps the most difficult
aspect of life in Israel is the
separation from family in
Michigan, a challenge eased
somewhat by e-mail.
"Modern technology must
have been developed to help
absorption," Ms. Kagan said.
Mr. Koenigsburg misses his
parents, but is lucky because
all his siblings live in Israel.
Even though they feel they
have adjusted to Israeli life,
the transplanted Michigani-
ans say that most of their
friends are other immigrants
from English-speaking coun-
tries, "Anglo-Saxons" as they
are called by native Israelis.
"I feel assimilated to the ex-
tent that I have picked up
many Israeli mannerisms,
speak the language and feel at
home," Ms. Miller said. "How-
ever, most of my friends are
former North Americans or are
children of Israeli parents but

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