"I felt the mission of my life was to get here,” says David Parry from his home in Zichron Ya’acov.

To fulfill that mission, the Sydney native took early retirement from his law career. He had worked his way up from specialist magistrate in administrative law to Australian District Court judge and deputy president of the State Administrative Tribunal in Perth, on Australia’s west coast. 

“It was a tremendous privilege to uphold the rule of law and to resolve disputes between citizens and governmental authorities.

“I had a tenured position for another 15 years, but I resigned in favor of a lifelong dream to come to Israel. I always felt it was part of my life destiny,” David says. “My career enabled me to retire at the age of 55 with a pension that puts us in a position that we are truly blessed.”

To his baffled colleagues in Australia, he explained that he felt obligated to grab an opportunity that past generations had been denied “to make a contribution to the reestablishment of Jewish sovereignty and society in the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people.”

Why Zichron Ya’acov? This bucolic Haifa district town is where David and Sharon Parry’s oldest daughter, Gabriella, who works in public relations for Israeli start-ups, lives with her husband, Joe, and their daughter – the Parrys’ only grandchild, with another on the way.

All four Parry kids made the move from Australia to Israel. Natalie and her husband, Yehuda, live in Jaffa; she is a senior data analyst. Mia is a Middle Eastern studies student at Shalem College in Jerusalem. Jacob, soon finishing his IDF service, has built up a 40k-strong social media presence (as @jakey_parry on Instagram) and is an actor in Michael Aloni’s new theater company, HaMakor.

“Sharon and I are incredibly proud that they all made the decision on their own to make aliyah and found their lives and communities and passions here,” says David, who’d happily spent his morning having breakfast with his granddaughter and then taking her to preschool.

“We were incredibly happy in Perth, and it was a great place to raise our children. But we always knew it was temporary.”

BOTH DAVID and Sharon embarked on new careers after arriving.

David completed a tour-guiding course in English at the University of Haifa School of Tourism, received his license, and opened a website, TourWiseIsrael.com.

He is partnering with Israel Maven Tours in Jerusalem to offer three-day guided tour packages for English-speaking immigrants who want to explore their adopted land with peers: one to the Galilee and Golan in October and March (israelmaven.com/tzafonatour) and one to the Negev in January and February (israelmaven.com/negbatour).

David says he was always “an avid student of the extraordinary history, geography, and geopolitics of Israel and had visited many times. But after making aliyah, I finally had the time and space to tour and study this incredible land in depth.

“What a privilege it is to guide people in the country that has contributed to the world like no other and to help explain what is, perhaps, the most misunderstood place on the planet.”

He has discovered that the professional skills he developed as a judge are equally valuable as a tour guide: “mastery of facts, weighing different perspectives, clarity of expression, the ability to communicate complex issues to people from all backgrounds, and treating every person with respect.”

Sharon’s transition was more complicated. She has a doctorate in physiotherapy, with a specific interest in the deleterious health effects of desk-based work and how to mitigate them.

For the 18 years prior to aliyah, she was a university lecturer and researcher, and ultimately an adjunct professor of physiotherapy.

“The only negative aspect of our aliyah story is that the bureaucracy defeated her in converting her degree,” David says. “The Health Ministry decided that, although she was registered as a physiotherapist in Australia, because she was employed as a ‘lecturer’ and not a ‘physiotherapist’ for 18 years, she would have had to prove the number of hours she did in clinical training for her bachelor’s degree, which was 40 years ago. That was impossible.”

Therefore, Sharon decided to apply her expertise to a related endeavor: running workshops for companies, particularly hi-tech companies, on how to improve the workplace to prevent health problems of sedentary workers. Through her website, MoveWiseActive.com, she’s also offering workshops on fall prevention for seniors.

“She found something based on her experience that’s even more meaningful,” says David. “We’re hoping to do a bit of collaboration, combining her workshop with my tour.”

Though the couple has studied spoken Hebrew at ulpan, they work exclusively in English and have gained a close circle of friends in Zichron from English-speaking countries. Together, they take trips around Israel, play pickleball, and spend time at the beach.

Of course, like all tour guides here, David is hoping for an uptick in foreign tourism.

“I’d ideally like to guide delegations and missions; I’m in touch with organizations from Australia and North America about that,” he says.

“There’s an incredible pent-up demand to come to Israel. There is a thirst to see the country. The second [that] flights open, tourists flock in.

“There’s simply no other place like Israel, no other place that was the crossroads of the world from the beginning. I would love to show not just its beauty and history, but the depth and meaning that lie beneath the surface.”

Married 35 years, the Parrys are happily starting over in Israel.

“It’s such an incredible blessing to be here. I really feel it was the mission of my life to facilitate my family’s return to Israel,” David emphasizes.

“Coming from the outside, we appreciate so much that we live here according to Jewish time; that the Jewish holidays and the rhythm of Jewish life are part of the culture of the country. I will never take that for granted.” ■