ERETZ
MEET THE OLIM
Rachel Lichtenstein
Native Israeli brought her family to her homeland.
E
ach month, we’ll feature a Metro Detroiter who has made aliyah.
Q: Tell me about your life in Detroit and what your connection was to Israel. Rachel Lichtenstein: I was born in Israel, but I was raised in Detroit from the age of 3. I went to Thompson Junior High [Southfield] and Vandenberg Elementary [Detroit]. Although I was raised in Detroit, I used to come back Moshe and Rachel Lichtenstein and forth to Israel all the time. I enlisted in the Israeli army Beth Tefilo Emanuel Tikvah in when I was 18, and I served for two Southfield. We lived two blocks from years. It was an amazing experience, my parents and across the street from and that was the beginning of my my brother. It was a good life. finding religion. My father had become religious prior to that, and I had wanted Q: What finally prompted your aliyah nothing to do with it. But being in the and what was it like? army gave me a sense of something RL: I had always yearned to be here. bigger than myself, and when I finished It had always been a goal of mine, and it the army after two years, my first took 12 years of convincing my husband college experience was at Tel Aviv to finally get him on board. I started University. the process of aliyah even before my Then, I went back to the States and husband agreed. worked for National Conference of My kids were automatically Israeli Synagogue Youth (NCSY) and started because I was born here, so I got them going to Oakland County Community all their Israeli passports, and I had College and Wayne State. I came back already applied for aliyah with the to Israel and went to seminary for a consulate in Chicago. Then one day, year, then I went back to Detroit and out of the blue, my husband said, “I’m met my husband, Moshe. We lived in ready to give Israel a try.” The minute Israel for two years and then we went he said he was ready, I said, “Hold back to Detroit for 12 years before we that thought.” I called the consulate made aliyah. in Chicago and said, “Okay, process!” In those 12 years that we were in Within nine months, we were here. Detroit, I had six boys. All of them went We made aliyah on the first Nefesh to Yeshiva Beth Yehudah. My husband B’Nefesh flight of 2002, so it will be 19 was a board member of Congregation years this August.
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JULY 1 • 2021
COURTESY OF THE LICHTENSTEINS
AVIVA ZACKS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
My husband and I came with our seven boys, and I was pregnant with my daughter. We settled in Ramat Beit Shemesh and rented two different apartments until we bought our home. I have not once regretted that decision. I feel we are living the life that Hashem expected of us to live.
Q What have you been doing beside raising your family here in Israel? RL: I had a playgroup in my house for a number of years. During that time, I also went back and took a course to become a life coach. Because I had been an advocate for olim and helped them with bureaucracy, I became a life coach for olim and for at-risk youth. At the time that I took the course to become a life coach, I also opened a ceramic studio with a friend, and we were in business for about a year. My husband has been working for a wills and estates company here in Israel for more than 10 years. We have four married kids and soon-to-be seven grandchildren, and my parents live near me now. Q: What do you miss about Detroit? RL: The people — whether it’s family or the few close friends that I’m still in touch with today, even though I don’t see them. That is the only thing I really miss. Q: Do you have a message for the people reading this interview? RL: If you’re Jewish and you identify as being Jewish, come home. And do not let anything stand in the way.
