Marital status: Single
Profession: Importer of acade-
mic books
City of residence: Ramat Aviv
(suburb of Tel Aviv)
What she likes best about
Israel: "I'm glad I'm here physi-
cally supporting the State of Is
rael. I love it here...some days I
think, I must be crazy to be living
here...but then I can never see
myself living in the United
States."
What's challenging: "It's finan-
cially very difficult to make it here
and everything is very expensive."
Susan Kagan
From Detroit
Age: 38
Date of aliyah 1982
Marital status: Married
Profession: Family therapist,
house parent at Neve Yerushaly-
irn (a girls' yeshiva for ba'alei
teshuva, Jews who are becoming
religious)
Sharon Lapides and daughter liana at the local hamburger restaurant, Burger Ranch.
City of residence: Jerusalem
he likes about Israe
e living in Southfi
having a neighbor ne
eligious.. : Here you ee
ar er picture."
How To Become An Israeli:
The Nuts And Bolts Of Aliyah
S
o, you're ready to hop on the
plane, claim your rights under
the Law of Return and start your
new life as an Israeli citizen. How
do you set the wheels in motion?
First, make sure you've done the re-
search. According to Jeff Kaye, the Michi-
gan Aliyah shaliach (emissary), a new
immigrant's chances for success depend
on having adequate preparation and fair
expectations about Israeli life. Prepara-
tion often means going to Israel, and not
just on a quick tour.
Akiva Werber at the Israel Aliyah
Center's Midwest headquarters in Chica-
go urges potential immigrants to "start
with short- and long-term internships,
getting to know Israel." The Michigan/Is-
rael Connection (Detroit's aliyah office,
in Bloomfield Hills) is a good place for ex-
ploring the numerous programs and op-
portunities available in Israel.
Okay, so you tried Israel and were not
dissuaded by the pushing and shoving
at the shuk (market), the omnipresent
smell of falafel, the lack of decent delis
or the myriad of reasons many Ameri-
can Jews just can't say goodbye to Di-
aspora life?
Now it's time to go back to the Michi-
gan/Israel connection for an appointment
with Mr. Kaye, who counsels potential
immigrants and helps process their ap-
plications.
"It's important to know what people's
expectations are," said Mr. Kaye, who
sees roughly 25-30 Michiganians com-
plete the aliyah process each year. In
meeting with would-be Israelis, Mr. Kaye
tries to assess how prepared for aliyah
they are. He gets potential olim think-
ing about the issues and decisions they
will face, such as culture shock, job
searches and educational options.
Mr. Kaye stresses that he is neither
in the business of persuading nor dis-
couraging people about aliyah.
"My powers are those of recommen-
dation, rather than saying yay or nay,"
he said, adding that "I'm interested in
a person being successful and happy [in
Israel]. If I think [aliyah] is not in that
person's interest, I point out the reali-
ties."
Once your file is opened, take a deep
breath. You're about to be immersed in
a heavy pile of paperwork and a process
that will take anywhere from a month to
several years.
Among the paperwork: Two copies of
a questionnaire, documented proof of Ju-
daism, passports and visas, medical ex-
amination forms and applications for
available loans. Then there's the issue of
sorting through the various benefits for
which you, as a new immigrant, will be
eligible and making sure you correctly
fill out that paperwork. Benefits include
health insurance, mortgage assistance
and certain import tax exemptions.
If all goes well, you'll make Mr. Kaye
a happy man.
"As far as I'm concerned, dealing with
aliyah is the most rewarding part of my
work," he said. "Everything I do in
shlichut, (as a shaliach) comes to fruition
when I shake someone's hand as they
leave on aliyah."
In addition to taking advantage of the
resources offered through the Michi-
gan/Israel Connection, you may want to
explore the Aliyah Center's Web site:
http://www.virtual. co 11/aliyah/aliyah.
The site provides easy links to practical
tips, information on necessary paper-
work, job information, the opportunity
to network with immigrants and poten-
tial immigrants, and many other ser-
vices.
B'hatzlacha (good luck, in Hebrew)
and next year in Jerusalem! [1
Marital status: Married
Profession: Physician
City of residence: Jerusalem
Reason for making aliyah: "The
reason we're in Israel is because we
think it's our country and it belongs
to us [the Jews] exclusively."
Challenges of IsTaeli life: The me-
dia here is violently left wing...if s so
bad that I won't read a newspaper."