I think I went through a change in my thought process recently. Until now, I’ve been letting lots of my doubts creep up, but then pushing them down by telling myself there’s nothing to worry about.

But then, today, I was working in the store, and talking with a customer I know as I rang up her items. She asked me where I was living in Israel, and I told her, “I hope in a dorm, working as a madricha (dorm counselor), but I don’t know yet.” She told me where she had been a madricha, and it was one of the seminaries that I’ve been in touch with.

The girl standing in line behind her came over to me a couple minutes later and told me that she grew up in Israel, and stayed there for three years after her family moved to America. She gave me her number and told me she knows of many shared apartments with good rent that I can join if I decide to.

I posted on facebook that I got my flight itinerary from Nefesh B’Nefesh, and friends from all over the world congratulated me and offered their help. My friends who made aliyah recently offered to pick me up from the airport, to host me for shabbos, and to come to them with any concerns. It was an overwhelming amount of support.

And I finally realized, I’m doing this wrong!! I’ve been thinking all this time that I am going as an independent, and I’ll have to suffer through the hard times and fend for myself…when, in reality, the world is overflowing with generous people who HAVE DONE THIS BEFORE ME! This may not seem like such an epiphany, but it really is a massive thinking shift.

I feel so much more as ease now, reminding myself that I have a support system-all the Jews in Israel, my friends, my family, especially those who have made aliyah, all have advice to give and hands to hold. This journey won’t be lonely.

I actually just found an article sharing similar sentiments. You can read it here 🙂