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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.

Elena Whiteley at John F. Kennedy Airport in New York en route to Israel on July 22.

“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.