After decades in the United States, Mordy Pancer, 86, and his wife Carole, 82, made Aliyah from Maryland this week, reuniting with their two daughters and their families, who already live in Israel.
Their Aliyah was facilitated by Nefesh B'Nefesh, in cooperation with Israel's Ministry of Aliyah and Integration, The Jewish Agency for Israel, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael and Jewish National Fund-USA. Around 30 family members, including their daughters, 12 grandchildren and 11 great-grandchildren, came to Ben-Gurion Airport to welcome them.
The couple has two daughters, both of whom have already made Aliyah. Their younger daughter, Jessica, moved to Israel with her husband, Eli, about 20 years ago, while their older daughter, Nicole, made Aliyah in December 2025. Today, 23 members of their extended family live in Israel. "We made Aliyah now because we wanted to be close to our family," the couple said. "And beyond that, we believe the time has come for all Jews to come home."
For Mordy, the move also marks the closing of a deeply personal circle. Born in Poland in 1939, he was deported with his family to Siberia during World War II, where they survived harsh conditions, including working in logging, while most of his extended family was murdered in the Holocaust. After the war, the family immigrated to the United States, first settling in New York and later moving to Baltimore.
At age 18, just a few years after the Nazis murdered most of his family, Mordy found himself serving in U.S. Army armored units during the Berlin Crisis at the height of the Cold War. "It is ironic and infuriating to think that the United States was defending Germany from the Russians at the time, when only a few years earlier the Germans had murdered most of my family," he said. "It was surreal to put an 18-year-old Holocaust survivor in a tank crew to defend the very people who had murdered his family."
Throughout the years, Mordy maintained a deep connection to Israel. He came to Israel for several short periods and volunteered on IDF bases, repairing trucks and tanks. He also served as the Washington, D.C.-area representative for Sar-El, interviewing and screening candidates interested in volunteering in Israel, and participated for five years in ALYN Hospital's Wheels of Love cycling event to raise funds for the hospital.
Israel was also a constant presence in the Pancer family home in the United States. Each year, the couple would say, "Next year in Jerusalem," until the traditional phrase eventually became a promise. "We told our daughter Nicole that we would make Aliyah after they did," they said. "So they took us seriously and moved to Israel this year so that we would follow them — and that is exactly what we did."
For Mordy, Israel represents far more than simply a new place to live. "Israel represents to me the strength of the Jewish people," he said. "We are no longer as vulnerable as we were during World War II. We have a home, and we must support it and come home."
Carole was born in Pennsylvania in 1943 and is an artist and fashion illustrator. Over the years, she has worked as an illustrator for newspapers and major fashion houses, painted murals and caricatures, and taught art.
Despite their joy and excitement, the couple acknowledged that the move has not been easy. "The hardest thing to leave behind was the family that remains in the United States," they said. "Family always comes first."
Now that they have arrived, their immediate plans are simple. "The first thing we need to do is get some good rest," they said. "Getting here required a tremendous amount of work. After that, we'll look for a beautiful place to live and call home."
In the meantime, Mordy has already decided on one more change to mark his Aliyah: from now on, he will once again use his original name, Mordechai. "If I'm Israeli, then I'm Mordechai," he said with a smile.
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, Co-Founder and Executive Director of Nefesh B'Nefesh, said: "The Pancer family's story is one of Zionism spanning generations and borders. It is incredibly moving to see them arrive in Israel, close a circle and fulfill a family dream many years in the making. It is all the more meaningful for someone like Mordy, who survived the Holocaust. This is the true victory."
