Hi all,
I am almost 19 and planning to make aliyah from NJ within the next year sometime. I just wanted to know if anyone else here made aliyah so young, by themselves, how they dealt with it, what kind of experiences you had, how it was with your parents, rest of your family, how they felt about you "abandoning" them, so if anyone would like to share with me any of their experiences with me, I would love ot hear about them.

Thank you!

It really depends on your motives and on your maturity. Unfortuantely, the only 2 people I know who made aliyah that young both did it to anger their parents and to flee their miserable lives. They each joined the army and are pretty much lost to Judaism.

So tell us some more details, if you would. From your 2 posts, you do sound a bit more mature than my 2 friends.

My mother actually originally made aliyah to get away from her family, but she was/is a ba'al teshuva, as my grandparents are, if anything, traditional.
I am doing sherut leumi and learning and I am doing a second year of service next year. I have wanted to make aliyah since I was about 14. I fell in love with Israel AFTER my decision to make aliyah, when I was almost 16. I cant remember a time my heart hasnt been being pulled to Israel, even as a child I remember asking my parents all about E"Y and when we will get to go back.
I hope to attend Bar Ilan, I think my Hebrew is good, I just hope its good enough.
Every day I get just a little bit more scared of taking this huge step, by myself. I am scared that I will end up like my mom, although I know she was running away, while I am going towards.
I dont know exactly what other kind of details you would like...

A couple months ago, NBN had almost an entire plane of 19-25 year old singles and young marrieds make Aliyah. I would reccommend you get in touch with them and talk to their counselors.

Good luck!!

I will, b'ezrat Hashem, be making aliyah next summer as a 22-year-old, after I've graduated from college. However, I have friends who made aliyah when they were about 19. Want me to see if I can get you in touch with them? Send me a PM and let me know.

Dear Israelophiles,

Please remember, Israel is not the be all and end all of life. It's not the utopia where all of your troubles will automatically end. Drop the rose colored perception and look back into reality. It's just a country, the same as any other (maybe a little worse) with just as many ups and downs (maybe more). Just take this into consideration before you make that big step.

I would agree to part of that statement. I would even go futher and say you should expect things to be worse here. After all the gemara teaches use that Eretz Yisrael is one of those three things that is only aquired through suffering. But each and every day I thank HaKodush Borach Hu that I am privleged to walk on his holy soil that even Moshe Rabbenu himself was not blessed to do. Here I am together with my fellow Jewish people - this is the only Land we can call home. Hear this very clearly. America as was with every other country Jews have wandered through, is not the permanant home of the Jewish people. We are just passing through. Borach Hashem it is comfortable there and the American people are wonderful hosts for us. (Though assimilation is another issue). But ultimiately there is only one Jewish Homeland. This year Tel Aviv surpassed New York City as the city with the largest Jewish population. Can't you see the hand writting on the wall. The future of the Jewish people is here in Israel. Israel, "just a country, the same as any other?"I don't think so.

Of course its not. But its still Israel and its still the place to be (I think anyways). Obviously its not perfect, but who said it was? I've heard that everyone makes a sacrifice when they make aliyah, its true making aliyah isnt easy, but its important.
But it most certainly isnt the same as any others.