The Man Who Needs No Introduction: Hillel Fuld’s take on Aliyah, Zionism, and Professional Life in Israel.
For this edition of Aliyah Success, we had the privilege of interviewing Hillel Fuld, a prominent figure in the Israeli tech scene. Known for his extensive contributions to tech journalism and startups, Hillel has become a guiding light for many aspiring entrepreneurs.
Some of Hillel's most notable achievements include:
- Helping Israeli Startups Go Global: Hillel has been instrumental in helping Israeli startups scale internationally.
- Content Creation and Thought Leadership: His insights on technology and innovation have earned him a substantial following on social media.
- Mentorship and Consulting: Hillel is a mentor to numerous startups and provides strategic consulting to tech companies.
See below for direct quotes from Hillel from our conversation:
The Reality of Life in Israel
"There is a false perception that you need to lower your quality of life and take a huge pay cut when you come to Israel. It’s not true...
30 years ago, there was only one reason you'd come to Israel: you were a hardcore Zionist. You knew that you'd have to bring deodorant from America and eat fake tuna fish in Israel. Really—you couldn't even get tuna in Israel. Movies arrived here six months after everywhere else. It was impossible to live here. So if you made aliyah, it was because you were a Zionist, no other reason.
Today, look around you… We're in paradise here. I don't feel like I have a lower quality of life than people in places like Woodmere, where I was two weeks ago. There's a lot of money there, but I don't feel like I lost anything materialistically. Spiritually, that's obvious, but materially, I ask my kids all the time, what are you missing in your life? Okay, I pay more for cars, but that's it. I'm missing nothing.
Personal Disclaimer
I understand that I'm an edge case.
Not everyone does what I do. I’ve made a living here, and not everyone can do that. But there's an important point: If I was an engineer or a specialist, like a physician, and you said to me, okay, you made money there because you're an engineer, I'd say:
"What did I ever do? I just wrote on the internet. I'm just a guy who loves tech, followed my passion, and worked hard at it. If you're good at what you do and willing to work hard, you can make as much money here as anywhere else, maybe even more."
I firmly believe that.
Navigating the Job Market in Israel
This opens the door to a number of other questions:
- What field should I go into?
- Should I work for myself? Or someone else?
As with most things, it all depends on the person and profession. Doctors make less money here unless they go private, in which case they can make as much money. Doctors and lawyers definitely make less money; there's no question about that.
If you have an entrepreneurial spirit and are going to solve a problem using technology, you can make more money here than elsewhere. This is the pinnacle of the tech world. Everyone knows this. If you're in tech at any level—sales, marketing, whatever—this is the place to be. I don't believe that if you're good at what you do and willing to work hard, you have to make less money here.
Quality of Life: A Philosophical Perspective
You might not live in a crazy mansion, but is that really quality of life?
I firmly believe there's an inverse correlation: the more money you have, the less happy you are. More money increases your standards of living, like a bigger house or a nicer car, which you then have to maintain. Every month you have to make enough money to pay for those luxuries.
If you live a good life, like I do, with a seven-bedroom, three-story house in Beit Shemesh, you don't feel like you're missing out by not being in America. I feel like a kid in a candy store in this country.
The Changing Landscape Post-October 7
Obviously, everything changed on October 7, but I don't believe you have to be a hardcore Zionist to come to Israel today.
Why Israel is the Best Place to Start a Company
Here’s why Israel is a better place to start a company:
I could argue that there are definitely advantages to starting a company in America, and people can certainly make a case for it being easier in some respects. However, for every one advantage you mention about America, I can name five advantages about starting a company here in Israel.
In America, getting a lunch meeting with someone like Mark Zuckerberg is nearly impossible. You could spend your entire career trying to make that happen. But here in Israel, if you decide today that you want a meeting with the CEO of Wix or the Head of Product at Lemonade, a few WhatsApp messages and you could have that meeting tomorrow. That's the way Israel operates.
A good entrepreneur knows how to learn from others who have done it before, and here, as an entrepreneur, you have access to some of the smartest people in the world. Sure, taxes are high.
Every month when I see the taxes I pay, I think: "Are you for real?" But I also remind myself that I'm funding the Jewish state.
I don't see it as a loss; I see it as an opportunity.
Resourcefulness: A Key to Success in Israel
Now, I'm going to say something that might offend some people, but I believe it:
Those who came here and couldn't make it, and then went back, were not resourceful enough. If you are truly resourceful and work hard, you can make it here, no matter what you do. Those who left didn't deeply, deeply want it. They didn't come here for the right reasons. If you come here for the right reasons, recognizing that this is your home and your only home, then you will make it work, period.
Cost of Living Comparisons: Israel vs. America
Let's talk about costs.
Cars are more expensive here, but consider the cost of private Jewish school in America. If you have three kids in Jewish schools in America, you need to make an enormous amount of money just to get by. You can be earning $100,000 and still struggle. Even $200,000 to $300,000 might not be enough to live comfortably.
Here, with that kind of money, you could buy a house and live well. Comparing life in America to life in Israel is comparing apples to oranges. There are advantages and disadvantages to both. But at the end of the day, this is where we belong. The rest is secondary.
Missing America: A Personal Reflection
I do miss things about America.
