Interviews with Olim

Q. Where were you born and where did you grow up?

A. I was born in Bethesda, Maryland and grew up mostly in Potomac, Maryland, but also a few years on Long Island when I was very young.   

Q. At what age did you come out? And how did it go? 

A. I was 25 when I went home for a weekend from college to visit my parents. My mother asked me to go with her to the grocery store to get stuff for Friday night dinner. She parked the car, turned it off and turned to me and said “I want to ask you a question“. I knew immediately what she was going to say, and to be honest, it couldn’t have gone better. She asked (in her thick Brooklyn accent) “Are you gay?” You know those moments when you have a whole conversation in your head, but it only takes a split second? I was like holy sh*t – she just full on blew the door wide open. So I said “Yes. I am. You know I was a bullied kid and got called lots of names like many of us did. Queer – faggot – and the like. I wanted to be sure I wasn’t internalizing all these things being said to me. But the fact is, yes I am gay”. She told me that she and my father love me and that as long as whoever I brought home respected me, they would treat him with respect.

Q. Were you involved at all in the LGBT community back home? 

A. To be honest, I was not that involved in the LGBT community. I mean, I had my close friends I had a few friends who were gay, but I was not actively involved. 

Q. What is your involvement (if any) in the LGBT community in Israel? 

A. My involvement in the LGBT community is actually through Twitter and Facebook where I’m an activist for both Israel and the LGBT community. 

Q. How long since you made Aliyah? 

A. It was 9 years ago on 12th November 2013.

Q. Did you move here on your own or with family/friends/significant other? 

A. I made aliyah by myself. I did not have any family members who wanted to come, and I was single at the time I made aliyah. 

Q. Why did you make Aliyah? 

A. When I came to Israel the first time on the high school in Israel program in Hod HaSharon, I knew that I wanted to live in Israel. I felt like my Jewish soul woke up on the trip and once that happened I knew that I wanted to live in Eretz Israel. My mother begged me not to because she knew that would mean I would have to go into the army, and she couldn’t handle that. So out of respect for my mother, I did not make Aliyah. I went to Israel as an American Jew, and I came back from Israel as a Jewish American and full-on Zionist, which, quite frankly, scared my parents primarily because I think they knew that I wanted to live in Israel.  

Q. How is it going so far? 

A. Overall, I would say it’s going well. My time is Israel has been cathartic in many ways. I’ve chosen to change my name to my Hebrew name. I am now Maccabi Lev Ari. I no longer wanted to keep a last name the antisemites forced my ancestors to purchase. Nor did I want to keep a name of assimilation. I wanted to do this when I was 18 years old after returning from Israel, but my parents were none too happy about it. This dream of changing my name came true this year.

Q. What do you do in terms of work?

A. I’m a sports massage therapist and I’ve worked with many of the national sports teams from professional basketball to Judo to Paralympic Rowing. I also have my own clinic called the Knot Doctor where I treat athletes and non-athletes of all kinds. Since coming to Israel, I’ve also completed 2 Half and 2 Full distance Ironman races and trained for them for approx 3.5 years.  

Q. How is your Ivrit?

A. My Hebrew is a Work In Progress, but I’d say it’s pretty good.

Q. What has been your biggest challenge so far? 

A. I think the biggest challenge thus far is having no family here and not yet having met a partner. 

Q. How do you perceive the Israeli LGBT community? 

A. I think the language barrier probably remains the largest obstacle for me and the Israeli community, which is my own fault – not theirs. But it does make it challenging.

Q. How is being LGBT in Israel different to back home?

A. The main difference is living in a city that is so open and excepting of the gay community like here in Tel Aviv. It’s pretty amazing. 

Q. If you were making aliyah now, would you do anything differently?

A. Quite honestly, there’s no way to really prepare for doing something like this. Plan the best you can and prepare plans B, C, and D. But what would I do differently? I’d probably have come with more money ! 🤣