When it came to buying an apartment, our family helped out a lot with the down payment, even though they were not so happy that we were moving so far away. In the end, that apartment fell through. In fact, housing was an issue at the beginning, but eventually we bought at a time that was financially beneficial.

It isn’t all roses. We definitely have our challenges. First of all, it’s hard to not have family here with us. When we worked here as American employees, financially it was very comfortable. Now we have Israeli salaries, so we’re earning less. It is still hard for me to think in Israeli currency, weights, and measures and not American ones. Once a friend commented on her baby’s birth weight. “She weighed three.” I was horrified to hear about her small baby. Until I realized she was talking in kilograms.

At this point we have six children, baruch Hashem, and we have switched jobs a few times. On paper we make a nice salary, but the taxes take almost 50 percent of what we earn. On the flip side, school is a lot less than it is in America, and we have health insurance, but we pay 270 shekels a month for supplemental insurance. Basic health care is fine, but if you need to see a specialist, without supplemental, we pay 700 shekels. With supplemental, we get 80 percent back.

I am not into gashmiyus, but the ease of one-stop shopping, like at Target, is something I miss. A lot of time is spent shopping around for all the items I need. The clothing might not be expensive here, but much of it doesn’t last long. When I visit America, the stores in the malls make nice money off of me.

I do wish our budget allowed for a minivan, because we can never go anywhere as a family. That said, one of the things I love about living here is that it’s okay to have a car that doesn’t fit the family. It’s not expected. No Joneses to keep up with. For instance, I have friends with a house with a nice pool. Yet she still has dangling lightbulbs with no fixtures in the living room. And it’s not a big deal. People are not so into how their house looks, and no one compares their house to someone else’s. My girls have two pairs of shoes: Shabbos and weekday. That would be unheard of in my circles in America. It’s a pleasure to not spend my free time doing shopping for the sake of buying stuff. The lack of competition is such a relief.

Ultimately, we feel blessed to live in this land filled with Yidden. I will never tire of seeing signs on buses, pre-Yom Tov, wishing people a chag sameiach, nor radio announcements to say Tehillim during a war. I still get a kick every time I see a netilas yadayim cup in the bathroom at the mall. We might not have planned this life, but Hashem did a great job planning for us.

Elimelech and Shoshana Yerek

Ages: Elimelech 30, Shoshana 22

Year of aliyah: 2014 and 2015

Employment: Elimelech is a physiotherapist; Shoshana is a journalist and English teacher

A Time to Grow

My family moved to Perth, Australia, when I was three years old. I went to a Jewish day school, which in Australia is more on the traditional side. In Australia, families are connected to being Jewish but are not necessarily religious.

We grew up traditional, which meant Friday night dinner, TV, and shul. Most traditional students participate in youth movements, even the secular ones. Of the 50 kids who graduated in my class, 15 went to Israel.

I spent six months on an Australian Union of Jewish Students program and fell in love with Israel. After that, all I wanted to do was serve in the army, but my parents wanted me to finish my university studies first. I decided to pursue a degree in physical therapy with a specialty in sports medicine. When I finished school, I still wanted to go back to Israel, but decided to get some experience and save money first.

Six months later, I made aliyah and joined the army. While waiting to be placed, I was sent to an ulpan on a very secular kibbutz. I wasn’t exactly religious, but the bread on Pesach, pork in the dining room, and lack of any Shabbos observance was a cue for me to leave. In the meantime, the army told me they had mismanaged my paperwork and I would have to wait another six months to get placed. I was so frustrated.

I had a friend who was already frum and learning in a Chabad yeshivah in Geula. He told me to come to the yeshivah, and I figured that I had nothing to lose. Besides, free food and lodging sounded good. At first I was shocked. All the black hats and beards. I didn’t even have a kippah! But after learning chassidus, Gemara, and Jewish history, I was hooked. After eight months, I decided I wanted to live a religious life.

Now I had to solidify my professional life. I wanted to study for a master’s degree, but it was much easier to complete in Australia. So back I went for two years and then stayed another two years to get more experience working. It was a struggle to be frum in Australia and only underscored for me that Israel was home.

In the middle of 2014, I came back to Israel. I could have convinced myself to stay in Australia longer, but when my granny passed away on Lag B’omer, it made me realize that life is short. If you’re not living your dream, what’s the point? My dream was to be in Israel.

