Dozens of single immigrants make aliyah; looking for true love in Israel
Some 204 Jewish immigrants arrive Tuesday morning from North America. First on the to-do list: Find a match
Most of the excited passengers weren't able to catch any sleep during the flight.
"Before my father passed away he told me it would make him happy if I went to visit Israel. I came here a few months ago, fell in love with the country and decided I was moving here. I feel at home in Israel," said 21-year-old Ruth Segman, who decided to immigrate to Israel from Canada after her father died of cancer two years ago.
"I grew up with Arabic music, and watching Al Jazeera was a regular occurrence in our house. Here I can feel like I am in my natural surroundings" she added.
Segman is hoping to join the IDF and find her true love there. During the flight, she sat next to Yehuda Madbin, a 22-year-old former American Marine who has never visited Israel and decided to immigrate so he can serve in the IDF.
"I love adventures. I heard a lot about the Golani unit and hope to join them or the Paratroopers. I've even already made a friend on the flight over here," said Madbin with a smile.
Another immigrant passenger, Brad Goldberg, does not know who his biological parents are. He was adopted by a Jewish couple when he was 3-months-old and grew up in the US.
Goldberg claims his mentality is not American and only after he arrived in Israel did he really feel at home: "I am looking for my identity and after visiting here once I decided this is my home. I didn’t follow the regular path of American teens. I want to see the world, join the army and only then decide what I want to study in the university. The lifestyle of Israeli youths is much more to my liking then that of Americans."
However, not all the singles on the flight arrived in Israel in order to find a partner. "I am also single and I've already lived in Israel in the past. I had an Israeli boyfriend and we broke up, but I still decided to move here. It's not like I'm coming to find a groom. I want to finally feel like 'Deborah' and not 'Deborah, the Jew,'" explained Deborah Sirkin, 24, to Ynet. Sirkin also added she has an apartment in Tel-Aviv awaiting her and a job with a foundation that aids sick children.
Livni with excited new immigrants. (Photo: courtesy of Scoop 80)
Tony Gelbart, the founder of Nefesh B'Nefesh who organized the "bachelor's flight," said that they deliberately organized the seat assignment so that single guys and girls sit next to each other and perhaps would form a bond during the flight, leading to a possible relationship, and who knows, perhaps even a wedding.
"Every time I see immigrants who just arrived in Israel, I get excited. The feeling never gets old because their eyes are always glistening when they arrive from all sorts of different places and backgrounds," said Gelbart. A total of 3,000 immigrants arrived in Israel this year as part of the project.
Albia Fisher, 23, already found love and decided to move to Israel because her boyfriend was awaiting her in an apartment he rented for the two of them in Tel Aviv.
They met two years ago through a mutual friend and became a couple after a few short months. "It is very important to me that he is Jewish because I always wanted a boyfriend with family values.
"One of the things I most liked about him is that every Friday we went to eat at his grandmother's house, which was really very nice," said Fisher, who left behind both her parents and two siblings. "I have a lot of friends in Israel. I want to go study in the Ulpan and afterwards study occupational therapy."
