When finally we were able to start thinking about Alyah, we decided to make a pilot trip. On our previous visits to Israel, our destinations have always been Jerusalem and Tzfat, and we already knew that we loved both, but we wanted to see other communities, before deciding where to settle. We contacted Nefesh B’Nefesh, and they gave us good resources to research dufferent localities in Israel that would fit our criteria, and provided a list of contacts for them. This helped us to create an itinerary to visit a number of places, from South to North, on one-month trip. We started in Jerusalem as a base, and visited Neve Daniel, Efrat, Maale Adumim, Givat Zeev. After 10 days in and around Jerusalem, we rented a car and traveled to the North. We visited Zichron Yakov, Yokneam, Yavneel, Naharia, Haifa, Karmiel, Maalot, Kazrin, Hispin, and we ended the trip by spending last few days and Shabbos in Tzfat, as we always did on previous visits. In all places we visited we met amazing, inspiring people who were very warm, friendly and knowledgeable about their communities. Also every single person we met in all these different localities told us “I can’t imagine living anywhere in Israel but here”, and we agreed with each one, because we enjoyed being in all these places and meeting these wonderful, idealistic people. We wanted to stay in each of these communities, but reluctantly had to leave each time, because we had an itinerary to follow, and people expecting us in the next place… We admired all the places we visited so much, that we started to doubt that we’ll find that one and only community about which we too could say “I can’t imagine living anywhere else”.

But when we came to Tzfat – we realized that this was such a place, and in our hearts, we knew it even before the trip; our trip only confirmed this.

Now, a year later, we are in Tzfat as new Olim. We live in Old City, and everyday we appreciate being able to come to live here. Tzfat is a  very real place where combination of old and new, religious and not religious, locals and visitors all create an indescribable harmony that matches its mystical reputation. One way we know we belong here is that often walking on the street we have flashes of recognition of people who walk by, even though we don’t know them, and sometimes we feel people look at us with similar feeling.

During the week people are very busy, working, taking care of families, but when Friday comes – the town is transformed, and  excitement of approaching Shabbos can be felt everywbere. For us, Shabbos experience  here can not be compared to anywhere else, which is one of the reasons why we are here.

Our immediate plans include improving our Hebrew,  devoting more time to prayer and learning Torah, and, as it says in Shabbos morning additional prayer, that we should be “brought in happiness to our land and planted firmly within our borders.”