A handful of North American children are the stars of a new two-minute Chanukah film that honors the 18,000 new immigrants who have come to Israel under the Nefesh B'Nefesh (NBN) since the program began in 2002.
NBN founder Rabbi Yehoshua Fass noted in an article he wrote for Jewish Action magazine that between 1948 and 2000, a total of approximately 100,000 Jews immigrated to Israel from the United States.
"Beyond the nearly 18,000 North American olim (immigrants –ed.) that Nefesh B'Nefesh has helped bring to Israel thus far," he wrote, "more than 20,000 Americans have contacted the organization requesting aliyah assistance for the immediate future.
"Realistically, we can expect that the current average of 3,500 North American olim per year will increase to more than 5,000 in the near future," he added, citing a study that showed the first 10,000 NBN immigrants have already contributed some half a billion U.S. dollars to Israel's economy.
A Smaller Miracle Begets Many
What may be considered another miracle, albeit smaller, was a vote last year to end a quiet agreement between the Israeli government and the organized American Jewish community.
"In 1950, David Ben Gurion reluctantly signed an agreement with the American Jewish community in which the Israeli government committed to not invest in or promote Western aliyah. This was done to allay the American Jewish community’s fear of being accused of dual loyalty," wrote Rabbi Fass.
The deal involved Israeli government emissaries promoting Jewish identity, rather than aliyah, among American Jews. Emissaries would "work to create a palpable connection between American Jews and Israel; in return, Israel would receive political and financial support," he wrote.
But the Cabinet finally voted unanimously in 2007 to pour its resources into promoting western aliyah, and effectively ending the deal, after a study that same year – the National Survey of American Jews, by Professors Steven M. Cohen and Ari Y. Kelman – showed there was no longer any reason to hold back.
Statistics showed that 57 percent of Jews under the age of 35 would not consider the annihilation of the State of Israel to be a personal tragedy, and 80 percent of American Jews had never come to Israel.