Before our pilot trip, we had been considering, at least slightly, to live in locations that were not very close to Yerushalayim. After all, if all of the hi-tech jobs are in the Tel Aviv-Raanana area, wouldn’t it make sense to be a little bit closer to the action?

However, while visiting Karnei Shomron our hostess made an important point to us. She told us that she had read in a study done a few years ago that almost all olim end up staying long term in a place within 50km of where they first lived. When people move to an unfamiliar environment, the place where they go first ends up being the reference point, the place that people will be most apt to refer to and think of as their new home.

I have not seen this study in person, but it makes sense to me. And in our own experience, it seems like the more we thought about communities to live in, the more that Yerushalayim became a big factor in our decisions. Both my wife and I have visited Israel a number of times, and have spent a total of 3+ years in Yeshivot and Seminaries in Yerushalayim. When I think of going to Israel, I am really thinking about going to Yerushalayim, with maybe some excursions here and there. And when I hear about friends of ours that go on trips to Israel, and say about their plans: “We plan on spending most of our time in Tel Aviv, maybe we’ll go to Jerusalem for one day to see the Kotel”, I think: are they crazy? Don’t they know that Yerushalayim is the place to be?

Of course, these friends may consider Tel Aviv to be their point of reference in Israel. I am glad that mine is Yerushalayim – and even though it could potentially cause a longer commute, or a little bit more difficulty finding a job, proximity to Yerushalayim remains one of the biggest factors in our decision about where we will make our home.