I decided my aliyah would begin with Torah. I found a yeshivah that was open-minded but serious. I had saved a lot of money in Australia, so I didn’t have to work during my first year.

I also had to study for my professional license exam, which, baruch Hashem, I passed. I was 28 and supporting myself. I worked in the afternoons and learned at a frum ulpan in the mornings.

I still find learning Hebrew to be a challenge. I’m lucky I live in Jerusalem, where you can get away with only speaking English. Maybe if it was harder to manage in English, I would have more of an impetus to learn Hebrew.

At the end of the ulpan, a classmate told me she had a friend she wanted me to meet. That’s how I met my wife, my soul mate! She came to Israel to try it out for a year, met me, and made aliyah. We got married a few months ago.

I now have a job working in a hospital and in a clinic. Then I met a physiotherapist who I became close to. He has a successful private practice, and he rented me a room so I could build my own practice — my ultimate career dream! I picked up patients from here and there, including my contacts at the hospital. Soon my practice had grown so large that the physiotherapist asked me to join his practice as a junior partner. I always felt that Israel chose me, which contributed to my success.

I miss my family, but I am so happy to be in Israel. Financially, I find that money doesn’t go as far here; in Australia, the dollar buys a lot more.

I still have a goal to buy a house within the next two years. I saved up a lot in Australia and I’m grateful to my parents, who paid for my tuition and wedding, but living on my own in a foreign country is definitely out of my previous comfort zone. Aliyah made me grow! And if that isn’t enough of a reason to move here, I don’t know what is.

Elazar and Rena Schonfeld

Ages: 30s

Year of aliyah: 2003 and again in 2014

Kids: 6

Employment: Elazar is an educational life coach; Rena is a doula

When Opportunity Knocks

My paternal grandfather left Lithuania before the war and moved to Canada. His entire family was killed by the Nazis. He was a hard-core Zionist, and he used to write letters to my father in Tanach-style Hebrew. He died when I was one, but the family lore really seeped into my upbringing. I knew how much my mom wanted to make aliyah. My dad actually went on a pilot trip when he worked for an organization, but it didn’t pan out.

Still, the “love of Israel” culture was mixed into our baby food. My parents sent me to a school that was very religious. It was an all-girls school and modesty in all areas was paramount, but it had a strong emphasis on the values of living in Israel. In the summer I and my siblings went to camps that encouraged religious Zionism. My brothers and sisters in Medinat Yisrael were never far from my thoughts.

When I was five, my older brother skipped 12th grade and made aliyah. Then the next sibling went to Israel, despite her full scholarship to MIT. The next two brothers followed suit.

I went to Israel after high school for two years of seminary. After sem, I met my husband and we went back to America to get married. Then we moved back to Israel, where my husband was in kollel. He eventually got semichah.

Elazar’s kollel was very Zionistic. Many of the guys learned for ten years and then went to the army. Afterward, part of their avodas Hashem was to choose a profession that would improve the world. We were still in Israel on tourist visas and had three kids at that point. When a war broke out, we said we had to make aliyah. With my husband’s chavrusas risking their lives, we felt that we should no longer stay in the beis medrash. So we made an impulsive aliyah.

We were 24. But with three kids, Elazar wasn’t considered fit for the army. Then a rav from New York called and asked us to come to New York to help him build a community. We told him no way. But he convinced us to at least check it out. We had a great experience in New York and we decided to stay; helping Klal Yisrael had always been high on our agenda. We thought it would be a short stint. Ironically, my parents had just made aliyah, so we literally traded countries.

After New York, we moved to another out-of-town community to help build it up. We had it all — pool, stunning house — but we were empty. By then we had six kids and felt the pull to move back to Eretz Yisrael.

But we didn’t do anything about it. We were hosting a lot of community members and their families. One family sent us their nephew, who was troubled and needed a family to accept him. We took him in. To make a long story short, when his parents came to visit, they mentioned they happened to have connections with a new educational program in Israel that was perfect for my husband’s specialty and offered us a job.

We were scared. Our oldest was 12. Would we be harming our kids by living our dream? The mechanchim we spoke to said no, but told us to make sure the kids went to schools that were best for them — and not for us. It was great advice.

