In many ways, Retraining4Israel (R4I) started a long time ago in several different places around Israel. Was it 30 years ago? Maybe 20 years ago? Maybe 10 years ago? The answer is all of these. We believe that Retraining4Israel lives in the hearts of most new immigrants almost from the minute they land. Often, new immigrants are showered with love, with assistance, with advice.

They learn. They grow. And they settle down with life here, constantly expanding their knowledge and their experiences and always remembering those first few years. Aliyah is not easy for anyone but it is made easier when there is an abundance of support from others. Community. And aliyah is made easier when you either know what you are doing (and who among us did when we first arrived?) or with the assistance of experts and those who have already been where the new immigrant is today.

Today, Retraining4Israel is a formal organization consisting of veteran olim who remember and want to pay the help they received forward to today’s new immigrants. Through Retraining4Israel, veteran olim have the opportunity to help and reshape the experiences of today’s olim. Likewise, new olim now have the opportunity to benefit from the knowledge of veteran olim, have access to their services (with an R4I Discount).

So to answer the question – we are veteran olim who have called Israel our home for decades. We have passed the “critical mass” point in our lives, the point where “returning home” is no longer an option because we have no doubts that we are in our forever home. When times get rough, as they do for all, we focus not on whether this is the time to leave, but what we need to do to overcome the latest aliyah challenge.

For most of our team, some (or all) of our children were born here. For some, even our grandchildren are now thriving here. Some have sent children to the army (even several). All are here to help you because we firmly believe that aliyah is possible for nearly everybody – if you have access to the right community to support you and the right knowledge/information to help you as you need it.

We hope you’ll join the Retraining4Israel Community because if you do – we know that you will make us stronger, and we will be there for you.

For more information, see our JOIN US page.