A New Chapter: Embracing Life as an Expat in Israel
Deciding to Leave America
There’s nothing I can say that would satisfy the question “when did I decide to leave America”. I like to believe the inspiration was divine. Around 2019, I made the decision to sell my brownstone in Brooklyn, NY with the sole idea of getting out of America, leaving the country that had treated me and others like me as second-class citizens. I had had the idea to leave the U.S. for perhaps 10 years or longer but it was only after finally traveling to Africa as well as meeting other Black women expats, that I knew I could live away from the U.S. as an Expat.
Preparing for the Move
In 2019, I sought out realtors, all of whom suggested that I make some cosmetic improvements to be successful in selling the house. My neighborhood of Bedford Stuyvesant, an infamous mostly-Black neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY, second in size only to the South Side of Chicago, had become a much sought-after neighborhood for Gen Xers, eager to own a home in New York City.
I was able to secure some home improvement funds. I remodeled the house inside and out over a period of about 2 years. In April 2021, I was ready to market and sell my brownstone, that I priced for sale at over $1 million dollars.
Selling the Brownstone
By August 2021, the house was sold and I searched for an apartment where I would live until I narrowed down where I wanted to relocate and figured out what moving out of the country entailed. At that time Kenya was a serious contender for a place to relocate to.
In 2017, I had traveled to Nairobi, Kenya. That trip – seeing Africa and dispelling the myths about the state and condition of Africa – solidified my decision that I could leave America. The political climate in America following the election of Donald Trump in 2016 had descended to radically low levels –overt bigotry, race hatred and misogyny. But why Kenya? In college, the mother of a school mate of mine said something to me that would impact me in a way I could never have predicted. Mrs. Grey travelled extensively for her job. When I asked her of all the places she’d visited over the years – Paris, Amsterdam, London, what was her favorite stop. “Nairobi, Kenya”, Mrs. Grey told me.
Community and Family Connections
What really informed my decision to relocate overseas was my attachment to a community of African-Americans who had left America in 1967, forming their own community in of all places, Israel. I had discovered the Israelite community in 1980 when I was invited to attend a writers’ conference. Why Israel, I wondered on the trip to the Black Israelite writers’ conference. Because, I learned, African-Americans were distant relations to the ancient Israelites written about in the Bible. I wasn’t a history expert on the Holy Land or Israelites, but again, divine intervention drew me to the Israelite community after I met one of their leaders. While living in Los Angeles, Prince Asiel was introduced to me by the niece of Motown head Barry Gordy. When I – then West Coast editor of Essence Magazine (1978), met VP of Motown, Iris Gordy, she invited me to her office to meet people whose story she thought would make a great article for Essence. That meeting in Los Angeles, led me to a writers’ conference two years later held by the Israelite community in Israel. It also helped that I met the finest man I had ever met on the visit to the conference and I literally fell head over heels in love with him, falling for him so completely until six months after meeting him, I left America and returned to Israel (1980).
Influences and Inspirations
The second influential thing that led to my leaving the US, was a Black woman named Stephanie Perry, whose YouTube channel encourages black women to live a life of ease. Stephanie Perry espouses giving up working dead end, grueling jobs, and instead, traveling and seeing the world. Stephanie was vastly influential in getting me out of America. Her tips on becoming an expat with organizational advice like getting rid of everything you can’t take with you, was a tremendous help in organizing me to leave the U.S.
Life in Israel
Fast forward 30 years later. After living with my adopted community, the Black Hebrew Israelites of Dimona, Israel, I made the choice to return to Israel upon retiring. My first husband, Ahbir, died suddenly in 1982. I remarried a few years later to another man in the Israelite community where by now, I had been living for a few years. Remarrying and helping to raise loving stepchildren from both marriages gave me a steadfast connection to Israel. In 2021, upon officially retiring, I knew that the current atmosphere of race hatred, high crime in New York City, as well as the declining political status of Blacks in America, was not how I wanted to live my life. I knew the time to leave America had arrived for me.
In 2023, I returned to Israel, got settled into a new apartment, bought a car, and opened a bank account. One obstacle I encountered: I had left America to live in a country where I didn’t speak the language well. Not speaking Hebrew has proven to be the greatest challenge for me but not insurmountable. Taking language classes and my adult stepchildren helping me navigate life like getting my Israeli driver’s has made the overseas move easier.
Being in Israel has been far from a piece of cake, more like going from the frying pan to the fire since the war broke out three months after my return to Israel. But I am here because my loving step children are here. I have traveled between Israel and America on and off for 30 years, helping raise my step children and now helping them raise their children. We are family and family sticks together.
Reflections on the Journey
Being in war torn Israel has been something I did not sign up for. So I travel a lot. Thus far I’ve been to South Africa, Mauritius, Zimbabwe, Egypt and Botswana. I hope to go to London next month and to Sierra Leone in early 2025. Being on the road, seeing other cultures helps me know that leaving America was the best decision for me.