I always tell people that making aliyah won’t make problems go away. Yet in our case we could see the Hashgachah pratis. My son’s mild learning disability was overlooked in America, but when he was trying to learn Hebrew, we learned it wasn’t as mild as we had thought. Baruch Hashem, it’s being treated — and in a frum environment. In America, he would be in public school.

We moved to a small yishuv through Nefesh B’Nefesh, and our family found a community that readily accepted us. I think our move’s success is based on subtly prepping our kids when we were in America. When we were at the beach, we would say, “Wow, this is nice, but the beaches in Eretz Yisrael are amazing!” Or when we were at a farmers’ market, we would say, “You think these vegetables are nice? You should see the stuff in shuk Machaneh Yehuda!”

I’m not saying it isn’t a challenge. It was a lot of work to get to where we are today. But the way I see it, parnassah is from Hashem and will be a challenge wherever you live! It’s not cheap to live in Israel, even when you take out tuition and health insurance. Cars, gas, food — it’s all expensive. But we get a lot in return for what we pay. Where else can you find your neighborhood mentioned in the parshah? And walk through streets spoken about in Tanach? We can visit places where sages and prophets are buried. You can’t find that in America.

My financial strategy

Sandy: Try to only use cash. We have figured out all of our expenses throughout the year and we try to put money away each month. That way, we have the money when we need it. When we only use cash, everything works out better.

Elimelech: Draw out money at the beginning of the week for the week and use that for spending money and food and try use credit cards as little as possible

Rena: Try to make as much money as possible while working at jobs that provide fulfillment.

How I finance large purchases

Sandy: Try to save up. We have sold stocks, or asked family for help (which we try hard not to do) if the purchase is really necessary.

Elimelech: Spread larger purchases over the year, buying more important items first and less important ones later on.

Rena: Prayer. It seems to work well. In this department, there’s usually little correlation between what I try to do and how things work out.

My toughest financial decision

Sandy: Selling one apartment and moving into another. We’re glad we did it (we needed more space), but I’m not sure it was the best deal financially.

Elimelech: Paying for a holiday to go home to Australia that cost $3,500 and meant we wouldn’t be working for three weeks.

Rena: Really none. If we need to buy something, no matter how hard it is to finance, we buy it.

My biggest nisayon

Sandy: Our car is too small for our family. It only bothers me when I want to do spontaneous things with the family and we can’t because we have no way to get there.

Elimelech: Giving up on the luxuries that I had in Australia, such as not having a car.

Rena: Raising children has been a nisayon for us because they are the focus of everything we do. So financial, emotional, educational all fall into the category of tzaar gidul banim.

I’m lucky because

Sandy: I live in Eretz Yisrael and priorities are different here.

Elimelech: I married the most incredible woman in the world who is so supportive and caring.

Rena: I have a spouse who supports me in everything. I’m able to overcome challenges with a partner.

What would you do with an extra $100?

Sandy: Probably go out to dinner with my husband. Or save it.

Elimelech: Go out for a steak.

Rena: Get ice cream for the family.

What would you do with an extra $1,000?

Sandy: Give it to my husband so he could get a new bike. (Though he would probably want to save it.)

Elimelech: Put it toward saving for a car or a holiday.

Rena: Go to a hotel for Shabbos with the family.

My attitude in a word:

Sandy: Fulfilled

Elimelech: Prepared

Rena: Realistic

I wish that people knew

Sandy: Israel is no different than America in many ways. People say they can’t afford to live here, but I don’t see how people can afford to live in America. Our tuition is much lower. We do have higher taxes, but they cover much, much more.

Rena: Attitude and perspective are 95 percent of success.

Author’s Note: Each time I interview families for “Making It” it inevitably leads me to reevaluate my own financial and family values. Hashkafic discussions about how to balance ratzon hamishpachah with ratzon Hashem gives me much food for thought. The desire to maintain this equilibrium was most evident in this column. Speaking to the subjects dispelled many myths about the struggles that aliyah families endure. The families inspired me as they regaled me with stories about the Yad Hashem they were privy to in their journey to settle in the Holy Land.

At the same time, there were common day-to-day challenges that I wanted to report accurately, but I didn’t, chas v’shalom, want to report anything negative and be grouped with the sins of the Meraglim. But as I compared their challenges to those of families abroad, I realized that their struggles were similar to the daily trials Jewish families face everywhere. May the day come when all Klal Yisrael merits to return home.

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 625)