Nobody – not all rents are astronomically high. It depends where you live. If you insist on living in a totally Anglo area, the rents are higher. If you live in the Shomron, they aren’t.
Notpashut – I also live here, and rarely have I seen such illogical and completely WRONG advice.
“If your oldest is less then ten or your youngest is over twenty – by all means,feel free to come. Otherwise – forget it!” I can tell you of at least 10 families, off the top of my head, who came with teenagers who are doing very well, including us, B”H. We had (and have) a positive attitude, and so do our kids. They speak Hebrew well, are doing pretty well in school, and have many friends. Maybe we did better because we didn’t rely on “professionals” to tell us we were wrong. Maybe it’s because we planned things out before we came.
“IF YOU DON’T HAVE A JOB LINED UP – DON’T COME!” Again, you are wrong. The vast majority of places here will not hire ahead of time; they will wait until you are actually here, with a teudat zehut in hand. Out of all the people I know who made aliyah and are employed full time here in Israel, only one had a job before he made aliyah.
“PLEASE LEAVE AMERICAN IDEAS & VALUES BEHIND.” This is partially true. A person making aliyah has to learn to go with the flow here; however, I can honestly say that if I am polite to the people behind the desks, if I explain that I am new here and don’t know the system, then they will become amazingly helpful. I have been in several government offices here regarding tax forms and other things, and the bureaucrats have all been pretty nice and helpful. But yes, if you come and complain and act like the stereotypical American, you won’t get anywhere.
Let’s emphasize the positive aspects about living here, not the negative. Remember what happened with the meraglim!
All I would say to everyone is to do plenty of research BEFORE you make aliyah. There are many, many resources on the internet. Talk to people in your work field. Research communities. Come on a pilot trip. The more work you put in ahead of time, the better your aliyah will turn out. (We put two full years of research in before we stepped on the plane.)
Hatzlacha to all who come!