Elena Whiteley, 24, of Sonoma joined 230 other North Americans making aliyah on a charter flight to Israel in late July.
Nefesh B’Nefesh’s first-ever “Children’s Aliyah Flight” included 41 families with 106 children, and they were accompanied on the plane by former captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit.
“I feel aliyah is like chasing a great love,” said Whiteley, who will be living on Kibbutz Ma’agan Michael, Israel’s largest kibbutz. “If I don’t go after it now, I’ll look back with regret the rest of my life.”
Nefesh B’Nefesh says it will help 989 children from the U.S. and Canada make aliyah in 2013, a 20 percent increase over last year.
According to a press release, the 11-year-old agency has helped nearly 35,000 people make aliyah since its founding in 2002, and has ensured that 97 percent of those olim have remained in Israel.