Various Perspectives and Experiences of English speakers Living in Eretz Yisroel
This Is Our Own
As a Jew, this is my real home. It’s my own culture, my own alphabet all around me. Prophecies come alive. A large portion of our Torah is relevant only here.
It’s only my first day in Eretz Yisroel and I already receive Bircas Kohanim. When I buy any produce, I have to make sure terumos and ma’aseros were separated or do it myself. This is HaShem’s special Land and His Presence is manifested also by His special rules for what grows here. It makes His Presence feel even more real.

Various Perspectives and Experiences of English speakers Living in Eretz Yisroel
Finding Our Place in Eretz Yisroel
In 1996, while we were in our late thirties, we moved from Baltimore to Eretz Yisroel with our six children aged sixteen down to one and a half.
Although many rabbonim do not recommend moving to Eretz Yisroel with children from ages eight through high school, we came with the blessing of our rav in Baltimore, Rav Mendel Feldman, ZT”L.

Living in Eretz Yisroel
If you had told me fifteen years ago that in 2019 I’d be living with my husband and six children, bli ayin hara, in an old three-bedroom Yerushalami apartment with no car, I would have laughed in your face. Coming from suburban America with two to three-story houses, one car per driver in the family, and a normal American lifestyle, I could never have pictured spending the rest of my life living on a kollel budget in Yerushalayim. I lived a whole ten days as a married adult in America, so I really can’t compare based on my own personal experiences. What I can share with you is how I fell in love with Eretz Yisroel and Yerushalayim in particular, and why after almost eleven years I can’t imagine moving back to the US.

Various Perspectives and Experiences of English speakers Living in Eretz Yisroel
Paving the Way
I am the youngest of eight siblings. We all grew up in England, and all of us ended up here in Eretz Yisroel for a few years of married life. That was the original plan—to be in this environment conducive to shteiging for a few of the formative years of life.
Most of my siblings had managed to make it here for at least two to three years before heading back to England. Finding that Yerushalayim was prohibitively expensive for a kollel couple, we had to think of an out-of-the-box solution for the longer term. Although we were still keeping two days of Yom Tov, we weren’t quite ready to leave Eretz Yisroel.

Various Perspectives and Experiences of Anglo-Chareidim Living in Eretz Yisroel
Soul Connection
When I came to learn at a yeshivah in Yerushalayim in 1982, it was only for a year. At that time, the Land was still quite foreign to me, as I was used to life back in Canada. I was just more comfortable living on the other side of the ocean.
That quickly changed over the course of the year, and I had come to love being in Eretz Yisroel, becoming more connected to the Land and feeling so much closer to Hashem. It was the place to be Jewish, so I chose to stay here another year—which led to another year. By the fourth year, it was clear to me that I wanted to live in Eretz Yisroel, and I made that clear as well when I started shidduchim.