Nefesh b'Nefesh (NbN), the Aliyah (immigration to Israel) assistance organization known for its chartered flights and magnificent ceremonies for North American immigrants, has now instituted monthly Aliyah flights.
Forty-two new immigrants arrived on the first such flight Tuesday. The organization, faced with a constantly growing numbers of olim (new immigrants), decided to offer monthly spaces in groups aboard regular commercial flights for the convenience of the olim, rather than compelling the new arrivals to wait for one of the half-dozen charter flights.
Israel National Radio’s Yishai and Malkah Fleisher were aboard the flight, interviewing new olim and documenting Aliyah history.
Lorelai Kude, one of the immigrants, told the Fleishers Arutz-7 had played a role in her choosing to make the move. “Listening to Israel National Radio gave me the strength to make Aliyah and helped me through the hard times,” she said.
Another oleh, Mike Wein said it was a bad experience on a United Jewish Communities mission that led him to put himself where his money had been. “I started thinking about Aliyah in 1993 after leading a UJC mission from Memphis, Tennessee,” Wein told Fleisher, standing beside his dog Moses who is moving to Tel Aviv with him. “Nefesh b’Nefesh has made Aliyah into something easy.”
Wein plans on taking intensive Hebrew classes. “Moses knows more Hebrew than me at this point,” he said.
Click here for Israel National Radio’s interview with Wein.
Nathan and Michelle Mintz were also on the flight with their two children, Ayelet (5) and Ilana (3). “After Yeshiva University (YU), I spent three years in law school,” Nathan recalls. “I was living in the United States for about three years after law school and Aliyah is something we wanted to do for a very long time. Once the opportunity came, my wife and I decided to go for it.”
“What is the opportunity?” Fleisher asked.
“I got a job in Tel Aviv with an accounting firm looking for American tax lawyers,” Mintz answered. “It’s a really hot field right now.”
Everything we studied...pointed to this point in my life
Mintz says American companies are investing in Israel and have been opening up branches in Israel, and there has been a rise in Israeli companies seeking to do business in America. All seek lawyers familiar with the American tax system.
Proving his Israeli absorption had begun, Mintz offered inside information for other prospective immigrants. “The accounting firm that I’m working for said they need four or five more American tax lawyers right now. So any American tax lawyer who wants to make Aliyah, there’s uh – it’s a big business right now.”
Fleisher reminded Mintz that they had been in a Philosophy class together at Yeshiva University. “Everything we studied in YU, I mean everything, pointed to this point in my life,” Mintz said.
Click here to listen to the Israel National Radio interview with Mintz
The Mintzs will settle in Hashmonaim, a town in Samaria just across the Green Line from Modi’in, the major city built halfway between Jerusalem and Tel Aviv in recent years.
Until Wednesday, most Nefesh b’Nefesh groups of olim have been greeted by dignitaries, with a festive ceremony taking place in a large hangar near Terminal 1. Though no such ceremony greeted the olim, Fleisher reported one advantage to the monthly flights. “Aside from the convenience, when the pilot announced that there were olim on the plane, the other 150 passengers - returning Israelis, American visitors, both Jews and non-Jews, as well as veteran olim, all clapped and wished the new olim well. It was a source of inspiration for everybody aboard.”
Illustrating the experience, two veteran Israeli men who had come as delegates to the annual conference the AIPAC lobby group in Washington DC addressed the passengers out loud, welcoming them home in their new language. “Bruchim habaim v’kol hakavod lachem (Welcome and kudos),” they said.
The two told Fleisher they had no idea they would be sharing a plane with the group, but were emotionally touched by the scene, as they had just been engaged in arguments with American Jews at the lobbyist conference. “We came to the conference and told them, ‘What are you doing here? We don’t need your money - just your Aliyah,’” one said.
The new immigrants benefited from all of NbN’s technological efforts to make the process of immigration as efficient as possible. They filled out all the necessary paperwork on tablet laptops to receive their first identity papers. Upon arrival at the airport, the new immigrants were met by officials from the Ministries of Absorption and Interior, along with a team of NbN Aliyah professionals.
“This is the greatest day of my life,” Mintz said, his daughter Ilana wearing a pin distributed by the Neo-Zionist Kumah movement, reading got home? "This is the mitzvah that I want to define me.”
(Photos: Yishai and Malkah Fleisher)