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.