When I moved to Israel, I expected that building a new life would require practical things: paperwork, patience, Hebrew, housing decisions, and learning how to navigate systems that sometimes feel designed to test your character before you are allowed to get anything done.

What I did not fully appreciate was how much of it would also come down to something far less formal.

Not networking in the polished, professional sense. Not structured introductions or curated circles. Just people — met in unexpected places, through ordinary moments, often when you are not actively trying very hard.

This week, that idea kept showing up in different ways.

I’m currently taking an entrepreneurship course through the Ministry of Aliyah. It’s a highly subsidized program designed to support new immigrants in Israel who are building something of their own — business ideas, direction, tools, and a sense of structure in a very unstructured stage of life.

It’s a serious program, and an important one. But like many things in Israel, its value isn’t limited to its official purpose.

Sometimes what you gain is not what you came for.

One of the most meaningful parts so far has been the people.

There is........

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