Making aliyah may begin with a flight, but for new immigrants, the real challenge often starts after landing: registering for healthcare, dealing with government offices, opening accounts, finding schools and simply figuring out where to turn when something goes wrong.
At ynet Global’s Global Aliyah Live Summit, officials from the Aliyah and Integration Ministry, the healthcare system and the Jerusalem Municipality joined a recent immigrant to discuss how Israel is trying to make those first months easier to navigate.
ynet Global Aliyah Live Summit – Integration Panel: Dr. Dana Akmati Azaria, Yisrael Cohen, Rotem Cohen and Marc Stematsky
(Video: Lior Sharon, Tal Azulay, Tal Saar)
Their message was consistent: new olim should not be expected to understand Israel’s fragmented bureaucracy on their own. Instead, authorities are increasingly trying to provide a single point of contact and reach immigrants proactively rather than waiting for them to ask for help.
“For the oleh, we are the address,” said Rotem Cohen, head of the Customer Experience Division at the Aliyah and Integration Ministry. “It doesn’t matter if the service is provided by another government ministry or by a public authority. We will help them find the right service.”
A counselor calls within 24 hours
Cohen said the ministry has worked to consolidate information about the services available to new immigrants, including those provided by other government agencies and local authorities.
The principle, he said, is straightforward: “All information, all rights, in one place.”
Some essential services can already be handled shortly after arrival at Ben Gurion Airport, including initial documentation and registration with one of Israel’s health funds.
ynet Global Aliyah Live Summit – Integration Panel: Dr. Dana Akmati Azaria, Yisrael Cohen, Rotem Cohen and Marc Stematsky
But Cohen said the more significant change is what happens afterward.
Ministry counselors contact new immigrants within 24 hours of arrival, he said, checking whether they have urgent needs and arranging follow-up appointments.
“The message is very strong,” Cohen said. “You are not alone. We see you, we care for you, and we are starting this journey together, step by step.”
The ministry continues reaching out during an immigrant’s first year rather than relying entirely on the newcomer to initiate contact.
“If the oleh won’t come to us, we will go to him,” Cohen said.
Healthcare starts before the flight
For many families, understanding Israel’s healthcare system is one of the most urgent tasks after aliyah.
Dr. Dana Akmati Azaria, a regional director for Clalit Health Services’ Central District and herself an immigrant to Israel, said preparation should begin before departure.
New immigrants with existing medical conditions should bring relevant medical records, preferably in English, along with a list of medications written using their generic rather than commercial names.
The more information healthcare providers have in advance, she said, the easier it is to ensure continuity of treatment.
Azaria described one recent case involving an immigrant with kidney failure who required dialysis immediately after arriving in Israel. Because healthcare officials had been informed in advance, treatment was arranged before he landed.
“He arrived in Israel, and right away we sent him to a dialysis center and took care of him,” she said. “As soon as you plan ahead and you know what you’ll need, we can take care of everything.”
Clalit also offers dedicated digital channels for new immigrants, including WhatsApp-based assistance that can provide both general and personalized information.
‘They don’t know what they don’t know’
At the municipal level, the challenge is often less about major government policy and more about the small obstacles that can turn an ordinary day into a frustrating one.
A Jerusalem Municipality representative said the city works with olim in English, French, Russian, Spanish and Portuguese, helping them arrive at appointments with the correct documents and understand which office they actually need.
In some cases, municipal staff physically accompany groups of immigrants to government offices.
But bureaucracy is only part of successful integration.
“When people make aliyah to Jerusalem, they’re not really making aliyah to a city,” he said. “They’re making aliyah to a neighborhood.”
New immigrants want to know where their children can go to school, where the local gym or swimming pool is, where musicians can perform and how they can meet people with similar interests.
“They want to build a home,” he said.
That means municipal absorption must help immigrants enter a community, not simply complete paperwork.
One of the greatest difficulties, he added, is that new immigrants may not know which questions they should be asking.
“They don’t know what they don’t know,” he said. “Part of our job is to let them know what they don’t know, so then they’ll know to ask for the help.”
Learning Hebrew — and learning Israel
For Marc Stematsky, who made aliyah from France about a year ago, integration began through a Jewish Agency program that allowed him to start his new life on a kibbutz.
He deliberately chose northern Israel, an area heavily affected by the war, describing the decision as part of his Zionist commitment.
The kibbutz provided housing, Hebrew studies and a ready-made community. Stematsky, who worked as a drama teacher and actor in France, has since returned to teaching drama in Israel.
For him, the most important tool for integration has been Hebrew.
“Hebrew is the key to integration,” he said.
He acknowledged that understanding Israeli systems is something he has learned gradually rather than mastering immediately.
“I learned day after day,” he said. “I’m still learning.”
‘Ask for help’
Asked for the single most useful piece of advice they would give a new oleh, the panelists repeatedly returned to the same answer.
“Ask for help,” Azaria said.
Another recommendation was the Israeli expression para para — literally “cow by cow” — meaning to deal with one thing at a time rather than trying to solve every bureaucratic problem at once.
For Cohen, the essential point was simpler: “You’re not alone.”
Stamatsky advised new arrivals to remain “open-minded, curious and to speak to people,” saying he had encountered a willingness to help that he had not experienced elsewhere.
The broader goal, the participants said, is to make absorption feel less like moving between disconnected institutions and more like a single journey in which government, healthcare providers and local authorities understand that the immigrant experiences all of them at once.
For new olim, that distinction can determine whether the first months in Israel feel like an endless series of bureaucratic obstacles — or the beginning of a new home.