{"id":54963,"date":"2017-01-18T14:54:49","date_gmt":"2017-01-18T19:54:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/?p=54963"},"modified":"2017-01-29T04:47:49","modified_gmt":"2017-01-29T09:47:49","slug":"eliana-sohn-following-yellow-brick-road","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/inspiration\/eliana-sohn-following-yellow-brick-road\/","title":{"rendered":"Eliana Sohn: Following Her Own Yellow Brick Road"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"g1-layout-inner\">\n<div id=\"g1-content-area\">\n<div id=\"primary\">\n<div id=\"content\">\n<article id=\"post-43868\" class=\"post-43868 post type-post status-publish format-standard has-post-thumbnail category-in-their-own-words category-visions-of-aliyah tag-charter-flight tag-living-the-dream tag-making-it-happen tag-new-olim tag-singles tag-success g1-complete\">\n<div class=\"entry-content\">\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-post-54963 wp-image-54970 size-full alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/eliana1.jpg\" width=\"300\" \/>Ever since I attended a performing arts summer program in Jerusalem 10 years ago, I\u2019ve had my heart set on Aliyah. Having moved a few times as a kid, I used the label \u2018home\u2019 sparingly. Even when I had my own car in college, I never programmed a home address to my GPS. Israel was the only place that deserved that title, and every other place was a stop along the\u00a0way; a rest stop through which to learn, grow stronger, and prepare myself for the tremendous task of setting down roots at home.Finally, toward the end of college, the perfect opportunity to make Aliyah emerged. I\u2019d been offered a Madricha (counselor) position at a gap year program and was emailing with a hi-tech company down the road regarding a part-time internship. The plan that was emerging was greater than I ever could have imagined. I couldn\u2019t believe it. Even so, I was nervous about the move. Every day, I tried to tell myself that I could do it, I could make it in Israel! I even visited the airport near my house in an effort to remind myself that I had a whole new, wonderful adventure ahead of me. No matter what I did though, I couldn\u2019t shake my nerves. The fear of the unknown seemed too vast and daunting to handle on my own, so, a month before I was\u00a0supposed to leave, I decided to stay in the States.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-post-54963 wp-image-54966 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tz_girl-300x169.jpg\" alt=\"Eliana Sohn\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tz_girl-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/tz_girl-300x169-280x158.jpg 280w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>At the time, I was sure I\u2019d blown the best opportunity of my life. Ever since I\u2019d attended a gap year program, my greatest dream was to teach in a post-high school setting, and now, when I finally had the chance to spend a year working in that environment, I gave it up. Amid my internal crisis, my mother, with great\u00a0love and wisdom, sat me down in front of a lecture by Rabbi David Aaron called \u201cHow to Get Your Prayers Answered.\u201d It seemed moot at the time, since, after all, I was the one who turned down the blessing that came my way, but toward the end, Rabbi Aron mentioned a familiar story, one about a girl who\u2019d lost her way, but even so, found her way home by devotedly putting one foot in front of the other. There were witches, flying monkeys, and other challenges en route to Kansas, but she also made friends, innovated, and increased her grit. She never gave up.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-post-54963 wp-image-54965 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/eliana3.jpg\" alt=\"Eliana Sohn\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>It hit me. My journey wasn\u2019t over. It was just beginning.<\/p>\n<p>The first thing I did was draft a mission statement. I knew that if I didn\u2019t know why this goal mattered to me, I probably wouldn\u2019t get there. From then on, my goal was to be a proactive agent in the\u00a0growth and success of <em>Am Yisrael<\/em>. Whatever I did, wherever I was, was going to reflect that goal. Two months later, I started working at Yeshiva University in a department that helped schools find and train Jewish day school leaders. Through my work, I interacted with Jewish educators from across the world, who, like myself, had a vision of the bright possibilities for a Jewish present and future. A few months into my job, I enrolled in YU\u2019s master\u2019s program for Jewish Education and Administration. Even though I became more and more involved in the US Jewish community, Israel was always on the forefront of my mind. Thanks to the remote nature of my job and my incredibly supportive supervisors, I was able to lump all my vacation days together and take 3-week trips to Israel every year during the High Holidays. During my visits, I\u2019d try to get a feel for what day-to-day life by networking with people in my field of work, trying my way around public transportation, and visiting Ulpan Etzion.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-post-54963 wp-image-54964 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ou.org\/life\/files\/Erev-Rosh-HaShana-5776-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"Eliana Sohn\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/>When I made Aliyah last July, I went feeling a lot stronger than I did three years before. Like Dorothy and her friends, I\u2019d gained the intelligence, heart, courage, and grit needed to overcome the fears that lurked along the road to Aliyah. Three years ago, I thought I\u2019d lost a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity\u2026now I know that what seemed like a failure at the time was really just a detour. It wasn\u2019t until then that I realized how much I did want to build my future in Israel, and once I had that desire, I was able to prepare myself for the journey ahead.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<hr \/>\n<p><em>Eliana Sohn, hailing from Elizabeth, NJ (but also grew up in Boston, MA and Albany, NY), made it home to Israel on the July 2016 charter flight. She\u2019s currently brushing up her Hebrew at Ulpan Etzion in Jerusalem, and blogging when she can at <a href=\"http:\/\/timesofisrael.com\/\">The Times of Israel<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"m_4326764201853336942gmail_msg\"><em>Reprinted from the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.nbn.org.il\/aliyah-inspiration\/visions-of-aliyah\/in-their-own-words\/eliana-sohn-following-yellow-brick-road\/\">Nefesh b&#8217;Nefesh website<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<\/article>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ever since I attended a performing arts summer program in Jerusalem 10 years ago, I\u2019ve had my heart set on Aliyah. Having moved a few times as a kid, I used the label \u2018home\u2019 sparingly. Even when I had my own car in college, I never programmed a home address to my GPS. Israel was<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":133353,"featured_media":55238,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_cloudinary_featured_overwrite":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-54963","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inspiration","category-israel"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Eliana Sohn: Following Her Own Yellow Brick Road - OU Life<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Thinking about building a life in Israel? 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