Alex Bailey, 48, made aliyah from Beachwood, Ohio, in 2018, but was a member of Teaneck’s community from 2002 until 2014. He and his wife Yael (née Adler) made aliyah to Hashmonaim with their children Maya, Amitai and Ayelet.

Aviva: In Teaneck, what shul were you affiliated with and what schools did your kids go to?

Alex: We went to Rinat Yisrael. Yael’s family has been living in Teaneck for a long time and is very associated with the shul, so it was a comfortable fit for us. Our kids started at Moriah and then moved to Ben Porat Yosef.

Aviva: What was your early Zionist education like?

Alex: Yael and I both grew up in very Zionist homes. Yael’s family actually lived in Israel for four years when she was a child. We both went to Modern Orthodox, Zionist day schools.

I went to Israel for my gap year on the Bnei Akiva program Midrash Uma’aseh, which was the next incarnation of Hachshara. Yael spent her teen summers with family in Israel rather than going to camp, so had very immersive Israeli experiences, as well. And we both have relatives who made aliyah many decades ago, so they were role models.

Aviva: What was your final motivation for making aliyah?

Alex: It was always a discussion, from the time we started dating. I was ready first, and as soon as Yael said she was ready, we jumped at it.

Aviva: How did your kids react?

Alex: We gave them ice cream for the conversation. My oldest daughter was going into 10th grade, and she was nervous about moving in the middle of high school. My son didn’t want to leave his friends. My youngest was sad to leave Cleveland but wasn’t sad to be moving to Israel. To be honest, we kind of dropped it on them. Now our kids joke that every time we buy them ice cream, they are prepared for “big news!”

Aviva: And how are they doing now?

Alex: They’re doing great! My oldest is in Sheirut Leumi, serving in the Misrad Ha’Chutz (Ministry of Foreign Affairs). My son has a huge circle of both Anglo and Israeli friends and loves the independent Israeli teenager life! And my youngest has reached the stage of peppering her English sentences with Hebrew words, in an adorable Israeli accent. All three have thanked us for making aliyah and have told us that they are so happy living here.

Aviva: What are you doing professionally?

Alex: I have a private therapy practice and see patients in Jerusalem and Modi’in. Pre-aliyah, I worked for years in both private practice and high schools—at Frisch when we lived in Teaneck, and then at the Fuchs Mizrachi School in Cleveland as an assistant principal—so I opened a practice focusing on teenagers and gap year students. Thank God, it’s grown, and now I work with teenagers through middle-aged adults.

Aviva: What is hard about living in a new country?

Alex: At first, everything feels hard: functioning in a foreign language; learning the culture; dealing with completely alien school and medical systems; shopping for different products using a new measurement system; interacting with people who have a very different communication style! There’s also learning to accept that you will never fit in entirely, that you will always be an immigrant.

We came with the benefit of having my parents and siblings here—they’d all made aliyah over the previous 25 years—and we relied heavily on them at the beginning. For people who don’t have family here, friends become family, and that support system is invaluable. There is definitely a culture of more established olim helping the new olim acclimate and manage. Sometimes, that means they come over with wine to help ease the pain!

Aviva: Do you have a message for anyone who’s considering making aliyah?

Alex: When you want something badly enough, challenges are just challenges to overcome. When you’re not sure you want something, those same challenges become obstacles. You have to want to make aliyah because if you’re not sure, the very real challenges can easily become excuses for not doing it or for it not working out.

Aviva: What do you love about living in Israel?

Alex: I’m walking on the streets of my country and everything I see is mine. I belong, fully and completely, in my surroundings.