Elana Zanger didn’t always plan to move to Israel, but she is “a really good wife” for “trying it out,” since her husband, Ethan Zanger, wanted to make aliyah, she told JNS at the gate at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York on Wednesday.
“Put that in print,” Ethan Zanger told JNS, as they and their 3-year-old daughter, Serena, readied to fly to Israel aboard a Nefesh B’Nefesh group flight.
“I got convinced,” Elana Zanger said. “My parents live there. My family’s there.”
The Zangers, who previously lived in Teaneck, N.J., were among 40 new olim aboard the Aug. 26 Nefesh flight. Dozens of gap-year teens, some with guitars, were also aboard, bound for Yeshivat Reishit Yerushalayim in Beit Shemesh.
With help from Elana Zanger’s parents, who live in Jerusalem, the family chose an Anglo-friendly community in Beit Shemesh, home, Ethan Zanger said, to many families from Teaneck and Bergenfield, N.J.
“It’s a soft place to land,” he told JNS.
He could not bring his American job with him, he said. “If any JNS readers are in need of marketing, I’m your guy,” he told JNS.
Prospective Israeli employers often hesitate to move forward until candidates have arrived and are authorized to work, he said.
“They say, ‘Talk to me when you’re here, so I know that you’re legal to work,’” he told JNS. “There’s a large part of the Israeli job hunting that’s very personal, with the coffee, with the WhatsApps, that you can’t necessarily do through Zoom.”
Marc Rosenberg, vice president of diaspora partnerships at Nefesh—which works in partnership with Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, the Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and JNF-USA to facilitate immigration to Israel—told JNS that of 4,500 expected olim, or those moving to Israel, during its 2026 fiscal year, some 20% might arrive with remote jobs or commute abroad for work.
The other 80% arrive without jobs in hand. But that doesn’t mean they haven’t prepared, according to Rosenberg.
“They’ve networked. They’ve spoken to people. They’ve sent resumes, and they’ve got feelers to understand where they can find jobs and what their projected income could be,” he said.
He told JNS that he encourages people to speak to the Nefesh employment department and consult the job board but not to apply for jobs yet.
“They’re going to interview you and say, ‘When can you arrive?’” he said. “If you haven’t filled out the paperwork, it’s going to be tough to get there in a few weeks. But if you see a job and how much it pays, it gives people the confidence in their ability to find the job.”
Israel’s skills-focused employment culture can give newcomers room to pivot, he said.
“They don’t really care where you went to school,” Rosenberg told JNS. “People often have a second career when they come here.”
More than 2,300 people are making aliyah on 92 group flights through the nonprofit from June until September, including 1,100 singles, 480 families and 250 retirees, according to Nefesh. They range from 5 months to 98 years old, with an average age of 29.
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Modi’in-Maccabim-Reut, Ra’anana and Beit Shemesh are the leading destinations. But choosing among them, including where employment lies, can be a challenge.
“People say to me when I’m traveling the U.S., ‘If you find me a job, I’m going to come,’ but very few people get recruited to jobs before they make aliyah,” Rosenberg told JNS.
“Fear of the unknown” is often the biggest obstacle to making the move, he said.
Rosenberg told JNS that families often start deciding where to live by looking for schools that are good fits for their children. According to Nefesh, 700 children who newly moved to the Jewish state will start school in September.
“If you find a school, the school will give you a neighborhood to live in,” Rosenberg said.
Some new immigrants choose communities solely for their children and accept the possibility of a long commute to work, he added.
Rivka Goldglancz, who is moving from West Hempstead, N.Y., with her four daughters—ages 6, 9 and 15-year-old twins—chose Modi’in in part due to its location between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, which she thinks can expand her employment options. “I’m looking for a new job,” she told JNS.
After a winter break trip in early 2026, the Goldglancz family opted to make the move. Her children are excited to start school.
Goldglancz had not seen their new apartment in person. Her sister, who lives in Jerusalem, toured it and sent a video. Her 6-year-old daughter Nava was already sold.
“I’m really excited because we have two balconies, and I just love balconies,” Nava told JNS. “It’s so good because you can see a big view.”
The family had to decide what to bring and what to leave behind. “Things are just things,” Goldglancz said. “I gave away a lot of my precious things to family and friends, so I’m happy they’ll continue to be used.”
Rella, one of the twins, took a similar view. “Stuff is stuff,” she told JNS. “We’re so lucky to have this opportunity. I’m open to trying new stuff. I’m not stuck in my routine.”
She and her sisters sipped on Starbucks—their last for a while—at the airport. Rella told JNS that she would miss the coffee chain. “It’s okay to leave things behind, because there’s better,” she said. “It’s one small thing.”
“I’m going to be in the Holy Land, so I can leave my Starbucks behind,” she added.
‘This is our honeymoon’
For Ilana and Steven Snyder, who moved from Cedarhurst, N.Y., where they lived for 33 years, living near family was the priority.
Two of their daughters live in Jerusalem, one in Katamon and the other in Talbiya, so the couple rented an apartment in nearby Arnona. They have only seen it remotely.
“I’ve watched that video about 100 times,” Ilana Snyder told JNS.
Steven Snyder, an accountant, was able to keep his American job remotely and initially plans to work East Coast U.S. hours. The arrangement made the move easier, though it was not a deal-breaker.
“We would have come anyway,” he told JNS. Without the job, “our standard of living would have been different,” he told JNS.
The Snyders see Jerusalem as a starting point but not necessarily a final destination.
Their children are nearby, public transportation is easy, and they know their way around the city, they told JNS. But they seek a quieter community in northern or southern Israel, they said.
Shira and Becca Dubin, who are in their late 20s and lived in Israel on student visas for a year before deciding to rent a garden apartment in Katamon and make the move permanent, recommended that new immigrants rent for a year.
“Let the country tell you where you should go,” Becca Dubin said. The two, who were married a month ago at the former site of Kutz Camp in Warwick, N.Y., left their two dogs with friends in Israel for the summer.
They told JNS that their aliyah process took about three months, with a short delay while they waited for their marriage license.
“This is our honeymoon,” Becca Dubin told JNS. “I’m tired and ready to be home.”
Rosenberg told JNS that some immigrants have a “pioneering spirit” when choosing where to live, wanting something less American and more affordable in quieter areas in northern or southern Israel, but many “want to live in a city or in a suburb.”
He estimated that for about 80%, their first destination is likely where they put down roots.
Choosing a “soft landing” means “an environment where the transition is going to be good for them, so they can get settled and adjust to Israeli society,” Rosenberg said. “An environment with people they know and things that make them feel comfortable.”
“It’s easier than ever to make aliyah, but it’s still hard,” he told JNS.
Even with Google Translate to mitigate the language barrier, it’s easy to make mistakes.
“I went to the bank to discuss a loan, and I accidentally asked for a funeral,” he said. “Those things are hard for immigrants, so they seek a softer landing—something that’s going to guide them to make sure that those bumps are a little easier.”
