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

