As part of Arutz Sheva-Israel National News' special series commemorating Aliyah Day, we met with James and Judith Mindell, who immigrated to Carmay Hanadiv in Kiryat Malachi.
James and Judith told us about their Aliyah story, which began while they were dating.
"When we were going out, it was something that we discussed, something that we kind of said was our lives' ambition and a goal, and something that we said that we had to achieve," Judith said.
James added that, "It was always our plan to make Aliya. It was important for us to be in Israel, to be a part of the Jewish people in the Holy Land. It takes time. These things require a lot of planning and a lot of thought to get through, but thank God, we're here."
The couple had the support of their families for their plans to immigrate to Israel.
"James' family is in England. All of his cousins live in England, all of his aunts and uncles live in England. So it was hard for them. But at the same time, we were so fortunate that they were extremely supportive," Judith said.
The events of October 7 did not cause the couple to cancel their plans. Rather, it strengthened their decision to come.
Jamex explained, "Everything started happening with the war and we had a conversation. You know, 'should this stop us? Should we change things around?' The answer we said was like, 'No.' As in, 'We know that there are challenges coming with living in Israel, but it shouldn't change our plan.'"
Judith added, "The response that the country had to the war breaking out, I think anyone who saw it from afar and anyone who lived here felt that it was miraculous. They felt that this was definitely a milestone in geula (the redemption). It was like a milestone in our country moving towards geula. And we wanted to be part of binyan hageula (the building of the redemption) and not just arrive here once everything has been done, once everyone's done the work for us. We felt that as a family, we owed it to our nation to be part of it in any way we could."
James and Judith look back on the day they made Aliyah as a miraculous day and as a dream come true.
"It was quite miraculous," Judith said. "It really felt like we finally achieved our life's mission. The push and the drive was really to be part of Am Yisrael and Klal Yisrael in Eretz Yisrael (the nation of Israel in the land of Israel), to be part of what's happening here. And I think, for both of us, when we got here, we very much got that feeling of like, 'Wow, we've made it.'"
James and Judith immigrated to the flourishing community of Carmay Hanadiv in Kiryat Malachi. They feel that their choice represents an important balance that they were looking for in terms of their integration.
"Thank God, the kids are already very much settled in school, in ganim (preschools). They're already speaking Hebrew with each other," James said. It's been a really smooth transition so far."
"We wanted ourselves and also our children to have an Israeli identity," Judith said. "While we come with other identities, we wanted to embrace our Israeli identity when we came here and also for our children to feel like they're Israeli. It was very important for us that we would integrate and our children would integrate quickly."
James added, "We like the fact that it's very much pushed us to do Hebrew. Judith's working in Hebrew. I'm also working a lot in Hebrew. So yes, there are Anglos. There are people who don't know as much Hebrew, but the fact that we're part of a joint community, we're not just in the English shul where we're all speaking English and you actually could be anywhere, you feel like you're part of Israel, which we really like."
Judith stated that, "One of the special things about this place is that it's a melting pot of all different types of peolple with different cultures and different backgrounds, but still they find a common ground. And because of that, there's an acceptance and an openness."