A South African OB/GYN's exceptional aliyah story

Dr. Alvin Schamroth immigrated twice, was diagnosed with a debilitating medical condition that ended his first career, created a hugely successful niche business, has been married for over 30 years, raised his children in Israel, and now spends his time creating Judaica and household goods from epoxy and olive wood.

“I was raised in a very Zionistic home. Israel was commonly a topic of discussion,” Schamroth recalled. He remembers being in shul when the announcement was made that the Yom Kippur War had broken out. “I was 13 at the time. It was a very powerful moment for me.”

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One of four sons, his first trip to Israel was at the age of 15, when his oldest brother married an El Al flight attendant in the backyard of her parents’ home. 

“It surprised me even then, to some extent. I was [coming from] South Africa. As I compared the standard of living in Israel to South Africa then, we enjoyed a much higher standard of living. [Even] the toilet paper was softer.” He described the toilet paper in 1970s Israel as “almost functionless wax paper.”

“Fast-forward to today. It’s the exact opposite. The quality of life, from just a material, non-spiritual point of view, in Israel is much better. 

“I worry for [the Jews in South Africa]. I’m generalizing, but I think in their collective head, they feel trapped. The value of their currency and assets is so low compared to what it was five or 10 years ago. It’s worth about 5% of what it was worth 25 years ago, and it’s going down. They live in beautiful houses which they can’t sell because there is no market. And if they can and convert to shekels, it’s not worth much.

“I hope I’m wrong. I wish everyone well, but I’m worried,” he said.

As a young man in South Africa, he attended medical school at the University of Witwatersrand. Feeling that the quality of training was lacking in his OB/GYN specialization, Schamroth, who was born in the US during a brief period when his father, an eminent cardiologist, was doing advanced training in Baltimore, returned to Baltimore for his medical residency.

“I’m indebted to America. I lived in Baltimore for eight or nine years. I restarted and completed my residency in Baltimore. I met my wife in the operating room of Mercy Medical Center. My three children were all born there. And I started a business called ExamPro there, which has been very successful. In fact, it was the success of ExamPro that made it very easy to make aliyah because the business was portable,” he explained.

Finding success in Baltimore, moving to Israel

“South Africa was my home. I have a very soft spot for South Africa. I’ve got Africa in my blood,” he proclaimed. Nevertheless, “virtually all my adult life, until I made aliyah, almost every day I would think that I needed to be in Israel. There was an internal connection and an internal longing. I feel strongly that Israel is [our] natural home. I have to give credit to my parents for that.” 

When his second brother made aliyah, “my center of gravity shifted to Israel from South Africa,” he said.

Adding fuel to his aliyah fever, Schamroth developed a condition called cervical dystonia, an involuntary and painful contraction of the neck muscles. At the end of a routine hospital night shift, he performed a C-section. A few hours later, after an appointment with a specialist, he was put on disability. 

His diagnosis “precluded me from doing surgery. On that basis, I went on disability. I had a disability income, which I wouldn’t wish on anyone. It was very quick and very dramatic. For the next two days, I never got out of my pajamas.”

After 48 hours of adjusting to a new reality, he gave himself a pep talk. “You’ve got to get on with your life. You can’t carry on like that,” he said to himself. 

Almost effortlessly, he was struck with inspiration. “I had this idea of ExamPro and developed it into something. I could see it so clearly. I could see how it was going to evolve. It was so easy and obvious. I developed a business plan and followed it.” Schamroth’s company, ExamPro, is now the No. 1 OB/GYN oral board exam prep company in the US. 

ExamPro’s success and portability made aliyah possible. Since 2001, he has lived in Israel and runs the US-based ExamPro. Now he’s in a new stage of life. “A year ago, I brought on another employee in ExamPro, whose role, in essence, will be to take over for me at a time of my choosing. That has freed me up tremendously.”

TODAY, HE has a new passion. “For years now, I’ve had this desire to cast the [shards of] glass from under the huppah in epoxy.” About a year ago, he spent time with someone who does exactly that. Although those four hours convinced him that wasn’t quite what he wanted to do, “I’m so indebted to him. [After spending time with him], I could see my path to doing this.

“I went and started playing with epoxy,” he reported. Today, he spends significant chunks of time creating mezuzah cases, hanukkiot, challah boards, shtenders (book stands), and other Judaica and home goods. 

“I’m enjoying it. What is so thrilling to me is that anyone who passes through our home says the same word: ‘Wow!’ There’s a huge wow factor. It’s wonderful when you create these things and get this response,” he said.

It might seem like a huge jump from being an OB/GYN to a successful entrepreneur to an epoxy craftsman, but Schamroth sees each as expressing a different part of himself.

“When I was in primary school, I wanted to be a teacher. I thought of teaching arithmetic. I knew I wasn’t going to be a teacher because they pay diddly-squat. With ExamPro, I was teaching medicine. I enjoyed the teaching. I came full circle to do what I wanted to do.

“Now when it comes to artistic creation, I have always believed [that] when God gave out artistic abilities, I was at the end of the line. With epoxy, there’s some artistic juices in there. I can do this, and it’s wonderful. I hadn’t been able to create things before.

“When I was a little kid, I was tested [and] I was off the chart when it came to spatial relationships. I should have been an architect. This gift of spatial relationships has come back to help me in my epoxy work.”

On every page of his website EpoxyPro.pro are the words “Proudly created in Israel.” “I’m proud to say that all my epoxy goods are made in Israel. And I’m even more proud that they are made in Israel and are available in the US,” he said.

There’s one final thing that makes Schamroth’s aliyah story exceptional. Unlike most olim, he is completely enveloped by extended family. “From my parents, there are 105 descendants in Israel. Everyone is now in Israel except one brother, his wife, and one of their daughters.

“My mom died when she was 48. My dad died when he was 64. Both were pretty young. When they passed away, we were all in South Africa. Even though they were very Zionistic, there was no way they could have had an inkling that 98% of their descendants [would end up] in Israel. They would have fallen back in joy.

“I feel blessed and relieved and fortunate that we’re here.”  ■

Alvin Schamroth From Johannesburg to Baltimore to Ramat Beit Shemesh, 2001

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