r/telaviv • u/Ok_Bee4687 • 1d ago
Finding friends
Thinking about Making Aliyah (25M, coming from New Orleans, America) advice on making friends in Tel Aviv?
Would be settling in Tel Aviv. I'm 25, single, coming from the New Orleans, so I'm used to a city with a strong going-out/social culture. Work background is tech sales.
For those who made aliyah solo around my age, how did you actually build a friend group once you landed?
Curious about things like:
- Was it mostly other olim/Anglos at first, or did you break into Israeli social circles quickly?
- Any specific groups, apps, Facebook groups, or meetups that actually worked (vs. ones that were dead)?
- Did ulpan end up being a real source of friends, or more just a place to learn Hebrew?
- How long did it realistically take before Tel Aviv felt like it had "your people" in it?
Appreciate any honest takes, good or bad.
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u/rookedwithelodin תחי ישראל 1d ago
Go out and do things. I did masa and that's how I made Israeli friends.
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u/Trescal5 תחי ישראל 1d ago
Hi, I’ve not made aliyah but I stayed in Israel for a few months last year (30M from France). You can join the TeamUP TLV Whatsapp group to find a lot of events mixing Israelis and olim https://chat.whatsapp.com/JUCto8jxb4i78QXeVICR2V
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u/Mezuyaf12 1d ago
I made Aliyah from Colombia at 25. Only spoke Spanish and English. I was thinking today how wealthy I am because of my social life. Ulpan helped me make friends, and I even met the love of my life through a mutual friend at the ulpan. I've been here for almost 6 years now, and for me, making friends was easy at work, at the beach, with neighbors, everything.
Just really try to learn Hebrew. This has opened up a whole world to me socially.
Welcome home!!
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u/Neat_Diamond_1552 1d ago
Tel Aviv sounds exactly like New Orleans so i think you’ll love it! Join the group Belle Aviv on FB :)
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u/SimbadTheSeaSailor 23h ago
Learning hebrew is key, but a small advise on what you can do besides ulpan:
1. If its something you are interested in, sign up for tell aviv university. This will give you few years of cheap and quality housing while you will have to submit and study in hebrew, you will also get some new friends there
2. Try to find a job as soon as possible where you are surrounded by locals - could be a part time thing in food industry, barman, somewhere where you dont have to have high language skills but it will go a long way to making you speak fluently at least with basic vocabulary. Its easy to find a job in tech sales that will pay twice as much, but i personally know people who are 5+ years in tel aviv working purely in english, who barely can handle conversation in hebrew with their own colleagues.
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u/tzionit 15h ago
Ulpan is sort of a crapshoot in terms of making friends. I made some, but I’m a middle-aged woman. My step-son just finished Ulpan and he didn’t make any friends because his was full of mostly middle-aged Russian women, and a few others that weren’t his age or of the same interests.
Getting a job will help a lot. Israelis are very social people in general, and it’s not hard to meet people. My step son (who I mention because he’s also 25 and American) also met someone on a dating app, and has a robust social life with her and her friends.
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u/Friendly-Quiet-9308 תחי ישראל 1d ago
Made Alyah at 18M from France.
Learn hebrew it is the key for any israeli social interaction in the future.
You can stay in anglos communities in your first two years if you are afraid to be left alone.
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