To answer your question, I heard a story about a big rabbi who moved to Israel. His students asked him: Rabbi, do you miss anything from the US? Yeah, I do. I miss the longing for Israel. I love that.
I used to say that I missed Tropicana's orange juice, especially without pulp. Besides that, I'm a car guy. I love cars. When I go to the States, I visit my friend's house in Woodmere. He drives a cutting-edge Audi electric car, and his wife drives a Porsche. He also has a Maserati.
I love seeing those cars, but after 30 seconds, I want to throw up and go home.
Every time I go to the States, with few exceptions, whether in the Five Towns or Florida, the focus on materialism is so deep and shallow. It's contradictory, but you know what I mean. I don't want to throw my American friends under the bus, but there's a strong emphasis on money, and it feels empty. Where's the meaning, the depth? Especially now, with the war going on, people care about what's happening here. They're mourning with us, but their mourning manifests as sending five bucks to Israel and then going on with their lives.
I don't blame them—they're not in it, they don't feel it. But it makes me sad that there's such a deep disconnect between Jews here and Jews there.
The Urgency of Making Aliyah
I ask my friends in the States: Are you waiting for what hasn't happened? We have anti-Semites in Congress, Kanye West, Kyrie Irving, Jews being beaten and killed in the streets. What hasn't happened? Is there anything that would make you move? Maybe the answer is no.
Anti-Semitism shouldn't be the reason to come to Israel, but it's a good trigger. You can come here because you're a capitalist, you love tech, it's a beautiful and happy country, or for spirituality. The anti-Semitism adds urgency, as it's not going to get better.
In every generation, we tell ourselves the same narratives and fail to see the miracles before our eyes. How can anyone say that Hamas firing tens of thousands of rockets into Israel with single-digit casualties isn't a miracle?
Israel's Iron Dome system is a technological marvel that everyone said was impossible. We take these miracles for granted. Purim, for example, celebrates a near-genocide of Jews that turned into a victory. We need to recognize the miracles happening today. The script is already written, and the good news is that it ends well.
A Call to Action: Moving to Israel
What would you tell the Jews of the world who are hesitant to move to Israel?
Open your Siddur and read the prayers. Does your Torah not talk about the importance of Eretz Israel? Does the Rambam's Torah not mention it? My Rambam does. So, how could you overlook this? Maybe Kashrut doesn't apply to you either, or maybe Shabbat. Shabbat is a mitzvah in the Torah, just like settling Israel.
You can deceive yourself and say you're not coming here for religious reasons, or you can do what God actually wants.
People who say they're worried their kids will go off the path in Israel haven't educated them well enough. These are the modern-day naysayers. In the desert, they told Moses they should stay there rather than go into the Promised Land. God is saying: Get yourself to Israel.
If someone asked me about the urgency of making Aliyah, I’d start by gauging their mindset.
The Urgency: A Metaphorical Perspective
Here's a perspective I often share with my friends. Imagine I put a physical gun to your head and said: Get on a plane in one hour, or you and your entire family are dead. Most people would get on that plane, right? This means that if they're not making the move now, they must not see the current situation as dire enough to constitute a metaphorical gun.
So what would constitute a gun to you? What would have to happen for you to realize it's time to move? Because if you had told me 10 years ago that there would be open anti-Semites in Congress, I would have said that's a Nuremberg Laws level event, and it would be time to leave. But here we are today, and not only are there anti-Semites in Congress, but they’re influential. Forget the squad, even Chuck Schumer, who is supposed to be a defender of our community, hasn't always stood up for us.
The Escalation of Anti-Semitism
And it’s not just Congress. Online, the people who attack me the hardest often have Jewish names. It's astonishing how we, as a community, sometimes fail to see the writing on the wall.
So, to anyone hesitating, I say: Look at the world around you. What more needs to happen for you to recognize the urgency? We have to stop acting like it’s business as usual and start realizing that the threats we face today are very real. It’s time to make decisions based on that reality.
Lessons from History
Do I think concentration camps will spring up in America? No, of course not. But did my grandmother foresee concentration camps in Germany? Absolutely not. Anti-Semitism can escalate rapidly, from dangerous rhetoric to widespread persecution in a short time. We've seen it happen before; we'd be foolish not to see the signs today.
I'm not equating current political figures with past tyrants, but if you don't see a surge in anti-Semitism coming, you're not paying attention. In just a month after a significant event like October 7, sentiments can shift dramatically against us. If anti-Semitism becomes normalized in society, what's next?
We can't afford to be complacent. Every generation faces similar challenges. It's profoundly sad, but we must recognize the signs and act accordingly.
Social Media and Serendipity: A Story of Steve Wozniak
When I started posting content, I began interviewing people. It's a good strategy because you tap into their network.
My dream was to interview Steve Wozniak, the man who invented the computer. I reached out to him on social media. He immediately responded but declined my interview requests but agreed to answer my questions by email.
I published the interview, and it did well. A few months later, Steve called me and invited me to breakfast in Tel Aviv. I found myself in a hotel lobby with the man who invented the personal computer, hearing stories not published anywhere else. He shared how they built the first computer in a garage and gave it to a kindergarten teacher.
As we talked, a rocket from Gaza landed nearby, and we had to rush into a bomb shelter. Business Insider later wrote a story about how I ended up in a bomb shelter with Steve Wozniak.
That was a pretty memorable experience.