Marilyn Berkowitz, 84, has a message for her fellow retirees thinking of heading south to sunny destinations: consider Israel.
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"A lot of our contemporaries have gone to Florida," the recent immigrant said. "But I think they should become sandbirds, not snowbirds."
Berkowitz and her husband, Joel Tenenbaum, 81, were profiled recently in the Jewish Telegraph Agency for a story on the record number of older Americans and Canadians choosing to retire on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.
A few weeks ago, Joel Tenenbaum, 81, and Marilyn Berkowitz, 84, arrived in Tel Aviv on an El Al flight from New York ready to start their new lives in Israel.
They had met through @Jdate five years earlier. Each was…
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— Nefesh B'Nefesh (@NefeshBNefesh) January 19, 2022
According to data compiled by Nefesh B'Nefesh, a non-profit organization that facilitates North American immigration to Israel, 762 immigrants to Israel from North America last year were 55-years-old and up, representing 17% out of the 4,478 total immigrants from across the Atlantic.
The record number of older olim (immigrants to Israel) in 2021 represents a 23% increase over the previous year's total of 580 immigrants 55 and over.
"Israel is becoming a more attractive place, specifically for people at the age of retirement," Marc Rosenberg, vice president of Diaspora partnerships at Nefesh B'Nefesh, told JTA.
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"With increasing technology, cell phones and internet use, Israel is much more international now, especially with apps that allow people to get around, navigate and do their banking online," he added.
Nefesh B'Nefesh has brought over 70,000 olim to Israel since 2002, of whom more than 90% have remained in the Jewish state.
i24NEWS contributed to this report.
