Most yeshiva students have things somewhat mapped out. Spend a year or two learning in yeshiva in Israel, return to the states, often to a place like Lakewood or Monsey, spend 6 months in the "freezer" focusing on only learning and then start shidduchim, dating for marriage.
However, sometimes these guys end up staying in Israel for another year, and another year etc. And sometimes they settle in Israel and build their lives here in the holy land. Other times they set their sights on returning sometime in the not so distant future…which seems to ebb further and further away with each year that passes. Every so often, there are those who ask the question, "Why aren’t more people staying here after yeshiva?"
Its never easy being an immigrant. Everyone knows Israel has changed over the decades. We hear how difficult it was for the immigrants of political Zionism in the mid 1900’s. We can’t imagine what the Vilna Gaon, the father of the yeshiva movement had to endure in the late 1700’s during his failed attempt at making aliyah to the Holy Land. He made it as far as Odessa and then literally missed the boat. It was the students and children that eventually actualized his vision and moved to Israel to build what became known as the Hayishuv Hayashan, the old settlement. However, this is often forgotten or buried deep within the collective consciousness of today's yeshiva world.
The students of the Vilna Gaon and the students of the Baal Shem Tov should be our role models. They experienced unthinkable hardships and were happy. This is what G-d intended: for the Jewish people - to live here, keep his Torah and flourish.
