Originally Posted Oct 1, 2023.
Moving from Hawaii to Israel was not a decision we wrapped up neatly with logic and checklists. It was one of those life pivots that feels equal parts surreal and inevitable. One day you are surrounded by ocean breezes and slow mornings. The next you are stepping into a place that hums with history, urgency, and voices that never whisper.
Hawaii and Israel are both shaped by layers of culture, but they move to very different rhythms. Hawaii teaches you to slow down. Israel asks you to engage immediately. Conversations are louder, more direct, and wonderfully unapologetic. At first it felt jarring. Then it felt honest. Our family has been stretched in the best way, learning new customs, new foods, and new ways of showing up in the world. Falafel replaces poke. Long dinners replace beach sunsets. And somehow it all starts to feel like home.
Hale Koa Beach, Kailua HI
Israel carries weight in a way few places do. Walking through Jerusalem, Jaffa, or floating in the Dead Sea is not just sightseeing. It is standing inside stories that have been told for thousands of years. There is a grounding that comes from that. A sense that you are small, but part of something much bigger.
Language has been one of the most humbling parts. English carries us far, but Hebrew does not come easily. My brain often reaches for the wrong drawer, pulling Spanish, Czech, Japanese, or Hawaiian before it ever finds Hebrew. Some days it is exhausting. Some days it is funny. I am learning to give myself grace and celebrate small wins, usually with help from a language app and very patient locals.
Professionally, Israel feels electric. The energy around innovation and entrepreneurship is real and contagious. There is an expectation here that ideas are meant to be tested, challenged, and improved. It is a place that rewards curiosity and grit, and that has been deeply motivating for our family as we think about what comes next.
The landscape surprised me most. Israel does not look like Hawaii, but it does not try to. The desert, the coastline, the cliffs, and the compact geography invite exploration in a different way. Weekend adventures feel endless, and the sense of being connected to neighboring countries adds to the feeling that the world has suddenly grown both bigger and smaller at the same time.
This move has not been easy. It has been disorienting, exhausting, and occasionally overwhelming. But it has also been expansive. We are learning who we are when comfort is stripped away and curiosity takes the lead. Leaving paradise did not mean leaving beauty behind. It just meant finding it in a new form.
And that is what this season is teaching us. Home is not always where you start. Sometimes it is where you are brave enough to land.
Rosh HaNikra, located on Israel's northwestern Mediterranean coast near the Lebanese border