MAY 27 • 2021 | 33

ERETZ

T

he Jewish News has 
asked me to write a 
column interviewing 
former Detroiters living in 
Israel, so I thought I would 
begin with myself. I was a 
teacher at Akiva 
Hebrew Day 
School (now 
Farber Hebrew 
Day School), 
Bais Yaakov and 
Yeshiva Beth 
Yehudah before 
making aliyah 
with my family in 2006.
Why did I want to make 
aliyah? When I was young, 
my family spent every 

summer in Israel. Being 
in Israel and enjoying the 
freedom that children have 
here really made an impact 
on me.
As an adult, I taught 
Judaic studies at Akiva, and 
year after year, my material 
pointed to the importance 
of living in Israel — from 
the promise Hashem made 
to the forefathers to Joshua 
conquering the land. I 
thought to myself, “How can 
I teach this and not live it?” 
My family was on board, 
so we got on the plane and 
moved to Modiin.
My kids were 10, 7 and 4 

years old when we came, and 
they got used to living here 
pretty quickly. We moved to a 
community with many other 
olim, so they had kids to talk 
to in English. But we did 
try to make sure they were 
in classes with Hebrew-only 
speakers so they would pick 
up the language more easily. 
We were very easy on 
them when it came to their 
studies as it was much more 
important to us that they felt 
comfortable and had time to 
play with other kids.
Now Daniel, 24, is married 
to Shifra and is the father of 
our two grandchildren, Eitan 
and Hadar. He lives and 
works in Kiryat Shmonah. 
Ephraim, 21, is serving in 
the Givati Brigade as part 
of Yeshivat Hakotel’s army 
Hesder program, and Nava, 
18, is doing national service 
as a Bnei Akiva Komenarit 
(she runs a Bnei Akiva 
chapter of more than 250 
kids).
Since moving to Israel, 
I shifted gears because, 
while I taught in Hebrew at 
Akiva, my Hebrew was not 
good enough to teach Israeli 
children. And don’t even get 
me started on my American 
accent!
Once I moved to Israel, 
I taught English to native 
English speakers for eight 
years and then worked at 
an e-learning company 
writing practice tests for 
adults and children taking 
standardized tests in the U.S., 
U.K. and Canada. After that, 
I switched to content writing 
and now freelance through a 
content marketing company 
called Writehook that I run 
with my husband Arye.

ISRAELI LIFE
What do I like best about 
living in Israel? 
I love that everything 
revolves around the Jewish 
year. The pomegranates are 
in season on Rosh Hashanah, 
every house and apartment 
has a Chanukiah lit on every 
night of Chanukah, and you 
should see the streets filled 
with children dressed up for 
Purim.
My favorite time of year 
is Pesach. A few days before 
our first Pesach in Israel, I 
went to the shopping center 
to get a few last items that I 
had forgotten to buy. There 
was literally no parking to 
be found. I couldn’t believe 
it. It was supposed to be a 
working day, but people had 
taken off to shop for food, 
gifts and clothing for Pesach. 
It was the most incredible 
scene.
I also love our proximity to 
the Kotel. Any time I want, I 
can go up to Jerusalem and 
daven at our holiest site.
While I don’t miss the 
snow in Detroit, I do miss 
our family and friends we 
left behind. Being so far 
away when loved ones are 
celebrating happy times or 
dealing with difficulties is the 
hardest part about moving 
away.
And I really miss the slow, 
calm way Detroiters speak 
and drive.
Israel is our nation’s home. 
Every prayer points us 
there. We even daven in the 
direction of Jerusalem. If you 
haven’t been to Israel yet, you 
should certainly come see 
what all the hype is. Once 
you’re vaccinated and Israel 
allows you to, that is. 

Living
theDream

Aviva Zacks

Aviva Zacks 
and her 
family

