“I'm making Aliyah because of my emerging Jewish and Israeli identity. My mother is Israeli, and as a result, that whole half of my family is there, and I'm incredibly close with them. My cousins are more like siblings, my aunt is like my second mother. In the past three years in particular, there has been a number of very difficult times including the passing of my aunt from cancer.
“I came to Israel for the first time in 2011 at the end of my freshman year of college. I immediately became enthralled in the country and the society. When I returned home to my University, I became extremely active in the Jewish community there, looking for any and every way to become involved with Israel and return there. For three years, I dreamt of making Aliyah after I graduated and received my degree.
“It's difficult to describe why exactly we are making Aliyah, other than we are simply drawn to the Land. All of our Patriarchs, history and writings...So much of it happened on that soil. It is a holy place. We have heard time and again of the holiness there. We want to live that every day. We desire to be one with the Land as well as one with Hashem.” 
