TEL AVIV — For as long as Ariel Rejwan can remember, she has loved Israel. “I’ve always felt a connection here – with the people, the spontaneity, the energy, the spirituality.

Ariel Rejwan, a water scientist, hopes to help Israel with its water management challenges.

“Living in Israel is something I’ve always wanted to do,” says the 40-year-old water scientist, who made aliyah in 2008 from Toronto.

Her personal version of the Zionist dream was to help solve Israel’s water problems. Before making aliyah, Rejwan worked for 20 years all across Canada as a limnologist. Limnology deals with the physical, chemical and biological properties and features of fresh waters.

“I’ve enjoyed living and working in all the places I have been in, in Canada,” she says. “But I always felt like a stranger. I never felt that any of those places were home. Israel feels like home.”

Now that she is home, she has focused on changing career paths and working in the field of water management.

“My dream is to help Israel with its water management challenges in a multi-dimensional way,” says Rejwan, explaining that Israel’s water problems must be met not only on the scientific playing field but also on national, political, social and cultural levels.

“I never got involved with sociopolitical issues in Canada, since in Canada the water issues are not a major obstacle to survival and comfort,” says Rejwan, “but in [Israel] they are.”

She has spent the last several months reaching out to governmental and non-governmental agencies in Israel that tackle water issues from a national perspective, including the Water Authority, Ministry of the Environment and the Peres Center for Peace. She has also taken on several contracts consulting for biotechnology companies.

“It’s not exactly what I want to be doing,” admits Rejwan, referring to the latter. “But the major player in this country is water technology, and startup companies are such a prominent part of the country’s economy.”

She counts this small setback among many that she has faced since arriving in Israel.

“When I first arrived, I had so much trouble finding work that one day I had no plan, I just left my apartment… walked straight to the beach and started randomly asking people if they needed help,” recalls Rejwan.

Soon after, she discovered Gvahim, an organization dedicated to helping new immigrants find employment in Israel. At the end of the organization’s nine-week workshop, Rejwan had gained a greater understanding of the Israeli job market.

“They were very helpful,” she says. “All the people at Gvahim were also very compassionate. It was such a relief to know them.”

However, Rejwan still wasn’t having luck finding work. Just as she was about to take a job as a lifeguard, her first biotech firm contract came through.

She has faced numerous other challenges since making aliyah, such as learning Hebrew. “My career focus meant I had to put Hebrew on the back burner,” she says. “It’s a real shame, because not knowing the language is a barrier to so much… Learning the language makes you feel Israeli much more quickly.”

In addition to the language barrier, she also discovered a significant cultural barrier. “Although I feel a great sense of belonging in Israel in general, I don’t yet have a feeling of social comfort,” she says. “It’s difficult to meet people I really connect with.”

This, Rejwan says, has to do with living in Tel Aviv, where popular culture is centred around fashion, fine dining, entertainment and other elements of big-city life, as opposed to her preferred nature-centred Canadian culture.

“I like hiking and the great outdoors, so being in Tel Aviv has been quite an adjustment for me,” she says. “I do, however, have a complete love affair with the sea. I go there at least a few times a week to swim, run, walk.”

When the going gets tough, Rejwan thinks of her family. Her parents, both Iraqi Jews, fled for Israel. Her mother’s family left Iraq at the turn of the century for India, then China, where Rejwan’s mother was born and raised until she was 19, when her family moved to Israel. Rejwan’s parents met and married in Israel and immigrated to Canada in 1968. Rejwan was born in Toronto in 1969.

“Whenever I hit a rough patch here, I think of the time my father must have had when he made aliyah,” says Rejwan. “It’s a good thing to remember. It puts everything into perspective.”

In a lot of ways, she considers her aliyah a continuation of her parents’ journey.

“It’s kind of weird, but I am picking up where they left off in a way,” she says. “No matter what challenges I encounter, I wouldn’t trade the decision to come here, for the world. My only regret is not having moved here 10 [or] 15 years ago.”