Making The Move

When my husband and I decided that moving back to Israel was our plan, I immediately started getting overwhelmed by the endless tasks and details involved. The two of us working and with two small children, we barely had time to eat dinner every night; the thought of figuring out our move was so daunting, we didn’t know what to do or how to even start. My mother pondered out loud one day, asking “Shouldn’t this be someone’s job? There have to be people in Israel that help olim get settled.” That planted a seed, and through a great local Zichron Yaakov Facebook group, we found Hadassah.

With our flight booked for mid-July we started working with Hadassah in the beginning of June. The first order of business was finding a home for us to rent. It started with us looking online and sending her contact info, she would get in touch and go tour the property for us. Since our time difference was 10 hours, she’d take lots of photos and videos; not just of the property but of the surrounding areas as well. She gave her honest opinion about the properties based on what we explained we were looking for. When we weren’t finding anything on our own that fit our needs, Hadassah started using her connections, and we ended up finding the rental we had dreamed about. From there Hadassah measured every single corner of the home, sending us ideas and tips for ordering what we’d need to furnish the place. She was available for any questions we had; just one example of many being a lengthy back and forth about mattress firmness.

Every time we ordered a package she’d be there to get it. Our internet was up and running and tested well in advance of our arrival. When we still hadn’t gotten all the basic furniture we needed, she told us she’s go to Ikea again if there was anything we liked there. When we said we didn’t want to bother her with another trip, she answered “And I really don’t want you to have a home with no chairs!”. She went above and beyond, making sure any problems with our furnishings or our home were dealt with quickly and professionally before our arrival.

When we finally got to our house in Israel, we arrived to a home. Hadassah had our pantry stocked with the food we requested, our new dishes washed and put away, toilet paper in the bathrooms, beds made with the sheets we had ordered, freshly laundered. Since our shipment from the US would be arriving may months from then, Hadassah stocked our house with toys for our children from her own collection. We had visitors soon after we arrived and they couldn’t believe how our place was already so put together. When our shipment arrived months later, Hadassah and her crew were there to unpack the boxes and clear them out. Something that would have taken us no less than two weeks to conquer took them two hours.

In short, I simply do not know how our aliyah story would have been written without Hadassah. It’s safe to assume that there would have been many more stressful visits to stores with two bored children in tow, or having to stay in a short term rental and frantically looking for a place with two bored children in tow. That isn’t to say Aliyah wasn’t stressful; moving is stressful, change is stressful, and nothing can change those facts. However, working with Hadassah gave us a peace of mind; someone to consult with, to ask questions, to have boots on the ground. It’s such a simple but invaluable service, and Hadassah does it with joy, professionalism, and incredible customer service.