34 | OCTOBER 28 • 2021

S

haina, 42, and
Nathaniel, 58, Warshay
made aliyah in 2019
from Oak Park. They came
with four small children in
tow, and one who was already
here. While it was difficult
for them to leave their many
family members and careers
behind, they both can’t imag-
ine living anywhere else.

Q: Tell me about your first
trip to Israel.
Shaina: My first trip was
on Bnei Akiva Machach after
10th grade. There was a run-
ning joke that they promoted
aliyah the entire time.
Nathaniel: I had just gradu-
ated from college, and I went
to Europe for an internship
in Paris at the International
Herald Tribune. I went to the
Israel Aliyah office in Paris
so I could sign up to volun-
teer on a kibbutz. I ended up
in Ma’aleh HaHamisha. It was
April, and we were getting it
ready for planting. As I was
digging in the ground, I felt
the connection, like the roots
coming out of my fingers
connecting. I felt that this
was where I belonged.

My grandfather came
to Israel when he was in
high school before WWI.
He fought in the Ottoman
Empire’s army, then he went
to America in the 1920s, got
a bachelor’s degree in agricul-
ture at Ohio State. During the
Depression, my grandparents
came to Israel with my father.
My grandmother moved her
sons to Brooklyn three years
later, after my grandfather
died.

Q: Were you always interested
in making aliyah?
Shaina: I really had no
desire to make aliyah when I
was younger. Once Nathaniel
and I got married, he said
he wanted to move to Israel
when Anna graduated. And
we came in 2019 when that
happened.

Q: Who made aliyah with you?
Shaina: Maayan, 7, Assaf,
6, Avigail is almost 5, and
Gavriel is almost 3.
Nathaniel: Madeleine went
to Midreshet Harova after
high school and never came
back. She did Sherut Leumi
and got married here.

Q: What are you doing here
professionally?
Shaina: In Michigan, I was
a 911 dispatcher and para-
medic. I decided not to trans-
fer my paramedic license, and
I’ve been trying to figure out
what to do next.
Nathaniel: When we left,
I was the executive direc-
tor of Community & Home
Supports, a nonprofit pri-
marily providing perma-
nent supportive housing to
homeless people. Here, I do
fundraising consulting. I
work for Degel-Ami, which
raises money primarily for
promoting the Jewish state,
the Jewish people, the Jewish
homeland.

Q: Is there anything that you
miss about living in Michigan?
Shaina: Target, our family
and our friends.
Nathaniel: Snow, our family
and our friends.

Q: What do you love about liv-
ing in Israel?
Shaina: I love that every-
thing is historical and it’s our
history. For example, we vis-
ited friends in Mitzpe Yericho

and were able to tell our kids
that this is where Moshe
Rabbeinu spoke to the peo-
ple. I also love that our lives
run on the Jewish calendar.
Nathaniel: Growing up,
even though we weren’t a
religious family, we were
always a Zionist family. My
grandfather is buried here.
I can see the house that he
built in the 1930s and where
my father lived. This is our
homeland, and these are our
people.
I had to go to Bnei Brak
recently for a meeting. I had
a little problem with the
car when we left. The little
security keypad was not
working. After our meeting,
I finally got it to work, but I
knew I was going to have to
spend half the next day at the
garage. While driving home,
a mechanic’s station wagon
with a phone number was
right in front of me. I called
him, and we pulled over. He
fixed it in 20 minutes. Then
he said, “Baruch Hashem,
you found me so I could help
you.”
Shaina: One of those “only
in Israel” moments.

Kibbutz volunteer and summer
tour camper make aliyah.

Nathaniel
and Shaina
Warshay

AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

ERETZ
MEET THE OLIM
Shaina and
Nathaniel
Warshay and
family.