I began writing articles for the Jewish Voice and Herald, a Jewish community newspaper in Providence, Rhode Island, in late July of 2003, at more or less the precise moment that I decided to make aliyah (emigrate to Israel).  I am good friends with the editor, and we thought it would be interesting for the readers to be able to follow along on my journey.  We envisioned a total of four months of articles, starting two months before my date of departure and continuing until two months afterwards.

However, we underestimated the community's interest.  There was an enormous response to the first few articles, and there have been a great number of requests for the articles to continue.  So I continue to write an article every two weeks, and the community continues to respond extremely favorably.  I have received a number of emails thanking me for writing, and the editor continues to receive a great deal of positive feedback.

I initially wanted to write the articles as a personal journal of sorts, chronicling my feelings and expectations throughout such a momentous journey.  I also liked the idea of connecting myself to my former community in this way.  A few months after my arrival in Israel, after the "momentousness" of the event had settled down, I began to feel like the articles weren't as important as they were in the beginning.  Once I received so many positive responses, however, I realized that these articles are, in fact, incredibly important.  They are frequently the only positive pictures this community receives about Israel, especially given the biased media reports and increasingly bleak image of the country and its politics.

I realized that I must continue to write, if only to give a more realistic picture of life here in Israel.  I am not in the business of "glossing over" what really goes on here -- indeed, I write about both negative and positive events in my life as an olah chadasha (new immigrant).  Overall, I make sure that I write realistically, about how we really feel and what is really happening.  I also try to write from my own perspective, through my own eyes -- rather than from a political stance or about supposedly objective events.

I hope you enjoy your journey through my journey.. through my eyes.