How do I get packages and Amazon orders during a year in Israel?

Does Amazon deliver to Israel?

Yes. Amazon.com ships a large share of its catalog to Israeli addresses directly — look for the shipping-to-Israel eligibility on the product page, and check the shipping cost at checkout since it varies by item and the free-shipping promotions Amazon runs for Israel have changed over the years. Delivery typically takes one to three weeks depending on the shipping speed chosen.

For plenty of things, though, ordering from America is solving the wrong problem. Israel has pharmacies, electronics chains, and local delivery that's often faster and cheaper once you account for shipping and tax — and AliExpress is hugely popular in Israel for cheap non-urgent items. The question to ask before any US order: can this just be bought here? The packing list guide has the bring-versus-buy logic, and it applies all year, not just to the suitcase.

Will they have to pay customs tax?

This is the part that surprises people, and the rules are actually friendly for small orders. Personal imports valued under $75 enter Israel exempt from tax entirely. From $75 up to $500, the order clears customs but pays VAT (currently 18%). Above $500, customs duties join the party too. The thresholds go by the order's value, and shipping charges get pulled into the tax calculation once you're over the exemption line.

Two practical consequences. First, keep individual orders under $75 when you can — two $60 orders placed separately beat one $120 order. Second, don't try to game it with fake invoices; customs can and does check, and a held package with a tax dispute is a weeks-long headache. For a one-off larger purchase, just budget the 18% into the decision.

How does delivery actually work in Israel?

Differently from home, and this is where students get burned. Israeli couriers run on SMS and WhatsApp: they text a delivery notice or a pickup-point code to the phone number on the order, and if that number doesn't answer or the text goes nowhere, the package stalls and eventually goes back. Many deliveries don't come to the door at all — they land at a pickup point or locker at a nearby store, and the collection code arrives by text.

So the single most important field on any order form is the phone number: it needs to be the student's working Israeli number, not the US number and not the parents' number back home. This is one of those places where the Israeli number they set up before landing quietly earns its keep — the courier's text arrives, the code works, the package gets collected.

What address should packages go to?

Use the yeshiva or seminary's address with the student's name — care of the program office is the standard move, and the office deals with deliveries constantly. Before the first order, have the student ask the office two questions: exactly how they like the address written, and whether packages come to the office or to a nearby pickup point. English addresses work fine; the phone number matters more than perfect Hebrew formatting.

1. 1Line 1: Student's full name (as on their passport)
2. 2Line 2: c/o [Program name], and the office/room if the program specifies one
3. 3Line 3: Street address, building number
4. 4Line 4: City, postal code (the office will know the 7-digit code), Israel
5. 5Phone: the student's Israeli mobile number — this is the field the courier actually uses

Should parents mail a care package from home?

Honest answer: usually not by mail. Regular international post to Israel is slow — weeks, sometimes a couple of months around the chagim — and a box of American snacks can arrive stale, taxed, or both. Food items can also get held at customs. The care-package instinct is right; the postal system is the wrong vehicle.

The community solves this the old-fashioned way: somebody is always flying. Neighbors, cousins, a friend's parent visiting for Sukkot — sending a duffel or a padded envelope with a traveler is faster, free, and how it's actually done. The other underrated move is ordering the care package from inside Israel: local delivery from an Israeli supermarket or Wolt, a gift order from an Israeli bakery, or an Amazon order shipped domestically-priced to their door. Same warm gesture, days instead of weeks.

What about prescription medication and valuables?

Don't mail either. Medication should come in the suitcase — a full year's supply in original labeled containers with a doctor's note, as covered in the packing guide — because importing medicine by mail runs into health-ministry rules and holds. If a refill becomes unavoidable mid-year, involve the program and a local doctor rather than the postal system; there's usually an Israeli equivalent. Valuables — a replacement phone, jewelry, anything with a real price tag — travel with a person or get bought locally. A phone mailed from the US pays VAT on arrival anyway, which usually erases the price difference.