After seeing countless olim come and go during my nine months in Israel, I felt I had to do something. I’ve always been a planner, and making Aliyah (immigrating to Israel, for the uninitiated) is the craziest thing I have done to date and also the best thing. Out of all my friends who are recent olim I feel like I’m among the happiest and most well-adjusted, and as I speak to many of them I am beginning to see a pattern of common mistakes new olim make. None of the solutions I am about to propose are mandatory and they might vary from person to person, but these are the things that worked for me.
Previous instalments: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6
Problem #7: I’m running sort of short on cash… this aliyah thing is a lot harder than I thought and holy cow this place is expensive!
We all have this problem. Making it is hard anywhere you go, and much harder in a country with a culture you didn’t grow up in, where the cost of living relative to salaries is a lot higher.
Solution: Milk your benefits, milk the organizations out there designed to help you, milk everything you can.
Did you know that aliyah comes with free education at the bachelor and masters level (for olim under 27 and 30, respectively)? You didn’t? Well take advantage because those with higher education get paid more!
Did you know that as an oleh you get a lump sum at the airport followed by monthly checks for the first six months? You even get free healthcare for the first six months, and don’t have to pay health tax for a year!
Did you know that you get a discount on arnona (municipal tax)? You also get a tax break when you buy property in the first ten years of your aliyah. You even get a mortgage discount!
Did you know you are entitled to 5 months of free ulpan? If you already got past aleph and bet in the year preceding like I suggested, you’ll be able to do ulpan Gimel and get really good, as Gimel is the most intensive ulpan course, where olim say they saw the biggest improvements. Finishing the Duolingo course with maybe one extra curricular Hebrew class thrown in will bring you up to Gimel level, which was the level I started at when I made aliyah.
A full list of benefits can be found here. A timetable of when they’re good for and when they expire can be found here.
