At 102 and 97, Jewish American couple finally makes aliyah to Israel

For Sandy and Rosalie Goldstein, moving to Israel was a decision they had postponed for years. But in 2023, at ages 102 and 97, respectively, the Jewish American couple finally decided it was time to leave their longtime home in Englewood, New Jersey, and begin a new chapter in the Israeli coastal city of Netanya.

Now, Sandy is preparing to celebrate his 105th birthday next week, while Rosalie will turn 101 in January. In September, the couple will celebrate their 79th wedding anniversary.

Their story is an unusual example of aliyah – immigration to Israel – proving that, even after a lifetime in the United States, it is never too late to move to the Jewish state.

Sandy is old enough to remember the Japanese attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor in December 1941.

“All of a sudden after Pearl Harbor,” he recalled. “I would get telegrams every day saying that I was needed in Washington.”

He spent one year working for the War Department in Washington before returning to New York.

The couple met during a Thanksgiving dinner in 1947.

“I said to my girlfriend, ‘I’m looking for the tallest man here, because they were all shrimps.’ Sandy came with his friends, and he said that he was looking for the tallest girl there,” Rosalie recalled.

Sandy invited Brooklyn native Rosalie Aron to a dance at a local synagogue. The couple married in 1948 and eventually had three children, two sons and a daughter.

Although Sandy was not initially religiously observant, he became increasingly involved in the Jewish community and in Jewish causes, including activism on behalf of Soviet Jewry and efforts to facilitate the immigration of Jews from Eastern European communist countries to Israel.

Their daughter Risa later became religiously observant, inspiring her parents to follow suit. After graduating high school, Risa spent a year studying at a religious seminary in Israel. Her parents visited her there, a trip that deepened their connection to the Jewish state.

Risa first moved to Israel in 1995 and made aliyah again in 2008. Following the COVID-19 pandemic, Sandy and Rosalie began seriously considering joining their daughter in Israel.

“There was always something that stopped us earlier. But when we thought the time was now, we retook it,” Rosalie explained.

In 2023, Risa, who had settled in Netanya, traveled to the United States to help her parents pack for their move. When the couple arrived in Israel, their new neighbors welcomed them with a celebration.

“They had a big party, with singing and dancing, and I didn’t even know these people, and they didn’t know me. I was really overwhelmed with the reception,” Rosalie recalled.

The move has allowed the couple to spend their later years surrounded by their family, including five grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren. But they acknowledge that relocating to another country at their age was not easy.

“Moving at 97 and 102 was a massive leap,” Rosalie said. “In truth, staying in our comfort zone made us procrastinate aliyah for a long time, but necessity pushed us to make the best decision of our lives. If we hadn’t taken that step, we would have missed the incredible joy of being surrounded by our extended family, including 13 great-grandchildren,” she explained.

The couple has since participated in numerous family milestones, including Risa’s second wedding and the circumcision of a great-grandson.

“It’s amazing,” Rosalie said. “I didn’t know most of my great-grandchildren. And now they come, they kiss me, and they hug me, and they say, ‘I missed you.’”

Fortunately, she added, they all speak English.

Sandy, who speaks limited Hebrew, has nevertheless read the Bible multiple times in English.

“I recommend that everyone read it carefully,” he said, stressing that God promised the Land of Israel to the Jewish people.

“In the first part of the Bible, God tells Abraham to go to Israel, and all of it will be yours. That’s the important point: all. Not 82%, not part here, part there, but all of it. And He said the same message to Isaac and Jacob,” he argued.

Rosalie, who lived through the Great Depression, the Second World War, the establishment of Israel and the Oct. 7 attack, said that despite the challenges, she and her husband do not regret their decision to move.

“It can be frightening at times,” she admitted, “but it’s better than the alternative. The alternative was to stay. In America, there is more antisemitism growing every day. Here, we have fighters fighting for us on our behalf,” Rosalie emphasized.

Sandy believes Israel must destroy Hamas and the PLO in order to secure peace.

“It’s about time and total victory. This is what we need,” he assessed. “You can’t pray and hope you’ll keep alive. You’ve got to fight first, and then pray.”

Sandy concluded with a message for their descendants and for other Jews considering aliyah.

“Never give up,” he said. “Set a high goal and work for it. If you need tutors, get tutors. If you need help, get help. Persist,” Sandy concluded with optimism.