OCTOBER 13 • 2022 | 55
ERETZ
L
isa Sambol made aliyah from Passaic,
New Jersey, in 2002. She was born
and raised in Southfield and fol-
lowed her parents Lawrence and Shirley
Loewenthal to Israel. She currently resides
in Tel Mond with her husband and chil-
dren.
JN: Did your parents raise you with a
Zionist education?
Lisa: My parents were always very
Zionistic — they have always been strong
supporters of Israel. It was a major part of
our life and our upbringing. We grew up
Modern Orthodox and were active mem-
bers of Young Israel of Southfield. Religion
was a major part of our lives and Jewish
identity, and Israel was a part of this. The
emphasis on Israel was always there.
JN: Can you tell me about an early trip
to Israel that motivated you to want to
live here?
Lisa: For my two older brothers’ bar
mitzvahs and my bat mitzvah, my parents
took us on trips to Israel. For my gap year
after high school, I spent half the year
on Hachshara with Bnei Akiva where we
worked on a kibbutz and learned in a sem-
inary in Jerusalem’s Old City. For the sec-
ond half of the year, I learned in Midreshet
Moriah. Throughout that year, I realized
what a great place Israel would be to live
and to raise children.
Early in our relationship, my husband,
Moshe, and I had many friends who were
seriously planning aliyah. Our experience
was quite different; we never planned ali-
yah. When we reached the stage when we
had two very young children, we felt we
had a limited time opportunity to take a
chance and try a year in Israel, without any
concrete plans. It was a rather spontaneous
decision to give it a try, without specific
plans or long-term commitments.
JN: Where did you go after graduating
from Cranbrook High School in 1992?
Lisa: I did a gap year in Israel and then
went to Columbia University. I got mar-
ried in 1997, and we moved to Passaic,
New Jersey, then Boston, then back to
Passaic again, before coming to Israel on a
trial year, which eventually turned into our
aliyah.
JN: Where did you move to in Israel?
Lisa: When we first came, we didn’t
make aliyah officially. The first year
was just a trial year, which we spent in
Ra’anana near my parents. We figured it
was a good place to start, and from there,
we could decide whether we wanted to
stay and where we might want to make
our home.
JN: Where do you live now?
Lisa: We live in a town called Tel Mond,
which is between Ra’anana and Netanya.
JN: What do you do?
Lisa: I run two businesses. One is called
Loops Needlepoint, where I do custom
needlepoint design with an emphasis on
Judaica. The second one was inspired by
my children’s elementary school science
classes. They were coming home unin-
spired by science, which for me was such
a letdown, given how much opportunity
there is for kids to broaden their minds
and knowledge of the world. So, I started
an after-school science program where ele-
mentary school kids do hands-on science.
JN: What do you love about living in
Israel?
Lisa: It’s the place to be surrounded by
our culture, our traditions, our heritage,
our religion. There’s every religious level
here, and everyone can be what they want.
There is a lot of political infighting here,
but we’re still all in it together.
JN: What do you miss about living in
Michigan?
Lisa: The people there are just so friend-
ly and warm, and we had so many homes
away from home. I love the people, the
environment, the weather. Michigan was a
great place to grow up.
JN: Do you have a message for anyone
who’s considering making aliyah?
Lisa: There are two things that I always
tell people who are thinking about aliyah.
The first one is that there is never going to
be the perfect time, and you’re never going
to know it’s the right choice until you’re
here. Take a deep breath, take a leap of
faith and just come.
The second thing is that a lot of people
who are considering aliyah have this ide-
alized view of what life in Israel is going to
be like. You have to understand that when
you come here, you are coming to a differ-
ent country and culture. As much as there
are a lot of Americans here, it’s still differ-
ent. You have to be flexible to changing
expectations, changing your perspective
and learning from other cultures.
For us, it’s been our experience that
there’s no place like Israel to live as a Jew,
to raise your children, and to grow person-
ally and as a family, no matter what your
religious outlook.
We’re living here immersed in our cul-
ture and our traditions, and it’s practiced
by people from so many different back-
grounds. Living in Israel is a wonderful
experience.
Lisa Sambol: “We are immersed in our culture and traditions.”
Unplanned Aliyah
AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
MEET THE OLIM
Lisa
Sambol