Jews with Views – Rosh Hashanah-Yom Kippur 5787
We asked three new Olim: What has been the most meaningful moment in your first year of Aliyah?
BY MELYSSA MANDELBAUM
There was no way to truly prepare myself emotionally for watching my children belt out the Mi Sheberach for chayalim alongside 25 other Israeli children, all singing with the same incredible passion. At first, I couldn’t understand why my eyes became tearful during an end-of-year ceremony. After all, I’ve been to countless school performances over the years. Then it immediately hit me: this was nothing like the ceremonies they’d had in the past.
This ceremony was a testament to our move across the world – to this new culture, this new language, and the reason we chose to make Israel our home. It was a reminder that while this transition has had different challenges for every member of our family, I couldn’t have been prouder of all of us for our resilience, perseverance, and willingness to make it work. I am so appreciative of Hashem’s support and guidance that we feel throughout our journey.
It was also a reminder of why we made this seemingly crazy move to the Middle East: because this is the country where the Jewish people – our people – come together and put their nation first. This is where, from the youngest age, children are raised with a deep sense of achdut and achrayut for their fellow Jews and for their nation. Looking back, it’s almost funny that I wondered why I was tearing up, because in that moment, I realized this was exactly why we’re here – and how we know this is where we’re meant to be.
Melyssa Mandelbaum, PsyD, made Aliyah to Ramat Beit Shemesh in 2025 with her husband and 3 children. She is a Clinical Psychologist practicing in both Israel and the US.
BY RABBI JOSH BROIDE
My most meaningful moment during my first year of Aliyah came on the morning of February 28.
Like every Shabbat, I made a cup of coffee, picked up my tallit, and began walking to KSYM, our neighborhood shul in Modi’in. But something felt different. There was a quiet tension in the air.
When I reached the end of the block, I saw neighbors turning around. Someone called out that Rav Sobol had closed the shul. Israel had entered a new phase in the war with Iran.
Moments later, our normally quiet street filled with cars. Every vehicle carried Israelis answering the call to report for duty. Then one car caught my attention. A father was driving his daughter, who looked barely out of high school. In an instant, she had left behind her family, her plans, and her Shabbat to answer her country’s call. There was no hesitation, no complaint, just a quiet sense of purpose and responsibility.
In that moment, Aliyah took on an entirely new meaning. For years, I had stood with Israel from across the ocean. That morning, I realized I was no longer standing with Israel. I was standing among Israelis, sharing not only their celebrations, but also their responsibilities and sacrifices. That was the moment Israel truly became home.
Rabbi Josh Broide made Aliyah from Boca Raton to Modi’in in 2025. He is the Vice President of the Silver Foundation and Director of Partners in Jewish Life. He has spent his career bringing Jewish communities together through relationship-building, education, and leadership, and was honored with the Jerusalem Unity Prize for his work in strengthening Jewish unity.
BY SCOTT AND DEVORAH FRIEDMAN
When people ask what the highlight of our first year in Israel was, we keep coming back to one late afternoon in June, sitting in the bleachers, watching our youngest daughter Dena perform with her class at her mesibat siyum.
Dena moved to Israel going into sixth grade, which is not an easy age to start over. New language, new school, new friends, all at once. There were plenty of hard days that first year, days when she came home frustrated because she couldn’t find the right word, or felt like she was a step behind everyone else in class.
Then came the siyum. She got up and spoke in Hebrew, with a native accent, right alongside kids who had grown up here their whole lives, and you honestly could not tell the difference. Same confidence, same ease, same sense that she belonged exactly where she was standing.
We looked at each other and didn’t really need to say anything. All the packing boxes, the paperwork, the nights she cried about missing her friends back home, it all led to this. Watching her become, in one year, simply Israeli.
That is Aliyah in a nutshell for us. Not one big dramatic moment, but a quiet one in a school auditorium that told us we had done the right thing.
Scott and Devorah Friedman made Aliyah last August from Philadelphia. Their two oldest children had recently made Aliyah and entered into the army and Sherut Leumi respectively. They came with their other two children, one who attended Yeshivat Sha’alvim this year, and Dena, who just finished 6th grade.