Photo Essay: Summer of Record N. American Aliyah Begins
The first of the summer's seven chartered flights of Western olim (immigrants to Israel) arrived Tuesday morning at Ben Gurion Airport.
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“I feel like I won the lottery!” exclaimed an ecstatic Miri Gantsher as she made her way with her husband David and six kids through the gauntlet of cheering IDF soldiers and well-wishers welcoming her to Israel. Gantsher has left Monsey, NY. A friend met her on the tarmac with a warm embrace and a bouquet.
Yitzchak and Rivkah Gonzales have looked forward to the move for seven years – during which they moved from Monterrey, Mexico to Houston, Texas. Together with their three children, they plan to live in a Jerusalem absorption center in East Talpiot.
Tuesday’s flight had 220 immigrants - 58 of them singles, 78 children, three community rabbis and individuals hailing from 19 states. Eleven dogs and three cats were also aboard the flight, accompanying their owners on Aliyah.
Nefesh B’Nefesh is helping about 3,500 Jews “return home,” as they term it, this year alone. The organization, which assists in easing the obstacles facing North American Jews wishing to move to Israel, sees the numbers continuing to rise. “We have 18,000 names of people who want to make Aliyah in the next 24 months,” Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founder Tony Gelbart said. “Israel was founded and built upon Aliyah. Now is the time for the Jews of America, Canada, France and the UK to rise to the occasion and give a final answer to the questions surrounding the Jewish future.”
Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni was on hand to welcome the new arrivals. She reminded them that life in Israel would not be easy, but told them that their arrival “gives strength to all Israelis.”
Rabbi Yehoshua Fass, the Nefesh B’Nefesh co-founder who conceived of the idea of promoting mass Aliyah through small grants and logistical assistance, invoked last week’s Torah portion, in which Moses is instructed by G-d to count all the nation of Israel prior to entering the Land of Israel. “The reason for this was to emphasize the importance of every Jew entering the Land of Israel. So too, although we are setting records, with more than 11,000 olim arriving in the past five years since we started Nefesh B’Nefesh – each and every oleh is not just a number – but a unique name of a Jew coming home to Israel.”
One young man, Dovy Goldman, said he was making Aliyah not only in his own name, but in that of his grandfather, who fought in the 1948 War of Independence. He wore his grandfather’s uniform jacket as he disembarked from the plane, holding a large sign explaining that “my inheritance of the land is in his merit.”
Rabbi Fass told Israel National Radio’s Yishai Fleisher of the intense experience each flight of new olim presents: “The moment you get to the airport and see the faces of courage and faith and optimism, it is very emotional. Seeing the diversity on the plane – you rarely find a group of people so diverse bonding together for a cause. Israel pulls the Jews together.”
Rabbi Fass said he believes the continued rise in North American Aliyah will soon turn into a wave of mass Aliyah. There is a tipping point - and once we hit that, there will be a real wave. We all realize we are at the cusp of that tipping point. When our office has 18,000 people interested in making Aliyah, we know we are close to it. And there is a natural ripple effect, as success breeds success. What we are working on is how to artificially speed that up.”