Aliyah is not a piece of cake, but it's still sweet

GEORGIA GREEN, 28 - FROM LONDON TO TEL AVIV, 2020

By ABIGAIL KLEIN LEICHMAN
GEORGIA GREEN, 28 FROM LONDON TO TEL AVIV, 2020 (photo credit: Courtesy)
GEORGIA GREEN, 28 FROM LONDON TO TEL AVIV, 2020
(photo credit: Courtesy)
Arriving in a new country at the same time as a pandemic did not make Georgia Green’s transition from London to Tel Aviv easy, but it sure made her first months in Israel memorable.
“The beginning of March was when the world started to shut down and the COVID-19 case count was rapidly increasing,” she recalls.
In the week leading up to her March 4 aliyah date, Green worried that her flight would be canceled. “I had been waiting for such a long time, I simply couldn’t comprehend how I’d feel if it were postponed. I was so ready to come to Israel,” says the 28-year-old.
She packed and said her goodbyes to her large family, and lo and behold the plane took off as scheduled. After landing and dealing with paperwork, Green saw that she’d missed several calls from an Israeli first cousin who was to meet her at the airport. The cousin had unfortunate news.
“She and her husband had recently returned from a holiday in Barcelona, and an hour before I landed they were instructed to go into quarantine for two weeks,” Green relates. “My auntie, who is a doctor, also advised the rest of my family that it wouldn’t be safe in the airport. And so my big welcoming party with banners and balloons turned into me pitifully throwing my three suitcases into a taxi and heading straight to my grandparents in Herzliya – alone.”
Her paternal grandparents made aliyah last year, joining their daughter and her Israeli-born family.
Six days later, Green went to Tel Aviv to celebrate Purim with two close friends.
“The large Purim parties were already canceled, some of my other friends were self-isolating, and I’d noticed a few people were starting to wear masks,” she says. “However, the three of us refused to let our preplanned Powerpuff Girls outfits go to waste, so we had a celebration on our own.”
With the lockdown looming, Green decided to stay with her friend for the next couple of weeks rather than move into the Tel Aviv apartment she’d arranged beforehand.
“Aliyah wasn’t turning out how I had envisaged! Here I was, sleeping on my friend’s sofa bed in the company of her pet cat, with just a toothbrush, laptop, contact lens case and a change of clothes. As crazy as this was, I was so grateful for a roof over my head and to be in great company. Even though I couldn’t physically be with my family here, I was in touch with them as well as my family back in London on a regular basis.”
IT WAS not yet clear when she could relaunch Georgia’s Cakes, her bespoke baking business, in the Holy Land.
“I started to work for myself five years ago,” she explains. “I was making cakes for weddings and celebrations.”
She gained a celebrity clientele and an impressive social media following: 153,000 YouTube channel subscribers and 190,000 Instagram followers.
“I began hosting cake-decorating workshops in London and realized that this is what I enjoyed doing the most.”
Green had long wanted to move to Israel, and she reasoned that cake-making could be a portable profession. Still, having sold her cakes in Harrods and amassing a large client base in London, relocating was a risky move.
“However, I knew I couldn’t excel to the level I wanted to, if I wasn’t truly content as a person. Hence, I decided to realize my dream of making aliyah,” she says.
Her plan was to host workshops, continue brand partnerships and create more online tutorials. While in lockdown, Green actualized the last part of that plan.
“I noticed that baking had become the go-to quarantine activity in several parts of the world, and so I thought to jump on the bandwagon and create a ‘Back to Basics’ series on my YouTube channel.”
Using minimal ingredients and equipment – her baking utensils had yet to arrive from London – she filmed basic recipes such as lemon drizzle cake, cookies and challa.
“I’ve never seen so many people try out my recipes, especially members of my family who usually eat my cakes rather than make them. This baking series, together with my online workshops, were things I wouldn’t have necessarily done under normal circumstances, but have now opened up more opportunities for me and my business.”
She also began one-on-one cake-decorating classes.
“I never expected to teach someone in San Francisco whilst sitting in my friend’s apartment in Tel Aviv,” she says.
Once the coronavirus restrictions started loosening, Green moved to her new place and was reunited with her belongings, which her grandparents had sent over from Herzliya.
“Never have I been so excited to see my mixer,” she relates with a laugh. “Suddenly, I had an inkling that my life in Israel was starting to happen. After all, good things come to those who wait!”
She is now in the process of opening her own baking workshop studio.
NEVERTHELESS, IT’S been a challenging start. Not being able to fly back to the UK meant Green not only missed Passover with her family but also missed the funeral of her maternal grandmother, who died from COVID-19 in England at age 97 on March 27.
“I felt a combination of sadness, frustration and anger. These feelings softened after a memorable funeral and shiva took place over Zoom. Even though it was on a screen, I felt I was there with everyone,” she says.
Like all new immigrants, Green had critical tasks to accomplish. The corona situation made them more difficult.
“I could only do so much before lockdown. There was a moment when I had received my credit card, but the PIN code was still at the bank, and my checkbook was at my grandparents in Herzliya,” she recalls.
The ulpan she’d intended to start was closed, so she signed up for a 10-week online course with Ulpan Integraliah. She loved it and decided to continue.
“Throughout the past couple of months living in Israel, there hasn’t been a second where I have felt alone. The sense of community here is so powerful that I feel like I’m part of one big family.”
Green has always felt a strong connection with Israel. She says she enjoys Israeli folk dancing and the warmth of the Israeli people.
“The spontaneous lifestyle and loving each day as if it’s your last mirror how I live my life, and therefore I feel Israel is truly my home,” she says.
“Did my aliyah go according to plan? No. And yet, I’m still smiling. I’m home.”